The term "feral" is usually used to refer to a domesticated animal which has returned to the wild[1]. In Australian slang, a "feral" generally refers to a person who dresses and acts in what is seen to be an uncontrolled manner. This may be because they have little understanding of cause-and-effect, leading to poverty [1] and behaviour the labeler believes to be outside the social norm. It may be because they are left wing, and the labeler believes they are not restraining their empathy enough.
There is a strong correlation between those given this label and what the most noticeably different-from-mainstream poor do.
Typical Usage
In most parts of Australia the use of the term 'feral' typically refers to groups of people who have no worth to society, cannot be controlled, break the law, and ignore authority - it may also be used as another word for 'disgusting.' For example, the phrase: "You're so disgusting!" may become; "You're so feral!"
Ferals are perceived as being low in the stratum of Australian society, lower than the roughly equivalent bogan/bevan/westy [citation needed]. They typically live in cheap houses, usually situated in the outer suburbs where employment is low, or ex-industrial suburbs that are yet to go through urban renewal [citation needed].
People in urban areas do not usually associate them with the rural poor perhaps due to the traditionally idealist views which surround "The Bush" and its rural inhabitants. However, such people are found in many rural areas and are known as "ferals" by their neighbours [citation needed].
Their speech is characterised by an excess of the Australian tendencies to roll successive syllables into one continuous diphthong as well as a broad, nasal drawl.
In sharp contrast to other pejorative labels such as redneck or nigger, very few if any people identify themselves as "ferals" out of a sense or ironic or countercultural pride [citation needed]. Adjacent residents of caravan parks will freely lambaste each other as "ferals" without any attempt at conscious irony [citation needed].
The label frequently functions as an adjective usually in the context of a pejorative insult commonly exchanged between females [citation needed]. "You feral mole" is something akin to calling someone a slut and does not necessarily require that the recipient be lower-class [citation needed].
Certain suburbs are notorious for their association with "westy/redneck" populations. Macquarie Fields and Mount Druitt near Sydney are identified as such as are Caboolture, Ipswich and Inala in Brisbane [citation needed].
As activists many will congregate at tent embassies, and rainforest areas such as the Stix valley and Tarkine national parks in Tasmania. In addition music festivals such as at Peats Ridge, Byron Blues and Roots, Confest and various "bush doof'" {outdoor dance parties/rave} and warehouse parties also are popular.
Left Wing Ferals
Often people living alternative lifestyles or who are associated with radical left wing politics are also called "feral" even if they are educated or moderate to high earning people [citation needed]. Right wing tabloid columnists often deride "the feral Left" or the "feral Greens", perhaps to reserve an extra layer of vitriol for those to the left of even the lesser-hated-but-still-reviled centre-Left chattering classes and chardonnay socialist [citation needed].
Ferals in the Daintree
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In the town of
Australian Aboriginals, even if they live a native lifestyle (for example, not owning property), are not often referred to as ferals. The term applies generally to non-aboriginal persons.
Feral as Alternative Lifestyle
During the early 1990's, the term "feral" was used in the Australian media to describe a distinct subculture which combined
elements of the punk and hippie countercultural
movements. The "feral movement" could be seen as the Australian equivalent to the European New age travellers. The feral movement adopted the disparaging moniker "feral" in a similar way that
the counter-culture of a decade earlier had adopted the punk label. The typical image of
a feral as a person with dreadlocks and dirty homemade clothes came out of the movements'
association with the hardcore environmental movement.[citation needed] The earliest ferals were inner-city
punks and squatters who attended environmental blockades, often in remote and inaccessible
areas of the bush. As a result, washing of clothes was a difficult task and filthy clothes later came to be a symbol of
attachment to the subculture, a mark of defiance against consumerist culture.[citation needed] The feral ideology is influenced by Neo-Tribalism, Neo-primitivism,
These ferals often have untethered hair (impromptu dreadlocks), are unwashed, and wear an assortment of torn, aged, although sometimes colourful, clothes. Their social system is based upon the following practices and philosophies: environmentalism (usually radical), refusal of most property systems founded on tenure or ownership (often resulting in nomadism and/or squatting), Marijuana-smoking, and suspicion of non-ferals.
See also
- Alternative society
Anarchism - Freak scene
- Generation X
References
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