ArticleWhat could Australia’s most culturally iconic family teach us about the exhausting ordeal of Christmas travel? If my own family’s holiday history is anything to go by, plenty.
The Australian classic film The Castle telling the story of a knockabout Aussie Dad – Darryl Kerrigan – and his family and their battle with a multinational corporation to save their meagre outer-suburban home still delights today.
The film contains more gems than a diamond mine, but a particularly memorable moment is Darryl’s chanting of the family anthem while driving to their modest holiday shack: “We’re goin’ to Bonnie Doon! We’re goin’ to Bonnie Doon!” (Sorry if that’s now stuck in your head for the rest of the day). To my surprise and satisfaction, I recently learned that the destination of several of my childhood holidays was just down the road from the Kerrigan’s Bonnie Doon holiday home.
It turns out that the fictional two-bedroom fibro shack is a real place – located a couple of hours out of Melbourne, nestled on the banks of Lake Eildon. While the serenity is indisputable, it’s about as far as you can get from an idyllic Christmas holiday destination.
There’s a passable lake, middling vegetation and pretty much only carp in the water.
On any measure, Bonnie Doon wasn’t built for Instagram. And yet, like the Kerrigans, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
After arriving in Australia from Sri Lanka in the 1980s, my small army of uncles, aunties and cousins regularly ventured into regional Victoria during Christmas, Easter and other holidays. Short-haul road trips to places like Bonnie Doon were cheap, easy and a plethora of holiday rentals readily accommodated a sizeable assembly of newly minted Australians, stocked with homemade curry and backyard cricket gear.
At first glance, we had as much in common with the Kerrigans as a vegetarian has with a butcher. But somehow – year after year – we shared their holiday habits. Why?
This Christmas season, more than 40 per cent of Australians will travel. From camping to resorts to Airbnbs to holiday homes. In a cost-of-living crisis, travelling might seem like a luxury, but the experts say it’s a necessity. A recent study showed that travelling leads to better life satisfaction and higher levels of subjective wellbeing.
Interestingly, where we go seems less important than whom we go with. Around 85 per cent of people say that travel is important to maintaining healthy relationships with family and friends.
Darryl Kerrigan’s excitement to visit Bonnie Doon was about the people, not the place. So it was with my family’s trips to all manner of obscure destinations over the years.
Travel, at its best, is about people. It’s about making memories, not social media posts.
For some of us, Christmas gatherings are gauntlets to endure rather than moments to enjoy. However, statistically, at least, we do better when we focus our breaks on people rather than places. Destination-driven travel is good. But relationship-driven travel is better.
A 2020 study showed that feeling lonely activates the same brain region as feeling hungry. Evidently, human connection is a non-negotiable part of human wellness. And holiday seasons are no exception.
The Bible’s account of Christmas tells of an unlikely gathering of travellers. A young married couple from Nazareth. Shepherds from nearby fields. Wealthy wise men from north-western Persia. And – in keeping with countless school and church plays – probably a decent smattering of barnyard animals.
Our modern Christmas gatherings can be equally assorted, spanning diversity beyond imagination and the full range of emotions from obligation to exhilaration.
However, regardless of how we feel, when we travel to gather at Christmas we don’t do it for the sights or the convenience. We do it for the people.
For all of the mountains to be climbed at Christmas – logistical, emotional and financial -coming together reflects something of what it means to be human.
Around 30 years after the first Christmas, the baby they had gathered around – Jesus – now grown up, was asked for a single rule by which people should live. He answered by encouraging people to invest in their relationships – with God and with each other. It was a claim about human nature that has echoed down through the ages: We are built to connect with others.
Christmas holidays can take some work and dedication. But our friends and family can be worth the trip. If you’re travelling to visit people this Christmas – or receiving visitors from afar – try to savour the relationships, the moments and the memories. They deserve to go straight to the pool room.
Max Jeganathan is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity. He served as a political and social policy adviser in the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments and is undertaking a PhD in law on human dignity. This article was first published in The Canberra Times.
Image source: United Archives GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo.