THE LIE OF THE LAND

Earth's sixth largest country by area at 7,682,300 square kilometres, its low mountain ranges and generally flat topography reflects the age of its landscape and extensive erosion which has occurred over millions of years.

The continent lies at the centre of the large Indo-Australian plate. As mountain ranges are formed by tectonic plate collisions, the absence of plate boundaries within our landmass are the reasons why we have low mountains and infinitesimal earthquake activity.

During it's long geological jouney, Oz has drifted north. 600 million years ago it was part of the Gondawana supercontinent, flanked by India in the west and Antarctica in the south. In Jurassic times (150 million years ago) a rift appeared between Oz and Antarctica.  50 million years later the Tasman sea was formed and 45 million years later, Oz broke away to begin its leisurely journey north. Soon it collided with the Eurasian plate and the Pacific plate resulting in cataclysmic volcanic eruptions that gave birth to the young, high landforms of New Guinea and Indonesia complete with growing mountains and nascent volcanos.

The Oz landmass consists of three main topographical regions. The Western Plateau covering about two-thirds of the land, the Central Lowlands and Eastern Highlands where three-quarters of the population live today. Some of the world's most ancient rocks are found in the Western Plateau, dated at more that 4000 million years old. Our oldest geological formations, the crustal, around which the rest of the continent grew are the Pilbara Block in the northwest and the larger Yilgarn Block in the southwest which was formed about 3500 million years ago. Sediments accumulating over them raised the block above sea level while erosion of these landforms deposited large quantities of iron on the seabed forming thick layers of iron-rich rocks found today in what is the Hamersley Range.

Around 200 million years ago, due to vocanic activity and plate movement, new areas of crust rose above the sea in northern and central Oz. These youngsters, along with the Yilgarn and the Pilbara grew into three large masses in the far west, the north and the south. 900 million years later they bonded to form the West Australian plateau. Soon after, the plateau was covered by two ice ages about 730 million year ago. And, 600 million years later, shock waves created by the formation of Gondwana created a vast mountain range known as the Petermann Mountains. Snow-fed rivers fed sediments down to the plains below to build the inselbergs we know as monoliths today ie: Ayers Rock, Mt Connor, The Olgas and others.

Oz was much wetter during the late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic ages, when (15 million years ago), numerous rivers flowed across the Western plateau. Extensive erosion resulted, leaving chains of salt pans scattered across the land. Some of these ancient rivers formed when Oz was part of Gondwana. Today, their headwaters may lie in Antarctica ...

At the plateau's southern edge lies the featureless and flat Nullabor Plain. Consisting mainly of limestone, it was formed under shallow seas during the early to mid-tertiary period about 60 million years ago. It was then uplifted during the Miocene Epoch, 25 million years ago. Today the Plateau is covered by large deserts that are sand, clays or stones deposited by water or wind erosion. Occasional rainfall has formed floodplains along desert streams but the region has few rivers. Most of them rise at the edge of the plateau and flow to the western and northern coastlines.

The Central Lowlands lie from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Murray-Darling delta, from the Western Plateau to the Eastern Highlands. The land comprises layers of sediments left over million of years ago by rivers and seas. During the Cretaceous Period (145-165 million years ago), an enormous sea covered much of the northern Central Lowlands. Numerous rivers emptied into this sea which subsequently flowed into the Southern Ocean. The Central Lowlands consist of a narrow belt that abuts the Western Australian plateau along the Darling fault escarpment, an enormous fault line created by gigantic rifts around 200 million years ago.

As the seas retreated and the climate became more arid, rivers dried up to form an inland drainage network that empties into lakes including Lake Eyre. The sedimentary rocks of the Central Lowlands contain the Great Artesian Basin, an enormous aquifer that covers about 22 per cent of the continent. It is the major source of underground water in the continent and is replenished by rivers that flow down from the Eastern Highlands.

The Eastern Highlands, incorrectly known as The Great Dividing Range, extends from northern Queensland to Tasmania. It is not a single mountain range but a series of plateaus, mountains and volcanos. They formed about 540 million years ago when an ocean plate on the eastern side of Oz plunged under the continental plate pushing up volcanic islands as sediments collected along the plate boundaries. These continued to accumulate and build over the next 200 million years (the Permian and Triassic Periods) gradually forming the eastern third of Oz. During this period, the folding of the crust created sedimentary basins where plant-life occurred which then  turned into rich coal deposits slowly ......

