The Lucky Country
by Donald Horne · first published 1964
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With an introduction by Hugh Mackay 'Australia is a lucky country, run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck.' The phrase 'the lucky country' has become part of our lexicon; it's forever being invoked in debates about the Australian way of life, but is all too often misused by those blind to Horne's irony. When it was first published in 1964 The Lucky Country caused a sensation. Horne took Australian society to task for its philistinism, provincialism and dependence. The book was a wake-up call to an unimaginative nation, an indictment of a country mired in mediocrity and mana
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You're correct of course, but that level of strategic thinking is well beyond those in charge. David Horne summed the situation up well. "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the…
on “MS Flight SIM 2024 sucks up to 180 Mb/s of bandwidth in flight” ↗If you're wondering why this kind of thing happens all the time in Australia, the late Donald Horne summed it up beautifully in the 1960s: "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck" [1] Australia has many intelligent, brilliant people. For some reason, the design of our political system results in almost none of them getting into…
on “Commandeering Australian citizens to become spies” ↗And it's nothing new. In 1964 Donald Horne penned a book "The Lucky Country", which caused many Australians to start referring to Australia as "The Lucky Country". The bit they miss is that the full quote was. "Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share…
on “"Australian Exceptionalism": best performing and fairest developed nation” ↗…Australian governments basically as a tourist attraction, rather than a unique and fragile national treasure. There is a (locally) famous quote from the Australian writer Donald Horne: "Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck." (1964). A great many idiot politicians, jingoistic fools, and tourist offices are fond of repeating the first clause of this statement whilst omitting…
on “Great Barrier Reef at 'terminal stage'” ↗One could argue that Australia has always been this way. The full quote is: "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck." written by Donald Horne in 1964. These words were true prior to 1964 and are still true in 2021. What saves Australia is the word "mainly". There…
on “Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate” ↗…has to do is hit the 'this will affect your standard of living' riff (whether justified or not), repeat it endlessly, and a change is usually nixed. Why? It would require a book. Donald Horne's 'The Lucky Country' covered some of it. My (highly contestable) short version is that Australian culture is preturnaturally shallow. There is nothing that holds our society together other than material consumption. Citizens…
on “Renewables Surpass Coal in U.S. Power Mix” ↗I'm well aware of the "lucky country" stuff (and even have Donald Horne's book on my shelf). For those who don't know what we're talking about, the full "lucky country quote": "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people…
on “‘Extraordinary’ hacking powers pass Australian Parliament” ↗Cultural and economic. We were once described as the "lucky country" which was used to encapsulate advantages Australia benefited from naturally, like distance from problems elsewhere in the world, great weather and natural resources. The origin of that label was a 1964…
on “Australia ranked 61/63 countries for entrepreneurship” ↗…another dose of reality, now that the mining boom is over and we can no longer sustain our current economic model (which is indistinguishable from a ponzi scheme). As Donald Horne wrote in his book, The Lucky Country: "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields)…
on “Facebook’s Zuckerberg sues to force land sales” ↗> There is a (locally) famous quote from the Australian writer Donald Horne: "Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck." (1964). A great many idiot politicians, jingoistic fools, and tourist offices are fond of repeating the first clause of this statement whilst omitting the…
on “Great Barrier Reef at 'terminal stage'” ↗…Arica are ahead of Australia too. But yeah, we've always been more than happy to host NASA and ESA facilities–provided we don't have to spend much money to do so. To quote Donald Horne's 1964 book The Lucky Country (whose title so many people have misinterpreted to mean something rather opposite from its author): > Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other…
on “ESA – Space Suit Design Competition” ↗For the edification of any not familiar with the phrase: The Lucky Country (1964) Donald Horne Horne's intent in writing the book was to portray Australia's climb to power and wealth based almost entirely on luck rather than the strength of its political or economic system,…
on “The Atlas of Economic Complexity” ↗…Right, and my point was the minority of Americans who travel tend to learn the world is a bigger place and their country has a lot of issues. > while the majority of those flying the flag of Australia the Lucky Country are all too aware that Horne coined the phrase with a sneer as a back handed complement. Not my experience at all. They say it just as seriously as the Out and proud USA #1 folk you refer to, maybe with…
on “Australia will not force age verification due to privacy and security concerns” ↗David Horne said it best in 1964. "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people’s ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the…
on “China is the manufacturing superpower” ↗…are just as incompetent as each other when it comes to technology and the Internet. It's exactly the same kind of problem that we've always had here, summed up in 1964 by Donald Horne, "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the…
on “Australia Wants to See Your Papers Before You Press Play” ↗