Born in 1997

If you were born in 1997, Australia was four years into the Howard era and the political temperature was running hot on questions of race, history, and identity. The Stolen Generations report, "Bringing Them Home," was tabled in May and its findings — the systematic removal of Aboriginal children from their families across the twentieth century — produced a national conversation of great pain and complexity. Howard declined to offer a formal government apology, and the argument would continue for another eleven years.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party was drawing votes and attention and fierce condemnation. The republic debate was ongoing, a constitutional convention planned for next year. The Sydney Olympics preparations were in full swing, the infrastructure going up around Homebush Bay with impressive speed.

On the music front, Savage Garden were genuinely international — "Truly Madly Deeply" was number one in fourteen countries. Australian cinema had *Oscar and Lucinda*. You Am I were the best live band in the country.

The AFL Grand Final, the summer cricket (Australia winning everything in sight under Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor), the beach, the barbie, the flat white — the ordinary pleasures continued. The economy was sound. The country was alive and complicated and worth watching.