Australia is a big country. This is something we all know to be true, but it is worth spending some time considering some key facts and comparisons, the problems that it might cause, and how we can work around them as Nativists. Large distances (and particularly commute times) are a great hindrance to Nationalist organisation, which in turn hinders our national revival.
Let’s look at Europe (using Google maps for distance and time estimates). In the UK, Manchester is about 139km away from Birmingham (1hr 49m), or 55km from Liverpool (ETA 59m). In Belgium, Brussels and Antwerp are separated by 46km (46m). In Germany, Essen, Düsseldorf and Cologne are separated by 43km (40m) and then 40km (40m). In Poland, Katowice and Kraków are 80km apart (and only 57m!) These estimates may well be worse in traffic, but speak to an important point which has significant impact on our struggle. Demographics of any given city mentioned aside, there are major cities that are very close to one another.
In Australia, this is not the case! Starting with Sydney, the closest city of roughly comparable size is Canberra, which is 286km and 3 hours drive away. From Canberra, the next closest is Melbourne, which is 664km and 6h 44m! Of course, there are population centres in between, but again, unlike Europe, these are smaller hubs and, outside of them, very few villages in comparison. In 2025, Australia is still very large, and quite empty. There is no fast rail to take you between the cities, and this is as close as the cities get: In Western Australia, Perth’s closest significant city is Adelaide, which at 2693km is about a 28h drive!
Even within the cities (particularly in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane), travel distances and times are immense. On the outer western edge of Melbourne in Werribee, to the southern tip of Mornington in Portsea, is 138km (1h 47m). From there to the far east of Pakenham, it is 96km (1h 22m). From there to Lilydale in the north east, it is 62km (50m). Then on to Cragieburn, it’s 61km (1h). This is, of course, in minimal traffic: any kind of traffic will add at least 1 hour on to any of these legs. From various points of the extremes, you can fit a major European city! Meanwhile within Manchester, on either end from Oldham to Altrincham, it’s 55km (and only a 34m trip!).
A brief point on America. They are somewhere between us and Europe, in that they have many large cities scattered around, but also a multitude of smaller towns. It’s not so bad on the coasts, but on the interior of the continent it becomes more like Australia. Kansas City to Chicago, for example, is about 821km (7h 36m), which is of course an immense geographical barrier to Nationalist organisation, even in two relatively close cities.
I believe I have made my point regarding distances between various cities. These are huge barriers to any regular, meaningful community engagement, even for the most committed. In a village where you can walk to people’s houses, a highly involved person could commit to various smaller group activities several times a week. In a local area that is 30 minutes by car, this same patriot would be more comfortable with once a week. In a single congested, poorly designed and haphazardly grown city that takes 1.5-2 hours to travel one way, it becomes hard to justify a physical meetup more than once a month.
Between fuel costs, the time out of your day, and frustration at seeing our “new arrivals” getting into car accidents twice on just one leg of the journey, you can certainly understand the difficulties involved in frequent meetings. Note: I haven’t mentioned public transport as an option, because in Australia, these aforementioned problems are worse (in terms of time and “new arrivals” anyway: while public transport is indeed cheaper, the amount of cars on the road indicate people’s wallets opening according to their preferences of time use, and company chosen).
Housing prices play a role here too. Nationalism overall tends to attract the ‘up and coming’, more than the established (who are typically more insulated from the decisions of our managerial class). ANA in particular has many university educated, with professional or semi professional careers, in their 20’s to early 30’s and with young families. They aren’t particularly wealthy, and typically have the wisdom to not rent in areas they can’t afford just for the ‘lifestyle’. Generally, we live on the outer areas of the cities, and not all together, in the same part of it. Due to our Nativist, self-reliant sort of nature, buying a big property (by city standards) just outside of the cities is popular as well, and often due to the demographics being significantly more Australian than a Cragieburn or Werribee. Of course, there are several in ANA from wealthier backgrounds who can and do live close to the city centre… but that then becomes another area that people are dispersed to.
