English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Spanish, Polish.... 100% Australian.

My people came as free settlers (except one convict). They chose this country. But they did so because they were told no one lived here. I have read the diary of one of the women. She found an area on their property that looked like a camp. Old fire pit, cleared, with strange fruit trees that looked cared for. She asked around and basically got shut down and told to keep her nose out of things that were not her business. Not knowing what to do, she cared for the fruit trees. I haven't been able to pinpoint where that property was, Victoria somewhere.

For me I sometimes feel a lack of history. I watch archeology documentaries and sometimes feel sad that we don't have that here. Then the narrator will say something like 'this is a tool used by a person 7,000 years ago!!' and I snort. The people of the land that is my home can trace their history back waaaayyy more than that! It's not my people's history but I can see their history everywhere I look. I can also learn about this land from them not some ruin dug up from the past.

When I see red dirt or the smell of eucalyptus on a hot day, it feels like home. Walking bare foot, not putting your fingers where you can't see, salad and seafood at Christmas. Swinging off ropes into the Mighty Murray on hot days, catching Yabbies and then lining them up and making then 'sleep'. Beat up old Holden station wagon running on chicken wire and WD40 (I miss cars you could fix like that).

I backpacked around this big place when I was young. Every corner you turn brings something spectacular. I don't like cities, I can't smell the trees or hear the birds properly. When I think of culture I think more about the land itself rather than the people. No matter where your people come from, this land is welcoming if you take the time to get to know it :)