Born in 2003

If you were born in 2003, Australia went to war in Iraq as part of the coalition of the willing, John Howard committing troops over substantial public opposition — the marches against the war in Sydney and Melbourne were the largest since the Vietnam moratorium. The political argument about whether there were weapons of mass destruction, whether the intelligence had been manipulated, whether the war was legal without a UN mandate, ran through the year and for years after. The SARS epidemic briefly threatened to derail international travel.

But the big cultural moment was *Australian Idol*, which premiered in July and produced, in its first season, Guy Sebastian — the curly-haired soul singer from Adelaide who became the show's first winner and the year's biggest musical story. Australian Idol brought something genuinely communal back to television — families and friends voting together, the results shows events. The cricket team remained extraordinary — the World Cup won in March, Ricky Ponting lifting the trophy.

The café culture was now fully established, the flat white and the long black and the almond milk latte (not yet, but soon) the language of morning. The housing market was heating — prices in Sydney and Melbourne making the newspapers with increasing alarm. The beach at Christmas was still free, but getting there was getting more expensive.