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How do other countries see Australia? (out of curiosity)blackheart
Being Australian - I'm curious as to how Australia is seen from the out-side.
What does an American thin of when they think Australia? How are we seen by the Chinese, Japanese, Belgian... (you get the idea)? Both politically and culturally speaking. madsencarl
As an Australiam , I see Australians as people you would love to meet - they're great in every bla bla bla...
No, I'll shut up. But I hear that some Americans think we ride kangaroos to school. SunburnedCactus
The bad things I have heard are that there is still a significant amount of racism present in people, and that it is not safe for women to travel there alone.
The good things I have heard are that it is a great place with a really laid-back attitude, good weather, nice scenery and loads to do! Obviously there is the stereotype of the Australian with the "hat with the corks" going down to the "billabong". But I think that's just Steve Irwin.  blackheart
we're no more racist etc. than anywhere else... there was just that unfortunate incident in sydney that gave us a bit of a bad image (note that every pig-head in oz was there, because an unfortunate person in the media advertised it). in fact, other than that one incident, we're pretty damb racially tolerant. where i am you get bashed for dissing someone on that kinda basis. as for female travellers... i'm not quite sure where that got started lol madsencarl
Are you referring to the recent Cranulla activities? That was because all the lebonese gangs had taken over the Cranulla beaches and were bashing innocents for fun or money. The "riots" were retaliation to all that. The day after the "riots", one guy was bashed by like thirty ethnics. He was totalled, had his arm broken no more than 50 metres from a cop station. a.han
Pretty place with sunshine and pretty people. A nice community spirt where neighbours are good friends.
My view is severely distorted by Neighbours though. madsencarl
Depends where you are. Where I am (not being racist or anything), it's like mini-China. And a couple months back there were some gang wars and shootings near where I was. I live in a pretty dodgy hood, but apart from that (and a few other places) Australia's pretty chill. jaysen
never been down there... but any place that has summer this time of year can't be bad in my books
every place has the good and the bad obviously....im not a type of person to judge anyone on where they live or how they live... only on how they treat others.. every nationality has thier idiots... and a few bad news headlines isn't going to effect my opinion of an area without first hand experience. Mind you, i come from winnipeg manitoba canada, a place who's claim to fame is "murder capitol of canada" and i think its a nice place to be honest. (Obviously the people just don't tolerate a lot of things lol) on that note, Australia looks like a beautiful place from what i can tell, and i'd love to go visit it someday.. (that and it seems a lot of hot chicks are from there as well) Vrythramax
I always thought of it as being a very hot, dry place. I never gave much thought to the attitudes of the people there, it seems people the world over are pretty much the same, so to catagorize the Australian as being anything other than another human being is totally absurd.
Plus I love the accent, very cool  Scott
I'm from Canada, and I don't know a lot about you Australians, but I've never had anything against Australia. Seems like a cool, fun, beautiful place from what I've heard though.
Daniel15
Well, since I'm from Melbourne, Australia, I must say it's a great place here
Only bad thing is the weather recently (the forecast for yesterday was 43 degrees celcius  ) There's not very much racism here at all. Australians, Italian, Greek, Lebanese, Chinese, etc are all in my neighbourhood, so I'd say that it's pretty racially diverse here (which is quite a good thing).
Overall, Melbourne is rated the #2 best place to live in, only topped by some other place (Canada I think). We've also got the cleanest tap water in the world (I heard that you can't drink the water in other places in the world, is this true?!?!)  madsencarl
Well, I know there a something like two coastal cities in the world where cruisers (luxury ship things) don't stop to refill their water - one of them is Adelaide. Seriously, the water there is disgusting.