Volcanic activity continued. Parts of the highlands consist of volcanic deposits formed as the Indo-Australian plate slowly moved northwards over hot-spots where plumes of magma burst through the crust like a blowtorch. This northward movement is confirmed by the fact that the oldest volcanic rocks lie to the north and the youngest to the south. Those in Mt Nebo in Queensland, for example, are about 32 million years old while those at Mt Gambier are between 1400 and 4700 years old. 

During the late Mezozoic and early Cenozoic eras (about 15 million years ago), parts of eastern Oz were uplifted between 600-3000 metres. Bounded by faults and folds, this area includes The Blue Mountains. Extensive erosion of the Eastern Highlands has exposed huge granite intrusions including Mt Kosciuszko, Mt Buffalo and the granite chain from Armidale to Tenterfield.

Many areas of the Eastern Highlands are separated from the Lowlands by escarpments. Numerous short rivers rise and flow from the highlands ending in large bays. These bays were formed when sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age flooding valleys in the southeast.

The land was still evolving ..... as man arrived just a mere 60,000 years ago.  

REMEMBER WEEKENDS?

For some, the land of the long weekend was always a myth

Antartic scientists, cops, bartenders, airport staff, nurses, farmers ..

power station operators, bus drivers even diligent burglars

they carried on working while the rest of us didn't

Around 4 pm on Fridays, we said "TGIF" and we were gone ...

to our families, the pub, the surf, dancing or the races

many of us to debauch ourselves on Saturday or Sunday

and if we were crook later, we'd chuck a sickie on Monday

Good times. What happened? When did weekends cease to be?

Oh! It's there on your IPhone or blueberry or raspberry or whatever

but once upon a time the country stopped and had a rest

factory stacks ceased belching sulphur dioxide or particulates

buses, trucks and cars took their commuters home to rest, too

shops shut, cities and towns emptied of human activity

we went home, closed the gate and the front door

and took up residence in our backyards or our gardens

or lazed by the pool or enjoyed a barbie with family or mates

we might venture out in the world to visit relos or friends 

have a picnic in the park or the beach or do nothing and read papers

"Time Off" as we called it before it became "Leisure Time"

it didn't require us to spend money to entertain or distract ourselves

market forces unleashed in 1983 (ironically by a Labor Government)

decreed that these two "do-nothing days" was extravagant ...

it dragged down productivity and wasted our precious time

so time had to be allocated, specifically measured

after all, everyone needs leisure time or they get burned out

but like the classic thing edge of the wedge ... why stop there?

why the arbitrary predetermined couple of days of loafing?

"flexibility" was the new wankword and it was on for young and old

technologies busted old rigidities, time and space collapsed

we could no longer afford to take time off ... for everything changed

and industrial relations became as casual as sexual relations

The more we increased out productivity (longer hours at work)

the less time for buying the basics like food for sustenance ...

so we added shop assistants to the list of "must work anytime" people

shopping mania (therapy mingled with unlimited shopping)

not satisfied with Saturday, we wanted and got Sunday but ..

where would we eat and entertain ourselves while we were shopping ?

Soon dead hearts of cities teemed with life seven days a week

we liked it so much that when the sharp developers came to town

we went back to town ... to live in fancy "inner-city apartments"

back to the concrete and steel boxes for we loved ...

the idea of never stopping, never sleeping, never having to wait ...

for a single bloody thing

Are we poorer for it" Nah, not materially of course

we are wealthier than we've ever been or so we're told

do you miss the weekend? Even if you remember it?

that still, quiet long suspended moment that stretched away 

from Saturday to Monday morning .... when the alarm went off

and we would throw ourselves back into the fray once more

refreshed and rejuvenated

THE TEACUP AND THE STORM

There was a disproportionate and huge hooha

about the oil spill on the beach at Marcoola

in people's minds it seemed a big disaster

fiction overwhelmed fact, rumours ran thicker and faster

people over-reacting, a malaise of the times

extravagant statements made about compulsory fines

greenies, tour operators, resort manager all crying out

the loss of lucre was what the fuss was about

a mother even left her kids in the car, A/C and engine going ....

purportedly to save a turtle from the tarry tide incoming

locals who claimed residence vied for time on the media

professing shock and loss during the time they'd (supposedly) been here

the Opposition shamelessly exploited the sticky situation

blaming the Government for its lack of planning and action

State, Federal and Local bodies after some initial obfuscation

devised and implemented a plan that worked to perfection

but what of the facts of this teacup that created such a storm?

let the truth inconvenience a story? Nah, that's not today's norm

the commercials must have their breathless six o'clock pap

rubber-neckers need their 15 minute fix, the silly saps

the flora and fauna suffered hideously ... I hear you ask?

nothing untoward had occurred as the men went about their task

three days on and this beach looks clean, crisp and pristine

hard to believe that an 'oil spill' contrived such a scene

everyone's onto something else, the media's long gone

the dogs are barking but the caravan moves on .....

