Chapter 14:  Australia and Oceania

Introduction

►   In many parts of this region, indigenous people clash with those who arrived during colonial times like the native Fijians and Indo-Fijians (Fig. 14.2)

►   Most residents of Australia and New Zealand live in cities near the coasts (Fig. 14.3)

►     The outback is Australia’s huge, dry sparsely settled interior (Fig. 14.9)

►     Much of New Zealand is rugged mountains

►     Australia and New Zealand share a British cultural heritage

§     Retain close cultural links to Britain

§     Have high levels of income and economic development

►     Melanesia (“dark islands”) contains the southwestern islands of the Pacific.

►     Archipelagos are small island chains.

►     Polynesia (“many islands”) are the easternmost Pacific islands.

►     The Maori are the native people of New Zealand

§     Share cultural and physical characteristics with Polynesians

►     Micronesia (“small islands”) contains the northwestern Pacific islands.

Environmental Geography:  A Varied Natural and Human Habitat

►   Environments at Risk (Fig. 14.4 and 14.5):  this region faces challenges that include

§     earthquakes

§     periodic Australian droughts

§     tropical cyclones

§     Global Resource Pressures

►  Mining has had a negative impact on many parts of Australia and Oceania (Fig. 14.6)

►  Deforestation has caused the loss of vast stretches of eucalyptus woodlands to create pastures in Australia (Fig. 14.7)

►  Elsewhere (like Papua New Guinea’s rainforest), logging pressure causes deforestation

§     Global Warming and Rising Sea Levels

►  Oceania’s greatest future environmental threat may be global warming

►  Some researchers predict that global warming may cause higher global temperature to

§    melt polar ice caps

§    raise ocean levels

§    drown many islands in Oceania

►  Some islands at low elevations in this region are already experiencing

§    slight increases in water level

§    increased coastal erosion

§    People migrating to different island:  the world’s first global warming refugees

§    Exotic Plants and Animals

► Exotic (nonnative) animals and plants have been introduced to the region

► They have had a detrimental effect on native species

► In Australia

§    where the environment lacks the diseases and predators that keep rabbits in check elsewhere, rabbits have reached plague proportions as they strip large pieces of land of vegetation

§    A rabbit disease was purposefully introduced to decrease their numbers

§    Sheep and cattle have accelerated soil erosion and desertification

►  Island environments have also experienced problems after the introduction of exotic animals

§    For example, the Moa (a bird larger than the ostrich) became extinct after Polynesian settlers to New Zealand

►   hunted the birds

►   burned their habitat

►   brought (accidentally) rats that ate the Moa’s eggs

§    In Guam, the brown tree snake (Fig. 14.8)

►   Arrived on a cargo ship from the Solomon Islands in the 1950s

►   Numbers 10,000 per square mile in some areas

►   Killed most of the native bird species

►   Cause power outages by climbing along electrical wires

►  Australian and New Zealand Environments

§    Regional Landforms

► The Great Barrier Reef is underwater off the coast of Queensland; it is one of the world’s most remarkable examples of coral reef building (Fig. 14.10)

► New Zealand has mountains, volcanoes, glaciers, fjords (fig. 14.11)

§     Climate and Vegetation (Fig. 14.12)

►  The North has a monsoon climate with dry winters and wet summers

►  Wildfires arrive at the end of the dry season in Northern Australia (Fig. 14.13)

►  Central Australia is dry with little rainfall (less than 1 inch per year)

►  Southeastern Australia has year-round rainfall averaging 40-60 inches per year

►  Southwestern Australia has a Mediterranean climate with dry summers and wetter winters and scrubby eucalyptus woodland called “mallee” (fig. 14.14)

►  New Zealand’s climate is colder towards the south pole and up the mountains (fig. 14.15)

§     An Unusual Zoogeography

►  New Zealand’s isolation produced unique flora and fauna

►  85% of New Zealand’s native trees and seed plants are found nowhere else on earth

►  Bats are the only native mammal of New Zealand

►  In Australia, isolation and genetics created a mammal group based on marsupials (animals that carry their babies in pouches)

