I never realized how little I knew about Australia until I decided to bike across it. From the dozen or so books I used for reference, here’s the most interesting stuff about the country. It’s grouped by statistics (from the CIA’s World Fact Book) a brief history; bicycling in Australia; weird things and other miscellaneous stuff (government, environment, etc.).

Prior to British colonization, Australia had little history. The Aborigines arrived 30,000 to 60,000 (depending on whom you read) years ago - and basically maintained a hunter-gatherer culture until the 19th century. They were organized in numerous small, nomadic tribes and during those many millennia they never developed buildings, wheels, writing, a sense of property, writing, etc. The Aborigines did however, have spears, boomerangs, and a highly developed capacity to live off the land.

A number of Europeans made brief landings in the 17th century, but Australia remained wild until the famous Lt. James Cook dropped by in 1770 and claimed the whole thing for England. At the time, during the Industrial Revolution, England was transitioning from agriculture to manufacturing and urbanizing rapidly. They hadn’t quite figured out police and prisons yet, and had lots of criminals. Many of these criminals were formerly sent to the American colonies, but the revolution there in 1776 stopped the flow. What to do? You guessed it.

Though no one had gone back to Australia since Cooks expedition, in 1777 the British government sent Captain Arthur Phillip (the first governor), with 11 ships, 750 convicts and 400 military types to turn the continent into a penal colony. A hugely interesting history follows (see The Fatal Shore in Bibliography), but for purposes here, suffice it to say that over the next 90 years or so the British sent over 168,000 prisoners and used their semi-slave labor to establish almost every major city (except Darwin and Canberra?) that now exists in Australia.

During that same first century of British colonization, the 300,000 to 1,000,000 (depending…) Aborigines living on the continent when Captain Phillip landed were “brutally exterminated” directly and indirectly (disease) by the Europeans, albeit with some resistance. Other schemes of dealing with the Aborigines (1860’s, 1918, 1951, 1993) followed. Don’t let this reflect too negatively. Australians seem generally xenophobic (see population mix in Statistics). They did give the Aborigines the right to vote in 1967 (women had the vote by 1902), acknowledged Aboriginal land rights in 1993 (Native Title Act, but only to land which no-one else owns), and in 1997 acknowledged the extent of the “Stolen generation” (practice of removing Aboriginal children from their families from 1888 to the 1970’s).

Besides the penal colony, Aborigines and scale/outback dynamics, other historical factors that shaped modern Australia include the discovery of gold (1851, leading to a wave of immigration), the formation of the nation (1901), their participation in WWI (think Gallipoli) and WWII, post-WWII European immigration programs, steady western-style economic development largely through natural resources exploitation, and the Olympic games in Melbourne (19??) and Sydney (2000).

It will be interesting to experience first-hand how all these historical factors reveal themselves in the people and culture of today.

Hemmings and Lonely Planet have good historical information and all the touring books in the bibliography have useful current information about cycling in Australia. Unlike In a Sunburned Country (a great extended essay) and The Fatal Shore (a great history) which both appeal to general readership, I expect most of you will not be rushing out to get the touring books. So…

The technical development of the bicycle proceeded roughly in parallel throughout the westernized world. A two-wheeled walker (1790), steering (1819) and pedals (1839) added up to the big front wheeled ‘Ordinary’ bicycle used through the 1880’s. Through the 1880’s bicycles were heavy, famous, popular, expensive and somewhat dangerous novelties.

Nonetheless, the ‘Ordinaries’ initiated the sport of bike touring. Thomas Stevens, an American, made the first round-the-world bike tour in 1884-1887. Thousands of Australians took up touring too.

Popularity led to invention. In the 1880’s ball bearing wheels, pneumatic tires and chains led to the diamond framed, equal size tire bikes we use today. “In Australia, and around the world, there was a bicycle boom in the 1890’s. … before motor cars, bicycles were the fastest way to travel around rural Australia.” Far more efficient than walking, easier than horses, they were used for work and play. The first cross Australia bike ride, from Perth to Brisbane by William Virgin in 1897 took 60 days. Around the same time Arthur Richardson took 243 days to ride around the continent.

After WWI and the advent of the automobile, adult use of both horses and bikes for other than minor recreational purposes pretty much dried up. Since the 1970’s, with the advent of easier to ride, more comfortable mountain bikes, bicycle riding and touring has enjoyed resurgence. Organized touring companies, continued technical refinements and progressive communities help promote the sport.

