Would anyone be interested in a bit of Aussie trivia ? ......

Melbourne, Australia has the second largest Greek population in the world. The order is like this :

1. Athens
2. Melbourne
3. Thessaloniki

In the 1960s, there was a huge migration here from southern Europe (mainly from Greece, but also Italy and Malta)

The current $10 bill features a portrait of Banjo Paterson, author of 'Waltzing Matilda". If you look at the background (in front of the face) under a high-power magnifier, in microscopic text are the complete lyrics to another of his songs, "The Man From Snowy River".

How about in those same 60's you could set sail from England for as little as  20 English Pounds a head as an immigrant.  In those  days they were keen to populate the country were they not :)

Quote -   In those  days they were keen to populate the country were they not :)

Have one for Mum, one for Dad and one for Australia ...

"Ten Pound Poms" was the term here in some parts of the UK. Apperantly because thats what cost. Some say If you came back to the UK within a set time period you had to pay it back.  

Personally if someone said a trip to oz for a tenner I'd be on the 1st boat going. Because it's bl***y freezing here!  

Yes - I think you're right Mr Sparky.  Think it just  converted to around 20 Pounds AU.

Heh , didn't you have  unseasonably warm winter  days not so long ago?  Weather's crazy everywhere now.  Our summer can vary more than 10 degrees [Celsius] from one day to the next this season.  A real see-saw.

Bloody isn't considered a cuss-word in Australia, I think...

Oh yes it is ... in spite of that, a lot of people still use the word.

I'm surprised you think so Mathman. :) 

Just recently there was that 'controversy' re the Australian Tourist Board Ad being banned in England for a bit.  You know the one where a bikini-clad beach girl asks "..so where the bloody hell are you?'  of the presumably ogling would-be- tourists.  Well the British censors were laughed at both here and Britain for declaring it  swearing and soon re-instated the ad. ( Which certainly didn't suffer from the resultant publicity,)

From my point of view- when I first was learning English I just couldn't understand what was cuss-worthy about being bloody. It still means nothing to me - but I use it now and then  just to be
embracing of local idioms.

I certainly don't personally get offended by the word "bloody", but a lot of Aussies still do and I guess that's why I categorised it as being a "naughty word". I see the Australian Tourist Board ad as being funny, simply because I know that's going to upset a few people.

That's bloody fantastic!! Thanks for the great thread mathman!

Ozzie, ozzie, ozzie, Oi, oi, oi!!! Happy Australian Day everybody.

Quote - "  In those  days they were keen to populate the country were they not :)"

 
Quote wheatpenny: " 
"Have one for Mum, one for Dad and one for Australia ..."

Lol wheatpenny  - the penny just dropped  - so t speak.   I honestly thought you were mixing this thread up with that other one where someone urges you to have some tinnies with us in celebration.

But you were referring to offspring weren't you?   How dense of me.  Was that an actual slogan at the time?    Bet  it produced a few funnies at the time.   I can think of a few now. :)

'Bloody' is nothing.  It is sort of like 'damn' (and only insulting to good kahreeshtons').

'Bugger' on the other hand isn't about bugs.  It's about 'buggery'.  You look it up. :)  But it has more or less been reduced to the same status as 'bloody' in its intent (e.g.: frustration).

Oh, this was about Australia Day.

Best Australia Day Ever, Mates!!! :D

Thanks kuroyume :)

Just submitted a litle dissertation on that bugger word which I find a lot more humorous than the f word -yet somehow satisfyingly well rounded as words go - but bugger me if it didn't go MIA.

So if there's a double post  - well you know what happened. :)

Quote - Quote - "  In those  days they were keen to populate the country were they not :)"

 
Quote wheatpenny: " 
"Have one for Mum, one for Dad and one for Australia ..."

Lol wheatpenny  - the penny just dropped  - so t speak.   I honestly thought you were mixing this thread up with that other one where someone urges you to have some tinnies with us in celebration.

But you were referring to offspring weren't you?   How dense of me.  Was that an actual slogan at the time?    Bet  it produced a few funnies at the time.   I can think of a few now. :)

Yeah, that was  a slogan during the post-WW2 era, when the government was trying (again) to raise the birthrate to populate the country.
That slogan and the family money payments.
The slogan is gone, but the "2 bob a weeK" is still there from what I hear. 

*"Have one for Mum, one for Dad and one for Australia"

*I thought this was something that Peter Costello said recently ?

I'm sure the Outback Steak house also has nothing to do with Australia, either..;)

What is the Outback Steak House ?

It's one of those pseudo-australian things we have here. For a while, Australia was  abit of a fad here (in the wake of the Crocodile Dundee movies).
I also remember back in the 70s a canned "australian" soft drink called "Wallaby Squash", which an aussie exchange student said they didn't have down there.

Oh no, Crocodile Dundee .... one of Australia's great embarrassments...