‘White lies, archival truths and R.J.L. Hawke‘, Inside Story, 17 October 2024
This article contains archivist Piggott’s close analysis of the evidence relating to Hawke’s swim – or not-swim – in a pond at the Australian National University in 1957. He (Hawke) probably didn’t – or did he? – but, either way, he probably didn’t remember the occasion all that well as he got older.
A memorable takeaway from this article derives from another alleged Hawke achievement of drinking lots of beer in a short time and that is the term ‘Ocker Chic’. (Cameron Coventry authored the relevant article.)
That term encapsulates how, in a culture that claims to lop tall poppies, cachet is still bestowed and certain cliches are common. Lurking beneath ‘Ocker Chic’, there will likely be some ‘lovable larrikins’ gathered ‘over a few cold ones’ while the ‘Sheilas’ stand apart. The Monty Pythons thought most of the blokes were called ‘Bruce’.
That all sounds a bit 1950s, I know, but one layer of Bob Hawke was pickled in that decade and the next (and provided cover for his smarter layers) so we’ll leave it in. And we’ll try to work in the word ‘iconic’, as well.
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!
24 October 2024
Michael Piggott AM is one of the distinguished Supporters of the Defending Country campaign, based on our sister website Defending Country.