EXPERTS

The appallingly bad TV program "Bringing up baby" on the ABC

made me want to bring up before I reached for the gripe water

I've always thought that parents were the best experts

that they would know what to do and that's what they oughter ...

There's 926 books available of parenting and child care

and that doesn't include the DVDs and magazines

compared with diet (79) and weight loss (33) in print

there's a lack of confidence in Aussie women it seems ...

Are modern women, used to controlling their working lives

incapable of following their instincts when having a baby

for instead of it being a normal, natural part of life

it's something to fear perhaps or an upheaval maybe?

Instead of listening to our own and others mothers

we go into 'information overload' mode from the junk media

focus-groups, mothercare, pre-natal consultations and the like

"No breast-feeding for you, babe, the formula's gonna feedya" ...

Truby King of Spock, problem is today's parents are paralysed by fear

they can't read the cues or know whether to respond to baby or not

because they themselves can't differ between their own wants and needs

they can't tell if their child needs the bot or a pat on the bot

Many women today have smothered their instincts in long careers

years childless, 'investing in themselves', absorbed in their own patters

only to find out when they do have children much later on ..

it's not what they do but who they are that really matters

And, the increasing number of social ills that tempt us while 'careering'

crass consumerism, credit-fuelled hedonism, alcohol and drugs

make us neglect our family and lose the strong links of their support

makes it difficult to ask Grandma for a break from bubs ...

With children coming late in life, grandmothers are almost too old

to advise and help and do the grandmotherly things we used to know

in the future it may be a distinct possibility .....

there just won't be grandies alive to see them grow

Once upon a time we didn't have gender-neutral parents you know

we had mothers and fathers, not infant management techniques

but kids today are subject to bizarre social experiments ...

same-sex, serial step-parents, father-figures and other tragiques

Men and women complement each other in the parenting stakes

but it's the guiding instinct of the mother who does the mothering

having children earlier with a loving man willing to adjust and learn

makes for infinitely much better mothering and satisfying fathering

THIS (CONTRADICTORY) WBL

I arrived in '69 to a country without obvious contradictions

it was white, Christian, western, a ubiquitous accent, a common language

culturally distinct but ambivalent about involvement in foreign conflicts 

but nearly a decade into the 21st century and the contradictions are many

almost as many as the antipodean myths and legends ....

Aussies, perceived as hedonists work the longest hours in the western world

(but 1.8 million and rapidly increasing are on three types of pensions)

the outback is venerated yet it's the most urbanised country on the planet

it's a 'no-worries' country with the third-highest rate of suicide in the OECD 

one in five citizens suffer depression-type illnesses

it's proud of its egalitarianism, champions the underdog and the 'fair go' ...

which is sometimes not extended to its aboriginals or new arrivals

it's a fun, sun, warm and larrikin-type place and a zealous bureaucracy

with three tiers of government that attest to the latter

A coastal skirt of cities tethered at the waist by a land-locked capital

increasingly patriotic with no native-born head of state or distinctive flag

even its leader confound the contemporary Aussie image

imbibers vs teetotalers, agnosts vs the religious, socialists vs tories

our modern heroes are sportspeople whose achievements are ephemeral

our real heroes are Cowan, Reibey, Helpmann, Dawe, Hart, Florey, Fleming

(scientists, researchers, dancers, painters, explorers, medicos, teachers)

lodestones for our enduring reputation as a fair society in this world

'The 'Lucky Country' has now two meaning for it suits those ....

who want to either criticise the country or praise it

Contrast the character on parade at 'king cricket', the summer sport

and the changes in the game to cater for the purist or the yobbo

Aussies perceived as 'win-at-all-costs' sledgers playing with beachballs

both to be punctured by generous, appreciative crowds and fun-denying cops

The Opera House, a landmark vying with provincialism and internationalism

a coming of age and ambition vs petty-mindedness and cultural cringe

even our nation has been a tug-of-war, States rights over the Commonwealth

witness the bun-fight over water rights in the Murray-Darling or an ETS

yet this nation, its people has solved many a problem for the planet, its people

The Governments of Oz promote Oz Day as a day to have fun with others

I'm uneasy that they are going to make it compulsory for us citizens to ....

wear the flag and not wave it

assimilated (just about), I'm happy to accede to the authorities wishes

I promise to treat my fun with the utmost seriousness from now on

in this WBL of drought, flooding rains, sun-baked plains and .... contradictions