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Chapter 11:
The Austral Realm
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Defining the Realm
• Two countries:
– Dominant Australia
– Smaller New Zealand
• Realm at a crossroads:
– Strains of diversity
– Economic connections
– Political debates
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Land and Environment
• Physiographic contrasts
related to tectonics:
– Australia at the center of
its own tectonic plate:
• Tectonic stability
• Little difference in relief
– New Zealand at the border
of the Australian and
Pacific plates:
• Common earthquakes
• Mountainous
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Land and Environment:
Climates
• Australia’s varied
climates:
– Latitudinal position:
• Tropical in the north
• Eastern humid
temperate
– Interior isolation:
• Mediterranean in the
south
• New Zealand:
• Desert and steppe • Wholly under influence of
interior Southern and Pacific
oceans
•Inc.Moderate,
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, All rights reserved. moist conditions
Land and Environment:
The Southern Ocean
• Southern Ocean Concept Caching::
Australia’s Cape Leeuwin
surrounding Antarctica:
– Bounded by a marine
transition known as
Subtropical Convergence
where cold, dense © Ray Sumner
waters
meet warmer waters of • Also known as the West
other three oceans Wind Drift, as the body of
– Change in temperature, water circulates clockwise
chemistry, salinity, and around Antarctica
marine fauna
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Land and Environment:
Biogeography
• Distinctive Australia:
– Land of marsupials
– Early separation of
Australian landmass
– Vegetation:
• Species diversity
• Specialized climactic
adaptations • From Wallace’s Line to
• Biogeography: study of Weber’s Line:
fauna and flora in a – Proposed the
spatial perspective boundary line of
Australia’s fauna
– Challenged and replaced
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Land and Environment:
Biogeography
• Arrival of the aboriginal population:
– Appears to have caused an ecosystem collapse.
– Widespread burning of existing forest, shrub, and
grasslands led to spread of desert scrub and caused
the rapid extinction of large mammals.
• Second crisis occurred with the arrival of
Europeans and their livestock.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Australia:
Historical Geography
• Early Aboriginal societies
were doomed by the arrival
of Europeans.
The Seven Colonies
• Coastal settlements as centers
of seven colonies:
– Straight-line delimitation
– Surviving Aboriginals
located in Northern
Territory
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Australia:
Historical Geography
Successful Federation
• Commonwealth of Australia, 1901
– Six States and two Federal Territories:
• Northern Territory to protect the interests of Aboriginals
there
• Australian Capital Territory around Canberra
– Federation, as a communal association among territories
sharing autonomy with a central government:
• In contrast to the unitary state, where power is
concentrated in a strong, central government
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Australia:
Sharing the Bounty
• Not everyone adequately shares in the national
wealth:
– The Aboriginal population in particular is
disproportionately disadvantaged:
• They have both lower life expectancies and
higher unemployment.
• The national campaign to address these ills began with a
formal apology.
• Australia’s bounty:
– GNP ranked twelfth in the world.
– Development indicators place it ahead of all its
western Pacific Rim competitors, except Japan and
Singapore.
Australia:
Sharing the Bounty
Distance
• An imposed remoteness from without and a divisive part of life
within:
– Expense of travel and shipping in and out of Australia.
– Expense of traveling within and around Australia.
Immigrants
• New immigration policy focused on skilled immigrants
and relatives of earlier immigrants.
• Quota on asylum-seekers, but diversity is a contentious issue.
• Immigrants account for most of the population growth.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Australia:
Sharing the Bounty
Core and Periphery
• Population is concentrated
in the eastern and
southeastern core area:
– Secondary core area in
the southwest
• In between is the vast
periphery called the
Outback.
• Spatial arrangement is a
result of physiography.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Australia:
An Urban Culture
• 82 percent urban
• Coastal orientation
The Cities
• Australian cultural identity
and sameness of urban/rural
landscapes:
– Clean and orderly
– High-quality urban
public infrastructure
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Among the Realm’s Great Cities…
Sydney
• Metropolitan Sydney home to
more than one-fifth of
Australians:
– Locational advantages propelled
its growth.
– Transportation links made it the
focus of the growing core area.
