Liberal Arts Blog — Australia III — Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne
Liberal Arts Blog — Sunday is the Joy of Humor, Food, Travel, Practical Life Tips, and Random Stuff Day
Today’s Topic: Australia III — Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne
Two weeks ago, in Part One, a little geography from the Torres Straits and the Timor Sea to the Great Australian Bight, from Shark Bay to the Great Barrier Reef. And a little history from Ned Kelly, the outlaw, to Donald Bradman the super- natural cricketeer. One week ago, a little refresher course on iconic Australian wildlife from the kangaroo and the wallaby to the koala and the wombat. Today, a little look at urban life in the southeastern coastal region — from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney to Brisbane.
The general theme of all my travel posts is the more you know about other countries and cultures, the greater your potential for shared joy with anyone you meet anywhere on this beautiful planet.
Are you Australian? Have you been there? What do you know about Australia that the rest of us may not but would be delighted to learn?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
ADELAIDE — the capital and largest city of the state of South Australia. Population 1.4 million, Founded in 1836 and named after the wife of King William IV “the Sailor King” who reigned from 1830–1837. He was the last of the Hanovers.
1. Only “freely settled” major city in Australia — the rest were settled by convicts.
2. The native people were the Kaurna. A few thousand when Europeans first arrived but only 700 by the time of the formal establishment of the colony in 1836. “The last speaker of the Kaurna language died in 1929.)
3. The city was founded as a planned community on a grid pattern “interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by park lands.” The designer was William Light (1786–1839) a British Malayan army and naval officer who also selected the site of the capital.
NB: Adelaide is known as the “City of Churches” for the diversity of faiths and as the headquarters of Australia’s Space Agency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide
BRISBANE — capital and largest city of Queensland, population 2.6 million, originated as the Moreton Bay Penal Colony in 1824, below “Streets Beach” — an artificial lagoon with “sandy shores, azure water, and swaying palms” in the center of the city.
1. ‘German Lutherans established the first free settlment at Zion Hill at Nundah in 1838, and in 1859 Brisbane was chosen as Queensland’s capital when the state separated from New South Wales.”
2. “By the last 19th century, the city had grown into a major port and center of immigration.”
3. “During World War II, the Allied command in the South West Pacific was based in the city, along with the headquarterf for General Douglas MacArthur of the United States Army.”
NB: Brisbane “is Australia’s third largest seaport” and a “global center of research and innovation and ranks in the top 10% for its innovation environment out of 500 cities worldwide, with leading strengths in medicine and biotechnology, as well as a major tech base centered on Fortitude Valley.”
Brisbane will be hosting the 2032 Summer Olympics! bought your tickets yet?
SYDNEY — largest city in Australia, capital of New South Wales, population 5.4 million, “The Emerald City” or the “Harbor City” — inhabitants are called “Sydneysiders” (below “Bondi Beach” 4 miles from the city center
1. “In 1788, the First Fleet of convicts, led by Arthur Philip, founded Sydney as a British penal colony, the first European settlement in Australia.”
2. “After World War II, Sydney experienced mass migration and by 2021 over 40% of the population was born overseas.”
3. “Foreign countries of birth with the greatest representation are mainland China, India, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and the Philippines.”
NB: “Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the world, Sydney frequently ranks in the top ten most liveable cities.”
The architectural wonders of Sydney include the Sydney Opera House (below) and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
MELBOURNE — capital and largest city of the Australian state of Victoria, “consistently ranked the world’s most liveable city” in the 2010s. Population 5.2 million, busiest seaport in the country, residents are known as “Melburnians” (below the Shrine of Remembrance, “with annual observances on Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November)
1. “During the 1850s Victorian gold rush, the city entered a lengthy boom period that, by the laste 1880s, had transformed it into one of the world’s largest and wealthiest metropolises.”
2. “After the federation of Australia in 1901, Melbourne served as the interim seat of government of the new nation until Canberra became the permanent capital in 1927.”
3. A major financial center in the Asia-Pacific region, it is also host to the Australian Open (one of the four tennis Grand Slams) and the Australian Grand Prix.
NB: Also famous for its cricket field, the Royal Exhibition Hall (1879–1880), and Princes Bridge (across the Yarra River, below). See last three links for details.
BACKGROUND
Adelaide city centre — Wikipedia
Moreton Bay Penal Settlement — Wikipedia
South Bank Parklands — Wikipedia
Foundation of Melbourne — Wikipedia
Shrine of Remembrance — Wikipedia
Melbourne Cricket Ground — Wikipedia
Royal Exhibition Building — Wikipedia
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Anything miscellaneous to share? Best trip you ever took in your life? Practical life tips? Random facts? Jokes?
Or, what is the best cartoon you have seen lately? or in the last 10 years? or the last 50?
Or what is your favorite holiday food? Main course? Dessert? Fondest food memories? Favorite foods to eat or prepare?
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or to cement in your mind a memory that might otherwise disappear. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart. Continuity is key to depth of thought.