Also, I know that pretty much every Dane (Danish person) really wants to go to Australia, I think because of the huge contrast in weather conditions or something. Splintex
Hi Daniel, Just to pick up from what you said there, and to insert a piece of usless trivia, Melbourne is the second largest Greek city in the world outside of Athens. Which says alot for our (I'm australian, living in Tasmania atm) society. I'm sure this thread was spawned out of curiosty about what impact the events in cronulla would have on how we are viewed externally. Now little Johnny (John howard our PM for those of you out there who wish to know) came out at said that it would have no impact on how we are viewed by the rest of the world. I think that Little Johnny must be hiding behind his eyebrows if he thinks that that sort of thing will go un-noticed, what with the events in Paris and the fact that this happend shortly afterwards and was plastered over the international media, Reuters, AFP, BBC, CNN (blerch). DW-World, and others, I find it hard to belive that people will not have formed some view about our country. I look forward to reading more replies to this and hope that the recent events in New South Wales will compound with the older coverage of Pauline Hanson doesn't add more fuel to the (percieved) fire. -Splint blackheart
Dry? Lol - maybe in the NT or Western Australia, but I know at least here in Melbourne there's been a storm pelting rain down nearly every night for a week.. Hot - yeah,l you got us there. Today's an absolute relief at 26'C - it's been 35-44 for the poast week. (as well as wet) Marston
Sydney Opera House is pretty much the figure head of Australia for me.
Also, I hear there's huge-ass killah spiders. Daniel15
You're the only person I know here that's also from Melbourne ... Is anyone else from Melbourne?horseatingweeds
The US loves you idiots!!! You, the English, and the homosexuals. It’s a sure way to get a sitcom or a leading male actor off the ground.
The Australians I have meat seem to enjoy a good bit of drinking and have trouble avoiding profanity, even during a public address at a large meeting. One thing though, you guys have tornados. Only a few each year but at least you have them. We have hundreds every year. You also have a very diver climate, desert, jungle, forest, and mountains. Pretty cool. Insanity
I heard that you guys are forced to vote or else you get fined or something...
Is this true and how do you guys feel about that? (yeah I know there's a huge topic on voting somewhere) blackheart
Yea - course. I find it hard to believe that it's optional in the U.S. I mean, how lazy would you have to be anyway not to go? Either lazy in physically getting there, or lazy in not wanting to think about/research which candidate is better. I mean, it's such a fundamental thing - you need the entire population to vote to get what's best for anyone. And some people might grumble a bit about having to actually go and vote - but at the same time they don't have a problem with having to vote... if that makes sense...? People know it's for the best of the country, and democracy. But yea - it still amazes me that the US allow it to be an optional thing.
We don't have many tornados, lol. One a year if we're (un)lucky in any even semi-populated area. But diverse - hell yeah. It's hot as here but if I drive for three hours I'll be in the snow. Also, if you look at Melbourne, the climate's diverse as as well. It's been 35/43 for a week, but today it was only 26... and sometimes it'll be 15 one day and 30 the next. pour like monsoon season and then be dry as a bone... one day after the other. I pity the Melbourne weathermen. munkey_boy
we have an accent? paul_indo
Australia is a great place.
The people are great. I am a New Zealander, I lived there for more than 18 years. I used to think it was a little racist untill I lived in a country that has real racism. Some drunk in a bar or at a party or a loudmouth on the street making some stupid racist comment does not make a country racist. It happens everywhere. Aussie has great beaches great weather and really good people. It has fair laws and as close as you will ever see to "justice for all". I've been in Indonesia nearly seven years. You want to know racism? Indonesians of chinese origin had to have special I.D. cards to prove they were Indonesian citizens, even if they were third or fourth generation Indonesian. The law changed about two years ago. But they still cannot get passports or other public services without prove of citizenship, even thoough they carry the normal KTP I.D. card issued to all Indonesians. Their passports indicate their ethnic origin also. That would not be legal in Australia. The immigration laws here make Australia look like a holidy camp for foriegners. A few idiots don't make a country racist only governments and politicians can do that and Australias are vaery musch answerable to the people, maybe because of compulsory voting. 
You have a great country and a good system of government. You should all be proud of the accomplishment. Dragonfly
I'm not from Australia so you are definitely curious to know about my take on Australia. Firstly, I have never been to Australia so my opinion on Australia is purely on my perception of Australia by my own knowledge through films, newspapers, general knowledge and other sources.
