ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades, testimony has complicated Australia's self-image as the egalitarian land of the fair go. It has emphasized the ongoing struggles of many Indigenous peoples, recent migrants, and asylum seekers, while highlighting the privilege of "ordinary" settler Australians. This chapter considers the relationship between testimonies of suffering and trauma, and more "positive" stories of battler triumph, by examining the long-running Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) television program Australian Story. It focuses on the program as a vehicle of positive or "feel-good" testimony, contextualizing it with reference to broader questions concerning the proliferation of "ordinary" voices within the public sphere. The chapter argues that Australian Story has highlighted the desire of Australians to connect with each other through the sharing of testimony, to produce a sense of Australianness from a fabric of "true stories".
