One of things that became apparent to me as a reader of this forum is the independent nature of Australians. I guess this could be summed up as their no bullshit attitude. I know there's a danger of over generalizations, but I think the Aussies would agree.
...
There's a "larrikin" spirit (old-fashioned word, that) that was (maybe still is) one of the best aspects of Australian culture. My guess is it that came from the early Irish convicts/settlers and their contempt for the English landowners and political class.
One of the features of this spirit was suspicion of those with power and financial success. There was this unspoken feeling that success of that kind was nearly always due to dishonesty and corruption. The only success that Aussies fully celebrated was sporting success - it was seen as clean, honest, untainted, worthy of respect. At one time - I'm going back decades - you could put your life in danger by walking into any working-class pub and bad-mouthing a sporting icon like Sir Donald Bradman.
Americans were seen as bizarre with their worship of people with money. The English were seen as ridiculous with their stunted, stultifying class system.
The worst aspect of larrikinism was its anti-intellectualism. Australian life was narrow and narrow-minded. That has changed greatly in the last fifty years.
You can see two great examples of larrikinism in former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and in the movie character Crocodile Dundee (played by former comedian Paul Hogan).
There is an interesting historical story involving Bob Hawke, when he was a trade union leader. At the time, Frank Sinatra had flown in, with his hangers-on, to give concerts here. But towards the end of this visit, Cranky Franky insulted a female journalist, calling her a hooker.
The unions didn't take kindly to an American blowhard mouthing off, so they blackbanned him, his entourage, and most importantly, Cranky Franky's plane. Sinatra couldn't leave the country. His mafia connections couldn't help him here. Sinatra was stranded.
Nationwide, it was a major news story, and Aussie schadenfreude reached epic levels. ACTU President Bob Hawke had to intervene, by smoothing things over with various unions, and getting Sinatra to realize that he only way he was leaving was to issue an apology. Which he did.
Aussie larrikinism, and its distrust of bigshots, were in full effect. Wonderful.