Australia is confused with Austria way too often for anyone’s liking

NOTHING makes a true-blue Aussie cringe like the moment when our country gets confused with Austria — and yet the mistake happens more often than you might think.

Austrians all, let us rejoice

WHEN the government of Burkina Faso announced last week that an Austrian couple had been kidnapped by Islamic militants, only to correct themselves several hours later with the news that it was in fact an Australian couple, it was an excruciating reminder just how frequently the two countries are mistaken for one another.

This confusion — which was the basis for a TV ad campaign for realestate.com.au starring Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2014 — is a matter of exquisite embarrassment for most Australians. It’s like an arrow that goes straight through the heart of our cultural cringe — reinforcing the idea that our country is on the edge of things, or a bit forgettable, somehow.

The mistake is just as maddening to the Austrians, as evidenced by the T-shirts emblazoned with the words ‘No kangaroos in Austria’ available in tourist shops in Vienna.

On the eve of our national day, here’s a look at those cringe-making times when the sunburnt country has been confused with that radically smaller landlocked nation on the other side of the globe.

THAT TIME THEY PUT A JULIA GILLARD DOLL IN A DIRNDL

SOUTH Korean officials were left red-faced — as were most Aussies — when a doll representing then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard was dressed in a traditional Austrian dress ahead of the G20 Summit in Seoul in 2010. The doll — part of a diorama of world leaders, all in national dress — was give a quick makeover once the mistake was realised. Maddeningly, Austria is not even a member nation of the G20.

THAT TIME GEORGE W BUSH CONFUSED AUSTRIA AND AUSTRALIA — IN AUSTRALIA

US President George W Bush was speaking at a business forum in Sydney ahead of the September 2007 APEC summit when he made one of his famous gaffes. During his speech, the then-leader of the free world thanked then-Prime Minister John Howard for visiting “Austrian troops” while he was in Iraq. In the same speech he also managed to confuse APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) with OPEC (Organistion of the Petroleum-Exporting Countries).

THAT TIME BAN KI-MOON CONFUSED AUSTRIA AND AUSTRALIA — IN AUSTRIA

PROVING that anybody can make a mistake, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “did a W” on a visit to Vienna in 2014. Giving the opening speech at a UN conference on developing nations, the usual gaffe-free UN chief thanked “the government of Australia” for hosting the event.

THAT TIME MARCIA HINES THOUGHT SHE WAS MOVING TO EUROPE

IN a 2004 interview with the ABC, American-born songstress Marcia Hines revealed she thought she was getting on a plane to Austria when she came to Australia in 1970, aged 16, to perform in the musical Hair.

“You’re not taught about countries in America,” Hines explained to an incredulous George Negus. “The truth of the matter is in school, especially in my school, if we didn’t import or export, if there wasn’t something that the country gave us, we didn’t learn about it. I still find that in America. America’s very insular. They talk about their world, and they don’t really share what’s going on with the rest of the world.”

Hines and her adopted country quickly fell in love, and the affection remains strong to this day.

THOSE TIMES WHEN THEY PLAYED THE WRONG ANTHEM OR RAISED THE WRONG FLAG

EDWIN Flack is remembered as Australia’s first Olympic medallist. Competing in the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, Flack won the 800 and 1500-metre finals, but officials initially raised the Austrian flag during the medal presentation ceremony. Their confusion was perhaps forgivable — this was still five years before Federation — but the Australian flag and anthem have presented a problem for the organisers of other sporting events over the years.

Aussie Formula 1 driver Alan Jones won his first Grand Prix in Austria in 1977 — but his surprise victory caught organisers by surprise.

“The organisers obviously didn’t expect it to happen because they didn’t have the Australian national anthem,” Jones revealed in an interview. “So a drunk played Happy Birthday on a trumpet — of which there were plenty in Austria.”

Organisers also didn’t have the Australian national anthem on hand when Zali Steggall skied to victory in the 1999 World Alpine Skiing Championships. Reports of the music played during the medal ceremony vary — some say it was the Austrian anthem, others say it was the Armenian or Azerbaijanian anthem, and still others swear it was a funeral dirge — but one thing is for sure: it certainly wasn’t Advance Australia Fair.

An even more egregious mistake was made when the Australian men’s hockey team played their opening match against Belgium in the world hockey championships in The Netherlands in 2013. As the Kookaburras stood about on the pitch prior to the match, they were subjected to the Kiwi national anthem God Save New Zealand playing on the PA.

Originally published as Australia is confused with Austria way too often for anyone’s liking