What is an 'ocker accent' and why is it called that?

Well, where I come from (ie, Melbourne, Australia), an ocker is someone who I suppose you would say is stereotypically Aussie. The only person I can think of off the top of my head would be someone like Alf from "Home and Away".

I have no idea as to its origins, though.

The Oxford English Dictionary says that Ocker was "the name of a character in a series of television sketches by Ron Frazer, used earlier as a colloquial variant of names like Oscar and O'Connor."

Cassell's Dictionary of Slang says that Ron Frazer portrayed Ocker in "The Mavis Bramston Show" from 1965 to 1968.

So ocker is basically a noun denoting the US version of redneck, as well as being an adjective (as in an ocker accent). Many often use this word as the same noun as ockerism (as in being right into ocker). It seems ockerina is the noun for a female ocker. Bush pig is a term often given to ocker females, and sometimes to males, though this term is usually used to denote people actually from the country, especially bush-hardened females.

Ockers are those blokes with pot-bellies in singlets, wearing shorts, thongs and bush hat. Oh, and don't forget the tinnie in a can holder and zinc cream on the nose (at least they're sun smart!). Their female counterparts squeal in high-pitched ocker accents, and wear t-shirt, trackie pants and moccos to bingo. Of course you have the newer generation: the females still screech, but some of them exercise now (though the amount of skinny ockerinas is staggering, so some of them need to replace a few ciggies with some nutrition); males are often slim, yet still loud, one-eyed and apathetic to the outside world.

Now that we have a few stereotypes out of the way, well negative ones anyway, we can look at some of the good points of the ocker. The gutsy Australian, the friendly and helpful Aussie - these are our ockers too. It was our ockers that totally surprised even the Americans in Vietnam with their die-hard attitude. And you can see that trait in our farmers as they struggle with drought but merely shrug and say it is a part of life. Ockers are also those who stay to fight the flames in times of bush fire.

'sorite maate. isjus thway we tork ere in straya.
sno worries , abitta ozzy colcha forya.