Category Archives: Cultural Insight Into Australia

Here are some insights about the people, landforms, wildlife, and culture of my country: Australa.

Cultural Insights to Australia 7: Mining

Insight 7: The Mining Industry

Australia is sometimes called ‘the lucky country’. One reason for this is that it has great mineral wealth beneath its soils, and, historically, this has benefited Australia’s economy very much. Mining is still one of the primary industries, but the famous ‘gold rushes’ are long past, and many old ‘mining’ towns are now a shadow of their former selves.

There are still signs of those earlier days, and a few of the former mining towns have opened their old mines are tourists attractions, (right) allowing an insight into those times.

7. Derelict Mining building7. Inside a coal mine

Sometimes, when driving around, you see emotive sights of these past activities. The picture on the left shows an old derelict building which was once part of a coal-mining operation. In the 1960s, the coal eventually proved too expensive to mine, and everything closed. This building remains – but for how long?

Cultural Insight to Australia 6: The Deserts

Insight 6: The Deserts

Australia is actually mostly desert. It is dry, and not a place anyone would like to live in. Consequently, very few people live there.

So, Australia is a huge country, but with so many deserts, we only have a relatively small population. Most of Australia lives on the much nicer east coast, which has a long mountain range, more rainfall, and some beautiful beaches.

The desert, or ‘outback’ or ‘bush’ as we call it, had a strong influence on our history and culture, and if Australians want to look ‘traditional’ they often use elements of desert dress, food, and often aboriginal culture. You will still all these sort of objects in all the tourists shops.

Australian desertAyers rock

Still, the deserts are interesting, and many tourists visit some parts of it, especially ‘Uluru’ or Ayer’s Rock (right), one of the largest rocks in the world. Think about seeing it yourself, one day.

Cultural Insight to Australia 5: The Suburbs

Insight 5: The Suburbs

The urban design of Australia is very different to Taiwan – very different indeed.

For a start, Australia’s cities have ‘zoning’, where our houses are groups together, shops are grouped together, factories are group together, and so on. This creates ‘suburbs’ – large areas with houses and gardens, and the suburbs go on, and on, since we have so much land.

Surburbia 1

 

 

Gardening is a national hobby, and the landscape is peaceful, beautiful, and very clean. However, coming from Taiwan, you might also find it boring. Well, I found it peaceful and relaxing. Different cultures; different ways of seeing things. Who’s right? Who’s wrong. Hmmmmmm…..

 

Surburbia 3

 

Surburbia 2

Cultural Insight to Australia 4: The Coast

Insight 4: The Coast

Australia is an island, and a big one. This means that it has lots of coastline. This also means it has lots of great beaches (See Cultural Insight 2), but there is also some great eroded cliff faces, and rocky headlands and peninsulas. Melbourne, my hometown, is not so well known for beaches [the water can be freezing cold], but it has by far prettier coastlines. My brother recently toured the ‘Bass coastline’ of Victoria, and sent me some pictures. Here are three of them.

4. Eagles Nest from afar4. Eagle's Nest up close

4. 'Humpy' With a View

When one looks at this photo on the left, one wonders, who built this place? What did it look like? Who lived there? When? How? And what happened to them?

As I said in Cultural Insight 2 (The Beaches), Sydney/NSW has the better beaches, but Melbourne/Victoria has a far more interesting coastline.

Cultural Insight to Australia 3: Farmland

Insight 3: Farmland

Australia is certainly a big country, and has lots of fertile land. This means that it is an agricultural country. Agriculture – that is, growing crops or raising animals – has, historically, always been one of the major industries. Last year I drove from Brisbane to Melbourne – a huge distance – and I was struck by just how much farmland there was. It seemed endless. Cows, sheep, horses, and crops (pineapples, sugar cane, vegetables, cotton, and others). Much of this is exported. Here in Taiwan, you probably eat Australian cheese, Australian beef, and wear Australian wool.

 

Is this good or bad? Hmmmm. Australia is generally much more expensive than Taiwan, but the milk, meat, and chicken is by far cheaper. Milk is only $25 NT/litre. You can drink it like water. Whole roast chickens are only $200 NT. And it all tastes great. However, some complain at how expensive the electronic goods are, and how primitive the technology is (compared to Taiwan). And it can be seen as too rural, as well. To me, it is peaceful and beautiful. To others, dusty and boring.

 

There’s good and bad in everything. I have included a photo of a beautiful (or dusty and boring) farm sent to me by my brother. It looks picture perfect, right, but would you really want to live there?

Cultural Insight to Australia 2: the Beaches

Cultural Insight 2: The beaches

Australia is famous for … handsome English teachers? Er, actually, no.

