Do Australians consider their culture closer to Britain's or America's?

Are you sure? They play cricket which is very British. But they also play baseball. Basketball is very popular in Oz but not all that much in Britain. Yes, both places play basketball but Oz consistently has teams that do well in international competitions. Britain does not. There's a steady stream of Aussie players playing for US colleges and several who are in the NBA. The only Brit I can think of who did that was John Ameche from several years ago. There could be some I don't know of but Aussie basketball is much more like ours than it is like Britain's. Then we come to what's probably their biggest sport, Aussie Rules football. It's different than soccer and it's different from our version of football. I'm not sure which difference is bigger but for what it's worth, Aussie football players are in high demand at as punters with our version of football. I don't know of a British sport where Aussie football players are catching on.

I know this is an old thread but I didn't see it when it came out but it is interesting. I've been to both countries. In the UK it seemed obvious to me that I was not in the US. We don't have much in the line of castles and Roman ruins here. Neither does Oz. In Oz I thought that if they didn't drive on the other side of the road I could easily feel like I was still in the US.

The old joke.

What's the difference between an Australian and yoghurt?

Given time yoghurt will develop its own culture.

National Culture is the wrong term. Each state is different

Neither, closer to New Zealand.

Agree except for the Halloween part. In more recent years Halloween has become more and more popular in Australia and is now a really big event.

I lived in Oz for a few years. As a Pom, I had the misfortune of watching the Boxing Day Ashes Test at the MCG.

Trust me, Aussies are British. We're the same.

We also both use the c-bomb as a term of endearment.

I’ve had many good beers at breweries and pubs in Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart and Perth. It’s not all Foster’s-like. Perth is paradise. Picture San Diego with 10% (at most) of the population.

I am an American living in Australia now for almost 8 years. An American runner acquaintance quipped “everything bad about Australia they got from the British”. As it relates to track and field I think I may agree. Here in Queensland there are no high school track and field teams in the state high schools. They have a one day high school carnival and the top people then move on to regional and state single day events. These top athletes are always students who are in outside clubs, so there is no development of interest in track and field in the high school or the great social atmosphere we take for granted in the United States. As a former HS runner and later coach, I find it a terrible system. Australia does a good job developing elite track and field athletes, but a poor job at nurturing participatory track and field due to this system.

As Kenyan, I approve this message.

I'm sure you guys drink tea too. Tea with lots of milk. At least I do.

I’m Australian but in the states right now. American coffee is something that I can’t associate myself with as an Australian. I mean seriously, who decided to put cream on coffee. However, I must say british coffee not so bad at all. We definitely have most similar traits to Britain not America.

Most junior sport here is done outside of school. Little Athletics is very popular. Kids are encouraged to try a wide range of sports during school.

I grew up in UK, lived 30 yrs in US, and regularly meet Aussies for work. I still think of myself as British, and instantly feel a kinship with Aussies when I meet them, unlike Americans. That answers the question for me.

In most countries club sport is more important than school/college sport, especially at the elite level. The US is an outlier here. I suspect your view is just US-centric bias.

Lets be honest, people don't want to be compared to us mainly with regard to image of a country of obese adults.

However aussie, you are way more like us than you want to be! Obesity (or overweight) is about 40% in america, and 3 % in UK. Guess what Australia is? 67%. Hard to believe.

abs.gov.au

Waist circumference and BMI, 2022

Contains key statistics and information about waist circumference and Body Mass Index (BMI) and its prevalence in Australia

Open link

I think it's clear they more resemble the UK than the US but should we start another thread - "Would Aussies rather their culture more resemble the US or the UK?"

Same in WA when I was growing up.

School is for education. After school is for sports.

And please, don't say there is no development. I now live in the states since I came over to go to school. High School coaching here is crap. Its usually about the stipend, not about the knowledge or interest. In Australia there are plenty of clubs, more than enough coaches, and even websites that lead you to a coach in your area.

We just don't worship Kid's sports like they do here in the states.

In Australia you have athletes who grow old in the sport and keep racing and coaching.

Given the last four years, Australia is closer to the Soviet Union of the 1930s.

Hmmm..not sure about that.

Everyone has health care, there are very few guns, inflation has been high. Cost of owning a home is crazy...

As far as development of athlete probably much more like the UK. Here you can have a 10 year old show up to training and have the great opportunity to work with them for 8-10 years before they head to states and NCAA.

There aren't many kids 13-18 year olds that do athletics (track) but those that do are talented.

I live in Brisbane (10 years), historically and culturally we are more British. But we are quite American in many ways as well. I've lived in the USA, Canada and Australia. The US and Australia are way closer in "feel" than the USA and Canada are. We have a more capitalist culture than Canada, and are big on "freedom," but we also have some decent social safety nets as well (like public healthcare which covers emergency life threatening proceedures for free, and partially subsidizes elective medical visits, but also private health insurance too).

My post absolutely reflects my US bias. i just really enjoyed the social aspect of high school track as a kid and as a coach I saw the social aspect was so good for the kids. Even more so for the kids who were not very talented and would never be ones to go to a T&F club.