Lucky Country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Lucky Country" is a nickname sometimes used to describe Australia, taken from the 1964 book of the same name by social critic Donald Horne.
It has no one particular meaning, but is generally used favorably; among other things, it has been used in reference to Australia's natural resources, weather, history, distance from problems elsewhere in the world, and other sorts of prosperity.
[edit] Origin
The title of Horne's The Lucky Country comes from the opening words of the book's last chapter:
Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck.
Horne's statement was actually made ironically, as an indictment of 1960s Australia. His intent was to comment that, while other industralised nations created wealth using "clever" means such as technology and other innovations, Australia did not. Rather, Australia's economic prosperity was largely derived from its rich natural resources. Horne observed that Australia "showed less enterprise than almost any other prosperous industrial society." [1]
In the decades following his book's publication, Horne became critical of the "lucky country" phrase being used as a term of endearment for Australia. He commented, "I have had to sit through the most appalling rubbish as successive generations misapplied this phrase." [2]
[edit] External links
- "Lucky Country" article, from the Australian government's Culture and Recreation Portal
- "Still lucky, but getting smarter," article by Horne revisiting The Lucky Country on the 40th anniversary of its publication, from The Age
