Jim Haynes - Great Furphies of Australian History: What you really need to know - the truth behind the myths

Jim Haynes is a first-generation Aussie whose mother migrated from the UK as a child during the Depression. His father arrived on a British warship at the end of World War II, met his mother and stayed. My parents always insisted we were Australian, not British, says Jim.

Educated at Sydney Boys High School and Sydney Teachers College, he taught for six years at Menindee, on the Darling River, and later at high schools in northern New South Wales and in London. Jim has also worked in radio and as a nurse, cleaner and sapphire salesman, and has two degrees in literature from the University of New England and a masters degree from the University of Wales in the UK.

Jim formed the Bandy Bill & Co Bush Band in Inverell in 1978. He also worked in commercial radio and on the popular ABC program Australia All Over. In 1988 he signed as a solo recording artist with Festival Records, began touring and had a minor hit with Mow Ya Lawn. Other record deals followed, along with hits like Since Cheryl Went Feral and Dont Call Wagga Wagga Wagga.

Jim was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2016 for service to the performing arts as an entertainer, author, broadcaster and historian. He has written and compiled 29 books, released many albums of songs, verse and humour, and broadcast his weekly Australiana segment on Macquarie Radio for twenty years. He lives at Moore Park in Sydney with his wife, Robyn.

Adventurers, Pioneers and Misfits

The Big Book of Australias War Stories

Best Australian Drinking Stories

Great Australian Scams, Cons and Rorts

Australias Most Unbelievable True Stories

The Big Book of Australian Racing Stories

The Best Gallipoli Yarns and Forgotten Stories

Australias Best Unknown Stories

The Best Australian Yarns

The Best Australian Bush Stories

The Best Australian Sea Stories

The Best Australian Trucking Stories

The Great Australian Book of Limericks

The Best Australian Racing Stories

The Big Book of Verse for Aussie Kids

First published in 2021

Copyright Jim Haynes 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

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For Robyn

Australian history is almost always picturesque; indeed, it is so curious and strange, that it is itself the chiefest novelty the country has to offer, and so it pushes the other novelties into second and third place. It does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies. And all of a fresh new sort, no mouldy old stale ones. It is full of surprises, and adventures, and incongruities, and contradictions, and incredibilities

Mark Twain, Following the Equator

you should say what you mean, the March Hare went on.

I do, Alice hastily replied, at leastat least I mean what I saythats the same thing you know.

Not the same thing a bit! said the Hatter.

Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, 1865

One of the greatest of all Aussie myths, relating to our landscapes and characters and lifestyle, is that we inhabit a land of deserts, tough outback characters, rural pursuits and vast stretches of bushland.

Well, Australia does have vast bushland and vast deserts, and there are a few tough outback characters, though they are hard to find these days.

The truth is that Australia ranks in the top 5 per cent of the most urbanised nations in the world and our population hugs the coast. Only a tiny percentage of our population has ever lived in the outback and it is as big a mystery to most Australians as it is to the rest of the world. The outback, for most Australians, is an exotic tourist destination.

The distinguishing factor that shaped our history and our national character is actually the fact that we are surrounded by ocean. Before the European invasion, the vast majority of Indigenous people lived on the coast or within easy reach of the sea. When Europeans arrived they had to cling to the coastal areas of the continent for obvious reasons.

Firstly, thats where much of the fertile land is and easy access to fresh water. Secondly, the sea was the primary means of transport until quite recently. It was the major link for Australians travelling to other parts of the country, and indeed it was Australias only link to the rest of the world. We became a wealthy nation not because we produced wool, gold, beef, coal and iron in vast quantities from the inland, but because clipper ships and steamers carried our wool, gold, beef, coal and iron to the world.

The distinguishing characteristic of Australias history and lifestyle is that we are girt by sea.

Australians, along with all other human beings, believe many things that are not true. This is because we have been told about them by people we respectteachers, those in the media, authors, religious leaders, family membersand the stories have been constantly repeatedin history books, textbooks, advertising material, trivia quizzes and by word of mouth.

Often, we believe them because we simply like the story that goes with the lie, and even enjoy passing it on, because it makes us seem well informed, knowledgeable and clever.

If the lie seems a more interesting and colourful story than the truth, chances are that it will become generally accepted and passed around until it becomes the myth that people choose to believe, without even challenging the story by applying any test of probability, credibility or common senseor testing its validity with any research.

Once the myth is accepted, it often becomes part of the collected information on Google and Wikipedia, and then there is a good chance it will become widely believed and disseminated as the truth.

Often these stories become accepted and popularised in the form of an urban myth and, although many of them are easily proven to be untrue by even the most cursory research, they continue to be believed.

With such things as bush folklore, mistaken word and name derivations, and sporting history furphies, these misconceptions that become myths are merely an annoyance to pedants and those with particular related academic or recreational interests.

Often, sentiment plays a part, and comforting lies are more palatable than uncomfortable truths. There is, however, a far more sinister side to myth creation.