But we are famous for our beaches. The better beaches are on the east coast, in the tropical region, and the weather is warmer there, too. Sydney has some wonderful beaches, the most famous being Bondi (shown below).Bondi beach

Bondi is big, clean, and very easy to get to. Melbourne, my hometown does not have the beaches, but it has a far more picturesque and pretty coastline, and many of the later ‘Cultural Insights’ will examine these places.

Anyhow, when you visit my country, get a taste of the beach life there. But remember, wear a hat, and use some sunscreen, since the sun can be very intense indeed.

Cultural Insight to Australia 1: Animals

Insight 1: Animals

Hi all. I’m from Australia, so I can tell you something about my country. I’d like to start with … something cute and cuddly. Me?koala

Er, not me, actually. I’m talking about my friend alongside – the koala.

Okay, can you see them in Australia? Yes, in every animal park or zoo. Can you see them in the wild? Hmmm, yes, but they can be difficult to find. They are small, and sit very high in trees, and they sleep for most of the day. Still, in some of the more ‘wilder’ parklands, you may well see them – although those fuzzy blobs sitting high in trees are not that interesting to look at.

Cultural Insight into Australia 23: Sport (iii)

As I mentioned in my last ‘Cultural Insight’ post, I’m from Melbourne, the home of Australian Rules Football, the only true football. I mentioned in Cultural Insight 21 that cricket is a summer sport, since it needs good weather. This caused a problem in the early days of my country. What could the cricketers do in the winter in order to stay fit? Answer: they needed a new game, and the first rules for the game were written in 1859. This is actually earlier than most other football codes in the world, including soccer!

Australian football is played on cricket grounds – large, oval-shaped, with natural earth and grass. If it is raining [this is a winter sport], this can make it quite muddy for the players. There are 18 players on either side trying to kick an oval shaped ball between ‘goal posts’ on either side of the large ground, and so it can move quite fast. There is catching, running, bouncing, and hand-passing, and the rules allow ‘tackling’, and thus the game is fairly rough and physical.

In the true spirit of the origins of the game, I have included some pictures of ‘local’ amateur football, rather than the professional AFL (the Australian Football League). These pictures show everything I have said: the fast, rough, muddy, but highly entertaining nature of the sport – now Australia’s most popular. If you are in my country, try going to an AFL game.

Local Football 1Local Football 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Local Football 3Local Football 4

 

Cultural Insight into Australia 22: Sport (ii)

Australian are famous for their prowess at sport. It is truly impressive, particularly given the relatively small population of my country, and rugby is a better example than cricket (from the last ‘Cultural Insight’), since rugby is only played into two Australian states: New South Wales, and Queensland. This hasn’t stopped Australia from winning two Rugby World Cups (in 1991 and 1999), and always being a serious contender for the title.

Rugby 1Rugby 2

As for how it is played, I’m not really sure. As the pictures show, it is rough, tough, and involves beefy bull-necked heavyweight meatheads basically throwing themselves head on into each other. Sadly, this has resulted in a statistically significant number of broken necks

Forgive me for my attitude. I’m from Melbourne, the home of Australian Rules Football (the only true football, and the subject of the next ‘Cultural Insight’), so I’m not that interested in rugby.

Cultural Insight into Australia 21: Sport (i)

Australian are famous for their prowess at sport. It is truly impressive, particularly given the relatively small population of my country. A good example of that we won the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Cricket? Huh? You don’t know anything about it, do you? Well, here’s one interesting fact: it is the world’s 2nd most popular sport.

Cricket is played by many Commonwealth countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, Pakistan, and (especially) India. Cricket is a summer sport in Australia, since it cannot be played in the rain or in bad light, given how hard, small, and slippery a cricket ball is, and how fast it can travel when hit with a bat.

Cricket 2Cricket 1

The game is similar in concept to baseball, but, as the pictures show, the equipment is slightly different. A bowler (Picture 1, middle) bowls the ball; the batsman (Picture 2) tries to hit it away, and the fielders (Picture 1, front) try to catch it (making the batsman ‘out’), or throw it into the stumps (those three sticks in the middle of both pictures), while the batsmen run up and down the ‘pitch’ (the pathway between the two sets of sumps) in order to accrue runs.

Well, that’s cricket in a nutshell – a very popular sport in my country, and Australia is officially the best in the world [well, this year, anyway].

Cultural Insight into Australia 20: Art (iv)

In the previous ‘Cultural Insight’, we looked at a famous painting by the early Australian painter Tom Robert (9 March 1856 – 14 September 1931). In contrast to Russel Drysdale (who came much later [See Cultural Insight 17]), Roberts saw the outback in a much more positive way.

Frederick McCubbin was a colleague of Robert’s, and they studied art together. McCubbin also saw the bush in a more positive, but often more reflective, way. Here is his most famous painting, called ‘The Pioneer’ (1904).

Triptych-iTriptych-iiTriptych-iii

 

There is a story here, somewhat sad, and somewhat uplifting at the same time.

