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THEVIEW
FROM
DOWNUNDER
by
Ronald D. Kell y
Australia is not the quiet continent many believe.
lt
plays a vital
role in today's world. Here is a fresh look at this unique land and its future.
1
N MANY
ways our modern
world takes on quite a
di ffere n t appeara n ce
viewed f rom t his la nd
down under.
To many Westerners, Austra–
lia is par t of the great East
Asian world-so far removed
from Europe or the Americas.
But ethnically and cultu rally
Australia is distinctly Western. I ts
early modero colonization was
almost totally Brit ish. And its place
in the political sphere is squarely in
the Western corner.
Perhaps the initial impression of
Australia to the first-time visitor is
just how far it is from almost every–
where. Yet by way of jet ai rcraft it
is only hours from major wor ld cap–
itals.
The second impression is just
how up-to-date and prosperous this
island-continent is.
Few cities in the world boast a
more majestic skyline than Sydney.
The Sydney Harbour bridge, the
skyscraper office buil di ngs, the
opera house and the miles of coves
lined with lovely homes and
apart~
ments create a city view of breath–
taking beauty.
But this modero image is incon–
gruous with the stereotyped per-
34
ception of Australia. In the minds
of many, Australia is a land of
sheep stations, kangaroos and koala
bears. One thinks of miles of beau–
tiful beaches covered with sun–
tanned Aussies riding surfboards
and more miles of barren, parched
interior deserts.
I was invited to Australia for a
guest lecture tour of this fascinat–
ing land. My wife and
l
visited
Sydney, Hobart, Melbourne, Per th
and the Gold Coast. We regard this
experience as one of the most prof–
itable and memorable of our traveJ
opportunities.
1
would like to share
our observations with
Plain
Truth
readers.
While it is true there are vast
stretches of beaches, and there are
indeed miles of desert terrain in the
outback, and Australia is certainly
a vital region for sheep and wool
production, one should not view
Australia and its people from the
cartoon-like caricatures.
Once a remole and rather iso–
lated continent, Australia has
become a key partner to Western
all iances, culture and ecanomies.
Even Australians have had to step
back and take a new world view in
the past half century.
Because of its faraway location,
there has been a tendency to think
somehow Australia would remain
apar t from major world conflicts.
If
the superpowers, it was thought,
were someday to plunge the world
into nuclear war, those wars would
be fought in the Americas, on the
European continent or, at the clos–
est, far to the north in Asia.
A popular movie of the 1950s,
On The Beach,
depicted the world
dest royed by nuclear holocaust.
Australia remained the one area
untouched by the bombs, but had
to await the resultant radioactive
fallout. This movie philosophy car–
r ied over in the real -life world.
T hus, many Australians tended
to take a less serious approach to
the possibilities of nuclear war
because of their geography. Sorne
thought they might escape such a
world confrontation.
That concept has been erased in
recent times by a better knowledge
of all-out nuclear war and the spec–
ulation of a "nuclear winter." Now
Australians actively campaign for
nuclear disarmament and curtail–
ment of all nuclear energies.
How lt Started
The change from a remole land
down under to important regional
power in a relatively short period of
time is a fascinating story.
When the American colonies
declared their independence from
The
PLAIN TRUTH