THE AMBASSADORS: 'There was a Swede on Captain Cook's Australia voyage'
Australian ambassador Bernard Philip tells The Local that while Sweden's links to Australia go back to Captain Cook's 1770 'Voyage of Discovery,' the two countries are perfect partners for the world's green future.
Philip, a career diplomat, came to Sweden in September 2019, about six months before the pandemic hit, and will end his stint at the end of this year.
"It has been a bit of a shock," he says of the long, cold Stockholm winter, after an upbringing in the subtropical city of Brisbane and postings in India and Thailand.
"Having grown up in Queensland, and then spending much of my career in Asia, it's probably better for my skin to be living in this part of the world," he adds.
His two children, aged five and seven, also had some adapting to do.
"We came straight to Stockholm from three years in Bangkok, where they grew up, and they swam everyday there and barely wore shoes half the time, and so to come to Sweden now and have to layer them up -- sometimes it feels like 10 layers -- has been pretty challenging."
Three and a half years' later, though, he's come to appreciate the Swedish seasons.
"It's not just the four seasons, it's the micro seasons within a winter and summer and spring and autumn, which certainly weighs upon you when you have to buy clothes for the kids. And compared to growing up in a pretty hot part of Australia, you really feel like you've earned your spring and your summer."
In fact, the very best thing about living in the Nordics, he argues, is "the sense of relief that you get as the days start to get a bit longer and then the exuberance of summer when there are more smiling faces around."
Links go back to 1770
Despite the two countries sitting at opposite ends of the world, the links between Sweden and Australia go back to the absolute beginning of his country's settlement by Europeans.
"We have a very, very strong relationship with Sweden that does go back quite a long way, which I think is is not appreciated as much as it could be," he says.
"There was a Swede, Daniel Solander from Piteå, onboard the Endeavour voyage in the late 1760s, arriving in what's now Australia in 1770. He was, I think, the first European-trained scientist to ever visit Australia and played a really critical role in the discovery for Europeans of the botanical wonders of Australia."
Swedes have also been coming to Australia to do business almost as far back as there was global business to be done, with the telecoms company Ericsson active in the country since 1890, and the big Swedish mining technology companies, like Epiroc and Sandvik, playing an important part in Australia's mining business.
Currently, trade between Sweden and Australia is worth about $5 billion, which he said is "mostly in Sweden's favour".
Today, there are about 7,000 Australians living in Sweden, living mostly in Stockholm, Gothenburg and the south of Sweden.
"Speaking to Australians here, you sometimes ask the question, 'how long have you been here?' and the answer might come back 'seven years', or '15 years' or '30 years' and, and then you ask 'did you expect to come for that long', and oftentimes, the answer is 'not really'. But that's the way it's panned out. That's the way it goes."
Partners in the green transition
Following on from those close historical links, Philip believes that Sweden and Australia are likely to have an equally close relationship in the future, as they are now perfect partners in the green transition of global industry.
"Sweden is leading the world in terms of what they're doing, through countries like Northvolt and SSAB, in building new industries around fossil free steel and green batteries, and given that Australia also has a large minerals endowment, and given that we have enormous potential for renewable energy, particularly solar, we think that we can learn from some of Sweden's experience and really help drive emissions reductions, not only for Australia, but for our trading partners as well."
Some of Australia's mining companies were looking to follow Sweden's government-owned mining company LKAB's example in "unlocking some of the critical minerals here in Sweden", looking to extract the rare earth metals needed for batteries for the future fleet of electric vehicles.
"I think there is a lot of potential both on the commercial side but also in research and development, so that we can make better use of recycling of minerals, which is something that the world is going to need to do as we move into the green transition."
Common struggle for indigenous rights
While a Swede may have been involved in the first major European voyage of discovery to Australia, the Sámi, the indigenous people of northern Sweden, are finding common cause with the Indigenous Australians who have been living there for 60,000 years.
"That's an area that that has strengthened in recent years and we see really good opportunities to promote closer ties between Indigenous Australians and the Sámi people, particularly in areas where we all need to learn from the practices of indigenous peoples, such as environmental stewardship."
"There is a very active dialogue there. We have supported visits in both directions, sometimes around issues like language and cultural knowledge, but also in areas around the environment and water management."
Cultural links
Culturally, the links between Sweden and Australia are strong, with Philip mentioning Abba's tour of Australia back in 1977, which spawned an enduring fanbase in the country, with the music playing a big role in hit Australian films such as Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
In the other direction, Australian boots are de rigeur for many in Sweden's major cities.
"There's quite a lot of Australian footwear here in Stockholm. There might be a bit of a divide between RM Williams in Östermalm and Blundstones in Södermalm," he joked, pointing to the upmarket and mid-range options for Australian work boots.
Australia also stakes a claim to have invented the "flat white", the milky coffee now ubiquitous in Swedish upmarket cafés, he added, although The Local noted that New Zealand appeared to have "won the communications battle" over this.
"We'll come back to Pavlova then in a little while", Philip responded, referring to the meringue-based dessert, the origin of which is also a point of contention between the two neighbours.
