CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The Australian Of The Year is described as “a unique award that it is sponsored by a national government and commands broad public support,”.
However, as prestigious as the award is, it is common knowledge in Australian society, that no one can command support from the Australian public – even one of the highest performing athletes in Australian football.
The Australian, and more specifically Victorian, public are very vigilant in their refusals to praise anyone that exhibits too much ambition or confidence – and rightly so.
This attitude was reconfirmed by the merciless booing of Adam Goodes, a man who has proven himself as both an athlete and as an Australian Of The Year recipient, the most prestigious title one can hold in this country.
Adam Goodes. The smug, two-time Brownlow medal-winning, two-time AFL premiership winning, four-time All Australian, philanthropic, proud Aboriginal-Australian who in 2014 was also a recipient of the Australian Of The Year – needed to be put in his place by the AFL fans. It’s a fact.
But why stop there? Why stop at one? We have compiled a list of the 7 Australian Of The Year Recipients Who Also Deserve To Be Mercilessly Booed.
7. Dawn Fraser, 1964
Dawn Fraser, an obscure authority on the behaviour of young male tennis players, has upset thousands with her bizarre racist tirade.
Dawn Fraser has received praise recently for her hilarious “senior moment” on the Today show. However, despite this, she is also a well-known overachieving bitch.
Fraser won eight Olympic medals, including four gold medals, and six Commonwealth Games gold medals. She also held 39 records. The 100 metres freestyle record was hers for 15 years from 1956 to 1972.
Dawn’s acheivements in the pool speak for themselves, but her arrogance was on display for all during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics when she was seen wearing an older swimming costume in competition because it was more comfortable than the one supplied by the sponsors, it’s not hard to see why she is often booed when appearing at low-key swimming meets.
6. Lee Kernaghan, 2008
The iconic country and western singer/songwriter known as Lee Kernaghan, has never really been liked by Australia.
His twangy, Americanized, deodorised attempts at capitalising on the cultural frustrations of regional Australians has earned him a lot of enemies over the years.
These sentiments boiled over in 2008, when he he was chosen as both Australian Of The Year as well as Toyota Brand Ambassador.
Lee Kernaghan also wears a black hat. You shouldn’t never trust a man in a black hat.
5. Timothy Fridtjof “Tim” Flannery, 2007
This man’s attempts at crippling our nation’s economy through his research into global warming has placed unnecessary pressure on the current Australian government.
His work, which is only scientifically proven by a small international community of environmental scientists, has had detrimental affects on the Australian way of life. Tim Flannery is most definitely what a Victorian AFL-enthusiast would describe as a “flog”.
BOOOOOOO!
4. Geoffrey Rush, 2012
This man has single-handedly changed the course of Australian film and television, for the worse.
Gone are the days of stunning cinematic productions like Mad Max and BMX Bandits, only to replaced by lame films starring Geoffrey Rush in a lead role.
Lantana? The King’s Speech? Very boring movies that we are being forced to praise because they have achieved international appeal and won boring awards.
Also, all that other stuff.
3. Fred Hollows, 1991
The only recipient in this list to have recieved the award posthumously. Like Adam Goodes, in some circles Fred Hollows is considered a selfless role model. Here is why you should boo him.
In his lifetime, Fred Hollows received countless praise for his dedicated work to curing preventable blindness in non-Australians. However, his legacy has resulted in real Australians constantly being hassled by temporary Australians who are employed by marketing agencies to rattle donation tins on train station platforms. Flog.
2. Peter John Hollingworth, 1991
As well as being the first Governer-General of Australia to resign in 2003, after allegations that he had failed to deal appropriately with child sex abuse allegations made against the church while he was Archbishop of Brisbane – Peter Hollingworth is also well-known for giving up a potentially lucrative career working for BHP to chase his dreams of being an ordained minister. What a dork.
Judging by his resignation as head of state, it seems Hollingworth wasn’t very good at his chosen field, he should have stuck with the Australian mining game, where corruption is celebrated. What a waste of time. Booooooooooooooo!
1. Sir Ernest Edward “Weary” Dunlop, 1976
Colonel Sir Ernest Edward “Weary” Dunlop AC, CMG, OBE is well-known for his role as a life-saving Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.
BUT DID YOU KNOW? Weary was also the first Victorian to represent Australia in rugby union. Making his national representative debut against the All Blacks at the SCG on 23rd July 1932 as a number 8 – but was not good enough to see representative honours another two years.
In the first Test of 1934 he again appeared for Australia, this time as a lock, missing the rest of the series due to injury. However, despite his absence for the remainder of the competition, he was still listed as a member of the first Wallaby squad to have won the Bledisloe Cup away from New Zealand.
Talk about taking credit for something you had very little part in.
Weary Dunlop may be a celebrated war hero, but he is very much remembered as the Adam Goodes of rugby union.