In the USA there are hundreds of bike clubs and companies that promote touring. The granddaddy of them all is the Adventure Cycling Association (www.adventurecycling.org) with it’s own magazine and maps for various multi-state tours. Many hundreds of people ride across the country each year, and there’s a multi-divisional RAAM race (www.raceacrossamerica.org) each year. The 20th anniversary of this race was just held in June 2002.

In Australia, we know that people ride across the country, but not too many. There is no standard route and guide. The only book I’ve found on it is Salter’s. But I’ll be asking along the way and see what I come up with.

1. Flora & Fauna: Australia separated from the rest of the world 50 million years ago and evolved it’s own plants and animals. The popular ones (Eucalyptus, Kangaroos) we’ve heard about and seen, but most of it will be unfamiliar.
   
2. Dangerous Flora and Fauna: Many of those plants and animals evolved in ways hostile to humans. (See Bryson’s book for the entertaining version of this.) Since I don’t know which, I’ll assume everything I see is lethal.
   
3. Foxes and Rabbits: The two animals they have that I know of, because the Europeans brought them over and they’ve ravaged small animal life (the foxes) and plant life (the bunnies). For more than a century Australians have been implementing vast schemes to stop these predators, to no avail. Even this July (2002), Victoria implemented a $10 per tail bounty on foxes to try to stop the devastation. Of course, the most invasive species has been humans, but nothing short of self-destruction can stop us, and we’re not too self-regulating.
   
4. The Outback and The Bush: These shaped Australian culture as much as anything. Taming the country and traversing the vast wilderness created heroes and legends, and cost a lot of lives. My experience crossing the Nullarbor along the Great Australian Bight should be fascinating.
   
5. The Sun: Said to be devastating. Tour books warn the heck out of you.
   
6. Larry the Lobster: In the USA, in early years of the automobile, people started touring by car. To attract their business, restaurants and other establishments put up oversize, unusual sculptures and structures. Apparently Australia is still known for these kinds of things. Look for photos in the daily updates!
   
7. People: Friendly, rugged, independent, self-sufficient. What kind of people and culture evolve in a little over 200 years from the human stock and conditions that form Australia? (The people probably won’t be weird.) Carey’s book also mentions some unusual behavior…
   
8. Road Trains: A semi-tractor with a bunch of trailers behind it, zipping along at 80 miles per hour right next to me while I hug the shoulder of the road. How come there are no pictures of these anywhere?
   
9. Sights: Go to the itinerary and browse through any of the sections. Each contains a list of unusual things to see along the way.
   
10. Queen Elizabeth II: She’s still in charge. See Miscellaneous information below.
    
11. Photography: “Note that most Aboriginal people don’t like being photographed, even from a distance.”

From the CIA. I pay taxes for services like this information.
Australian Environment - current issues: soil erosion from overgrazing, industrial development, urbanization, and poor farming practices; soil salinity rising due to the use of poor quality water; desertification; clearing for agricultural purposes threatens the natural habitat of many unique animal and plant species; the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast coast, the largest coral reef in the world, is threatened by increased shipping and its popularity as a tourist site; limited natural fresh water resources

Australian Government
Type: democratic, federal-state system recognizing the British monarch as sovereign
Capital: Canberra
Administrative divisions: 6 states and 2 territories*; Australian Capital Territory*, New South Wales, Northern Territory*, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia
Dependent areas: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island
Independence: 1 January 1901 (federation of UK colonies)
National holiday: Australia Day, 26 January (1788)
Legal system: based on English common law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive branch: chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented by Governor General Rev. Peter HOLLINGWORTH (since 29 June 2001)
head of government: Prime Minister John Winston HOWARD (since 11 March 1996); Deputy Prime Minister John ANDERSON (since NA)
cabinet: Cabinet selected from among the members of Federal Parliament by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the governor general for a three-year term
note: government coalition - Liberal Party and National Party
Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives
Judicial branch: High Court (justices are appointed by the governor general)

Australian Economy - overview:
Australia has a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy, with a per capita GDP at the level of the four dominant West European economies. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals, metals, and fossil fuels. Commodities account for 57% of the value of total exports, so that a downturn in world commodity prices can have a big impact on the economy. The government is pushing for increased exports of manufactured goods, but competition in international markets continues to be severe. While Australia has suffered from the low growth and high unemployment characterizing the OECD countries in the early 1990s and during the recent financial problems in East Asia, the economy has expanded at a solid 4% annual growth pace in the last five years.

Canberra's emphasis on reforms is a key factor behind the economy's resilience to the regional crisis and its stronger than expected growth rate. Growth in 2001 will depend on key international commodity prices, the extent of recovery in nearby Asian economies, and the strength of US and European markets.