Cosmoline: To quote from the Australian govt. web site:
"In the end ANZAC [Australian and New Zealand Army Corps] stood and still stands for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never admit defeat.
– Charles Bean, official historian of the First World War"
Charles Bean was intent on creating a mythos and succeeded. I've also read that he did not like Jews, so the successes of General John Monash on the Western Front had to be negated. A mythos based on the common soldier persevering under bad officers doesn't work if you record the work of great officers. But the mythos of persevering has deep roots in Australia. The poetry of Henry Lawson also tended to follow the same lines.
Of course the same .gov.au site also says the following: "The founders of the new nation believed they were creating something new and were concerned to avoid the pitfalls of the old world. They wanted Australia to be harmonious, united and egalitarian, and had progressive ideas about human rights, the observance of democratic procedures and the value of a secret ballot."
My understanding is that we don't have a Bill of Rights because during the constitutional conventions it was pointed out that one would have given rights to Chinese and aboriginals. Upon Federation the pacific islander residents were deported, aboriginals were not citizens under the constitution and immigration by Asians was blocked. Western Australia required a clause in the constitution allowing them to secede before they signed up. So the above is a load of crap as well, although the secret ballot was a decent idea.
I need to flesh the idea out in my head, but it seems to me that Americas mythos tended to be based on 'manifest destiny', Australians on 'surviving against the odds'. One expects people to try and win at any endeavor, the other to get by regardless of hardships. The American mythos tends to worship success, even if it is faked or even criminal, but it allows for people to be successful. The Australian mythos is distrustful of success. If you are doing better than getting by you must be cheating.
FWIW, I'm only philosophizing because I've had a hard day working in the sun, trying to make a buck so I can pay pressing bills. Which proves my point.
Back on track for THR, Tim the student: No nothing was grandfathered. IIRC over 680,000 semi auto and pump action rifles and shotguns were destroyed after the 1997 law changes.
Things have improved slightly. An attempt to ban pump action rifles was stopped in 2005 or 2006 (Can't recall exactly). A fax and email barrage from shooters stopped it the night before it was to be announced at the Police Ministers conference. John Howard is finally gone. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has the largest civilian range in Australia as part of his electorate, so he does not make anti gun statements. None of the state premiers who signed on for Howard's 1996 gun ban are in office, IIRC all but Bob Carr went at the next election and Howard's party has been out of office in every state since. This is of course never mentioned in the press.
Anyway, I went shooting on Monday and I'll hopefully shoot a couple of IPSC stages on Saturday. Gun ownership isn't thriving in OZ, but it sure isn't dead.
