Nationality

• The first and foremost way to define the term Aussie is as a national affiliation. If you are born and bred in Australia or are an Australian citizen, than you are an Aussie. For those who are from countries other than Australia, anyone from Australia is an Aussie. This national definition doesn't always have the same connotation when you look at the cultural tone.
  
  

Cultural Definition

• Culturally defined, being Aussie is to embrace a laid-back lifestyle. You are a person who enjoys drinking beers with your mates and loves sports. Your most popular sporting loves are cricket, soccer and tennis. You love the beach, the outback and all the animals in both. You are enthusiastic about your country and all that it stands for. You protect the beauty and wonder that is Australia.
  There has been some evolution with this term in recent years to describe those who are of Anglo decent in Australia. This has created some controversy with those of other ethnic sets who have generations of history in Australia.
  
  

Historical

• There are those who still use the term Aussie to describe the "first fleet" or "convict class" that arrived in Australia. It was in the late 1780s to the 1860s that more than 160,000 convicts were relocated to Australia from the Great Britain. Most were sent to Botany Bay and included men, boys and nearly 20 percent women. If the convicts showed good behavior, they were pardoned and given a ticket home. Many decided to stay and start a new life in a vast and untrammeled country. In this sense, while "Aussie" may have once been used in a derogatory sense to describe a person's moral character, it has become much more of an historical reference.
  
  

Native Issues

• Being a native of Australia is not always indicative of being born there. Anglo inhabitation of the continent is relatively new, but Aboriginal cultures existing there for centuries prior. Asians and Latinos have also established strong communities in Australia. These three groups tend to find the Anglo-centric definition of "Aussie" to be misleading, serving elitist attitudes. Tensions run strong between Aboriginal ethnicities and Anglo ethnicities in particular because of controlling laws that dictated the lives and freedom of Aborgines for decades, including child rearing laws. It has only been in the last 40 years that many of these laws have been revoked and changed but tension still exists in defining who is an Aussie and who isn't.