Liberal Arts Blog —Australia IV: Perth (South West), Darwin (North Central), Canberra (South east)
Liberal Arts Blog — Sunday is the Joy of Humor, Food, Travel, Practical Life Tips, and Random Stuff Day
Today’s Topic: Australia IV: Perth (south west), Darwin (north central) , Canberra (south east)
Four 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. Three weeks ago, a little refresher course on iconic Australian wildlife from the kangaroo and the wallaby to the koala and the wombat. Two weeks ago, a little look at urban life in the southeastern coastal region — from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney to Brisbane. Today, a far-ranging survey of three more Australian cities — from Perth in Western Australia, to Darwin in the Northern Territory, to Canberra in the Capital District. Next week: Tasmania.
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.
PERTH — capital of Western Australia, population 2.3 Million, founded by James Stirling in 1829, “the only city in Australia where you can watch the sun set over the ocean” (below the Parliament House of Western Australia)
1. “Western Australia is Australia’s largest state as well as the second-largest subdivision of any country on Earth, surpassed only by the Sakha Republic in eastern Russia.”
2. Convicts were brought in between 1850 and 1868. The port of Freemantle was the gateway to the many Western Australian gold rushes of the late 19th century. “During the Second World War, Freemantle was the home of the largest base for Allied submarines in the Southern Hemisphere, and the second largest in the Pacific War after Pearl Harbor.”
3. Tourist sites include King’s Park and Botanical Garden, the Parliament House (above), the Government House, His Majesty’s Theater, The Free Mantle West End Heritage Area, and St. Mary’s Cathedral.
NB: Western Australia is resource-rich and accounts for 46% of Australia’s merchandise exports. The Gross State Per Capita is $186,000 versus the Australian GDP of $82,000.
DARWIN — capital of the Norther Territory, population 139,000, “smallest, wettest, and most northerly of Australian capital cities,” subject to monsoons during the wet season, key link to Indonesia and East Timor, the Stuart Highway runs from Darwin to Port Augusta in Southern Australia. Below — Litchfield National Park in Darwin
1. “On September 9, 1839 HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin Harbor during its survey of the area. Johmn Clements Wickham named the region “Port Darwin” in honor of their former shipmate, Charles Darwin, who had sailed with them on the ship’s previous voyage. The settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869 but was renamed Darwin in 1911. The city has been almost entirely rebuilt four times, following the devastation by a cyclone in 1897, another one in 1937, Japanese air raids during World War II, and Cyclone Tracy in 1974.”
2. “On December 25, 1974, Darwin was struck by Cyclone Tracy which killed 71 people and destroyed over 70% of the city’s buildings, including many old stone buildings such as the Palmerston Town Hall, which could not withstand the lateral forces the winds generated. After the disaster, 30,000 of the population of 46,000 were evacuated in the biggest airlift in Australia’s history.”
3. The Northern Territory is “the third-largest federal division, and the 11th largest country subdivision in the world.” But it has only half as many people as Tasmania and Darwin accounts for 535 of the territory’s population. “The largest inland settlement is Alice Springs with about 25,000 people.”
NB: The sacred site of Uluru (Ayers Rock), the sandstone monolith, is located in the southern part of the Northern Territory (see map above).
CANBERRA — capital of Australia, founded 1913, a planned city, at the northern tip of the “Australian Alps” the country’s highest mountain range, Australia’s only inland city and the only one where snow-capped mountains can be seen in winter!
1. “The area chosen for the capital had been inhabited by Aboriginal Australians for up to 21,000 years, by groups including the Ngunnawal, Ngunawal and Ngambri.”
2. “A plan by the American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected after an international design contest, and construction commenced in 1913.”
3. “Canberra has been ranked among the world’s best cities to live in and visit. Although the Commonwealth Government remains the largest single employer in Canberra, it is no longer the majority employer.”
NB: The spiritual heart of Canberra is St. John the Baptist Church (below), the oldest structure in Canberra. The center of the planned city is the “Parliamentary Trangle” with apices at the Parlilament House, the seat of government, the Defense Headquarters at Russsell, and City Hall representing the civilian part of Canberra. Griffin planned the city around two axes which converge at the center of the National Triangle. The land axis connects Mount Ainslie, Capital Hill, and Red Hill and extends off towards Mount Bimberi, the Australian Capital Territory’s highest mountain. The water Axis runs at right angles to the land axis along the length of Lake Burley.”
Darwin, Northern Territory — Wikipedia
Economy of Western Australia — Wikipedia
Northern Territory — Wikipedia
St John the Baptist Church, Reid — Wikipedia
Lake Burley Griffin — Wikipedia
Demographics and Ethnic Groups of Australia
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.
