Greetings to Illinois Association of Home and Community Education members, friends, and family!
Let me tell
you a little about the state I’ll be visiting in Australia: Western Australia.
I have to sheepishly admit (pun intended) that I didn’t know very much about
the whole country, let alone Western Australia. So, it has been a sharp
learning curve for me!
Over the
past few months, I’ve been doing a lot of reading about Australia and have been
watching every show on the country I can find on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video
(recommendations in italics). I have learned that I had a lot of stereotypes in
my head, probably based on movies and commercials I’d seen over the decades which
featured accurate and inaccurate information.
Wonder if you have any stereotypes
about Australia? For fun, do a search on “Stereotypes Americans have about
Australia.” To be fair, I’m sure there are a lot of stereotypes about us!
Most of the
stereotypes and misconceptions I had about Australia were about their animals. My
stereotypes? I thought dingoes, koala bears and kangaroos lived everywhere. First,
in my own feeble defense, I did not realize how large the country is. After
all, Australia is often distorted on maps. It was a surprise to me that Australia
is about the same size as the continental United States. Logic should have told
me that certain animals only lived in certain regions. Okay, okay….kangaroos
pretty much live everywhere…but koalas are native to the southeast and dingoes
steer clear of the sandy deserts. They are not even considered a predator to
farm animals in some areas.
Since
Australia is about the size of the
continental U.S. and only has seven states and territories, it means that some
of those states are quite large. Western Australia is the largest state…almost
a million square miles! Imagine drawing a line north and south through Denver,
Colorado, extending it to our north and south borders, and then having
everything west of that being one state. Then, you can get an idea of how large
the state of Western Australia is.
Amazon Prime Video has an interesting
show on Western Australia conveniently named “Western Australia-Australia’s
Wildflower State” if you’d like to see the topography and some of the towns I’ll
be visiting.
Western
Australia has about 2 ½ million residents, with most of the population dwelling
in the Southwest corner, fairly near the Indian and Southern Oceans’ coastlines.
Perth, it’s largest city and capital is home to about 2 million residents, 80%
of WA’s population. WA is divided into land districts…kind of like our counties…and
also into regions. I’ll be visiting the Mid West, the Wheatbelt, the South
West, the South Coast, and the Goldfields-Esperance regions, as well as the Metropolitan
area, which is Perth.
Australia has
been inhabited for 40,000-60,000 years by Australia’s Indigenous People.
Europeans began exploring and inhabiting the country starting in the 1600s. Farming
was difficult in the beginning as there were poisonous plants and issues with
the soil. Nowadays, crops can be grown, but many farms raise cattle or sheep as
well. At first, many people came to WA to search for gold, but other resources
were found, so now, mining is a major industry.
The southwest
region where I’ll spend most of my time has been described as having “a Mediterranean
climate.” What? Do you mean there isn’t ice, snow, and frigid temperature like
Illinois has been enjoying?? Beam me up, Scotty!
One of the
stereotypes I had about Australia is that it was all Outback…dry with scrubby trees. I didn’t think there was much
green. I’ve learned that in most of the regions I’ll be in, there is plenty of
vegetation, but I will be in some
areas that are considered Outback. I’ll get a dose of both! That is the fun of
travel. One gets to see different topography and different weather…and gets to
see how people have adapted their living styles.
Well, I’m
tired of writing for today, so I will end with some of my favorite programs on
Australia and Australia’s homes:
On Netflix:
Australia’s Best Homes
Wild Australia
Grand Design-Australia
On Amazon Prime Video:
The
Story of Australia: there are two programs by this title. The one made in 2013
is the one I preferred, although both are good.
First
Footprints: about Australia’s Indigenous People and their artwork.
Building
Australia: a fabulous show on Australia’s different housing styles from the
past two centuries. (I’ll take one Federalist style house, to go, please.)
Perth
Western
Australia-Australia’s Wildflower State.
There are
many, many more available.
More
resources:
Illinois HCE members: To read about the group that is
hosting me, the Country Women’s Association of Western Australia, go to https://www.cwaofwa.asn.au/. Under “What
We Do” and “Media,” you will find wonderful articles about our 2018 Australian
visitor’s activities over the past few years.
To learn more about the Illinois Association
of Home and Community Education: go to iahce.org. The newsletters will tell you all about
IAHCE’s activities and altruism around the state.
