Page 841 - Week 03 - Thursday, 25 March 1993
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MRS GRASSBY: That is right. I went along to see Googie Withers and John McCallum, and it was a wonderful show. I looked around the group of people there, and most of them were 50 and over, except the row of university students behind me. Googie Withers and John McCallum were absolutely wonderful. They talked about their whole life in the theatre. They talked about all the great English authors and about all the great English actors they had acted with and met. I was sitting with somebody who was not English, a person from Holland, who knew the authors but did not know any of the actors. That person did not understand a lot of it.
The group behind me were very interesting at the interval. They commented, "What is this all about? What are they talking about? I know the authors, but who the hell are those actors? I have not heard them mention one Australian actor". They had never heard of any of the English actors. They left after the interval because they did not understand what was going on. People typified by Googie Withers and John McCallum are a race that is dying out. They are the Australian born who, when I was a child, used to say that they were going home to England. You never hear Australian-born Greek, Italian, Dutch or French people saying, "I am going home to Holland" or wherever. They do not. They are Australians.
Mr De Domenico: Yes, you do.
MRS GRASSBY: I have never heard it from any of them.
Mr Westende: I do it every year.
MRS GRASSBY: You say it because you are over 50. You were born in Holland; you were not born in this country. But I have never heard an Australian-born Italian say to me that he is going home to Italy. He might say, "I am going for a trip to Italy", but he never says, "I am going home". But that is what Australian-born Anglo-Saxons said years ago. This country is changing.
Mr Westende: Just as well we did not stay in 1600. You would be speaking double-dutch now.
MRS GRASSBY: Yes, that is right, they are all double-dutch. We know some of the rude words in English such as "Dutch oven" and the like. It is about time Australia took her place on the edge of Asia and was proud of it. I heard somebody say that Mr Keating might be our Prime Minister but he is not theirs. That is another reason why we need to be a republic. We could then vote in, by a vote of both houses, somebody all the people would be proud to call their president.
The one thing that I like when I go to America - although it can be overdone at times - is that people there are proud to be Americans, and they are proud of their flag. I would like to see us have a flag that represents the whole of Australia, not just one tiny bit of it. I would be very proud to be able to stand up and say, "Yes, I am an Australian. I belong to the Republic of Australia". I hope to goodness that I see it before I die. I know that I will. I have no fear about that. I will be proud to be part of that. I would not be like some silly people in Canada who, when they raised their wonderful flag for the first time, turned their back on it. Of course, if you talk to Canadians now, they will tell you that they are very proud of their flag.
MADAM SPEAKER: The discussion is concluded.
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