Well, Australia according to me is a very clean and friendly place for outsiders. I know many Asian students are studying there and many families wanted to settle there. Education is very good, second or third to UK and US. But when it comes to power, overall power I should say, economy, military and others Australia isn't ranking very high one reason may be due to its small size and also Australia seems to be a peace-loving country. Another plus point of Australia is its one of the best and most preferred tourist destinations in the world. So, the overall impression of Australia as a country is EXCELLENT. Soulfire
Let's see, when I think of Australia - obviously the kangroos play a part in that picture. Not that you ride them to school or anything, just that they live there. I also think of the outback, Alice Springs, and Sydney.
I've never heard anything bad about Australia, and the weather is usually nice, the beaches look great, and the people are really laid back. And I love the word "mate." Finally, I lost the geography bee state competition because I didn't know Australia bordered the Indian Ocean, I thought it was all Pacific, so I learned something new that day. tbsly
I've never been to Oz but I think Aussies are hilarious. Definitly some of the friendliest people I've met. I've booked my ticket for 6 months in Australia and New Zealand, with the work permit and everything, so I'm excited to live and learn a little bit down under. I've just watched a pretty good Australian film, "Little Fish" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382810/,
it's worth taking a look at. It's pretty dark, drugs and depression in the suburbs of Sydney, but shows promise from the Australian film scene. Cheers, tbsly madsencarl
Yeh I am - I guess that makes three of us. Daniel15
Nice I never thought I'd see anyone from Australia here, let alone Melbourne. My old web host (WebPlanetHost, no longer exists) had one or two people from Australia (from Sydney unfortunately  ) and I was like, "Wow, another person from Australia is a member here!". That person was also the guy that owned the web host
Come see my post "Are you from Australia?" wowz
It's just another country to me. You're better than the US, different from the UK, and just as far away as you can get from me, hehe. I haven't found a more expensive flight! I wanted to fly there and visit a few people.
I don't think you ride kangaroos to work/school. I don't think it's possible to ride a kangaroo. But I'm not american... I'm Canadian. There's a big difference - whether they know it or not - we do. Some Americans think I ride a dogsled to work and live an in Igloo... I've convinced them that I have a pet pengiun (even though pengiuns live in the south, not north) and that I have central heating in my igloo. I've spoken on the internet with them and they asked if I had electricity ***THEY WERE SERIOUS, NOT JOKING***. Not all americans are this ignorant, but just because you hear one say 'do you ride kangaroos?' I wouldn't worry that the world thinks such things. "How'd you get so smart? You didn't get that smart in Canada, did you?" - quote one american I spoke to Of course not. We don't have education facilities here. We're a third world country. Now politically, I read a bit about your political system a while ago... It sounds fun - everyone that can vote HAS to vote. I like it. People can't complain. As for racism... I very much doubt you're more racist than certain other countries... in fact, I'm pretty sure you're not. I've never seen or heard any reason to believe such suggestions. I can go by the people I've talked to from there, but I don't base my opinion of the entire country on them alone. I'm assuming you have good people and bad people - like anywhere. A lot of people seem to be saying that there are good people and good weather. You get bad weather too, right? Your toilets flush the opposite way of mine? You've got some animals that can't be found anywhere else? (or at least not many other places) You have accents? Well, everyone has an accent... to everyone else from other places.
