Being Australian

With yet more visitors arriving from North America, somehow the discussion came around Australian history and personality traits.
There is material enough 'out there' to fill books - nay, libraries - with answers to the question of what it means to be an Australian. And I've only got 5 minutes, so here are a few suggestions instead, summarised today:

• laid-back
• hard-working
• bigoted
• relaxed
• non-judgemental
• self-deprecating
• jingoistic
• ...some I've forgotten.
  

Notice some of these appear contradictory, and of course, like any culture there are the stereotypes and there are others' perceptions of reality. Because it is a subjective issue, there is probably no reality.

I just found some others' thoughts, and one that I like and can relate to, is an attachment to the land/countryside. I'm a city-based Anglo-Saxon, so I won't claim this attachment is close to that apparently grokked by the indigenous people of Australia, or even Anglo-Saxon farmers and country people who get their hands dirty every day in dry soil. But it's there nonetheless. I sense it every time I walk into my backyard and watch gum leaves shower down over the immovable sandstone boulders at the top of the lawn...

Anyway, here are those references:
1. "Fora": The follow-on comments here are interesting, but will soon lose most outsiders as they shift into discussions of historic cricket personalities.
2."Nobody Important": Apparently an ex-pat now living in Vancouver, and the source of the 'land' reference. He/she points to other bloggers too - one is mostly pics, and to see the Australian stuff you've got jump down past the kittens!