Australians often fall victim to national mythologies. Whether it’s indulging stereotypes of Aussie machismo by telling tourists our one huntsman story, declaring we’re a very successful multicultural country during a time of racial tension, or being so confident that our winters are “mild” that we pretend they’re not happening. It’s not that bad, we tell ourselves. It’s Melbourne, not Quebec. I’ll wear an oodie.
These aren’t just thoughts I’ve had during one of my many Melbourne winters spent wheeling my oil heater around a freezing terrace house. Researchers report that because we consider Australia a warm country, we play down how cold it can get, even going as far as ignoring winter altogether. It’s an attitude particular to Australia and New Zealand that researchers refer to as “winter stoicism”.
How did we get here? For years we’ve heard that Australian houses are so poorly insulated and energy inefficient that they’re essentially glorified tents, so why are we pretending that everything’s fine? As it turns out, the stories that we tell ourselves can be very powerful.
Because isn’t Australia, as one British guy once told me, all about drinking mango smoothies on the beach? That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. And it’s probably why researchers found that people living in Wollongong were indifferent to how cold the city could get, saying that Wollongong was ultimately “about summer”. It’s attitudes like this that have led to our homes being built without proper regard to winter temperatures.
None of this is about blaming ourselves for how we’ve adapted to living in houses that are empirically too cold for human beings to safely inhabit. I’ve been known to work from home with a hot-water bottle on my lap, the kettle on a rolling boil and, at times, wearing a huge dressing gown over my many layers of clothes, just to stay warm. We do what we’ve got to do.
But what if we changed the narrative? What if we decided that Australia isn’t just a summer country, but a country with a range of seasons that – depending on where you live – include cold ones? What if we accepted that winter is a season with its own distinct charms and rituals that can be embraced, rather than something to be wished away or ignored because it doesn’t fit into the mythology of an eternally warm Australia?
Cold temperatures are responsible for 6.5% of deaths in Australia, almost double the figure it is in Sweden. Australians are hanging out at home in jumpers, scarves and beanies, risking health problems that include cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and mental illness. All the stoicism in the world can’t change the fact that this is a serious public health crisis.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to visit Vienna, and despite it being the middle of winter, I was surprised by how comfortable I was. Whether it was a cafe, shopping centre, or someone’s home, I never once had to keep my jacket on when I was inside. It was all triple-glazing and tilt-and-turn windows – showing a respect for the harshness of winter and an enjoyment of the warmth brought about by proper insulation. Why can’t this be us, too?
I don’t want to live in a country where stoicism has emerged as a kind of trauma response to the fact that our rent costs us half our salary and we still need to wear a fleece to stay warm. It’s true: compared with the rest of the world, our winters are relatively mild. And our building regulations are slowly catching up to ensure new homes actually keep people warm. But in the meantime millions of Australians are still left freezing in poorly insulated and energy inefficient homes. Imagine the novelty and life that could open up to us if we were all properly protected from the cold?
Reena Gupta is a writer and editor. She was previously Junkee’s deputy editor and before that a staff writer at MTV Australia, with bylines in Kill Your Darlings, The Sydney Morning Herald, and more
