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History of Australia (view source)
Revision as of 16:13, September 29, 2009
, 16:13, September 29, 2009→Religion and morality: Irish
Even though church attendance remained low in post-World War II Australia, the majority of non-churchgoers nevertheless identified with a particular denomination and strongly supported Christianity as a bulwark of public morality. In the 1950s Adelaide, Brisbane and other major cities witnessed intensive, largely successful campaigns by the Catholic and various Protestant churches. The campaigns, culminating with that of the American evangelist [[Billy Graham]] in 1959, served to bolster religious observance and also to emphasize the role of Christianity as a moral force and the basis of a secure social order. As a result, church attendance and other indices of formal religious practice were on the increase by the later 1950s.<ref> David Hilliard, "Popular Religion in Australia in the 1950s: A Study of Adelaide and Brisbane." ''Journal of Religious History'' [Australia] 1988 15 (2): 219-235. </ref>
Even though church attendance remained low in post-World War II Australia, the majority of non-churchgoers nevertheless identified with a particular denomination and strongly supported Christianity as a bulwark of public morality. In the 1950s Adelaide, Brisbane and other major cities witnessed intensive, largely successful campaigns by the Catholic and various Protestant churches. The campaigns, culminating with that of the American evangelist [[Billy Graham]] in 1959, served to bolster religious observance and also to emphasize the role of Christianity as a moral force and the basis of a secure social order. As a result, church attendance and other indices of formal religious practice were on the increase by the later 1950s.<ref> David Hilliard, "Popular Religion in Australia in the 1950s: A Study of Adelaide and Brisbane." ''Journal of Religious History'' [Australia] 1988 15 (2): 219-235. </ref>
===Sports===
Sports are a matter of high visibility and prestige in Australia. Sport has traditionally been seen as a vehicle for the expression of Australian nationalism. Following W. F. Mandle's work on cricket and nationalism, sporting contests between Australia and England have been portrayed as asserting Australian feelings of independence and hostility to Britain.
Rugby league football was predominantly working-class in composition, with close ties to the labor movement and the Irish Catholic community. Until the 1960s it was profoundly and proudly British. Violent confrontations between Australian and British teams on the football field did not translate into hostility to Britain or the empire off it. Australian sporting culture closely resembled that of the north of England, sharing a democratic self-image and hostility to social snobbery that enabled the sport to assert a form of imperial working-class Britishness.<ref> Tony Collins, "Australian Nationalism and Working-Class Britishness: The Case of Rugby League Football," ''History Compass'' 2005 3(Australasia And Pacific) </ref>
Irish-Catholic Australians have been the nation's largest minority throughout most of its history. Their resistance to the elite Anglocentric establishment has keenly marked the development of sport. Mostly working class, the Irish played sports such as rugby and Australian Rules football, while the Protestant majority often preferred cricket and soccer. The tensions and contrasts between these two sporting cultures eventually built the attitudes and beliefs toward games and sports that Australians share today.<ref>Peter A. Horton, "The 'Green' and the 'Gold': The Irish-Australians and Their Role in The Emergence of the Australian Sports Culture," ''International Journal of the History of Sport'' 2000 17(2-3): 65-92 </ref>
===World War II===
===World War II===