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Australian culture used to be considered an oxymoron. The best talents and sharpest minds often fled to cramped English hovels or glistening U.S. towers, leaving the renegades and stalwarts to struggle at home. But a seismic shift in government funding (and national pride) has turned everything on its head.

OUR FLICKS Forget Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max. Seek out Kenny (a comedy about a portable toilet operator), Lucky Miles (a comedy of sorts about illegal immigrants landing in Outback Australia) and the documentary Bra Boys (about one of the most notorious surf tribes in the world).

OUR TELLY Canadians aren't the only ones specializing in self-deprecating humour. Look for: suburban paean Kath & Kim (the recent U.S. remake misses the point entirely), The Chaser's War On Everything (a hilarious and sometimes shocking jab at anything and everything), Thank God You're Here (which takes improv to side-splitting highs) and The Hollowmen (a dry mockumentary set in the prime minister's PR room).

OUR TUNES Thankfully, there's more to us than AC/DC and Kylie Minogue. Start with Xavier Rudd, who incorporates didgeridoos and African drums into layered folk-rock (he married a Canadian, so he tours here regularly), and the Hilltop Hoods, who are Ozhip-hop stars. And don't forget the classics: Opera divas are national heroes – Dame Nellie Melba's picture is on the $100 bill – and symphony orchestras dot the country.

OUR WORDS Australian lit started with “bush poetry” – ballads telling romantic stories about the landscape. Since then, we've also nurtured writers who cover everything from science to colonial history to urban life. Notables: two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey, Tim Winton and Tim Flannery.

OUR TALENT We love it when Aussies make it big overseas. Cate Blanchett is a particular fave, thanks to both her fabulous acting and her continuing involvement in Sydney's theatre scene. We're also happy to claim anyone born elsewhere (Nicole Kidman: Hawaii, Russell Crowe: New Zealand, AC/DC's Young brothers: Scotland). Unless, that is, they annoy us. We dumped Tom Cruise when he dumped “our Nic.”

OUR ART The prices on traditional indigenous art are surging (see: Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Kathleen Petyarre). And according to curator René Dings of Centred Art Gallery in Brisbane, there's also a burgeoning movement among aboriginal artists at community-based centres in Central Australia.

OUR APOLOGIES Aussies are incorrigible boosters, but there are some things even we cringe at. Olivia Newton John and Xanadu. Paul Hogan and all efforts post-Crocodile Dundee. Mel Gibson and his drunken rants. And while we're proud of the Wiggles, we still wish we could get Hot Potato out of our heads.