►  Bird life is highly varied

► The Oceanic Realm

§   Creating Island Landforms

►The region is part of the seismically active Pacific Rim

►It has

§   Volcanoes

§   Earthquakes

§   tsunamis

►Most of the islands of Polynesia and Micronesia were formed by volcanic activity on the ocean floor with no connection to larger landmasses

►  Hawaii is a high island (formed by larger active and recently active volcanoes)

►  The Hawaiian archipelago is also an example of a geological hot spot where moving oceanic crust passes over a supply of magma creating a chain of volcanic uplifts

►  After the peaks erode away, the coral reefs persist at or just below sea level because they consist of living organisms that create new coral even as the island base continues to erode

►  Low islands are formed out of the eroded coral reef

►  When these islands form a ring around a shallow central body of water, they form an atoll (Fig. 14.16)

§   Patterns of Climate

►Some islands have high rainfall and dense tropical forests

►Low-lying atolls receive much less rain that the high islands and sometimes experience water shortages

Population and Settlement:  A Diverse Cultural Landscape

► Contemporary Population Patterns (Fig. 14.18 and Table 14.1)

§   Australia:

►Is highly urbanized

►Most people live in the south and east

§   New Zealand

►70% of the population lives on the North Island

§   Papua New Guinea is only 13% urban

►Many people live in the isolated interior highlands

§    Oceania

► Is overwhelmingly rural

►  Legacies of Human Occupancy

§    Peopling the Pacific

► 60,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Aborigines (native Australians) came to the region by boat (Fig. 14.20)

► Melanesia was settled 3500 years ago by people who had perfected long-distance sailing and navigation

§   European Colonization

►Australia was established as a prison colony in 1788

►The British government

§   expelled Aborigines from their land

§   supported further migration

►New Zealand was settled by whalers and sealers

§   Britain declared sovereignty in 1840

§   tensions between Maoris (native New Zealanders) and British settlers led to wars from 1845 until 1870

§   The British won; the Maori lost most of their land and control of their country

►Hawaii

§   Initially, a powerful Hawaiian ruling family prevented Euro-American claims to the islands

§   By the late 19^th century, foreign plantation owners controlled the economy

§   In 1898, U.S. forces overthrew the monarchy, and Hawaii became a U.S. territory

►  Modern Settlement Landscapes

§    The Urban Transformation

► Both Australia and New Zealand are highly urbanized with large suburbs (Fig. 14.21 and 14.22)

► Urbanization elsewhere in Oceania is different (Fig. 14.23)

§    lack of housing, roads, schools

§    Street crime

§    Alcoholism

§    Urban areas are growing rapidly through immigration from nearby rural areas and islands

§    Smaller islands have had an increase in tourism (fig. 14.24)

§     The Rural Scene

►  In Australia

§    sheep and cattle ranching are significant

§    some sugar cane and irrigated agriculture

§    Viticulture (grape cultivation) is increasing

►  New Zealand’s Landscapes (Fig. 14.25)

§    Sheep ranching and dairying are important

►  Rural Oceania

§    Subsistence farming of taro, sweet potatoes, coconuts, and bananas occurs (Fig. 14.26)

§    Cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, and sugar cane are also important

►  Diverse Demographic Paths

§    Australia and New Zealand

► had high population growth in the 20^th Century

► Today, both countries have low birthrates

► People are moving to cities

§    Oceania

► Population growth exceeds 2.5% per year

► Small islands tend to have high population densities and are compounded by migration to urban areas

► Global warming causes sea levels to rise decreasing available land on low-lying islands

Cultural Coherence and Diversity:  A Global Crossroads

►   Multicultural Australia (fig. 14.27)

§     Aboriginal Imprints

►  Hunter-gatherers for tens of thousands of years

►  Never practiced agriculture

►  Lived in small tribal groups (about 250 languages before Europeans arrived)

►  Europeans pushed Aborigines into the arid central region of Australia

►  Currently, about 2% of Australia’s population

►  Many Aborigines are employed in cities

►  Christianity is their major religion

►  Only 13% speak their native language

►  Australia has programs in place to preserve aboriginal culture:  language, sacred places

