Home-Sickness - Ian Lilburne

The longer I stay in Europe
The more I question Australia
The obsession with sport
The trivial media
The political ineptitude
The treatment of Aboriginal people
The genocide of their culture
The selfish attitude toward refugees
The lack of critical culture
Commercial TV
The lack of credible political debate
The dearth of credible politicians
The void of leadership
The sixty-forty rule
The bland conformity
The tall poppy syndrome
The silent ridicule of anyone
Who tries to be different
Pub rock
The obsession with sport
The arrogance of the Liberal Party
The formulaic intransigence of the ALP
The myopia of the Nationals
The naïvety of the Greens
Family First and One Nation
The prevalence of sound bites
The lack of a viable manufacturing industry
The short term thinking
The primacy of money
The dig-it-up and rip-it-down
The way mediocre artists rise to the top
On the strength of their networking
Neighbours and The New Inventors
The dismissal of intellectuals
The myopia of she’ll be right
The lack of genuine critical debate
The narrow parochialism of our
Claims to be ‘World Class’
The outer suburbs
The men who drink too much beer
The fact that Rupert Murdoch was born there
The hatred of introspection
The xenophobia
The racism
The morbidly obese enviro-vandal vehicles…

Is it merely the lens of travel
That brings these things into focus?
If I lived in Europe
Would I not draft a list
Of equally passionate charges
Even the same ones
Against my adopted country?

It’s easy when travelling
To retreat to the high moral ground
Is that why exiles seem happier?
Why their individuality
Is so readily accepted?
‘It’s different where they come from
Such differences must be respected’

But the longer an exile
Remains in exile
A two-fold alienation
Envelopes them
Individual yes
Yet living a double lie
Neither here nor there
Neither us nor them

And so I return
And not just for these reasons
But for the things I love
Which the lens of travel
Also brings into focus

My wide circle of close friends
The almost perfect weather
The easy way of life
The way you can step off the treadmill
Then back on without losing a beat
The gunmetal waters of Gage Roads
When the wind’s up and the sailing brisk
The Greenough Flats
Albany in summer
The golden morning light on
The gum trees fronting Kings Park
The Australian sky
The UWA campus
The melted sunlight on a
Cloud-scattered sunset
The perfect beaches
The lazy slap of summer
Before the torpor sets in
Autumn and spring
The gentle winter
Perth when it rains
The generosity of the national spirit
The larrikin humour
The openness
The egalitarianism
The fairness of the legal system
The commitment to justice
The fair go
The ABC and SBS
The Monthly and Quarterly Essay
Rockwiz
Sydney Harbour and Matilda Bay
Lygon Street
Driving into Perth from Greenmount
The coast road to Fremantle on a hazy
Afternoon when the colours blur pastel
Cottesloe, Brighton and Bondi
Fred Williams’ landscapes
Fred Smith’s songs
Liz Frencham’s lisp
Anything by Brett Whitely
Sid Nolan and John Brack
The Heidelberg School
Max Dupain’s photography
The Dancing Man
Patrick White
Ross Edwards’ First Symphony
And Clarinet Concerto
Sculthorpe’s Kakadu
Kakadu
Our international film-makers when
They make Australian films
The Ned Kelly myth
Kerry O’Brien and Lee Lin Chin
Paul Kelly and Paul Keating
Judy Davis and Cate Blanchett
The early seasons of
Rake and Jack Irish
The actors with Prime Minister’s names
(Robert Menzies, John Howard)
Germaine Greer
Robert Hughes before the crash
Nick Cave and the Finns…

Maybe I do fit in?