Politics and national affairs were at times so absurd it was enough to induce despair. But online a thousand blossoms bloomed

When 2017 got ridiculous, Australia's best memes came to the rescue

When Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, better known as Macklemore, booked his ticket to Australia to perform at the NRL grand final in October, he could not have known what he was in for.

The Seattle rapper – largely forgotten since his 2012 hit Thrift Shop – found himself at the centre of a national debate about the value of free speech, in which he was attacked by Tony Abbott and defended by the former PM’s daughter Frances over the politics of his song Same Love.

'Equality for all': Macklemore issues emotional plea during NRL grand final Read more

Such was the state of Australia in 2017, as national politics and culture reached new heights of absurdity. But a bizarre year for news makes for a good year for memes. Here are some of the best.

Prime Minister Trumble

Mark Di Stefano 🤙🏻 (@MarkDiStef) Excuse me everyone, please enjoy White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer TWICE saying "Prime Minister TRUMBLE" pic.twitter.com/4JnpzucCbm

Malcolm Turnbull suffered online embarrassment after his first phone call with Donald Trump ended when the president hung up on him in anger.

While Australians were still processing the insult, the White House’s then-press secretary, Sean Spicer, called him “Trumble” and the meme – of Turnbull getting haplessly owned on the world stage – was born.

SBS Comedy (@SBSComedy) Turnbull Still Pretending To Be On Phone Call Hours After Trump Hung Uphttps://t.co/BOHe2m1fnU pic.twitter.com/XAnGoeuMn5

the result respecter (@rpy) [in a headlock after being wedgied] the US Australia relationship has never been stronger

a bin chicken in a pear tree (@mckinnon_a) Americans reacting to the Trump/Turnbull phonecall: m...my God. One of our closest allies, slandered. Disgraceful.

Australians: lol owned

House is always haunt

In May Fairfax Media staff across the nation went on strike. A dramatic week-long action, sparked by 125 job cuts, saw staff walk off in the crucial week of the federal budget.

As reporters, editors and subeditors called for solidarity, the columnist Elizabeth Farrelly instead filed an opinion piece about moving house.

It was an odd article that at one point compared selling a terrace to a slave auction. But more importantly, with management scrambling to put together a paper with no subeditors, it went up with a hilariously weird typo.

woodenspoon_roar (@scouse_roar) house is always haunt, spike. as moving proves pic.twitter.com/q3Nuhcn2vt

The internet instantly seized upon it.

Deck the halls with dual citizens (@verbaliza) American Horror Story season six was actually supposed to be called House Is Always Haunt.

Nadine von Cohen (@nadinevoncohen) FUCK YEAH IN LIFE THERE ARE THREE CERTAINTIES DEATH TAXES AND HOUSE IS ALWAYS HAUNT

When Andrew Bolt fell victim to a similar lack of editorial oversight, it was simply too good for this world.

Lane Sainty (@lanesainty) the new house is always haunt pic.twitter.com/MISWhdZ6zb

Barnaby Joyce is a Kiwi

Social media rejoices as citizenship stone comes back to hit Barnaby Joyce Read more

A great many politicians lost their jobs this year to section 44 and the dual citizenship crisis. But nobody got roasted for it more than Barnaby Joyce, the red-faced, carp-hating leader of the Nationals, who was revealed to be a New Zealander by descent.

Someone nominated him for New Zealander of the year, and Amber Heard, whose dogs Joyce infamously threatened to kill in 2015, returned serve with aplomb.

'Tis The Season For James Colley (@JamColley) [HIGH COURT JUDGE places one jar of Vegemite and one jar of Marmite on the table]



[BARNABY JOYCE starts sweating profusely.]

Rob Stott (@Rob_Stott) Incredible that the man who went after Pistol and Boo is actually an undeclared foreign pest

Amber Heard (@realamberheard) To comfort Mr. Joyce in his hour need, I have sent him a box of New Zealand's finest kiwi fruit (assuming this passes his biosecurity laws) pic.twitter.com/lQHJzMyXT9

Cracking open a cold one with the boys

“Cracking open a cold one with the boys” became an online refrain globally around the end of May.

