by Dominic Wagner If a national poll was taken to determine what the average American knew about Australia most of the responses would likely involve a description of the country’s wildlife. The bouncing marsupials, highly venomous snakes and beautifully colored birds capture the imagination of an American population that no longer celebrates the majesty of its own country’s native fauna—the bowelshifting-stone-grey city pigeon or the rabid-yeteerily-domesticated park squirrel. Just the idea of Australia’s overall diversity of animal life is a
modern Darwinists dream come true. Yankees endowed with broader knowledge of the southern continent’s identity might note some of the human contributions that have worked to shape the world’s overall understanding of Australia. The mass media has certainly been a harbor for some of the Aussies more notable film stars including Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max. But outside of the fantastical limits of the terror domes inhabited by Tina Turner and the post
apocalyptic shantytowns swarming with legions of unwashed nomads wielding 13-inch switchblades, a more tangible Australian drama plays out on the world’s stage. The small group of American’s familiar with this particular layer of Australian culture would describe a country that, when compared to the United States, rivaled the creative efforts of the greatest minds in fiction. For example, imagine a brand of football that multiplied the area of the
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