ocker       n. Colloq. 1. the archetypal uncultivated Australian working man. 2. a boorish, uncouth, chauvinistic Australian. 3.an Australian male displaying qualities considered to be typically Australian, as good humour, helpfulness, and resourcefulness. -adj,. 4. of or pertaining to an ocker. 5. distinctively Australian: an ocker sense of humour. Also, okker. [var. of Oscar, esp. especially the character in the television series The Mavis Bramston Show (1965-1968) by Ron Frazer, 1924-1983] -ockerish, adj. -ockerism, n.

So ocker is basically a noun denoting our version of redneck, as well as being an adjective (as in an ocker accent). Many often use this word as the same noun as ockerism (as in being right into ocker). It seems ockerina is the noun for a female ocker, but I have rarely heard this. Bush pig is a term often given to ocker females, and sometimes to males, though this term is usually used to denote people actually from the country, especially bush-hardened females.

Ockers are those blokes with pot-bellies in singlets, wearing shorts, thongs and bush hat. Oh, and don't forget the tinnie in a can holder and zinc cream on the nose (at least they're sun smart!). Their female counterparts squeal in high-pitched ocker accents, and wear t-shirt, trackie pants and moccos to bingo. Of course you have the newer generation: the females still screech, but some of them exercise now (though the amount of skinny ockerinas is staggering, so some of them need to replace a few ciggies with some nutrition); males are often slim, yet still loud, one-eyed and apathetic to the outside world.

Now that we have a few stereotypes out of the way, well negative ones anyway, we can look at some of the good points of the ocker. The gutsy Australian, the friendly and helpful Aussie - these are our ockers too. It was our ockers that totally surprised even the Americans in Vietnam with their die-hard attitude. And you can see that trait in our farmers as they struggle with drought but merely shrug and say it is a part of life. Ockers are also those who stay to fight the flames in times of bush fire.

So, as you can see, many different types of Australians can be ockers. In fact, like it or not, all of us Australians have some of it in us. After all, most of us have the good qualities of the ocker, and we often use the word if not speak in that accent. It's just that as Australia continues to evolve, we find it easy to concentrate on the backward, boorish manner of many ockers. After all, our current shame concerns that ill-informed ockerina Pauline Hanson and her racist One Nation party. Just remember that the calm, friendly Aussie who offers you a shrimp on the bar-be (well, we really say prawn - that was for American advertising) is also our ocker.