Mateship has long been a major aspect of the national image as projected by Australian films, yet the moralities of mateship and the image of men as mates did not go unchallenged.

Authors Avatar

Abstract

Mateship has long been a major aspect of the national image as projected by Australian films, yet the moralities of mateship and the image of men as mates did not go unchallenged. Australian cinema as a significant part of the whole industry of image-makers in the country, the way it portrays mateship, the single most important mythic element in the cultural identity of Australia, is worth analysing.

This paper first reviews the historical background of mateship in Australia and its contemporary development. The review here serves as a general discussion of mateship that provides the potential readers with some basic understandings of the idea, and as background information for the contents that I examine subsequently.

I then briefly discuss the image of mateship in an Australian film: Gallipolis (1982). The reasons for such an approach are explained within the section.

Finally, I compare the image of mateship in a contemporary local film, Idiot Box (1997), with the one in Gallipoli examined earlier and argue that the traditions of mateship are challenged in Idiot Box.

Historical Background

Mateship has a long history in Australia. If tracing its origins, we need to go back to the earliest days of settlement. However, firstly, I would like to put forward the definition of mateship  'what is mateship?' According to Ken Inglis (1998, p416), the term mateship does not originally come from Australia; but in the Oxford English Dictionary, its use is mostly explained by examples cited from this country. Also, rich entries on mateship as well as mate can be found in Australian dictionaries. According to the Australian National Dictionary, mateship is:

'The bond between equal partners or close friends; comradeship; comradeship as an ideal.'

The definitions of mate, on the other hand, are distinguished by four nineteenth-century-found usages:

'An equal partner in an enterprise'; 'An acquaintance; a person engaged in some activity'; 'One with whom the bonds of close friendship are acknowledged'; and 'A mode of address implying equality and goodwill; freq. used to a casual acquaintance and esp. in recent use…ironic.'

Other dictionaries also have their definitions of the two terms.

Mate is 'Companion, fellow worker, form of address among equals, especially sailors and labourers. 2. One of a pair, especially of birds; fitting partner in marriage etc' (Concise Oxford Dictionary).

Mateship is 'The quality or state of being a mate. 2. A code of conduct among men stressing equality and friendship' (The Macquarie Dictionary).

In his sociology paper, Professor Robert Bell  defines mateship as 'the sex segregated involvement of men and it implies both physical and intellectual exclusion of women.' Miriam Dixson , from another point of view, defines mateship as including sublimation of homosexuality.

The definitions of mateship and mate cited here are by no means comprehensive and exhaustive. Nevertheless, from the variety of them, it is evident that mateship in Australia is conceived in many different ways. And, as Altman  indicates, such differentiation is constructed on the basis of white Australia's history and cultural past. In this paper, the development of mateship is briefly divided into five critical phases:

The Convicts

From the first convict settlers in 1788 evolved the concept of mateship in Australia. The great excess of men to women of the convict settlers led to the beginning of the male domination in Australian society. The shortage of females meant the convicts had no opportunity to create any kind of social interaction with women (). Along with this, the separation from the outside world and the dual threats of law authority and adversity in the outback at the time rendered them isolated and helpless. In the lonely new land, men had nothing but their fellow convicts. And for the convicts, the law and administrators were their ultimate enemies, which kept them in their place and controlled their lives. Thus, according to Colling , there was little respect for the law and for those who executed it at the time. Men were united in their fight against not only the hostile environment but also the authority they disdained. Anyone who resisted the law was seen as a mate, belonging to the mass group. As a result, it was the segregation of the sexes with the isolation and the hardship of the physical environment that forced men to form close ties of fraternity out of the needs for help, companionship and survival.

Certainly, convict mateship was by no means a full-grown one. In fact, Moore  argues that the mateship of the convicts might more suitably be termed as a form of 'proto-mateship' because of its rudiments and crudeness. Most of the elements in convict mateship were only inherited from the so-called 'honour among thieves' of the criminals in England and Ireland. Although the bond of loyalty to mates was practiced in convict mateship, such a moral code was often broken rather than kept. The reason for that, according to Moore , was the fact that the mateship formed by the convicts in the need for survival was directed mainly by self-interest, fear and intimidation. Consequently, a sincere, selfless mateship as the one lauded at the subsequent time did not really happen among the convicts.

On the other hand, the practice of convict mateship did lay down the foundations of some defining characteristics of Australian mateship. Colling  points out that the shortage of women at the time contributed greatly to Australian men's attitudes towards mateship and women in general. Mates are exclusively men; women are the outsiders, unable to understand men or be understood by men ( from interviews in  from Lateline TV programme shows an example). Even though the scarcity of females no longer exists and women have contributed immensely in the country, this stereotype is still very much prevalent in the society. In addition, the drinking and gambling subcultures in Australian mateship have its origins in convict settlement . Australia as an isolated place at the time, the variety of entertainment was inevitably diminished. Pastimes were limited to those requiring the participation of mates only  activities such as drinking and gambling. As mentioned earlier, since the mateship of the convicts was not so reliable, the convicts had learned not to express their softer feelings, otherwise, they could become vulnerable and be easily exploited. Therefore, as Culling  points out, the repression of tender emotions had become the code in Australian mateship since convict mateship.

On the whole, convict mateship was the earliest form of mateship in Australia. Thus, although it should by no means be regarded as a full representation of the greater idea, it is essential to understand it as a starting point.

Bush mateship

When settlement started to spread westward at the beginning of the nineteenth century, mateship developed further by forming and reinforcing its distinctive Australian pattern. The emergence of the bushman legend was the fundamental force, which gave rise to a highly lauded form of mateship: bush mateship. Moore  considers that bush mateship is not only the ultimate inspiration of the later forms of mateship in Australia, but also a continuing force throughout history. Like the mateship of the convicts, bush mateship was formed out of self-interest and the necessity for mutual defence of two working men against the hardship of bush life. However, the ability of the bush workers working as a cohesive, semi-nomadic group to survive in the remote and inhospitable bush environment was greatly respected to such an extent that it was romanticized and mythologized as the features of the ideal figure of the bushman, the typical Australian. Those early bush workers, for example, the cedar getters, explorers and farmers, were considered as courageous, resourceful men who could survive in the hostile outback as well as the great, industrious nation builders who contributed significantly to the development of the new country. Thus, the characteristics of the bushman such as mateship, were highly admired and viewed as the element of a real 'Aussie' man. Although most Australians have lived in the coastal areas rather than the outback since the very beginning of European settlement, the image and the virtues of the bushman were so strong and prevalent that they became a cultural perception held by the ordinary people as well as the bush workers themselves at the time.

Join now!

And, in terms of the mateship of the bushman, Moore  suggests that there are mainly two general comments on it. First, in the bushman's lives, the lack of women and religion led to the semi-religious character of bush mateship that served to fight against not only the hazards but also the loneliness they experienced. Second, the virtues of faith and loyalty in bush mateship meant that mates stuck together through thick and thin to the extent that self-sacrifice of one's own life for saving that of his mate would be expected if in need.

Bush mateship is respected as ...

This is a preview of the whole essay