Austral
Imports
-Australia imports more from China than anywhere else. -between 2001 and 2011, China's trade with Australia increased by 1,196% -personal travel, crude petroleum, refined petroleum, passenger motor vehicles, freight services, telecom equipment and parts, medicaments, computers, passenger transport services (d), goods vehicles.
Biogeography
-Australia is the land of kangaroos and koalas, wallabies and wombats, possums and platypuses. *world's largest assemblage of marsupials (animals whose young are born very early in their development and then are carried in an abdominal pouch).
Climate
-Australia's climate ranging from tropical in the far north, where rain forests flourish, to Mediterranean in parts of the south. *the interior is dominated by desert and steppe conditions, the semiarid steppes providing the grasslands that sustain tens of millions of livestock. East possesses a zone of humid, temperate climate. -New Zealand, is totally under the influence of the Southern and Pacific oceans, creating moderate, moist conditions, temperate in the north and colder in the south
Exports
-China is Australia's number one export market -iron ores & concentrates, coal, natural gas, education-related travel services, personal travel (excl education) services, gold, crude petroleum, beef, wheat, and aluminum ores
Immigration Issues
-Fifty years ago, 95% of the people were of European ancestry, and more than three-quarters of them came from the British Isles. -NOW: out of 22.8 million Australians, only about one-third are of British-Irish origin, and Asian immigrants outnumber both European immigrants and the natural increase each year. Sydney - the leading recipient of the Asian influx
Environmental Issues
-First the Aborigines --> Europeans & livestock inflicted heavy damage on Australia's natural environment and ecologies -SO many endangered animals :( -"Never have so few people wreaked so much havoc on the ecology of so large an area in so short a time" -Australia's wide and long-term climatic variability is a problem 454
Immigrants
-Immigration policy now focuses on the would-be immigrants' qualifications, skills, financial status, age, and facility with the English language. -in recent years, immigration has averaged between 120,000 and 180,000 annually, which keeps Australia's population growing because its (declining) natural rate of increase is only 0.7% -Becoming a multicultural society. *In Sydney: 1 in 5 is now of Asian ancestry -Overall, no less than a quarter of Australian's population is foreign-born, and another quarter consists of first-generation Australians.
The Cities
-Sydney - NY of Australia -vast, sprawling metropolis of 4.7 million -Melbourne - 3.9 million - Boston of Australia - architecture and cultural -Brisbane - Miami of Australia - capital of Queensland , which also anchors Australia's Gold Coast and adjoins the Great Barrier Reef - can find relief from heat in the mountains or on the beaches -Perth - Australia's San Diego - separated from its nearest Australian neighbor by two-thirds of a continent and form Southeast Asia and Africa by thousands of kilometers of ocean -Others: capital of South Australia (Adalaide) capital of Tasmania (Hobart) the Northern Territory (Darwin) -Australia is a bomb ass place to live!
Big Cities
North Island: Auckland and Wellington South Island: Christchurch and Dunedin *all located on coast
Australia holds a prominent place in China's long term plan
Over the past decade, China has in some ways secured Australia's allegiance to that plan through the establishment of a significant trade relationship; China is Australia's number one export market.
Federalism
a form of politico-territorial organization. *the word "federal" comes from the Latin foederis, implying alliance and coexistence, a union of consensus and common interest-- a federtaion
Fjords
a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, as in Norway and Iceland, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley.
Papua New Guinea Solution
-The Manus Island Detention Centre, is a key component of this situation -an agreement of sorts between Australia and PNG that allows Australia to permanently resettle asylum-seekers in PNG. -Announce July 2013. -no longer agreeing to accept all approved for resettlement, but expressing its preference for those who are skilled. -Pacific Solution started all this. *Pacific Solution: whereby Australia is keeping asylum seekers from reaching its territory and avoiding its obligations as a signatory of the Refugee Convention, with what some believe is a complete and total disregard for human rights.
