The PR Blog

Much of Australia’s early slang comes from the convict culture of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Australia was established as a penal colony, with convicts from Britain, Ireland, and other parts of Europe bringing their own slang terms with them.

The working-class origins of many early settlers meant that language was often informal, and humour and making the best of a bad lot became central to the Australian identity.

Convicts and settlers alike used slang to defy authority and express camaraderie. Words like "larrikin" reflect a rebellious, cheeky attitude that became part of our national character.

Slang became a way to survive and thrive in tough, often harsh conditions, helping people bond and deal with adversity. And boy, it must have been tough back then. 

 In 1925, a small courtroom in Dayton, Tennessee, became the stage for a battle over ideas. The Scopes Trial - immortalised in the film Inherit the Wind - pitted a young teacher, John Scopes, against the state’s Butler Act, which banned the teaching of evolution in schools.

The trial wasn’t just about science versus religion; it was about who gets to control thought.

Clarence Darrow, defending Scopes, warned that dogmatic gatekeepers -religious or secular - pose the greatest threat to the human right to question and reason.

A century later, that warning feels prophetic.

Today’s battle over free inquiry isn’t fought in courtrooms but across digital platforms and halls of government. Governments in the UK, Canada, and Australia are wielding vague laws and weaponised labels - “racist,” “bigot,” “misinformation” - to silence dissent, all in the name of protection.from Australia’s under-16 social media “delay” to the UK’s arrests for “mean tweets,” we are edging toward a digital Butler Act.

Only bold resistance - by figures like Elon Musk and by ordinary citizens - can halt the quiet march on freedom.

I spent most of my working life in the Aussie bush. It is a way of life most Australians would struggle to understand.

Picture this. You’re on a cattle station the size of a small European country. The nearest hospital is many hundreds of kilometres away, the roads are red dust tracks, and someone in the family has taken a bad turn. No phone, no ambulance, no chance of a doctor riding up on horseback.

Then -  a sound overhead. A single-engine plane rattles in from the horizon, wheels kicking up dust as it lands in a paddock. Out climbs a doctor, medical bag in hand. For us blokes out bush, that wasn’t just a plane. That was hope.

That’s the story of the early Royal Flying Doctor Service -  or as most people know it, simply “the Flying Doctor.”

Ratty News Exclusive
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble, Special Correspondent (aisle seat, back row) Reporting from the Ratty Flyers Fling 

In Longreach, the Flyers Ball is elegance under the stars -  gowns, pearls, champagne flutes tinkling in perfect rhythm, and speeches that last longer than the sunburn on a tourist’s nose. It is a celebration of generosity, of polish, of refinement.

In Dusty Gulch, we do not often attempt civilisation, but when we do, it is in a manner uniquely our own: sequins glued to bicycle helmets, lamington holsters duct-taped to battered Akubras, and one particularly dedicated fellow who strapped a sausage roll to his forehead to “improve aerodynamics.”

Back in 2002, an anonymous person sent an email from a disposable email address to a website. The email was headed The Secret Covenant.

It has, for over 20 years, been seen as a promise. But I believe it was a warning. 

If "The Secret Covenant" were interpreted as a warning rather than a promise, the meaning would shift significantly, and its tone would transform from sinister collusion to a cautionary tale. This interpretation would frame the document as a call for vigilance against the potential dangers of power, corruption, and manipulation in society.

It could serve as a critique of existing systems, urging people to be aware of the ways through which they might be controlled or misled. Instead of portraying a secret group plotting in the shadows, the document might be trying to highlight how societal manipulation already exists.

The "Covenant" would not be a manifesto of intent, but rather a metaphorical or symbolic description of the current state of the world. It could be warning us about how easily people can be misled, manipulated, or exploited by those in power through media, education, and economic systems. The warning could be against becoming passive consumers of information, blindly trusting authorities, or succumbing to propaganda. In this view, the "Covenant" is urging individuals to develop critical thinking skills, stay informed, and be cautious of any single narrative that seeks to dominate public opinion.