• One of the world’s most livable
cities:
– Multicultural city: Aboriginals
are being overwhelmed by
Asians.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Australia:
Economic Geography
Agricultural Abundance
• Livestock:
– Sheep-raising and wool
– Beef products, along with
refrigeration
– Dairying near urban
areas
• Crops:
– Commercial grain
farming
– Sugarcane in warm,
humid coastal areas
– Mediterranean crops
– Diverse cropCospyriinght i©r2r0i14gJaohtneWdiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Australia:
Economic Geography
Mineral Wealth
• Diverse and abundant mineral resources:
– New finds are still being made.
• Demand for raw materials continue.
Manufacturing’s Limits
• Historical import-substitution industries:
– Local entrepreneurs are encouraged to set up their own
industries to produce goods cheaper than they could be
exported, largely due to transport costs.
• Diversified, yet domestic orientation
• Dwarfed by primary sector prominence
© H.J. de Blij, P.O. Muller, and John Wiley & Sons, In
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Australia:
Economic Geography
• Australia’s economic
mainstays:
– Services, like tourism
– Then, commodity exports
• Growth and affluence
are paid for by mines
and farms.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Australia:
Australia’s Challenges
Aboriginal Issues
• In 2008 formal apology was issued for
mistreatment of Aborigines.
• Aboriginal land issue:
– Major geographic implications:
• Vast areas potentially subject to
Aboriginal claims
• Mainly, not solely, an Outback
issue
– Land-rich Aboriginals are dirt poor:
• Complex issues involving the
role of government, tribal
councils, or private enterprise
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Regional Issue:
Indigenous Rights and Wrongs
FIRST AUSTRALIANS FIRST NO MORE SPECIAL TREATMENT
• Aboriginals remain the most • We can’t be blamed for what
disadvantaged minority. our great-great-grandparents
• Evidence of Aborigine did.
mistreatment is everywhere: • Country has bent over backward
– Claimed and fenced their to right wrongs:
land – Land settlements
– Displaced and killed • No laws, treaties, or apologies
– No accord of citizenship are going to change the
– Forced “Europeanization” Aborigines’ social problems.
What do you think?
– Is an apology necessary? Or is what is done, done?
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Australia:
Australia’s Challenges
Immigration Issues
• Immigration has been an issue since the beginning.
• 95 percent European ancestry; eugenic immigration
policies kept it this way until 1970s.
• Today, East and South Asian immigrants outnumber
both European immigrants and natural increase:
– Fickle changes in immigration quotas.
– Immigration needs continue for skilled-labor demands.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Australia:
Australia’s Challenges
Environmental Issues
• Environmental degradation of Australia:
– Both Aboriginal and European damage:
• Deforestation
• Extinction, endangered, and threatened ecologies
– Climatic variability:
• Arid dominance
• Vulnerability to seasonal or permanent climate changes
• Growing awareness:
– Tempered by those who fear environmentalism will be an
obstacle for economic growth
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Australia’s Place in the World
• Australia as a republic?
– Ending its status as a British Commonwealth
• Relations with:
– Indonesia and East Timor
• Australia’s self-serving diplomatic maneuverings
– Papua New Guinea (PNG)
• A projected pipeline plan causes questions of motive.
• Australia’s global identity:
– Wider global presence or just within Asia and Pacific Rim?
– Growing connections with Asian and Pacific Rim
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
New Zealand
• New Zealand’s Polynesian
Maori would have been a
part of the Pacific realm
– But for European colonization
• Two large mountainous
islands, surrounded by
scattered smaller islands:
– Combined territory larger tha n
Britain
– Prone to volcanoes and
earthquakes
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New Zealand
Human Spatial Organization
• Habitable areas:
– Lower-lying slopes and
lowland fringes
– Cropland and pastures
• Peripheral development
– pattern imposed by high
rugged mountains and
fragmented lands
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
New Zealand
The Maori Factor and New – Cultural declaration of
Zealand’s Future Maori as official
• Maori and British Treaty: language
– Granted colonists sovereignty – Still leading domestic
over New Zealand issue
– Maori rights over tribal lands
– Parts of the treaty revoked
• Maori land claims
and growing
demands:
– New Zealand courts
supported Maori position
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
New Zealand
The Green Factor
• One of the leading “green” societies in the world:
– Long-active Green Party; country has an
established environmental conservation
program.
– New Zealand is ranked first in the world on a range
of environmental indices.
– Approximately 30 percent of its land is protected.
– More than 70 percent of its energy is from renewables:
• Nuclear-free country
– Environmental courts hear cases involving environmental
decisions.
