When one thinks of a Russian they have reasonable odds to be thinking of some manifestation of what could be called Cossack culture the patriarch of family life, the faithful leader of the home for God and his country – a rural agrarian culture with funny looking uniforms. They are on the national psyche of Russia they are agreed to be the embodiment of traditional Russian people. I’m no expert on Cossack history or that of Russia and do not claim to be but one can look at the overall picture of that ethnic group and from it draw some valuable lessons: In the modern context the Cossacks are a clearly defined ethnic group with almost universally agreed-upon ways of life and practice: their religion, genealogy, connection to the land and cultural norms are all reasonably well defined. This article is called “Australian Cossacks” for the reason that I wish for us to engage in a discussion, as part of planning out the ‘road-map’ of what the ANA should be and should promote we can reflect on some examples from overseas about the experiences of particular ethnic groups living in alien/pluralist and sometimes hostile circumstances.
Globalisation in parallel to the influence of modernity has persistently since colonial times diluted the true meaning of what is to be an Australian Urbanisation and popular culture imported from overseas has led to our capital cities being inhabited principally by people who feel very little affinity for their Australian birth and usually their Australian heritage.