The first was the extent to which creative Australians are now reliant on motifs borrowed from Aboriginal culture for their sense of what makes this country distinctive, of what lends it timelessness, mystery and depth. The second was the degree to which our intelligentsia have liberated themselves from the old colonial cultural cringe. In placing the suburban motor mower and the outdoor dunny at the centre of our national myth, those who choreographed the opening ceremony declined to feed their vast global audience with the familiar stereotypes and invited it, instead, to take an interest in a nation they did not yet understand. After the opening ceremony the serious business began. It was not long before we all came to realise, with considerable pleasure, that Australian athletes were going to be extraordinarily successful across a very wide range of sports.
Some explanations are obvious.
Among Australian schoolchildren the only form of elite achievement not regarded with ambivalence is sport. Even more importantly in Australian life, sport has assumed a sacred place. During these Olympics, without a hint of irony, ABC Radio played the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah when reminding its listeners of gold. Some explanations, however, are less obvious. Many of our political controversies turn on the capacity of the state or the market to deliver to us most efficiently the goods we desire.