Donald Horne
Horne's statement was actually made ironically, as an indictment of 1960s Australia. His intent was to comment that, while other industralised nations created wealth using "clever" means such as technology and other innovations, Australia did not. Rather, Australia's economic prosperity was largely derived from its rich natural resources. Horne observed that Australia "showed less enterprise than almost any other prosperous industrial society."Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck.
Donald Horne’s use of ‘the lucky country’ as a description of Australia was meant to be a wake-up call. He had written a portrait of his country as he saw it in the fading light of the Menzies years. This was post World War II Australia where, in spite of our wartime participation and casualties, we had been able to recover relatively quickly – unlike the ravaged and bombed Britain or Europe. In 1964, in Australia, Prime Minister Robert Menzies presided over a Coalition government that had won six successive federal elections since December 1949 – without a change of leader.
Horne depicted a country of largely British stock, blessed with natural wealth, but living off its abundance in a mire of mediocrity. The word ‘luck’ was double edged. The ‘luck’ Australians enjoyed, for Horne, was nothing more than a well-endowed community or nation sitting back and drifting with the tide. And to Horne this would mean eventual ruin if change was not forthcoming.
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