Outback
-The name given by Australians to the vast, peripheral, sparsely settled interior of their country.
Canterbury Plains
-a productive agricultural region in NZ.
New Zealand
-also known as Aotearoa in Maori (meaning :land of the long white cloud) -once all Maori population (a Polynesian root), but Europeans took over. Today it's population of 4.5 million is about 70% European and the Maori form a substantial minority of 700,000 with many of them mixed Euro-Polynesian ancestry (including Pacific Islanders) -consists of two large mountainous islands and many scattered smaller island *the two larger islands = South >> North **specific details on page 457 -the most promising areas for habitation, therefore, are the lower-lying slopes and lowland fringes on both islands. -North Island -largest urban are - Auckland. -South Island - Canterbury Plain (centered on Chistchurch) -What makes these lower areas so attractive: cropland and pastures. -Canterbury Plain = the chief farming region -About 35 million sheep, 6 million dairy cattle, and 4 million beef cattle dominate these livestock-raising activities, with wool, milk products, and meat providing about two-thirds of the islands' export revenues.
Blackbirding and Assisted Immigration
-bred mistrust and resentment
Resource Extraction
-by no means new -several periods of invest ment taking place beginning as early as the 1880s when coal was king -has an associated environmental cost to humans and the environment that is not factored in to the selling price of the commodity. -According to the Australian government, negative impacts can take place during exploration, construction, and extraction, and while they often involve the natural setting, they are not limited to a degraded physical landscape. *Australia knows that most of their resources can be exhausted, but the discovery of new reserves, improved technology, and more efficient extraction methods have managed to keep pace with extraction, leading to increased stocks over time.
Southern Alps
-called Te Tepu Nui by the Maori or Peaks of Intense Sacredness -Mount Cook 12,316 feet
Aboriginal population (page 447)
-caused an ecosystem collapse. *native or aboriginal peoples; often used to designate the inhabitants of areas that were conquered and subsequently colonized by the imperial powers of Europe.
Austral
-comes from the Latin for south -
Mandatory Detention
-detention centers where all persons arriving without valid visas are head indefinitely. -under Australia's immigration policy for processing, resettlement, or deportation.
Migration Programme
-does not discriminate by race, religion, country of origin, and so on. Visas are awarded by category (reason for coming), family, skilled (professional), or special eligibility, as well as some allowance for humanitarian and refugee admissions.
Boat People
-increasing numbers of unauthorized persons, many seeking asylum, making their way across seas and into Australia. *the dangerous nature of boat crossings, and the desperate situation of those willing to make such a trip, suggests that there is no other way for them to enter the country-they do not have the means, or family, or skills necessary to obtain a valid visa. *Australians want a prime minister who will eliminate boat arrivals -politically correct way: irregular maritime arrivals
Southern Ocean
-left out of many (if not all books and maps) -the ocean that surrounds Antarctica -this ocean is bounded not by land, but by a marine transition called the Subtropical Convergence. -sharply defined in changes in temperature, chemistry, salinity, marine fauna, and color. *the Antarctc side is a deep gray, and the northern side a greenish blue.
Aboriginal population (600,00 left) does not share in wealth
-lower life expediencies -higher unemployment levels than average -lower high school graduation rates -much higher imprisonment ratios *formal government apology in 2008
Aboriginal land issue
-mostly (but not exclusively) in the outback -the legal campaign in which Australia's indigenous peoples have claimed title to traditional land in several parts of that country. The courts have upheld certain claims, fueling Aboriginal activism that has raised broader issues of indigenous rights
Australia
-positioned on the pacific rim -almost as large as the US -well endowed with farmlands and vast pastures, rivers, groundwater supplies, mineral deposits, and energy resources, served by good natural harbors, and populated by 22.8 million mostly well-educated people. -by 1861: Sydney was the focus for New South Wales; Melbourne, Sydney's rival, anchored Victoria. Adelaide was the heart of South Australia, and Perth lay at the core of Western Australia. -January 1st, 1901: the Australia we know today finally emerged: the Commonwealth of Australia, consisting of six States and two Federal Territories. (map page 448) Federal Territories: 1. Northern Territory: assigned to protect the interests of the substantial Aboriginal population concentrated there and agitating for statehood. 2. Australian Capital Territory: carved from southern New South Wales to accommodate the federal capital of Canberra that was completed in 1927.
