ABSTRACT ‘Middle Australia’ became a ubiquitous term of social categorisation and political positioning during the latter decades of the 20th century. This article examines how this concept was variously used in the metropolitan print media in the guises of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age of Melbourne, including in their reporting of federal and state politics and politicians. In doing so, it will be argued that between the 1970s and the end of the century, Middle Australia emerged discursively as a socially mixed, if fluid, category spanning much of the two cities' increasingly diverse suburban populations. Electorally, Middle Australia was viewed as a distinct but contested constituency. Although politicians made categorical claims about its values and interests, Middle Australia had plural attributed views across issues including the effects of economic structural reforms, immigration, environmental policy and its relationship to Aboriginal Australia.
Chris Beer (Fri,) studied this question.