..................................... see what I mean about american opinions? So my opinion overall about Australia... well I don't really have one. I like the voting system. It -does- make sense, as others have said. The people are different there like everywhere else - you can't base your opinion on the country of even half of it's people. That's generalization. I have no negative thoughts about your country, your political leaders, etc ... mainly because you haven't done anything really dumb to put yourself in world news. I occationally hear about accomplishments of Australian scientists or actors and such... but then, I hear that kind of thing about most countries. madsencarl
Holy crap! F*** you Steve Irwin  Daniel15
Well, in Melbourne, our weather is really weird. It's hot one day, but cold the next. Usually, we have the "The Melbourne Weather ™" which is basically the four seasons in one day. In other words, it's sunny, then windy, then raining, then sunny again (or the same but in a different order). Devil
Aus is the most racist country ever , u may not see it in big riots , but people who worked there have told me this , AUS hate Asians , mostly black people ,
i was not surprised ,when lehman made comments about murali being black , and it was not only Lehman , Macgrath , pointing and many other aus cricketers , have done this kind of thing , but i love Steve waugh , brett lee , and Warne , these guys are really good , apart from cricket , i have heard from my freinds who work in aus , that people there dont treat them good , Race is a big problem , Plus Aus is very selfish , it takes all the resources from is land without sharing anything with NZ . Aus doesnt even need to extract so many resources , but it still does and hurts the envoirnment , Aus wants to get in to Asean , but india doesnt want a Bully in thier Team blackheart
Um, where did/do your friends work? Because where I live racist biggots get bashed. Literally. I mean, certainly some places might have issues - but any country would have hot-spots for cultural discrimination. I mean, I've got friends of every race, culture and religion... and I'm in with the punk anarchists... madsencarl
Leb gangs were taking over the Cranulla beaches by mugging and bashing randoms. That was the rebuttal. The day after the riots, one guy was bashed and had his arm broken by at least 30 ethnics.
Just a heads up - something like 10% of our whole population is Asians and Indians. And with 100,000+ migrants afrom Asia and India each year, that number is sure to grow.
You forgot Ponting and Gilchrist.
They have mountains and sheep. And they can get their own recourses, they're not babies. Don't diss Australia. Just, don't. Diebels
Hi there, i'have visited australia twice over the last 6 years, just queensland and victoria and i love it... I think you guys and girls a very laid back and enjoy your beatiful country Devil
I used to like pointing and gilly , but not any more now , i did forget steve irwin , he is good , and funny , did u forget that aus needs immigrants ? in the 60s i think they got some million immigrants from Europe , and even today they want some 20000 skilled workers , but they want it from europe , cuz they are white . blackheart
You got a real chip on your shoulder, huh? We don't "need" immigrants, and we only emphasise getting "skilled workers" from Europe because we only ever get small number from that area. We want to encourage them to come so there are more even numbers of workers coming to Australia from every country. We want it to be more even, instead of having 75% from Asia, and only like 5% from Europe. We wish to have allmajor regions at something more even - around 25% It has nothing to do with skin colour. People from Europe are hardly all white, anyway. Lennon
i know at least a dozen people who've been to australia, and a now another dozen including myself who'd love to go.
Us Irish love your country It's the perfect holiday destination, travel up the east coast and go to syndey for the new year, and if you've time, travel as far as the west coast. that's bonsai Beach, surfer's paradise, Sydeney, Melbourne, the load. nam_siddharth
Australia, a whole continent as a country. Vast resoures, little population. Number one in education, cricket, production of rice. A country, where helicopters are used as ambulance. Most of places without any population. Open sex and gambling as part of most Australians. People living there from more than hundred countries.
Most of Indians knows Australia for cricket. blackheart
Um, not so sure about the open sex and gambling... coz - not really. Especially not the gambling, I mean, we have tats lotto and casinos like anywhere else, but it's hardly an epidemic. blackheart
We aren't a racist people. I can cite paralell examples from other cultures in terms of racist comments/individual actions, and there is no logic in judging an entire country on a couple people As for NZ, they're a separate country. We don't have to share with them any more than China or Canada do. I'm not sure if I follow any of the logic in that entire post. S3nd K3ys
I think it's a beautiful place with some seriously misguided individuals living there.
