Laura Tingle comments, page-228

Now that's really weird talking about the culture back then... I recall seeing 'They're a Weird Mob' and it was funny and my experience might be a bit cloudy for good reason, but I worked with 20+ Italians and 20+ Greeks in one workplace for a decade and I recall being told they didn't get on but I didn't see any of that. I remember clearly going to a couple their places for a feed, drinking with them at the pub, delivering hams at Xmas.

'The Wog Boy' was a funny movie, Italians and Greeks got the piss taken out them on various comedy shows that wouldn't see the light of day today, Kingswood Country, and I reckon it helped them integrate in the blink of an eye. The Irish copped it too but it was just banter, protestants copped it, it was just the way it was.

I listened to Fighting Harada and Lionel Rose fight in Tokyo and Lionel Rose was a hero, Australian of The Year, King of Moomba but I remember as a young fella thinking how come he's a hero yet the others are 'bloody useless' NOT my thoughts at any stage but they were comments among the oldies at the time. I think I was too young and too busy with other stuff to worry too much about things like that.

I recall in the 90's a young bloke under my care nicked off from work for a week, he came back and I thought well I can't lay into him coz I've done the same myself. Where in the 'F' have you been says me chuckling a bit. Walkabout he says, then he explained it to me, never heard of it before. He was a ripping young bloke, he had things to do other than work... I could relate to that earlier in my working life

I'm sure I yelled racist obscenities at the footy at the Greeks or Italians, at our indigenous almost certainly not, I'd hope not, I think not as there weren't many indigenous playing so that might have helped.

It's changed for the better, a few more generations and the dim distant past will be just that. My grandchildren have parents with not a racist bone in their body and their kids, a couple of generations further on won't know what the hell racism was.

Dunno about fixing the ME though...