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… Read More »
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… Read More »
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… Read More »
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… Read More »
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 –… Read More »
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.”… Read More »
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… Read More »
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. Yes, Australia. My country is huge, diverse, and has a fascinating history, which all means there are many insights I… Read More »
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. Here is another couple of remnants, the first showing an old chimney… Read More »
Insight 15: Remnants of the Past (iii) In the previous ‘Cultural Insight’ we looked at the historic cemetery at Walkerville, and reflected on the hard lives of those who lives in this town during the ‘lime-burning era’, from 1878 to 1926. Newborn babies and young children lie in this historic cemetery, as do adults and the elderly. A… Read More »
Insight 14: Remnants of the Past (ii) In the previous ‘Cultural Insight’ we looked at the old ruins of ‘lime burning kilns’ left on an isolated beach in Southern Victoria. I said I would explore, in this ‘Cultural Insight’, the lives of the people of those times. Good quality lime was found in the cliff of an isolated… Read More »
Insight 13: Remnants of the Past (i) 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. These two pictures are of a historic ruin, the remnant of ‘lime… Read More »
Insight 12: Coastal Erosion There’s not much about culture here – but then there is something interesting and eye-catching. As mentioned before, Australia has lots of coastline, and with the constant forces of erosion (wind, rain, and waves), there are sometime very strange results. The two pictures are of ‘Bird’s Nest Beach’ in Southern Victoria. Notice, there is, in… Read More »
Insight 11: The ANZAC Day March When World War I started in 1914, the rather new country of Australia responded. So did New Zealand. The Inspector-General of Australia’s army decided to put all the soldiers into one single force (rather than sending them over to Europe piece by piece). When the New Zealand soldiers joined this force, there… Read More »
Insight 10: Riverboats The history of white settlement of Australia is just over two hundred years – not that long, really, but still, there were a lot of interesting aspects and events, since Australia is was such a strange and interesting place. Bushrangers, exploration, gold rushes, cattle drives, aboriginal conflict, and the development of a new civilization in… Read More »
Insight 9: Bird Life Australia has lots of coast, lots of gardens, lots of trees, and consequently lots of ….. birds! Actually, the noise of all the birds very early every morning can drive one crazy. My little boy’s first words were ‘ya ya’, since the mother would always say in Chinese, ‘Listen to the birdies’ [“Ting ya-ya… Read More »