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A massive "O" shines out from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, like the bat sign illuminated over the skies of Gotham City. But rather than call for the caped crusader, Tourism Australia has sought help from the Queen of Chat. It is an exaggeration to describe Oprah Winfrey's "Ultimate Australian Adventure" as something of a mercy mission, but only a slight one. The tourism chiefs who have helped bankroll her visit are definitely hoping it will boost a sector that has pretty much been stagnant for the past 10 years because of a series of setbacks: the soaring Australian dollar, the Sars outbreak, bird flu, 911 and a feeling that Sydney in particular dropped the ball after hosting the Olympics.

As anyone in Australia these past few days would have found almost impossible to ignore, Oprah Winfrey surprised 300 audience members by announcing that she was flying them to Australia. The Oprah juggernaut has now thundered into town.
While here, she's recording two shows at the Opera House, which of course has been renamed the Oprah House. Then there is the O sign on the bridge. Thankfully, her hosts stopped short of carving her profile into the side of the Blue Mountains, a la Mount Rushmore, but you get the idea.

Since arriving last week, the talkshow host has been on a whirlwind tour, already taking in Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne and the bridge climb in Sydney. Tourism Australia is confident the exposure that Australia receives when the shows are aired in 145 countries will boost visitor numbers by 300,000.

The economic argument for hosting Oprah and her huge entourage seems clear-cut. There's been a $6m outlay from the federal, New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland governments, and Qantas. In return, it is estimated that Australia will receive $100m in international exposure. Not a bad few days' work.

More complicated is the Aussie response to her visit, which has been like a presidential, royal and papal visit all rolled into one. Of course, much of all this is the usual media hype (what was it that Walter Cronkite once said about Australia having too many journalists and not enough stories?). But politicians have been tripping over themselves to appear alongside Oprah, and have helped give this the feel of a state visit. Prime Minister Julia Gillard was even on hand in Melbourne on Friday afternoon, when Oprah appeared in the city's Federation Square.

It all creates the impression that Australia remains still a country that craves international recognition, and continues to suffer from the occasional spasm of cultural cringe, an ingrained feeling of inferiority.

"There is a huge underlying cringe factor to her trip," . "It's embarrassing that we care about Oprah like this and need her so much."

I usually argue that Australia's cultural creep is more significant than any lingering sense of cultural cringe. After all, others countries look with envy on the land Down Under, whether it is the strength of its economy or the liveability of its major cities. It is a lifestyle superpower.

So Oprah's visit has felt like a throwback to an era when the tyranny of distance actually meant just that and when the country's national self-esteem was much more fragile than it is today.

Oprah is the unrivalled Queen of Chat. But should her Australian hosts bowed before with quite such bended knee?

PS Heartfelt apologies for the continued inability to comment. The latest word from London is that the comments section was shut down while I was away on paternity leave, and restoring it remains a work in progress. Again, my apologies.

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