All Things Oz. 3

As seen through the window at holtieshouse

We are still not thinking, "tests" but some of the things that make
us who we are may be of interest

Time zones;

Australia straddles three time zones, so from

East coast to West coast there is a two hour

time difference, further complicated during summer

when most, but not all States have daylight saving.

Climate;

The southern half of Australia is in a temperate zone,

While the northern half is in a sub tropical zone.

We have cyclones instead of hurricanes and have

mini-tornadoes, but only very rarely.

In the sub tropical zone, includes my home state of

Queensland, the major part of the rainfall occurs in summer

While the temperate folks get theirs mainly in winter.

Being in the Southern hemisphere our seasons are;

Summer, Dec, Jan, Feb.

Autumn, (Fall) Mar, Apr, May.

Winter, Jun, Jul, Aug.

Spring, Sep, Oct, Nov.

Low point;

The lowest point in Australia is Lake Erie, it is 51 feet

Below sea level, it is 9915 square miles in area, but only fills about

twice each century, relying on flood rains throughout Queensland,

where 5 rivers converge on Cooper Creek to slowly fill the lake.

(In South Australia the y claim it takes 5 Queensland Rivers to fill

fill one SA creek,) in fact the water that finally gets to Lake Erie

fell from the heavens about 8 / 10 weeks ago.

Rivers;

Our largest river system is the Murray/Darling system which travels

About 2500 miles over the vast flat country-side of NSW and SA.

This river supplies irrigation water to a huge citrus and grape

Growing area, as well as being a very popular recreation source,

And the major part of the town water supply for dozens

of towns along the way.

White Settlement;

Good old mother England sent us our first settlers in leg irons,

Australia was their “final solution” to ridding themselves of their

criminal element, and you certainly didn’t have to do much to get

your free boat trip either, many of the convicts who arrived here

“for from 15 years, to the term of their natural lives” had done no

more than steal food to keep their families alive.

They were decent enough to hang any of the real criminals who went

further than this, must have been a hell of a place to live back then.

So the early Australians grew to have little regard for the aristocracy

or the laws of the land, we are from true rebel stock, and it is looked

on with pride to find some convict forbears these days, there are only

3 that I’ve been able to trace in my family to date.

Immigration;

Populate or perish was the catch cry after world war two, this

was tempered with a “White Australia” policy for many years,

perhaps the less said about that the better.

One way and another Australia does have one of the most multi cultural

populations to be found any where, most parts of this have worked very

well, but inevitably there have also been some problems.

A decision that faces the average citizen here now is, will we go for,

Chinese, Thai, Indian, Greek, Japanese….. and the list goes on,

bugger it, all I want is a bloody steak!!!!

Manufacturing;

Our once thriving manufacturing industry has crumpled away,

it’s been sold off, or forced to source their goods overseas

to compete price wise, we are indeed fortunate to have the

huge reserves of Coal, Iron Ore, Alumina etc. that we do, and also

that we are far enough removed from other countries that our stock

stay free of exotic diseases, thus making our meat welcome overseas.

We enjoy a good life style and standard of living which is why we can’t

compete with the imports from China, India, Philippines, Thailand

and again the list goes on, so it seems true that,

"you can’t have your cake and eat it too."