‘Dark side of Australia’: British expat’s culture shock divides

A British woman currently living on the Gold Coast has claimed there’s an “unspoken dark side of Australia”, sparking an intense debate.

A British woman living on the Gold Coast has claimed there’s an “unspoken dark side of Australia” in a video that has sparked an intense debate.

Eloise Juliet has been in the country for three months, but in just a short space of time, she claims to have uncovered a “very Australia-specific issue” while living Down Under.

In a viral clip, the young expat discussed her observations, stating she felt a “weird oppressive strange sensation” everywhere she went.

Things quickly got heated, with some claiming Ms Juliet’s opinion was a “massive generalisation” – while others argued she had “nailed it”.

“From what I have observed since being here, Australians have a very weird and complicated relationship with emotions,” she said in the video.

“It ties into misogyny, it ties into men acting very strangely towards women; AKA just not knowing how to deal with them at all, or treating them like objects.

“It’s just a lot worse here.”

Ms Juliet said she believed it was a symptom of a “deeper-rooted” problem among Australians.

“What people don’t talk about is that this is the result of something deeper rooted into Australian culture,” she continued.

“It is seen as so taboo here, it’s not even something people are telling you, it’s this unspoken feeling. You can feel it in the air. There’s this weird oppressive strange sensation... where I’m not supposed to share anything authentic about how I am feeling to this person.

“There is a sense that if you do so, you are not safe and it will not be well received.”

Eloise Juliet has been living on the Gold Coast for three months and reckons she’s been surprised by how ‘emotionally stunted’ Australians are. Picture: TikTok/@eloise_juliet

Ms Juliet, who is a dual citizen and is currently studying in Queensland, claimed the problem was not nearly as bad in the UK, stating Aussies may ask “how are you”, but they don’t really want the answer.

“If you say, ‘Do you know what, I’m actually not doing too well’, they get this like panic behind their eyes,” she said.

“They don’t want the real answer, they don’t want to know and it just creates this culture of emotionally-stunted people.

“It’s why everyone here is just so much more immature than anyone else I’ve ever come across in the rest of the world.”

She concluded by alleging that this has left Australians “emotionally stunted” and “immature”, describing it as the “dark side” of the culture that no one talks about.

Her views quickly attracted a mixed bag of attention, with many disagreeing with her take on local culture.

“Yeah… nah girl. Aussie born and bred, never had this issue hey,” one raged.

“As an Australian. Hard disagree. Think you’ve just been hanging around the wrong crowd,” another claimed.

As one sarcastically remarked: “Says the person who’s been in Australia for 3 months.”

“Imagine saying it’s a whole population of 26 million people instead of considering maybe just maybe it could be you,” mused another.

Her observation has divided the nation, with some agreeing as others ‘hard disagreed’. Picture: TikTok/@eloise_juliet

Others however agreed with Ms Juliet.

“Very true, we pride ourselves on being so laid-back yet we lack spirit and actual feeling,” one reasoned.

“As an Aussie I’m surprised a lot of the other comments are disagreeing because I’ve been saying this for YEARS,” said another.

“FACTSSS I’ve been saying this! We are so different from other countries,” agreed someone else.

The clip, which has been viewed almost 600,000 times, has stirred such a response Ms Juliet has shared a follow up video in which she clapped back at some of the most common criticisms she received.

In the clip addressing the “very heated” response, she explained she had travelled to different parts of the country, and felt it everywhere.

News.com.au has contacted Ms Juliet for further comment.

Originally published as ‘Dark side of Australia’: British expat’s culture shock divides