The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers
digger
noun: a person of one kind (see more)
A kind of person
Many people in Australia think about people of this kind like this:
People of this kind do many good things for Australia. Many bad things happen to people of this kind at many times (e.g. in war). Because of this, maybe people of this kind will die.
When very bad things happen to a person of this kind, this person thinks like this “I don’t have to feel something bad now. There are many people like me in this place now. I feel something good towards them. Because of this, people here can feel something good. We can laugh.”
Some time before, very many people of this kind died. Because of this, many Australians feel something very good towards people of this kind. These people think it is bad to say something bad about people of this kind.
Note
'Digger' has a tendency to be used for servicemen from WWI and WWII although it is also used in some contexts to refer to modern current and ex-servicemen. The word is usually used to refer to men but this does not exclude its use for women."Inside the entrance to his house in Tamworth, NSW, is a picture of a confident digger in his uniform with a handlebar moustache and a piercing stare"
"The thing is that the veteran is clear of the transition process. So I think the last thing that a transition centre wants is a digger to come back into it for more help."
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