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Identity 2000
Not all people living in Western Australia would automatically identify
themselves as being Australian, let alone Western Australian. National and
regional identity are impossible to describe in anything but the broadest
of generalisations. A second generation Australian of Chinese descent, for
example, may have a different understanding of what it is to be Western
Australian to that of a Nyungar or an English migrant. A Victorian living
in Western Australia may have a completely different perspective.
The physical isolation of Western Australian communities is reflected in the State's history of sporting involvement and its sense of cultural isolation. Distance has fostered a sense of parochialism and separateness. National success, indeed national identity, has often been measured in terms of Western Australian content and Western Australian contributions.
In the 21st century West Australians are looking less to Great Britain,
or even to the eastern coast of Australia, and more towards their region:
 "because
of our isolation, there's a strong achievement focus. Our business sector
has been very progressive, for example in south-east Asia and Asia generally.
You go back to the 1960s, WA was leading the push into Japan and Korea.
I think that our isolation at that level has been a plus because we've
worked out that there are new opportunities there that we needed to take
up and the protected industries of the east weren't really taking that
up. So I think we've been achievement oriented.
Secondly, we're regionally oriented which is a big plus, particularly
south-east Asia and north Asia. Use one example, our universities I think
of all Australian universities were the first to really take up marketing
of education in Asia very successfully. They do it well, they've earned
a good income for the State and they've developed good relations with
people who live nearby so I think we've been very good on Asian issues
generally in Western Australia.
Our achievement in sport and in culture and in business I think is indicative
of a people that are keen to get on and do something, so I think there
is this achievement orientation where things aren't taken for granted
as much as they are in the other States. As I said, that's the plus side
of it.
I think the negative side of it, occasionally that can become an excuse
for breaking rules in terms of business practice. It can occasionally
become an excuse for being too aggressive and unreasonable in terms of
federal/State issues. And at times I think we can, generally speaking,
be a little bit too sensitive to our isolation. WA like all jurisdictions,
all States, all provinces, all nations is made up of contradictions and
different interests."
Geoff Gallop, April 2000.
[Battye Library, OH3012]
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