What do we really know about Australia anyway?

Americans know many little things about the nations of this world. Germans wear leather pants and enjoy sausages. Mexico is dirty; don't drink the water. It rains every day in England, but there ample umbrellas.

These things are indisupatable chunks of general knowledge for the average American. Our knowledge of Australia is very different though. Australia is a western nation, but it is still an exotic place. Everyone speaks English there, kinda. Many can offer up a scant few tidbits about lots of places, but seem to have an wealth of knowledge about Australia.

This may be due of one of the greatest PR campaigns conducted by an entire nation. Because of the charismatic exports of Paul Hogan, Steve Irwin, and Natalie Imbruglia, Americans have created a distinct image of Australians that may not actually be true. It may be one of the most stereotyped nations in the world.

Here are some of the prevailing images/thoughts about Australia and its culture:

1) Australians are tough nailed, crazy, but have warm hearts and a big smile.

This is a direct product of the aforementioned Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin, with a little help from pre-2000 Mel Gibson. This is one stereotype that I do believe may be true, at least for the rural dwellers of the country. It does not help that many Australians are decended from crimminals sent when it was a penal colony.

2)Australia is a vast wasteland of endless deserts interrupted by an occasional swamp for the crocodiles.

Another product of PH/SI related entertainment. This is most likely true. Almost all of Australia lives in the few cities that circle the coast of the country. The rest is the bush. Only people in khaki shirts and funny hats live in the middle of the nation.

3)Everything in Australia can and will kill you.

This is a cold hard fact about the nation. Snakes will kill you. Spiders will kill you. Platypi will kill you. Crocodiles will kill. The hole in the ozone layer will kill, only very slowly. Heck, even a stingray killed Steve Irwin, and he's one of the toughest, non-John Shaft mofos in the world. One little known fact about Australia, over 60% of the population is made up of immigrants...this is because of the millions of natural Australians that die every year.

4) Australia is far away and on the opposite side of the world.

How far away is Australia? If you were to take a magic shovel and dig a whole from Minneapolis to Adelaide through a magic, spherical earth with a magical circumphrence of the Equator, it is a 7400 miles dig! If you just fly there directly using not-so-magical means and calculations, it is about 9648 miles away. Australia is not on the complete opposite side of the world (that would be the Pacific ocean), however, it is very close.
(Note: I assure you that some sort of math was used in my calculations.)



For brevity's sake, I shall stop at four points. So the big question, how much of Australia's projected image is sincere? If Australia does in fact have 60% immigrants, is the rest of the world getting sent the same images of Australia that we receive in America? Is this a conspiracy to make Americans afraid? Whatever the answer may be, I hope to dispell many misconceptions about Australia during my stay.