The Australian actress Ruth Cracknell died a couple of days ago. A great loss in so many ways but I'm not going to sing her praises as she deserves and as so many have. One of her most celebrated works was a series called "Mother and Son". Ruth plays a slowly dementing widow who is cared for by her son. This programme was well ahead of its time in considering the "burden" of dementia for the sufferer and their carers. While being quite acrid it displayed such pathos and comedy in many ways. And I wasn't surprised one bit when I heard (Radio National) that one of the executive producers was John O'Grady, an acute observer of society. John O'Grady or rather his pseudonym, Nino Culotta wrote a book called "They're a weird mob" in which he depicted a tale of an Italian's emigration to Australia.

Here's one good description of the book:

"The great success of John O'Grady's They're a Weird
Mob(1957), and other similar volumes, was a timely response to the national
policy of assimilation and 'naturalisation'. While the 'Nino Culotta'
novels celebrate the idiosyncratic and the humorous aspects of Australian
language and customs, they nevertheless declare it to be 'natural' and the
immigrant culture to be foreign and 'other' as they valorise the valiant
(and good-natured) attempt of the hero to 'make himself' Australian."

- http://adt.library.uq.edu.au/uploads/approved/adt-QU2000.0003/public/chapter6.PDF

Unfortunately when we were asked to read it in Grade 5, I don't think I had to insight to realise the perceptive cultural observations, as well as cringe, and their impact on my society. He captured an essence of Australian-ness in many ways.
Here's an excerpt

It's a classic. It's on the booklist for one Australian studies course in Hungary which only adds credence to its relevance.

Ciao Ruth..