I have a couple friends there and have considered job offers from there. From what I've heard, culturally it's not much different from the US. There seems to be considerably more racially ignorant people there, but you have that everywhere to some degree. Of course, you'll never get an Australian to admit to it, or any 'faults' for that matter. (We have some prime examples of that right here on the board.) Politically I have no idea except what I've heard on a few news casts, so I try not to make judgements on that. (It would be stupid to pass judgement on something you know little to nothing about, don't you think blackheart?? )  They're much more self-centered than some other countries. More concernted about themselves, yet more than willing to slam anyone for not doing enough for someone else.immoralist
Hello folks. I thought I'd add a few words. Firstly to explain who I am and why I feel I've got something to add. I'm an East Londoner through and through (proper cockney), but my wife is from Melbourne so I obviously have a lot of cross-hemisphere love to give.
Aussies seem to be beating themselves up about the whole race issue at the moment, mostly because it is a political hot potato (Howard is a nasty piece of work, but so are a lot of people). I don't think you guys are any worse in terms of bigotry than most other countries (especially the UK). Most of the people I know Like Australia and her people and, as shown in the commonwealth games ending ceremony, you have a healthy ability to take the mick out of yourselves. Jurado
If u say Australia, i think of kangeroes :s. And Aboriginals, a warm country nice to live.
blackheart
Would it not also be ignorant to base your judgement of a country's stubborness on one on-line, misguided individual? And in terms of racial tolerence, we are no different to anywhere else. It's just the selective media (newscasts) you get overseas. It's the same with other countries and what we see here. I.e. the crunolla riots - the idiots of our country were there, the rest of the country looked on in horror. And the incident was a two-way street, in terms of retaliation and reretaliation. S3nd K3ys
Riiiggghhhhttt...
You sure went from "we're not racist" to "we're just as racist as any other country" rather quickly. springbok
When it comes to Rugby and Cricket Aussies suck
Apart from that I have had loads of Aussie friends in South Africa and in the UK, great people, down to earth, friendly, no bad things to say about Aussies. As for the country I would love to visit there and would like to live there even more. Great country side, open spaces great peopel and plenty or rugby and cricket. top notch bunch of people the Aussies. blackheart
And plenty of Aussie Rules... unless you visit Queensland, I'd suggest you look into it. At least in Vic it's THE dominant sport. blackheart
When you generalise as to an entire country - of course there are going to be exceptions. Hence, we aren't a racist country - but just like every where else we're going to have a couple red-necks. Hence, we are just as racist as any other country. "Just as" can refer to abundance just as much as it can refer to lack there of. S3nd K3ys
LoL, the backpeddling begins! You're not sure what to say at this point, are you? Perhaps you should just quit whilst the quitting is good.
mengshi200
I come from beijing. I like Australia.
I had ever been traveled melbourne and sydney. citizen treated us very nice and friendly. Airplane company similar called kuntas,over 100 year fly safe record. We just traveled by this one to sydney.airhostess of international airline is very sexual and beatiful ,and very answer for guest. afterward ,I know about Australian female own the highest status of world. Bikerman
So you've never been to Australia but you know for a fact that it is the most racist country because your mates said so? Hmmm....
I've been to Australia three times. The last time I went I travelled right across the continent - from Darwin down to Adelaide, then across to Melbourne and up to Canberra. Is there racism? Sure - there is racism in every country I've ever visited. Is it the most racist place I've visited? No certainly not. Grant, my travelling companion, has lived in Ozz all his life, but has also travelled extensively. I met him years ago at a juggling convention - he was staying in Liverpool doing a 12 month course at the School of Tropical Medicine in that city. We kept in touch when he returned, and a few years ago he rang me out of the blue and invited me on the trip of a lifetime. He was moving from Darwin to work at Canberra Uni, and since there is no rail from Darwin, and he wanted to take his car, he thought he might as well turn it into a road-movie-type adventure. I jumped at the chance (even resigned my job to do it). So I can say honestly that I have seen a lot of Australia and met a lot of Australians. They are no more (or less) racist than most Europeans I know. As for the country - I loved it then, and I love it now. deanhills
Having said that, I think Australia is a pretty amazing country. What particularly struck me when I was travelling there was their originality in all of the arts, culture and technology. I admire the country and its people very much. hailey911
okay, australia ... im doing a project involving the stereotyping of australians. im only in year eight but from what i have heard, everyone have different opions of us ... some think we ride kangaroos to school, others think we are super smart, some think we are just stupid idiots who live in the outback are super laid-back and are complete drunken barstads. but honestly ... all these are just generalisations ... not all of us are drunken bastards and we dont all act and dress like steve irwin. and most of all we are soooooo NOT racisist! i cant beleive all this crap about australians being racist i mean honestly! there have been maybe one or two events that have made our country look racist but really??
