A Little About Western Australia

(Please refrain from sharing on social media until I'm back from my trip, however, sharing privately with a trusted friend is fine.)

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.