Rick Johnson - there's a diary written by an Elizabethan blacksmith in London in which he spells words such as Farthing as "Fardin" and his and hers as "is an ers", suggesting that proto-type cockney pronunciation goes back a loooong time, glottal stops, dropped H's an' awl....
Australian has undoubtedly been heavily influenced by southern english accents and would be classed as southern english in character were it native to the UK. It's far more similar to a cockney accent than it is to a northern english accent for example, furthermore it's far more similar to a cockney accent than a cockney accent is to a northern english accent! Alot of Aussie slang is also characteristically south east english, such as the eponymous use of "mate" for friend, which is shared with londoners. Oz has been influenced by other accents though, as Oz ancestry comes from all over the UK, and Oz English also has a standard which is almost identical to the English standard, whereas cockney is a non-standard dialiect traditionally denoting low class status. The emerging Australian establishment and middle classes would undoubtedly have discouraged use of non-standard (e.g. cockney) words and pronounciations, same as their English counterparts.
There is another very big change happening right now in urban london speech, as the cockney accent is heavily influenced by afro-carib speech. now working class london white youths are as likely to speak like Ali G as they are to speak traditional cockney. This change has happened literally in the last 15 years, and is changing the character of cockney significantly.
Australian has undoubtedly been heavily influenced by southern english accents and would be classed as southern english in character were it native to the UK. It's far more similar to a cockney accent than it is to a northern english accent for example, furthermore it's far more similar to a cockney accent than a cockney accent is to a northern english accent! Alot of Aussie slang is also characteristically south east english, such as the eponymous use of "mate" for friend, which is shared with londoners. Oz has been influenced by other accents though, as Oz ancestry comes from all over the UK, and Oz English also has a standard which is almost identical to the English standard, whereas cockney is a non-standard dialiect traditionally denoting low class status. The emerging Australian establishment and middle classes would undoubtedly have discouraged use of non-standard (e.g. cockney) words and pronounciations, same as their English counterparts.
There is another very big change happening right now in urban london speech, as the cockney accent is heavily influenced by afro-carib speech. now working class london white youths are as likely to speak like Ali G as they are to speak traditional cockney. This change has happened literally in the last 15 years, and is changing the character of cockney significantly.