Though many Australians would consider it uniquely theirs, the phrase – and the caricature of masculinity it was poking fun at – struck a chord around the world, and was applied to increasingly ludicrous situations.

Its provenance is debated but its popularity in 2017 can be clearly attributed to a number of Australian Facebook pages. As BuzzFeed reported, the influential page Cracking open a cold one with the boys is based on Townsville.

isabel jinglebell (@spoookybabe) just cracking open a cold one with the boys pic.twitter.com/rFa3UuU2Ce

will online (@AmericanAsshoIe) i made a flow chart to help you this summer when you're trying to decide when to crack open a cold one with the boys pic.twitter.com/lZFweR5jDS

emi (@plantblogger) COLD ONE WITH THE BOYS

NEVER CRACKED



ー Hemingway

A thousand blossoms bloom



God bless the reporter who asked the Queensland MP Bob Katter what he thought of the same-sex marriage survey.

No bones about it, the eccentric Katter is hardly a good ally to the LGBTI community and is well-known for his retrograde views, but this November an astonishing interview transfixed the nation.

If you haven’t seen it, watch below. Otherwise nothing will make sense.



Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) In case you missed it, here's Bob Katter's alternative view on the #samesexmarriage debate. Thanks for watching. #Insiders #auspol pic.twitter.com/iObsR1tDs1

Katter’s tonal shift mid-answer was incredible; his phrasing throughout – especially “let there be a thousand blossoms bloom” – was beautiful and bizarre. As the ABC’s Tiger Webb put it: “It’s Juilliard. It’s Branagh. It’s Inside the Actor’s Studio.”



And it inspired many memes.

flglmn (@flglmn) [suddenly getting up and walking out of meeting] I ain't spending any time on it because in the meantime every three months a person gets torn to pieces by a crocodile

STM (@samtwyfordmoore) Before and after logging on. pic.twitter.com/5SEz648Atw

Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) Just to reiterate, I am really happy for Harry & Meghan, but I *ain’t spending any time on it*, cos in the meantime, every three months a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in North Queensland 😡🐊

The ABC even fact-checked it, finding “no evidence to support the claim that crocodiles were killing people every three months in Queensland” – but missed a trick.

Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) Hi @ABCFactCheck I made you a great follow-up pic.twitter.com/GJb5Vh0tNR

Shooting stars



You may have come across shooting stars, a meme that became globally popular early this year, without realising it was Australian.

It shows a person in the process of falling or jumping, edited into a series of often surreal backgrounds, and set to the 2008 minor dancefloor hit Shooting Stars by the Sydney electronic duo Bag Raiders.

It became so popular it even featured in Katy Perry’s highly internet-literate video for her single Swish Swish. “It’s all just totally weird and very of this time,” a Bag Raiders band member, Chris Stacey, told Pedestrian of his meme notoriety in February.

Did I meme? @bunsen_berner16 A post shared by Clay Hollie (@clay.hollie) on Feb 5, 2017 at 9:53pm PST

The Horses

Mirroring the Shannon Noll revival of late 2015, this year’s nostalgic Australiana obsession was Daryl Braithwaite’s classic The Horses.

Josh Butler (@JoshButler) If you play Daryl Braithwaite's 'The Horses' at 11:58:50pm on New Year's Eve that first "that's the way it's GONNA BE little darling, we'll be riding on the horses YEAH YEAH" will play right as the clock strikes midnight. Start off your new year right.

The birds

Some memes, although not Australian in origin, found themselves communicating uniquely Australian things.

Inhaling Seagull – an image series of ... an inhaling seagull – was a perfect fit, combining our love of birds with our love of belting out songs.

Dom Alessio (@domalessio) It’s the 21st of December... pic.twitter.com/vhh4nRFx55

Guardian Australia’s own bird of the year poll became a big social media event, and this effort from Michelle Law paired it with a perfect Australian twist on the “Nothing but respect for my president meme” – originally developed to poke fun at an overzealous fan of Donald Trump.