The Australian 253 



be pardoned for holding that view. But the 

 friendliness and helpfulness of the Australian, 

 when once experienced, are sadly missed by 

 those who are afterwards called upon to encoun- 

 ter the reserve and suspicion of older countries. 



Underlying the Australian's breezy communi- 

 cativeness there is a strange vein of shyness, 

 and his tolerance and friendliness are tinged with 

 a scepticism and cynicism not entirely youthful. 

 His shyness he strives to conceal by bluster, his 

 scepticism is made evident by his readiness to 

 find fault. ''If Patti came to Australia," de- 

 clared an exasperated entrepreneur, ( ' they would 

 set about criticising her at once." Quite right, 

 that is the first thing they would do. There is 

 no place in the world where an outside reputa- 

 tion is of less value than in Australia. 



The things that never happen, and the things that never 



could, 

 Are engraved upon the tombstones of the men who never 



would, 



says one of their verse writers, and, with some 

 exaggeration, sums up the first Australian 

 attitude towards everything not yet proven in 

 Australia. This attitude is not infrequently the 

 prelude to an appreciative acceptance that com- 

 pensates, by its fulness and warm-heartedness, for 

 all preliminary doubts. When once convinced, 

 the Australian knows no half measures in his 

 appreciation. 



