Did you know?

What do we know about Australia? Down Under at the other end of the world? We did not know a lot about Oz. And I am sure we were not the only ones. The reason why we know so little about Australia is that is so far away. If you are in Germany or USA you can read more about Iran, Pakistan, Israel etc than about Australia. Even countries like Venezuela or Bangladesh get more attention. Another reason why you read little about Australia might be the fact that this country is political so stable and for sure it does not need to be supervised by Europe or USA. Here some things that we learnt about Australia.

Who is the Australian Prime Minister? Well, you don’t know the name. No worries most of the people don’t know it…. Some might remember the name of premier John Howard. Seems he was a boring fellow and the only time he draw attention towards himself was when he declared (after winning the election) that he will not move to the capital of Australia as it was too boring for him.

So what is the name of the actual Prime Minister? It is Kevin Rudd who according to some news is doing a good job it seems.

The unemployment rate of not more than 6% in times of the financial crisis and one of the fastest growing economies (and population) of a "first" world country is a striking indicator of the health of the Australian economy.

So coming back to the capital of Australia what was the name again? Sydney? Melbourne? Adelaide? Perth? Canberra? Well?????? Right, Canberra that is in the middle of nowhere, far away from the coast. Why on earth has Australia a capital that is away from everything important and especially far away from the world?

The answer is simple and astonishing. In the early 20^th century politicians could not make up their minds if Melbourne or Sydney is the right choice. In order to cause no rivalries between those two cities they have chosen Canberra. Strange people those Australians (sorry Mr. Nenke).

Where and when was Australia founded? In the tiny city of Tenterfield in 1901 (the sister city of Ottobeuren in Swabia. Of course we have been to this city.

Believe it or not this state is a bit over 3 times older than I am. And the first European settlers came to Australia 1788, which is 5 times longer than I am on this world. Btw. New Zealand thought about joining the Australian Commonwealth, however they decided not to do so that is why it is independent. And did you know that Australia was at the end of the 50^th the third richest country of the world. Only USA and Canada were higher ranked. At that time almost everyone in Australia had a fridge, a radio. Many had a hoover and an iron as well.

By now Australia has fallen behind, even behind Kuwait, Hong Kong and Singapore. That isn’t easy for the Australians. Even if they are still on number 7 ranked when it comes to education, costs of living and crime rate (by far higher ranked than Germany or Switzerland.) Btw. recently they elected the first woman to become minister for New South Wales which was kind of a scandal. Everyone argues now if she is only a puppet or if she is really as smart as she seems to be. Well, pretty sure that the last statement is true. However, it seems that it takes a while till Australians get rid of their habits of having a male dominated government…