Who are you calling a hillbilly?

We won't shake off our backwoods image if we keep reminding people of it.

Is that the sound of banjo music? No, it can’t be, because Brisbane is now officially (and I use that word contrary to my own advice) not a Hillbilly town.

We know that because Brisbane 2032 president Andrew Liveris said so in a speech “to reassure Olympic stakeholders in Paris that Brisbane has not squandered the additional time it was given to plan and prepare its Games”. (Source: Brisbane Times)

“I am confident that we will deliver,” he told the great and the good. “We are a nation that can deliver this very well. Brisbane is not a hillbilly town.”

Presumably he felt compelled to say that because, at least in his opinion, many in his audience would have thought otherwise.

I’m old enough to remember the “Joh” era — that is, when Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, a peanut farmer from Kingaroy was running the show. Back then, pre-1987, Brisbane was the butt of jokes from the southern elites (We didn’t call them that then, but if the shoe fits…).

Brisbane was Hicksville, man. If you believed the opinions of people who didn’t live here, that is.

When Joh refused to adopt daylight saving, pilots flying up from Sydney would (allegedly) say: “We are now entering Queensland, please turn back your watches one hour and 50 years.”

So, for people of my generation at least, the notion that my home state and birth city are somehow backwards — even when said while denying it — is triggering.

For his many sins — and, if not for one juror, he would’ve served time for corruption — Bjelke-Petersen helped advance the state with infrastructure, belatedly modernising the railways, and building, among other things, the Cultural Centre and Performing Arts Complex (as it was, when things were less simple).

And with Clem Jones, from the other side of politics, Brisbane had a progressive mayor whose record included ensuring every home was sewered (which is a big deal for anyone who remembers the old backyard thunderboxes).

We hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1982, and World Expo in 1988. We’ve had nothing to prove for a very long time.

Even to use the word “hillbilly” is unhelpful, because it instigates a discussion that we don’t need to have.

And, yes, I do realise what I’ve just done.

P.S. As for the Olympics themselves, my thoughts are here. And here’s another thought.

©2024 Brett Debritz. If I’ve inadvertently used copyrighted material, failed to give credit where it’s due, written or said something you disagree with, or otherwise upset or unexpectedly delighted you, please leave a comment, email me or connect with me at @debritz on X or @brettdebritz on Threads. I also have a YouTube site, @radiobert. Links are provided as a courtesy; I take no responsibility for their contents or give any warranty of their veracity. Illustration: Image by Bing