God, British Empire out … what binds 21st-century Australia?

We may not be united by God and empire as we once were. But we remain intensely united when it counts, writes Bernard Salt.

A few weeks ago I spoke at an event in Melbourne that brings together older Australians with an interest in continued education and learning. For 40 minutes I spoke about my optimism for the Australian nation and people. This was followed by a Q&A, which included a question I have never been asked before: “Is there a single value, ideal or concept that galvanises the Australian people?”

What a cracker of a question: grand, patriotic, curious – and haunting, because it raises the prospect that maybe there is nothing that unites us anymore. I can’t remember what I answered but I’m sure it was inadequate. It is a question that deserves consideration by all Australians because it goes to the core of who we are as a people and what we stand for as a nation. We need to know where we’re going. We need more than prosperity. We need purpose, meaning, a grand ideal. What is the idea, the notion, that holds us together?

Rightly or wrongly, for much of the past 250 years we Australians have generally regarded ourselves as citizens of the British Empire. And we held fast to traditional belief systems based on a few variations of the Christian religion. The concepts of God and country, together with family and community, were sufficiently galvanising to prompt thousands of young men to join expeditionary forces in Europe and elsewhere during two world wars. However, I doubt that God and country, let alone the idea of empire, could similarly galvanise 21st century Australia.

Family and community remain, I think, the last bastions of Australian togetherness. Especially coming out of the pandemic. For many, this has been a time of reassessment of what is important in life: family, friends, community. But long gone or at least receding are many of the ideals, the institutions that in the past held us together as a nation. Could it be that traditionally galvanising forces such as empire and church have been replaced by new concepts such as adherence to commonly accepted causes for good, such as tackling climate change, the pursuit of social justice, the desire to be “on the right side of history”? All ennobling ideals, don’t you think?

Cathy Freeman’s gold medal in 2000 brought Australians together.

Certainly, there is pride whenever Aussies win Olympic gold medals. I think every Australian willed Cathy Freeman to win her race at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. There was a collective sigh of relief when miners were rescued from Tassie’s Beaconsfield, when Aussie divers saved boys from drowning in Thai caves, when a lost child is found in the Australian bush. And every summer we are galvanised in admiration of the bravery, selflessness and persistence of fire fighters, search parties, surf life savers and the police. It isn’t so much droughts and flooding rains; it is our response to them. We Australians are tested on our unity skills every summer.

We may not be united by God and empire as we once were. But we remain intensely united when it counts. The challenge, as I see it, is to harness that electric spirit of unity whenever discord and disharmony seem ascendant. Our common value, taught to us every summer, is our ability to remain unified and stiffened in our resolve to face and overcome whatever adversities lie ahead.