Australia

If this was the Second Exodus, then Australia was for us the Second Promised Land!

Australia is the smallest continent and the largest island in the world. As an island it finds itself between the Indian and Pacific oceans.

This continent is very dry, with little rainfall, and it is often subject to fires on a large scale. Not all of Australia is arid and desert; the southwest corner is fertile; and Australia has rivers which are used for irrigation and hydroelectric power.

Because of its isolation, the Australian continent harbors flora and fauna that are unique to it. For instance species of giant eucalyptus, the kangaroo, the wallaby, the platypus, and a great variety of colorful birds.

Foreign animals have done very well here, notably sheep and rabbits. Rabbits have embraced this new land, and multiplied, well, like rabbits. In time, they became a plague, and were killed mercilessly.

Sheep and cattle raising, and grain production are at the heart of its agriculture. Tropical and subtropical produce, such as citrus fruits, sugar cane, tropical fruits, and tobacco, are part of the bounty produced by this land. Dairy farms, and vineyards abound. If you’re even an occasional wine drinker, surely you have consumed some of the superb wines from Down Under.

Australia is blessed with many natural resources; examples: coal, gold, silver, lead, zinc, uranium, bauxite and tin.

There are five states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. Some of its leading industrial and commercial cities are: Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide.

This continent was not unknown. Long before Captain James Cook discovered and claimed Australia as a British dependency, mariners from Portugal, Spain, Holland, even England, discovered and visited this new land. Indeed, the Dutch named it New Holland.

However, it started its official life when Captain Cook reached Botany Bay in 1770, and sailed North to Cape York, claiming the coast for England. In 1788, Port Jackson (where Sydney now stands) was made into a penal colony by England. These convicts were Australia’s first white inhabitants; and they were not generally given a choice in the matter; if a choice was offered, it was being transported to this colony, or hanging at the end of a rope!

The first humans reached the shores of Australia some 50,000 years ago. The native people the white man encountered were several distinct groups with different languages and customs. They were primitive and did not offer much resistance to what was to them strange visitors. To their credit, they managed to live for so long on a land that was largely a desert. Their experience, basic tools, and weapons (the boomerang comes to mind) were of great help, at the onset, for the European settlers.

This is but a basic sketch of the country we so wanted to live in. I have to apologize to my Australian readers for there is so much more that can and should be said about the Commonwealth of Australia. Alas, my objective here is to talk about our immigration options, and that is where I need to go back now.

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