§   A Land of Immigrants

►70% of Australians are of Irish and British descent

►Kanakas (laborers from islands in Oceania such as the Solomons and New Hebrides) were imported to work on farms

►Most current immigrants to Australia come from Asia

►   Cultural Patterns in New Zealand

§     European culture is dominant in the country

§     Maori (the indigenous people)

►  make up 8% of the population

►  Are found mainly on North Island

►  Are committed to preserving their culture (Fig. 14.29)

►  Maori is an official language of New Zealand

►  The Mosaic of Pacific Cultures

§    Language Geography (fig. 14.28)

► Most native languages in the region are Austronesian

► Papua New Guinea

§    has 1000 different languages that may not all be in the same family

§    Half of New Guinea’s languages are spoken by fewer than 500 people

§    holds some of the few remaining uncontacted peoples (cultural groups that have yet to be “discovered” by the Western world)

§     External Cultural Influences

►  Most Pacific Islands have witnessed tremendous cultural transformations in the past 150 years.

►  Europeans, Americans, and Asians have influenced the region (Fig. 14.31 and 14.32)

►  Local languages are being supplanted by Pidgin English (languages formed from local languages and English)

►  Indigenous religions have been replaced by the Christian and Hindu religions of settlers

►  Tourism is a source of revenue for many Pacific islands bringing more contact with outsiders

Geopolitical Framework:  A Land of Fluid Boundaries

►   Geopolitical space in this region has been shaped many times as different cultural groups and political powers have asserted themselves

►   Roads to Independence

§     Australia and New Zealand are part of the British Commonwealth (fig. 14.34)

§     Some Pacific Island countries have become independent while some retain their colonial ties

§     Both the U.S. and France used Pacific islands for military (some nuclear) tests

§     Some islands are self-governing commonwealths in association with the U.S. or other colonial powers

►   Persisting Geopolitical Tensions (Fig. 14.35)

§     Native Rights in Australia and New Zealand

►  Australia

§    established “Aboriginal Reserves” in Central Australia (fig. 14.36)

§    Passed the Native Title Bill which paid Aborigines for land taken from them and allows them to

►  gain title to unclaimed land (Fig. 14.37)

►  deal with mining companies

►  New Zealand

§    Has acknowledged Maori land and fishing rights

§    Proposed financial and land settlements

Economic and Social Development:  A Hard Path to Paradise

►  The Australian and New Zealand Economies (Table 14.2)

§    The Australian Economy

► Australia’s past affluence was dependent on

§    export of raw materials (copper, iron ore, bauxite, nickel, gold, lead, and zinc)

§    Export-oriented agriculture

► Now, Australia is a mining superpower

► Australia has little manufacturing and high technology industry

► Tourism is becoming a growth industry (Fig. 14.38)

§   New Zealand relies on traditional agricultural exports for revenues (wool and butter)

§   New Zealand’s primary market was Britain

§   Britain joined the European Union which adopted strict agricultural protection policies

§   New Zealand has transformed into one of the most market-oriented countries in the world

►  Oceania’s Economic Diversity

§    Melanesia is the least developed and poorest region of Oceania

§    Most countries are dependent on exports and subsidies

§    In Polynesia, some of the countries receive subsidies from France and the U.S.

§    In Hawaii, French Polynesia, and Guam, tourism is important (Fig. 14.37)

►  Enduring Social Challenges

§    Australia and New Zealand’s people are susceptible to most of the typical problems of the industrialized world

► Cancer and heart disease are the leading causes of death

► Alcoholism is a persistent problem

► Skin cancer is a problem because of the

§    Mostly fair-skinned outdoors-oriented population

§    Sunny, low-latitude location

§    Hole in the ozone layer

§    Aborigines and Maori have many more problems

► Schooling is irregular for many natives

► discrimination against native populations is a continuing problem

§    Levels of social welfare in Oceania are good

§    Papua New Guinea is the exception

► Most of its population lives in isolated mountain villages

The End