An Australophile (or Ozophile) is someone with an appreciation or love of Australia, which may include its history, geography, language (especially Australian English), culture and popular media. While Australians may be classified as Australophiles (see: Australian nationalism), non-Australians may also self-identify or be considered as Australophiles. The rise of Australophilia can be linked to the emergence of Australian films and tourism campaigns in the United States throughout the 1980s.
The antonym for an Australophile is an Australophobe.
Historical overview
Australophilia (or Australomania) did not exist in any documented form before 1901, as Australia was colonised in 1788 and became a federation in 1901. Its shorter national history is one reason that Australophilia is newer and less developed when compared to other national philias, such as Anglophilia and Francophilia. Other reasons may include Australia's reliance on the United Kingdom's cultural identity, the Americanisation of Australian popular media before the 1950s, and the pressures of globalisation on Australian media.
The rise of Australophilia in the international community during the 1980s was preceded by Australia's attempts to establish a recognisably Australian national identity, rather than one which relied on the United Kingdom or the United States. Initiatives like the Australian Made campaign and the Fraser government's 1979 Advance Australia campaign allowed Australia to market its assets, like its native fauna and geography, on a global scale. Australia's national identity became recognisably more Australian by the 1980s, but competing mythoi like the natural rural outback and man-made urban beaches caused misconceptions to arise in the Australian national identity. Such misconceptions have remained as a result of popular media and advertisements, including tourism posters, Australian Olympic ceremonies and aircraft cabins.
One early recorded use of the term Australophile is in Germaine Greer’s 1982 article on the rise of Australophilia, where she wrote about the difference "between me and the current generation of Australophiles." While Greer was critical of Australophilia, describing Australia as "a land of lotus-eaters" and Australophilia itself as "the flap and twitter of the current craze for things Oz," the 1980s was a decade that saw the rise of Australophilia in the international community. This came from a surge in Americanised tourism campaigns and the success of Australian films in Hollywood (like Crocodile Dundee), both of which specifically contributed to the growth of Australia's tourism industry and global interest in Australian culture.
Australian stereotyping
The rise of Australophilia has been fuelled by the spread of Australian stereotypes, especially linguistic and cultural stereotypes. While Australophilia in the early 21st century differs from the late 20th century, stereotypes regarding Australian culture, Australian English and other aspects of Australia have been prevalent since the 1980s. Many of these stereotypes have led to misconceptions of Australia, such as the vulgarity of Australian English and the Australian people (see: larrikin and ocker).
One common linguistic stereotype includes the assumption that most Australians use words like "mate" and "bloody" in everyday conversation. Another is the perception of Australian English as a casual and vulgar variant of the English language. These have been reinforced by tourism campaigns and popular media promoting certain modes of Australian English since the 1980s, such as Paul Hogan’s popularisation of "g’day" and Barry Humphries’ use of colloquial idioms like "as dry as a kookaburra’s khyber."
One common cultural stereotype includes the mythos of a mineral-rich but lazy Australian working class, connected to Donald Horne’s 1960s reference of Australia as "the Lucky Country." Another is the misrepresentation of outback Australia and its wildlife for commercialisation, like the crocodile motifs in the Northern Territory. Like linguistic stereotypes, these cultural stereotypes have been reinforced by tourism campaigns and popular media, resulting in the "distinctive way of life" popularising the Australian outback lifestyle in Crocodile Dundee and the contemporary urban lifestyle shown in the Australian soap opera Neighbours.