Why Maurice Newman is celebrating Australia Day

Australian businessman Maurice Newman came to Australia with his parents as a child. He quickly learnt the ‘dinky di Aussie’ way — and he has no regrets.

On May 10, 1949, my parents and I stepped ashore at Pier 13 Pyrmont, Sydney, in search of a new life.

After departing the port of Tilbury some five weeks earlier, the Orient liner SS Orontes had become a comfortable and familiar home for us. However, once off the ship, we quickly realised this wasn’t Britain with an Aussie accent.

What we observed was a rugged, self-confident society, clearly born of a harsh climate and thinly distributed population. Coming from England, where class was important, we were struck by the informality and apparent absence of class.

Whatever misgivings my parents may have had would have been immediately dispelled by memories of post-war Britain with its austerity, food rationing and smogs.

My father, a door-to-door salesman, quickly found employment which allowed us to rent a small flat. My mother got a job in the shop downstairs.

Maurice Newman is grateful his parents had the forsight to leave England when they did and to Australia for the opportunities it has afforded him to attain success. Picture: Adam Yip

I attended Gordon Public and North Sydney Boys High schools where my Englishness was knocked or teased out of me. But I got no solace at home. From Day One, my father insisted on assimilation.

By the time I left school and had a job at the Commonwealth Bank’s Hornsby branch, I was a dinky di Aussie, even barracking for Australia against England in cricket.

I realise that for migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds the task of assimilating would have been challenging – but assimilate they did.

After leaving the bank for a career in stockbroking, I frequently visited Britain. It was then that I fully appreciated the wisdom and courage of my parents. Not only did I thank them every day for leaving England, but this country too, for the opportunities it has offered me and my family, despite my humble background.

From my first visit, I realised that Britain had become a welfare state. The Bank of England, coal mining, the railways and the steel industry had all been nationalised. Multiple misguided governments sent Britain down the socialist road from which it has never recovered.

Sadly, Australia now treads a similar path. Bigger governments displace personal responsibility. They dampen that entrepreneurial spirit and rugged individualism which greeted us when we stepped off the ship. They play to minorities and undermine the “fair go” principle by rewarding political favourites.

I may not be indigenous to this country but I feel as attached to this land as anyone who is native born. Indeed, I pay my respects to the pioneers and settlers who, from the very beginning, renounced slavery, rewarded achievement and created a prosperous egalitarian society. And I salute all those who, in war, sacrificed so much that we and future generations could live in freedom.

I reject the notion of cultural relativism and denounce all those who demean our heritage and our values. Our culture is better in so many ways and is recognised as such by the millions escaping tyranny or who, like my parents, are simply in search of a better future.

It’s why I’m celebrating Australia Day.

Maurcie Newman is an Australian businessman.