Recently had a bit of a whirlwind trip to Ballarat for a cousin’s wedding. I hadn’t been there since uni games in approximately 2001, I think, where I broke my collarbone in the second bout. Anyway, I had good memories of that time, and I was expecting to enjoy it again. And I did, I guess, but I couldn’t help feel disappointed as well.
Ballarat is famous for the Eureka Stockade, one of those events that every child learns about in school. Supposedly, despite the carnage and bloodshed, this is the birth of Australian nationalism, Australian unionism, the right to a ‘fair go’. I say supposedly because such ‘national myths’ are hard to pin down at the best of times, should you even wish to. I also don’t like the idea of national myths, for what it’s worth – they exclude as much as they include, and no national myth can capture the breadth of a nation. I know, all very postmodernism of me.
Anyway, let’s talk about why it was disappointing. The one thing you notice about Ballarat is it’s evident wealth. Even more than a century and a half after the gold rush, the streets are stately, homes are vast and surrounded by lines of trees, and there are historic old buildings by the dozen. There are incredibly beautiful churches on every second corner, and in between them lie impressive schools. The town has it’s own university, a number of gold clubs, lots more.
So why did this disappoint me? I guess it’s testament to the power of wealth and capitalism. If we accept the fact that the Eureka Stockade was all about ‘a fair go’, then why are Australia’s inequalities still so starkly evident?