Maria Geracitano

History Teacher, St Aloysius College

To me I’m an Aussie by birth and I think of Aussie icons, I think of Paul Hogan, I think of the beach culture, I think of barbeques, I think of the pub, which are all stereotypical but are fairly much part of what I believe to be the Australian heritage. And some of these things I enjoy and are part of me, but then I look at my other side, and if I could borrow a phrase by Nick Giannopoulos, most people would know him from ‘Wogs Out Of Work’, I’m also a wog, and by that, I love Jimmy Barnes, I love his music, I went to his concerts, but I feel the urge at times to listen to my father’s old tapes of old Neapolitan music, I don’t mind an opera aria, I do go and buy Italian CDs, but at the same time I still have my Jimmy Barnes scrapbooks.