Picture 1:   The pioneers – a husband and wife – have arrived in a new area of bush land. Notice the expression on the wife’s face – not a happy one.

Picture 2:   Now these two people have a baby, a house (shown in the background), and the husband is clearing the forest for further agricultural purposes.

Picture 3:   Probably the son returns to visit the grave of (probably) his father or mother. Notice now that a small town can be seen in the distance. Time has passed; life moves on, and a country develops further. We are born, we live, and we die, eventually returning to the soil (from which we came).

 

Cultural Insight into Australia 19: Art (iii)

In the previous two ‘Cultural Insights’, we looked the paintings of Russel Drysdale. He painted the Australian outback in a sinister and uneasy way. Now, let’s look at probably the two most famous Australian paintings of all time, which see the world differently.

The first was painted by an early Australian painter named Tom Robert (9 March 1856 – 14 September 1931). In contrast to Drysdale (who came much later), Roberts saw the outback in a much more positive way. Here is his most famous painting, called ‘Shearing the Rams’, painted in 1890. It shows real life, and celebrates ‘manly’ work, in this case, that of the wool industry, which was one of the first major industries of Australia.

Shearing the Rams

 

An interesting fact is that the ‘tar-boy’ (the smiling figure in the centre of the picture) was actually a girl. Her name was Susan Davis, and she lived until 1979.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An interesting fact is that the ‘tar-boy’ (the smiling figure in the centre of the picture) was actually a girl. Her name was Susan Davis, and she lived until 1979.

Cultural Insight Into Australia 18: Art (ii)

In the previous ‘Cultural Insight’, we looked at two painting from the 1940s. Here is another painting from the same artist – and it has the same themes. This work, painted in 1948, is called, ‘The Cricketers’ and has been described by the National Gallery of Australia as “one of the most original and haunting images in all Australian art.” Here, even the buildings provoke uneasiness and foreboding, as if something bad is soon to happen. There is that same silent and threatening power in the objects and landscape.

Russel Drysdale 2

So, who painted these paintings?

His name was Russel Drysdale. He was born in England in 1912, arrived in Australia in 1923, and died there in 1981.

The Australian outback, and its inhabitants, would become his lifelong artistic subject matter, but the images would always be ominous and uneasy.

Although Drysdale would be knighted for his efforts, one wonders if he had a happy life. Both his son and his wife would commit suicide. He would re-marry, though, but the life of an artist may never be an easy one.

Cultural Insight to Australia 17: Art (i)

Australia is well known for animals and beaches, but we have artists, too, as does all countries. Given the range of scenery available, perhaps we have more artists than other countries – although none of them have really achieved worldwide fame.

The Australian ‘outback’ has always been one source of inspiration. My country struggled hard and long to conquer this difficult landscape, so it is usually celebrated in painting, as a magnificent and inspiring place, but one artist saw it very differently. Here are two of his paintings, from 1940s.

Russel Drysdale 1

Russel Drysdale 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice here how big the tree-trunk and cliffs are, dwarfing the people below. Notice the eerie shadows. One senses the silent and threatening power of the landscape, and that the human beings somehow do not really belong there. This second picture shows the same themes: the change in the normal sizes of objects, and other surrealist elements. The tree-trunk here has a monstrous form, with a gaping mouth as if in a silent scream.

In the next ‘Cultural Insight’, I’ll explain about the painter who produced these works.

Cultural Insights to Australia

Hello Everyone.

In the ‘IELTS Vocabulary’ section, I mentioned seven rules to learning vocabulary. Rule 7 is by reading. And here is some light, easy, and interesting reading pieces – all about … the country shown below.

australia-62823_1280

 

Yes, Australia. My country is huge, diverse, and has a fascinating history, which all means there are many insights I can give.

So, relax, and scan through these factual, sometimes reflective, sometimes thought-provoking, but always interesting insights into my amazing country.

Andrew Guilfoyle

Cultural Insights to Australia 16: Remnants of the Past (iv)

Insight 16: Remnants of the Past (iv)

Australia was colonised as a new country – and that meant things came and went, lived and died, flourished and declined. This has left many old constructions, some listed as historic ruins; others just crumbling shapes on the landscape.

13. Old Chimney stackDerelict Farmhouse

Here is another couple of remnants, the first showing an old chimney stack. A wooden house was once there, but it has long disappeared. Like dinosaur bones, all we have is the hard part: the brick work from the fireplace. Sights like this raise questions. What sort of house was it? What did it look like? Who lived there? What was their life like? What happened to them?

The second photo is an old farmhouse. You can see the chimney behind it. Maybe, in 50 years time, it will look like the previous picture. Looking at this photo, the same questions arise.

When I see these places, I always want to explore inside them, wondering if some lost treasure or antique from the past will be found.