Aspects of the national narrative of an advanced industrialised nation are examined in this research. Nationally representative survey data suggest the most important collective figures for Australian identity are the Anzacs, colonial free settlers and post-Second World War immigrants, while sporting heroes have a negligible influence upon what it means to be Australian. Although many Australians have ancestors who were transported, the convict ‘stain’ persists, while indigenous people are also under-represented in Australian identity myths. The most important individual Australians are not the heroes, saints or sages of an earlier ‘golden era’ nor contemporary sporting heroes, but political leaders, medical doctors and scientists who have (had) actual rather than mythical influence upon the everyday lives of Australians.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Anzacs, Australia, myth and memory, national identity, politics, sport
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Sociology not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Culture and Society
Objective Group:	Other culture and society
Objective Field:	Other culture and society not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Tranter, B (Professor Bruce Tranter)
UTAS Author:	Donoghue, J (Dr Jed Donoghue)
ID Code:	96354
Year Published:	2014
Web of Science® Times Cited:	12
Deposited By:	School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2014-10-31
Last Modified:	2018-01-09
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