(https://www.propertyreporter.com.au/heat-map/vic/)
This presents a big drawback: the travel times and fuel costs involved are significant for any repeated activities, particularly regular ones like group fitness, regular fellowship or working groups. If a monthly or fortnightly meeting is missed, the time away from your fellows is doubled. ANA is a fraternity first, and not a strictly political organisation. So while it is not a crippling issue to miss an event, we are Nationalists by creed. The more general activity, networking opportunities, and closer connections created in person, the better for our cause.
This is not an insurmountable problem, of course. With significantly fewer people and worse roads, we had a successful Nationalist movement in the late 1800’s which claimed our nation for the Australian people, and not just as a coolie colony for the merchant classes, or strictly British imperial interests. Sure, we have a larger population of foreigners who aren’t suitable for membership, creating larger ‘black spots’ on the map, but we have benefits as well. However, I am not one for complaining without presenting solutions. So, what can we do about it?
The easiest thing to do (with our existing membership) is to arrange that when you move house, or intend to buy a property, to keep the location of your brothers in mind. There is a drive in some men’s hearts (including mine) to buy a large regional property where you barely have to see another person, and do as you wish in your peaceful country home. While there is certainly a strong appeal, this will not fix anything, especially if your ‘trad homestead retreat’ is 2-4 hours away from the nearest other homestead. So instead of buying in Colac or Warrnambool, consider Ballarat or Kilmore (if that is where people are buying). While you can contribute something online, if you are a 2-4 hour drive away, you have effectively neutralised yourself from most IRL activity.
Another option is simply growing the membership. If Melbourne had 1,000 members, you could find brothers almost anywhere you went. So, let me paint a vision for you. You could have a fitness group 3x a week in your suburb, with at least 10 regular attendees. You could have weekly philosophy and theory discussions at the pub, or at people’s homes. You could network with others with manufacturing experience, and start a business in your area. You could campaign to elect someone (even an ANA man) in your local area. You could start groups that aren’t strictly Nativist related, like a rowing club, a mechanics/engineering hobby group, or even host events like traditional dances with the wives and girlfriends of ANA. These help to breathe life back into the nation in an essential, meta-political way, which furthers our cause.
(there are higher and lower forms of culture, and all are legitimate expressions of the people’s soul)
Finally, we can acknowledge that while we would like 1,000 (or 10,000) members in Melbourne, we aren’t there just yet. If we can’t meet in person, we can be more active online. You can carve out time that you would LIKE to spend in person (say, 2-3 times a week), and instead devote that to various Nativist activities. Writing articles, creating visual content, and contributing to the podcast are all existing options. However, you can think outside the box. You could learn bush-craft (or any other traditional activity), and create content for the Association, so that they can be inspired and want to get involved. You could become a fitness guy in preparation for training new members in your area, so that when ANA does scale up, you can be a centre of the community. These activities (and many more) can be filmed and uploaded to Association media, creating an alternate form of content for our group. Hiking up a mountain with a flag is tried and true, but you can do so much more!
As committed and patriotic Nativists, we can swallow large travel distances once or twice a month for formal meetings, but many of these activities are simply unappealing when regular large distances are involved… and it’s hard to blame anyone for it! The main solutions are:
– Having consideration for where other Nationalists (and Nativists in particular) live, and plan accordingly
– Recruiting more men, to create smaller sub communities (even in large metropolitan areas)
– Making the most of your time right now, learn a skill, and advertise it for the Association, thereby becoming useful to others as we scale up our membership
We can work on all three of these solutions simultaneously, but the best one for action right now (and action is always the ideal) is certainly utilising our online capabilities. If you are a member and would like to discuss any of these in detail, please feel free to reach out to to me, or to your local Governor. And if you’re not yet a member, what’s stopping you?
Thomas M.
Governor – ANA Victoria
2025
