At least we know what Australia we are talking about

1Australia is the lucky country.

Today, as questions swirl around about what it means to be Australian, at least we know where we are talking about. In many parts of the world this essential first question lies unanswered.

Look to Europe for the most obvious examples of nations failing to overlap countries' international frontiers. We all talk of England as if it were a country, which it is not in the strict sense, but rather a nation within the United Kingdom, or Britain. Having been born near Oxford, I have the option of describing myself as English, British or European depending on the situation.

Cross the channel and the situation continues. At President Nicolas Sarkozy's request, the French parliament is debating French national identity. There are over a dozen historic nations clamouring to gain greater recognition from the irredentist central government. The Bretons, Corsicans and the like want to the right to be described not only as French.

Australians are also lucky to have one national sporting team to support regardless of the event.

In Britain it is a minefield. The UK fields four national teams in soccer, three and a half in rugby, two on cricket, but only one in league and at the Olympics. In golf we are part of a European team.

Nor is Britain alone in this; 10 Caribbean island nations, three British colonies, a South American country club together with French, Dutch and US dependencies field a West Indian cricket team. As do a handful of rugby-playing Pacific Isles from time to time. The Danish Faroe islands have their own soccer team in international comps, and Hong Kong had to cheer on a windsurfer as its best gold medal hope during the recent Olympic Games held in another part of its country.

Of course national identity goes deeper than sport, but you can forgive we Poms for being less nationalistic when we fly the St George Cross on the football terraces, but the Union Jack at Wimbledon. Despite this, most Britons are comfortable with the shifting question of nationality, with UK identity reserved for official form-filling.

Britain is far from unique in this respect. Andalusians, Basques, and Catalans are defined as belonging to specific nationalities within Spain. French-speaking Québécois got their own claim to being a separate nationality written into the Canadian constitution four years ago.

Australian is the lucky country in part because national identity is simple matter. For most, being born in Australia equals Australian citizenship, Australian nationality and a guernsey to barrack for Australia in sport.

Even our closest neighbour New Zealand, having been settled by treaty with the Maoris, has a keener sense of conflict in defining its nationality. The United States, having absorbed other nations through the Louisiana Purchase, the Mexican wars and statehood for Hawaii, can also be considered a multinational country. China's autonomous regions are a hornet's nest of pent-up nationalist fervour contained through economics and central government force.

Here, West Australians will sometimes remind you when grumbling about the dominance of the eastern states that since they joined the Federation a year late, they can leave it any time they want to. There is a question mark hanging over Australia's annexation of Norfolk Island in the minds of many islanders, yet neither of these constitutes a serious threat to national unity.

There are even a couple of self-styled Royal micro-nations within Australia: His Royal Highness Prince Leonard of Hutt River enjoyed non-recognised, but non-challenged independence from the Commonwealth government for his principality four decades. Meanwhile, the Clunie-Ross family are still heirs to the throne of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, in the eyes of some.

On Australia Day immigrants to this country join one Australian nation. Again, in other countries it is not so simple. South American immigrants in Barcelona say their hearts belong to Spain, not Catalonia. There is a Black British identity among those with Caribbean heritage in London, but no Black Englishness. The divide in Quebec over whether to celebrate Canada Day or Quebec's national day, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day a week previously, is largely ignored by immigrants, who drape themselves in Maple Leaf flags, rather than the Quebec Fleur-de-Lys.

Pity the Poms again, as we have no national day to celebrate. Scotland's St Andrew is honoured with a day off work north of the border, but April 23, St George's Day goes by with barely a mention in England. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a Scot, was laughed down for his proposal two years ago to create a British national day.

There are serious issues around Australian national identity, not least the question of the 300 or so indigenous language groups that could be considered nations in other settings.

But luckily for Australia, the question of what nation you are debating is not one of them.

Justin Wastnage is a Sydney-based journalist and author of a thesis on linguistic nationalism

To read the article in its original form, click here.