Thoughts on Australia

Monday, February 1, 2016 we left our beautiful resort in Port Douglas, drove to the airport in Cairns and flew to Sydney, in the state of New South Wales. I will talk about Sydney in my next post, but I wanted to talk about some of my impressions of Australia and the Aussies, as they call themselves.

Right away we noticed how friendly and open everyone was. I also noticed they drive on the left side of the road! I had forgotten that influence of being a British colony. We learned that to make a right turn they have to “hook left” – quite a maneuver.  

They still honor Queen Elizabeth as their queen, but they are actually governed much like England with two legislative bodies and a prime minister. Each state also has its own government.

The land mass is huge, but the population is concentrated along the coasts. Australia was first discovered by Europeans in the 17^th century, but it wasn’t settled until the harbor at Sydney was discovered in the late 18^th century.

Most of the places we have visited have been so well organized and clean. They don’t have many homeless because they have very good social security, health benefits, and welfare. Most places are quite safe – the crime rate is low.

I think I have said a little about the indigenous people that were here for more than forty thousand years before the Europeans arrived. Their story is very similar to the story of our Native Americans. Interestingly enough, they are black, but intermarriage quickly brings out the white gene which is dominant. They were actually legally considered animals until the 1960’s when they were classified as human! They were treated quite cruelly; their children were taken from their families and sent to separate schools. Our tour guide said that by the time we left we would know more about their culture and problems than most Australians.

I am quite fascinated by the way Aussies talk. Some of them speak very quickly and they are hard to understand. They have lots of interesting expressions and are often quite funny. Aussie expressions: “Bit of a bingle”; “give way” is on the yield signs; they like to shorten words or add an o at the end; “chuck a leftie” (turn left); and the one you hear most is “No worries.”