Okay I definitely wasn’t expecting to see that in a game such as gossip harbour and I love that only us who would even know what “Yarn” in conversational terms would even know that’s Australian Aboriginal coded! Love it ♥️💛🖤

No spoilers plz just curious with a yes or no answer

Can anyone help me out with this? I was talking to my 2000s kids about Mr Squiggle tonight and saying how great all the characters were except this one freaky guy who would be considered questionable today. He lived in the swamp out the back and I remember him as a fairly flat marionette with a vaguelly "tiki" vibe but he was clearly meant to represent SOMETHING about Australia's indigenous culture...

But when I google "Mr Squiggle Billabong" I can't find anything. IIRC a bunch of the Squiggle tapes were "lost" due to a union dispute but I thought Billabong post-dated that.

He would have been from the Squiggle era after the basic show of the early 80s but before Gus was rocking a flowerpot and other things as a shell instead of his standard TV.

Anyone? Or have I just Mandela Effected myself due to a memory short circuit between Mr Squiggle and something bizarre like The Nargun and the Stars or Children of the Dog Star?

I just finished the second season of Heartbreak High and noticed a few references to Australian culture, like the Nutbush and Ned Kelly. After the fact I was also made aware of some that flew under the radar at first glance, like “succulent Chinese meal.” Which other ones might I and other foreigners have missed throughout the second season?

In internet we all know some references like:

• Florida man...
• Something (often weird only) in Ohio...
• Sweet Home Alabama...

Are there equivalents here in Australia? If not, which ones would be the closest? What are the ones you know and use on a daily basis for mocking and teasing mates?

There are so many in the show… I wonder which episode has the most references, too! I’ve considered trying to look into each one in a certain episode but I doubt I’d catch them all because some are pop culture, history, current events (at the time, maybe?), music, etc. and I’d probably miss a few without realizing!

There are so many! And I'm 35ish yrs old.

Firstly, sorry if I used a poor flair choice but ...

I can only imagine how much goes over readers heads that are either not savvy to Brit culture , or too young to appreciate the (popular, or movie etc) cultural references of yesteryear. Examples being those as seen in moving pictures etc or references to Brit Vs Aussie cultures in the last continent.

I always knew I was missing things back when I was a kid reading the books.

I still know I miss things even now, as an adult.

This is kind of fun because it means there is more to gain from going back to books when you're wiser or more culturally aware of general world issues and cultures. . .

But it's also kind of sad because one day, many of these social and cultural references and in jokes, will be almost completely lost to time to anyone except those with obscure fascinations with 'x'.

100 years from now who will know Priscilla Queen of the desert and understand that Petunia is a reference to that? I barely did and I'm only 1or2 generations removed from that age of flickies

I suppose it will happen with all literature to an extent but damn one day these books will be near unreadable in terms of the clever references to many phrases and cultures

AC/DC

Blinky Bill

Hey Hey it’s Saturday

Darebin Station

Franco Cozzo Furniture

David Tench Tonight

Larry Emdur

Punchin’ a dart

Hills Hoist Washing Line

Race Car Driver Peter Brock’s Car that had healing crystals in it

The film Red Dog

Tandy Electronics

Smoggies(?)

AC Cola

That ad where the kid sings firteen firtee firtee-two

Buballo Bill

Sarah-Marie Bum Dance

The 90s TV game show Amazing

Gloria Jean’s Coffees

Skip-Hop

Muffin Break Coffee

That hat with corks on it to shield away flies

Goon of fortune

The smell of a catastrophic bush fire

Con the Fruiterer

Punching a kangaroo in the muzzle

That Prime Minister who went for a swim in the ocean and disappeared and nobody cared

Australian Idol runner up Lee Harding: Wasabi

The movie Reckless Kelly

Learning the very specific dance that Australians and only Australians do at weddings to the song Nut Bush City Limits

The Energinzer Man

The Aunty Donna sketch Bikie Wars

Pretending you’re a relaxed, laid back nation but really you’re a nation of fucking cops telling on each other all the time

Richie Benno

Australian Idol Runner up and Jimmy Barnes knockoff Shannon Noll

The 12th Man’s impression of Richie Benno

Angry Anderson’s 1991 AFL Grand Final performance of Bound for Glory (he was driving the Batmobile)

Dougie the Pizza Boy

Saying “She’ll be right” to something that’s probably not right when you’re too scared to display vulnerability or admit that you don’t know how to fix something

Pointing at a really weird guy and saying to your friend “that’s your best mate”

Barnacle Bill

La Porchetta

Universal healthcare

Round the twist

Crocodile Dundee 3

Drazic from Heartbreak High

An Italian restaurant where the owner comes out to your table and does what seems like 5 minutes of outdated standup but you can’t leave because you’ve already ordered, plus he’s got this really weird threatening vibe and sure he’s kinda old and out of shape and you probably could take him in a fight but what are you going to fight this guy? I mean how’s that gonna look, it’s just gonna be awkward

Norman Gunston

Blue Heelers, both the show and the dog

John Batchelor, the guy who shouts Rodney

Murray River

Agro’s Cartoon Connection

Murray River Cod

Mulligrubs

Pete Murray

That McDonalds that’s art deco for some reason

Red Rooster, but they call it Red Rooter (nice)

Eric Bana but only as his character Poida

Not wanting to catch up with an old schoolmate for a beer because you know you don’t really have anything to say to each other anymore but you do it any and you both end up drinking a bunch in the hope of cutting through the awkwardness and it sort of works in the end and then you both promise to do it again soon which you’re obligated to do

Burgo’s Catchphrase

The Ferals

David Wenhan in Seachange

Australia’s Naughtiest Home Videos hosted by Doug Mulray

Frank Walker from National Tiles

Budgy Smugglers

Warner Brothers Movie World Police Academy Stunt Show

Getting bit by something and it’s probably nothing you reckon but it could be one of those spiders that kills you

Dacking something and/or being dacked

Trying to remember if we have any dinosaurs of note (they don’t)

The humble flat white

Tony Abbot eating an unpeeled onion

The dog on the Tucker Box

Being a YouTuber/podcaster in a community of people who don’t know what that is or what it entails so when they ask you what you do they have no follow-up questions or they have too many questions but it’s mostly about how much money you have

Mixed Net-ball

Ignoring the sense of anxiety that comes with knowing that your nation was founded on an indigenous genocide

That time Tony Martin and Mick Malloy did a man on the street interview about changing the national anthem and the guy said the Australian flag should be a bum with a fist coming out of it

Seeing a good looking woman and then going to your mate “fwaaaaa”

Eating a dim sim and/or a chiko role

Hot Christmas

The Weekly Planet Podcast!!

The Rodney Rude comedy album Ya’ Mum’s Bum