Australians all

A quick note about January 26

Tanya and I lived in London from 1991-1995. It was great, and it was also the first time I had ever been outside Australia. I discovered there is nothing like seeing your country from afar to clarify your relationship with your place of birth. I don’t have a patriotic bone in my body, but I love my home country, and let me explain the distinction I’m trying to make.

A defining moment was watching BBC TV coverage of Charles and Diana touring Australia, rudely arranged in our absence, where Prince Charles was opening the new wing of a hospital in Brisbane. The BBC reporter was vox popping the crowd and spoke to one of the nurses as the Royal entourage arrived. The reporter asked something about what the nurse thought of proceedings and of the extension to the hospital. ‘It’s great,’ she said. ‘We call it the Camilla Wing. It’s a bit on the side.’

Her good-natured delivery, her accent, the joke itself, its blunt, deflating-and-hilarious cheekiness summarised something I had been missing ab…