Great Artesian Basin is a key physiographic region
-provides underground water sources in what is otherwise desert country.
Subduction (Convergence) Zone
-responsible for the high terrain, and also for the volcanic and earthquake activity, particularly on the North Island and areas to the northeast along the Tonga and Kermadec trenches.
Australia's population is heavily concentrated in a core area that lies in the east and southeast, most of which faces the Pacific Ocean (locally named the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand)
-see map 448 -crescent shaped Australian heartland extends from north of the city of Brisbane to the vicinity of Adelaide and includes the largest city, Sydney; the capital, Canberra and the second-largest city, Melbourne
Australia's place in the world
-should it have been a republic instead of carrying on the British commonwealth? -Neighboring countries: Indonesia and East Timor = tension -relationship with Papua New Guinea - (455) -Australia is seeking closer relations with the US as a counterweight to China's rapidly increasing influence across these realms; not surprisingly, the US is pleased to reciprocate. starting in 2012, several thousand rotating US troops will for the first time be stationed in Australian military bases; moreover, the US Air Force will now have access to Australian airfields in the Northern Territory that are within easy flying distance of the South China Sea.
Australia + New Zealand
-sizeable pastoral economy with growth in specialty goods such as wines, a small local market, the problem of great distances to world markets, and a desire to stimulate (through protection) domestic manufacturing. -High numbers of urbaniztion (NZ - 86% of population)
New Zealand
-small island nation -politically, former British colony -peaceful democracy with a small but strong military -economy based on resources; mining, agriculture, forestry, and tourism, and well connected with those of Australia and neighboring Asian nations, especially China and Japan. And socially, although it has grappled with racism and indigenous rights, it is known for maintaining a relatively peaceful coexistence among the cultures represented in its population, which is predominatly European, with Maori, Asian, and Pacific Island groups composing the largest minorities. -forestry is a big business in the country, but so is environmental conservation and management. -number on sport = rugby -North Island lies in the midlatitudes, with its distinctly temperate, subtropical environmental; year round percipitation; the exception is the mountain ranges and peaks, which exhibit a highland climate type typical of their elevation. -South Island closer to the South Pole; cooler climate; cold winds from Antarctica
peripheral development
-spatial pattern in which a country's or region's development (and population) is most heavily concentrated along its outer edges rather than in its interior
Asylym Seekers
-unusual, but not uncommon situation -like refugees, have been forced to leave their country of origin, and while they desire and/or have applied for refugee status, have not been given status. *recognized in US as 'persons of concern' -this status is often misunderstood (and truly concerning) because many feel that people arriving without documentation, regardless of curcumstance, are illegal, yet that is not the case. Both the UN and governments that are signatories of the UN Refugee Convention (which includes Australia) have agreed that asylum-seekers can enter a country in any manner. They may be then classified as unlawful upon entering a country, but until their claims are assessed, they have done nothing illegal *1970s: many were coming from war-torn Vietnam
Assisted Immigration
-using financial aid to entice Britain's poor jobs in Australia.
Aboriginal Issues (453-454)
-wanted formal acknowledgement and land ownership (both recognition from the government) -formal acknowledgement was solved in 2008; Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered a formal apology for the historical treatment of the Aborigines -only 2% (600,000) of the population -land ownership not completely covered. -1992 - Australian High Court made the first of a series of rulings in favor of the Aboriginal. Another rulings implied that vast areas (probably as much as 78% of the entire continent)
White Policy or White Australia Policy
-when finally repealed the Asians swarmed in (the opening-up of China's economy further solidified the partnership between Australia and China, and Asia in general, and their markets and economies became more deeply integrated) -to govern immigration, which consisted of series of laws passed throughout the early 1900s with the goal of eliminating immigration of all non-whites.
