by Chris Pearce

Created on: January 25, 2010

Australia was first referred to as “The Lucky Country” in 1964. It was in this year that well known Australian writer and social critic Professor Donald Horne published a book by that name. The title came from the first sentence of the last chapter: “Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck.” Since then, the nickname has been used by many people in various contexts.

Horne was the author of three novels and about 20 volumes of history and social comment. “The Lucky Country” is his best known work. The book is a study of Australian society in the 1960s. He argued that Australia was stuck in a past era of narrow outlook, a lack of culture, and dependence on the old ways of doing things and on the mother country. Australia had prospered through agriculture and mining. Most of its manufacturing was based on processing the products of these industries and there was a lack of technology and innovation that was seen in other industrialised countries by that time. Protectionism had served the country well, and much of industry had become propped up by subsidies and tariffs. Banking was another sector held back by heavy regulation. Foreign policy was tied more to other English speaking countries rather than nearer Asian neighbours.

He pointed out that other countries were producing a much more highly educated and skilled workforce than Australia and this was holding the country back too. The lack of opportunities in Australia led to a “brain drain” of highly skilled people to overseas countries where their abilities were more appreciated. There was also a feeling in the 1960s that things made in Australia - films, literature, manufactured products - were not as good as those made overseas. He criticised the White Australia Policy and the country’s reliance on a political system set up to serve Britain.

Thus Australia was drifting along rather than moving with the rest of the world, but was somehow still quite successful, especially in economic terms. While other advanced countries were progressing through technology, innovation, education, home-grown culture, and by determining their own destiny, Australia seemed to be doing it through luck, and hanging onto things that had worked in the past. Other countries were creating wealth by being clever, Australia was relying on luck, meaning that it was lucky that many of the old ways still did work, but might not for too much longer.

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