i personally think that the reason they are calling us racist is because of all the immigrints we let in. everywhere in the world people get bullied ... i mean it happens less in australia but we still get bullied. well that happens in the workplace too. i mean just cause your from another country and someone says ... 'youre not doing your job right' doesn't mean theyre being racist geez or if ur from say ... indonesia and youve come here to work ... and someone says to you woure being and idiot doesnt mean they are being racist ... you get what i mean? its just the media. also im from queensland and our weather isnt like melbourne at all, lately its been quite cold and rainy actually ... i mean today its quite sunny but its not always like that but then again its not always changing. also ... we dont all live in the outback ... thats another stereotype ... we are actually quite an urbanised country ... in fact we were voted the second most urbanised country in the world ... we have cities with bright lights and casinos and theme parks and hotels ... but the outback stereotype is not completely false because ... most of australia is covered in outback. the reason why our country is so small though is because we dont live in that outback part ... maybe one or two people but most of us live on the coast where everything is urban and fun. most pf those things you hear about australia are wrong because we are just like every other counrty ... and we dont talk with accents like they show on TV. most of us talk like americans!!!! deanhills
Da Rossa
I'm Brazilian, and never been to Australia, so I'll honestly say my imaginarium about your country, based on testimonies and very basic studies.
- Australia is one of the favourite destinations for Brazilian young folks to spend a season or even a semester of studies and/or interchange. Others are Great Britain and the US. - Australia has a lot of kangaroos and other animals like koalas, wombats and whatsoever. - There is a big desert in the middle of the country. The major cities are around the borders. - You have decent steaks and meat-based meals in general. This may be a mistake because in here we have a restaurant named Outback, which is actually American, with Australian theme. So I'm not sure. - There are a lot of beautiful landscapes. - It's a first-world and well developed country. - The accent comes closer to the British rather than to the american. I personally find it very fancy. - Sydney has hosted Olympic Games of 2000. - People are called by first names, like in Brazil. - The indigenous people, which we call "aborígenes" here in Brazil, are black with light hair and eyes (is that correct??) - The unfortunate news: too tight and close-to-be-irrational anti-p2p laws, even forbiding simple link exchanges, and the male population is bigger than the female, which leads to a country with many, many gays. Not good for hetero tourists, but I don't know their culture, they might be very nice people.
Verdict: a must-visit country, even considerable for moving when things become harsh here in Brazil (democracy is fading here). deanhills
Da Rossa
Needs me to stay? Stay... away! That's what I'm visualizing to happen in fifteen years. The culture will have been changed a lot. For worse. I'm beginning to think I'm an alien in here. But you're right about this Australian particular problem. Can't be a place to move for good, specially because of the unfortunate item above. gandalfthegrey
Crikey!!!
Fosters Australian For Beer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1nxxVe5pTs prinsloo
I visited Australia once, and I have a friend from Australia, so I think it's a very lovely country. And I think Australian accents are nice.
gandalfthegrey
What I think of when I think of Australia:
Crocodile Dundee The Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin Koalas Kangaroos Poisonous snakes South American Cane Toad Frog invasive species Fosters "Australian for Beer" Nicole Kidman Olivia Newton-John Savage Garden INXS Great Barrier Reef The rock formally known as Ayers Rock Sydney Opera House inuyasha
Australia is really a beatiful country in my mind. Especially her captical city, Canbera, surrounded by green, attracts me the most! A country with original earth and modern society~
It seems lots of China towns are there as well~ iman
I've always wanted to go to Australia for the Kangaroos and Koalas.