Australia's Challenges
1. Aboriginal claims 2. Concerns involving immigration 3. Environmental Degradation 4. Issues related to Australia's status and regional role
2 countries constitute the Austral Realm:
1. Australia (dominant in every way) 2. New Zealand (physio graphically more varied, but demographically much smaller than its giant partner) *between them lies the Tasman Sea
Australia's biggest income producers:
1. Wool 2. Meat 3. Wheat *more on agricultural 451 *Agricultural map on page 452 *minerals: gold, oil, natural gas, iron ore 451-452 *iron ore (China is biggest partner)
Immigration in Australia has two faces
1. that of the East and Southeast Asian, living and working in the city 2. that of the at-risk and often desperate, maritime arrival.
For two reasons, has fewer regional divisions than China, Canada, the US, and Brazil:
1. the comparatively uncomplicated physiography of Australia 2. its diminutive human numbers
Australia is an urban country
82% of all Australians living in cities and towns -comparisons to Japan 450
Subtropical Convergence
A narrow marine transition zone, girdling the globe at approximately latitude 40 degrees south, that marks the equatorward limit of the frigid Southern Ocean and the poleward limits of the warmer Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans to the north.
Centralized or Unitary States (contrast to Federation)
A nation-state that has a centralized government and administration that exercises power equally over all parts of the state. *Romans=unitas=unity
Federation
A political framework wherein a central government represents the various sub national entities within a nation-state where they have common interests-defense, foreign affairs, and he like - yet allows these various entities to retain their own identities and to have their own laws, policies, and customs in certain spheres.
Primary Sector
Activities engaged in the direct extraction of natural resources from the environment such as mining, fishing, lumbering, and especially agriculture.
Wallace's Line
As shown in Figure 11-4, the zoogeographical boundary proposed by Alfred Russel Wallace that separates that marsupial fauna of Australia and New Guinea from the non-marsupial fauna of Indonesia *Weber's line *see map 447
Territories with the highest mineral depletion are
Australia, Brazil, Chile, and China. -Australia = bauxite -Brazil = diamonds -China = tungsten -South Africa = platinum and gold
Investment
Minerals and mineral fuels can only be a beacon for investment -mines can take as many as 10 to 15 years to become fully operational and during that time, money flows in and people are employed. The same is true fro the infrastructure needed to transport people and supplies, and ultimately the commodity, to and from the site. There is also the benefit of the money that flows back into the economy as workers rent or purchase homes and buy goods and services. However, it takes fewer people to operate a mien than it does to build one, so once the mine is operational and the infrastructure is in place, unemployment increases
The Green Factor
NZ well known for its progressive politics and high quality of life. -among the factors that contribute to superior environmental progressiveness is its status as one of the leading "green" societies in the world -approximately 30% of its land area is protected from development, and in 2007 NZ declared that it would become the first carbon-neutral country in the world by 2020. -MORE THAN 70% of its energy is already derived from renewable sources (hydro and geothermal) -NZ = a nuclear-free country that does not permit even visiting naval vessels with nuclear capabilities to anchor at its ports. -Environmental Courts to hear cases involving environmental management decisions.
All Blacks Team
NZ's Rugby team. -Two world cups (1987. 2011) -74% winning record, and is the only team to win the gold medal since rugby was first played in 1998 at the Commonwealth Games) -Maori -most be at least 1/16th Maori -traditional game: ki-o-rahi. -Haka dance/chant thingy, really important -got name through misprint in paper
Environmental degradation
The accumulated human abuse of a region's natural landscape that, among other things, can involve air and water pollution, threats to plant and animal ecosystems, misuse of natural resources, and generally upsetting the balance between people and their habitat.
