“One Australian tradition is to cut down the elite and the successful. It had its roots in the era of convicts who naturally opposed those in authority. This levelling or egalitarian tradition continued to flourish on the goldfields in the 1850s when the unusual mining laws gave everyone an opportunity to find gold, and the tradition was accentuated around 1900 by the rising trade unions. The attitude was one of the spurs to Australian democracy.”

—  Geoffrey Blainey

The Story of Australia's People: The Rise and Rise of a New Australia (2016)

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Geoffrey Blainey 72
Australian historian 1930

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