So I guess I see Australia as part western and part wilderness. Hello_World
SunburnedCactus said:
I can't really agree with that. Maybe in the outback, I would not recommend anyone to go there alone, because of its remoteness and extreme weather conditions. Marston said:
lol, the trouble is they are not that huge... redbacks are just normal spider size... I don't know the stats but people are not dying in huge numbers lol I haven't heard of anyone dying from a bite... horseatingweeds wrote:
lol. Yeah, because we don't really consider it a bad thing in the way the US people do. We rarely need to restrict ourselves here. No-one is truely offended, if it slips out even in say a job interview its more like a mistake than real offense. Insanity said:
Technically, we are fined if we fail to show up. You can go in the booth and blow your nose on the ballot paper if you want, but you must get your name marked off. blackheart:
agree. wowz:
How does that work? Devil:
Why would we?
I agree, kinda. We are too reliant on this, we should move towards other ways to make money. nam_siddharth:
LOL. Please let me in on where the open sex is happening. S3nd K3ys:
Faults? We don't have any. LOL.
we share (read:copy) a lot with US, but I don't think we are similar when it comes to our core beliefs, such as religion or role of government. We have a very different sense of humour and outlook on life. Anyway, that'll do. deanhills
 Hello_World
LOL deanhills
Once Bush was making this big speech about the war in Middle East and there was a map of the world behind him and AUS WAS NOT ON IT!!! Like, Australia is huge, like you say. Missing In Action. deanhills
I always think it is good to be underestimated. When Australia is underestimated your average person would be more interested to emigrate to North America. The more savvy people who know the value of Australia would emigrate to Australia. So being underestimated does have its perks for Australia. Josso
Would like to go there, always seemed to me like nice people the ones I've met. I always looked at ozland a bit like a giant nature reserve, or our old overflow prison.
deanhills
Josso
No brainwashing (actually I turned up in a place called the village and they taught me how to insult all other nations on the internet in a week), just things that happened a long time ago and are barely relevant now - yeah humour or no humour there's no way I would be this cocky if I was over there. deanhills
Hello_World
Never could quite understand why you sent your 'crims' to paradise... LOL I mean... have you seen Port Arthur? Most Australians are not ashamed of this history, many of us are proud of it if anything. Only those who are jealous and can't claim convict heritage don't like it. Really, we see the convicts as victims of poverty in a harsh time. I have one relative who was a convict. When he was 15 he went with 2 of his mates and stole a cheese. Was sentenced to transportation and 10 years hard labour. In Tasmania but I haven't figured out yet which prison. The irony is that he went on to be able to leave his daughter a house and orchard, something he never would have been able to achieve had he lived out his years in poverty in England. (Well, I assume this, by looking at history, as I can't trace his actual life before the court case.) I'm not suggesting their life was easy though... far from it. But yeah, that is history. Good for history lessons, museums, interesting tours of prisons. And we weren't the only ones of course. The US is an ex convict dumping ground too. I'm not sure if Australians in general would be that offended at a convict joke. maybe, I'm not sure. Maybe you'll just get an Australian History 101 lecture as per above... lol. We like to laugh at ourselves, so long as it is in jest. I can think of other things that would be more touchy. deanhills
Josso
YOU ARE SENTENCED TO: A BRILLIANT/ETERNAL HOLIDAY!! Thats an ironic story you've got there, like it. I noticed a lot of brits moved to ozland in the 50s/60s, something about plane tickets? Perhaps you'd know more about it... what is the immigration like now. Thanks for having a good sense of humour btw Hello_World
Yeah, 10 pound poms. lol. Australia has had a controversial immigration history and it is still very controversial. However, yes, we desparately wanted immigrants here for most of our history, so much so that we offered English people cheap one way tickets to Australia. We also extended the program to Greeks at least. Which partially explains why Melbourne has the second most population of Greek people next only to Athens. In the olds days we were keen to populate here, because we didn't have enough people to work, especially skilled and educated people, and more importantly then, we didn't have enough people to defend the size of our country. Australia was much closer to being part Japanese then most people would realise, during the second world war. Immigration is controversial now. A large amount