Bernard Philip was interviewed by Paul O'Mahony for the Sweden in Focus podcast.
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Philip, a career diplomat, came to Sweden in September 2019, about six months before the pandemic hit, and will end his stint at the end of this year.
"It has been a bit of a shock," he says of the long, cold Stockholm winter, after an upbringing in the subtropical city of Brisbane and postings in India and Thailand.
"Having grown up in Queensland, and then spending much of my career in Asia, it's probably better for my skin to be living in this part of the world," he adds.
His two children, aged five and seven, also had some adapting to do.
"We came straight to Stockholm from three years in Bangkok, where they grew up, and they swam everyday there and barely wore shoes half the time, and so to come to Sweden now and have to layer them up -- sometimes it feels like 10 layers -- has been pretty challenging."
Three and a half years' later, though, he's come to appreciate the Swedish seasons.
"It's not just the four seasons, it's the micro seasons within a winter and summer and spring and autumn, which certainly weighs upon you when you have to buy clothes for the kids. And compared to growing up in a pretty hot part of Australia, you really feel like you've earned your spring and your summer."
In fact, the very best thing about living in the Nordics, he argues, is "the sense of relief that you get as the days start to get a bit longer and then the exuberance of summer when there are more smiling faces around."
Links go back to 1770
Despite the two countries sitting at opposite ends of the world, the links between Sweden and Australia go back to the absolute beginning of his country's settlement by Europeans.
"We have a very, very strong relationship with Sweden that does go back quite a long way, which I think is is not appreciated as much as it could be," he says.
"There was a Swede, Daniel Solander from Piteå, onboard the Endeavour voyage in the late 1760s, arriving in what's now Australia in 1770. He was, I think, the first European-trained scientist to ever visit Australia and played a really critical role in the discovery for Europeans of the botanical wonders of Australia."
Swedes have also been coming to Australia to do business almost as far back as there was global business to be done, with the telecoms company Ericsson active in the country since 1890, and the big Swedish mining technology companies, like Epiroc and Sandvik, playing an important part in Australia's mining business.
Currently, trade between Sweden and Australia is worth about $5 billion, which he said is "mostly in Sweden's favour".
Today, there are about 7,000 Australians living in Sweden, living mostly in Stockholm, Gothenburg and the south of Sweden.
"Speaking to Australians here, you sometimes ask the question, 'how long have you been here?' and the answer might come back 'seven years', or '15 years' or '30 years' and, and then you ask 'did you expect to come for that long', and oftentimes, the answer is 'not really'. But that's the way it's panned out. That's the way it goes."
Partners in the green transition
Following on from those close historical links, Philip believes that Sweden and Australia are likely to have an equally close relationship in the future, as they are now perfect partners in the green transition of global industry.
"Sweden is leading the world in terms of what they're doing, through countries like Northvolt and SSAB, in building new industries around fossil free steel and green batteries, and given that Australia also has a large minerals endowment, and given that we have enormous potential for renewable energy, particularly solar, we think that we can learn from some of Sweden's experience and really help drive emissions reductions, not only for Australia, but for our trading partners as well."
Some of Australia's mining companies were looking to follow Sweden's government-owned mining company LKAB's example in "unlocking some of the critical minerals here in Sweden", looking to extract the rare earth metals needed for batteries for the future fleet of electric vehicles.
"I think there is a lot of potential both on the commercial side but also in research and development, so that we can make better use of recycling of minerals, which is something that the world is going to need to do as we move into the green transition."
Common struggle for indigenous rights
While a Swede may have been involved in the first major European voyage of discovery to Australia, the Sámi, the indigenous people of northern Sweden, are finding common cause with the Indigenous Australians who have been living there for 60,000 years.
"That's an area that that has strengthened in recent years and we see really good opportunities to promote closer ties between Indigenous Australians and the Sámi people, particularly in areas where we all need to learn from the practices of indigenous peoples, such as environmental stewardship."
"There is a very active dialogue there. We have supported visits in both directions, sometimes around issues like language and cultural knowledge, but also in areas around the environment and water management."
Cultural links
Culturally, the links between Sweden and Australia are strong, with Philip mentioning Abba's tour of Australia back in 1977, which spawned an enduring fanbase in the country, with the music playing a big role in hit Australian films such as Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
In the other direction, Australian boots are de rigeur for many in Sweden's major cities.
"There's quite a lot of Australian footwear here in Stockholm. There might be a bit of a divide between RM Williams in Östermalm and Blundstones in Södermalm," he joked, pointing to the upmarket and mid-range options for Australian work boots.
Australia also stakes a claim to have invented the "flat white", the milky coffee now ubiquitous in Swedish upmarket cafés, he added, although The Local noted that New Zealand appeared to have "won the communications battle" over this.
"We'll come back to Pavlova then in a little while", Philip responded, referring to the meringue-based dessert, the origin of which is also a point of contention between the two neighbours.
Bernard Philip was interviewed by Paul O'Mahony for the Sweden in Focus podcast.
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