Australian Identity: Multiculturalism, ‘Mainstream Australia’ and White Fragility

This chapter analyses the dominant, settler-colonial constructs of Australia as a British place and Australian identity as connected to Britain. While these constructs reflect unequal power relations in Australian society that privilege whiteness, these dominant notions of Australian identity and society are also underpinned by anxiety. Symbols of Australian-ness, such as the national flag, the national anthem and Australia Day (Invasion Day) have all shown deference to Britain, reinforcing the construct of Australia as a settler-colonial nation with strong ties to Britain. National identity is conceptualised in political, media and policy discourses as white, Christian, English-speaking, heteronormative and masculine. This chapter shows how this interpretation of Australian-ness, and Australia, is reinforced through the reproduction of myths and figures such as ‘the digger’, the bushman, Bondi lifesaver and pioneer farmer. I analyse how this version of Australian identity is protected and reinforced by conservative politicians and media, to guard against the perceived threats of multiculturalism, immigration, and reconciliation with First Nations peoples. I draw on Hage’s concept of structural white paranoia, and the ‘white worrier’, to highlight how settler-colonial fear at the potential loss of privilege associated with whiteness motivates attempts to reproduce a white, Christian and English-speaking national identity. This chapter analyses the Australian Government's development of the Australian Citizenship Test and the ‘Australian Values’ statement, to show how the British influence on Australian identity has been celebrated. Further, I highlight how divisive rhetoric from the campaign against a Voice to Parliament aimed to mobilise white fragility and anxiety, to reinscribe Australia as a settler-colonial nation.