of people think we no longer need so many people immigrating here. We are a large country, relatively sparsely populated, but. We have a large proportion of desert, most people live around the coast due to this reason. The desert part of Australia could probably hold more people than it does, but not that many, and not many people want to live there, migrants included. We have a limited amount of water. This is important to us. We are busy building plants to convert sea water to drinking water though. We are also feeling crammed in the cities. I don't know if we are crammed compared to the rest of the world, but we feel it is so, it is certainly more than we are used to. The infrastructure is not ready for much more people. On the other hand, the government and business wants more people because it is good for the economy, and they also don't want to spend the money training Australians to do the jobs. So our immigration is controversial on two fronts. One, population overall. The other is refugee 'boat people', that is, refugee who come to Australia by getting on a dodgy boat from Indonesia, rather than wasting away in an Indonesian refugee camp waiting for acceptance through the official channels. People don't like that because they arrive here without security checks, some people don't believe they are all refugees, and they feel that they are 'jumping the queue' trying to get here before people going through the 'right' channels. They have to have some money to go that way, so people find that a bit dodgy, people are less likely to believe a monied refugee than a poor refugee. It is also an incredibly dangerous journey and people have died on the way. So by no standards is it a good thing to have boats come in this manner. What is also key is the way that they are dealt with when they arrive here, and how we deter people to come this way, and the way refugees behave in the detention centres. There are other issues. The above would stand as the main ones that concern Australians. I was personally disappointed with the changes in the ability for students to apply for residence. I thought this was a most excellent way to get migrants, completely in Australias favour yet was also popular with immigrants. So, i have attempted as best I can, to describe the different sides of the story as nuetral as I can on a topic so controversial. I won't respond if people choose to flame this. Just sayin'. Curious how England deals with refugees and feels about it. deanhills
Here's an interesting story about Canada's boat people. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/strangers-by-sea-a-tale-of-canadas-boat-people/article1672734/ lrj945
. The other is refugee 'boat people', that is, refugee who come to Australia by getting on a dodgy boat from Indonesia, rather than wasting away in an Indonesian refugee camp waiting for acceptance through the official channels. I thought this was a most excellent way to get migrants, completely in Australias favour yet was also popular with immigrants. What is also key is the way that they are dealt with when they arrive here, and how we deter people to come this way, and the way refugees behave in the detention centres. And we weren't the only ones of course. The US is an ex convict dumping ground too.
gandalfthegrey
I highly regard Australians as intelligent, politically astute, and an overall friendly people. You also make some of the best beer in the world - Fosters, Australian for Beer! - and I find your women to be the hottest on the planet.
Vanilla
I love many aspects of Australia. In fact, it's one of my favorite countries. I think if I wasn't born in Brazil, I would definitely be born in Australia. I mean, I need hot weather and paradisiac landscapes. One thing that impressed me is that Australia also has electrical storms. You know, those storms where we only got lightning and not a single drop of rain? That kind of storm. It may look silly to other people, but in my state we got lots of electrical storms (specially in november and december). Feels like home to me. AND summer starting in december. I was born in december so to me is really weird to see winter in december. Yeah, I need to live in southern hemisphere haha.
Also, cattle. It's a very good place for vets who like beef cattle (that would be me ). Australia is a great place to learn more and to work in the vet field. I have read some very good scientific papers that came from Australia. It's a great producer of knowledge and as a researcher (almost, to say the truth), Australia is a great option do study.
P.S.: I read The thorn birds some years ago, so I think it helped me love Australia too. deanhills
I think I'm primarily a Southern Hemisphere guy too, but for some or other reason got stuck in the Northern Hemisphere. I've felt as though I've been walking upside down for a very long time now, even the moon is upside down. Related topics
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