Wellywood
The human and physical landscapes of NZ are diverse and exotic -- a perfect backdrop for filming movies. (Wellington - North Island) -All of the Lord of the Rings movies were made (and The Hobbit) -brought in tourism -recent movies: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Avatar.
import-substitution industries
The industries local entrepreneurs establish to serve populations of remote areas when transport costs from distance sources make these goods too expensive to import.
Biogeography (definition)
The study of fauna and flora in spatial perspective combines the disciplines of biology and geography. -Australia is a gigantic laboratory for biogeographers. -especially interested in the distribution of plant and animal species, as well as in the relationships between plant and animal communities. *Study of plant life = phytogeography *Study of animal life = zoogeography one of the founders of biogeography: Alfred Russel Wallace
Commonwealth Games
also known as the British Empire Games -every four years nations that were once part of the British Empire come together to compete in sporting events. -53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations the compete in the games -for better or for worse (relationship with British rule) these nations share a history, and in soome cases, a heritage and language.
Both (Australia and China)
are part of the Pacific Rim and in the Eastern Hemisphere
The waste generated by mines, called tailings,
can pollute air, water, and soil, and the equipment used is often associated with the emission of chemical pollutants and greenhouse gases. As in the case of equipment, energy use is also associated with operations. Lastly, exhausted or non operational mines and exploration sites can leave noticeable scars, pits, waste, or debris on the landscape
Hard to separate imports from exports
countries are using imports in their exports, and therefore a portion of the cost finished good is included in both its imports and exports
China
equipped to not only import the resources it needs, but also export the finished good--
People Smuggling
individuals or groups who help others to enter a country illegally. *In Australian, people smugglers provide access to the country via air or sea *Not only can people smuggling endanger the welfare of those attempting passage to Australia, but it is a threat to Australia and its citizens because there are security and criminal concerns when people arriving in Australia are not properly identified.
New Zeland
lies at the convulsive convergence of Australia and Pacific plates *more likely to have earthquakes/volcanoes
High Productivity Indices belong to
mining, oil, agribusiness, tourism, health, other education and training, international education, gas, etc
the only realm that lies entirely in the Southern Hemisphere.
no land link of any kind to a neighboring realm and is thus completely surrounded by ocean and sea.
Australia
not only equipped to be supplier of resources, thanks to the British, but also has the resources demanded by industrial and populous nations like China, including coal, bauxite, and copper. This so-called complementarity is what drives trade between the two nationsq
on the western flanks of the Great Dividing Range
one of the world's largest sheep herds (about 100 million sheep, producing more than one-fifth of all the wool sold in the world)
Major Geographic Qualities
page 444
Australia: Physiography and Physical Landscape maps
page 446
Countries would be producing more value added by doing more work at home;
refining--> manufacturing --> design and advertising
Tectonic Orgins
rugged mountain landscapes and peaks that rise to more than 3,500 meters in the S. Alps
Australia lies at the center of its own plate:
the Australian Plate
Blackbirding
the coercion of people through trickery and kidnapping to work as laborers.
The most basic argument against an economy based on natural resources
the dependency of that country on the world market and other economies *When the international business climes is right, market prices rise, and more money comes back to the national economy. Likewise, when there is a global recession or the economy of your major trading partners slows, demand decreases, and market prices drop. Price drops can also happen as new sources are discovered or developed
Following modernization (that began in the 1970s)
the importance of Australia and China as a strategic partner was made clear in both word and deed, and China's investment in Australia steadily increased, primarily in the mining sector, throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. ** bilateral trade +++
Mineral Depletion
the loss of potential future income at current prices due to current quantities of minerals extracted
Great Dividing Range
the mountains that line the east coast from the Cape York Peninsula to southern Victoria State, with an outlier in Tasmania *Mount Kosciusko
Rugby
unifying and dividing force.
Refugees most often remain in their region of origin
worth mentioning: that most people are not arriving by boat, more by plane