Chapter 34Australia, Oceania, and

Antarctica Today

Section 1“Living in Australia, Oceania, and

Antarctica”

Agriculture (pages 833-834)

• by far the most important economic activity in the South Pacific

Australia & New Zealand export large amounts of farm products

Australia is the world’s leading producer of wool

New Zealand is known for dairy products, lamb, beef, and wool

• 5% of Australians work in agriculture

much of the country’s land is devoted to raising livestock (mostly sheep & cattle)

Some Australian ranches/large farms, called stations, are as large as 6,000 square miles (size of Hawaii or Connecticut)

• only 10% of Australian land is suitable for growing crops

wheat is grown in the dry Central Lowlands; sugarcane thrives on the wetter northeastern coast

• about 50% of New Zealand’s land is used for agriculture

graziers, NZ ranchers that raise sheep, beef, dairy cattle, and red deer

NZ has 25 times more farm

animals than people

NZ farmers grow wheat, barley, potatoes, and fruits

kiwifruit is the most unique-a small, green-fleshed fruit named for its resemblance to the kiwi, the flightless bird that is NZ’s national symbol

• in Oceania, the lack of quality soil limits commercial farming

subsistence farmers grow root vegetables and raise chickens & pigs; fishing adds to the food supply

• islands with rich soil produce a variety of crops, such as tropical fruits, sugarcane, coffee, and coconut products for export

the major South Pacific cash crop is copra: dried coconut meat

Mining and Manufacturing (pages 834-835)

• Australia is a leading exporter of diamonds, gold, bauxite, iron ore and opals

high transportation costs hamper their ability to mine them

there is much public debate over mining Aboriginal land, where many minerals are found

• New Zealand has a large

aluminum smelting industry

• Papua New Guinea has rich deposits of gold & copper

Mining in Antarctica (pages 834-835)

• Antarctica has enormous supplies of mineral resources, such as petroleum, gold, iron ore, and coal

the Voluntary Protocol on Environmental Protection, signed by 44 nations in 1991, prohibits mining on the continent

Manufacturing (page 835)

• food processing is the most important manufacturing activity in Australia & NZ

b/c of the cost to import and set-up machinery and raw materials, Australia & NZ generally manufacture products for use at home

manufacturing in the islands of Oceania is limited to things such as textiles, clothing assembly, and craft items

Service Industries (pages 835-836)

• most people in Australia & NZ make their living in service industries

few countries in Oceania are large enough to support any service industries but tourism

Nauru has begun to attract international banking & investment companies

Tourism (page 836)

• the expansion of air travel has boosted tourism in Australia & Oceania

• South Pacific attractions include unique wildlife, geographic features (rain forests, geysers, glaciers, beaches, reefs), and indigenous cultures

Global Trade Links (page 836)

• modern transportation & communications have increased South Pacific trade

countries in Oceania export copra, timber & wood products, fish, vegetables, and crafts

spices (such as black pepper, ginger, vanilla) are exported all over the world

many South Pacific islands must import food to supplement subsistence farming

• for most of the 1900s, Australia & NZ traded almost exclusively with the UK & USA

recently, they have increased trade with Japan, Taiwan, and China

b/c of limited natural resources, some South Pacific islands are dependent upon outside investment or foreign aid

Transportation and CommunicationsLand Travel (page 836)

• Australia & NZ have the region’s best road & rail systems

• the coastal areas have well-maintained highways & subway systems are found in major urban areas

• few roads are found in the isolated Outback

Air and Water Travel (page 837)

• cargo ships & planes move imports & exports to and from remote Pacific territories

commercial airlines & cruise ships bring tourists

• water & air also provide personal transportation

pacific islanders began

using outrigger canoes

thousands of years ago

icebreakers, ships with

reinforced bows, carry

people & supplies to Antarctica

in Australia’s Outback almost

every station or farm has at

least one plane

ranchers often use helicopters

to herd cattle over thousands

of acres

Communications (page 837)

• modern technology has helped increase contacts within Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica and with the rest of the world

some Australian cattle stations are large enough for their own post office & telephone exchanges

Chapter 34Australia, Oceania, and

Antarctica Today

Section 2“People and Their Environment”

(pages 838-841)

Managing Resources (pages 838-841)• the rich & diverse natural resources of

Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica have not always been well-managed

Australia’s Unusual Animals (page 839)• kangaroos, koalas, and wallabies are some of

Australia’s 144 species of marsupials: mammals whose young must mature in a pouch after they are born

koala wallaby

kangaroo

• the Australian island of Tasmania

gave its name to the Tasmanian

devil, a powerful meat-eating

marsupial about the size of a badger

• the strangest Australian wildlife may be the duck-billed platypus and the echidna, a spiny anteater-the only mammals that lay eggs

Duck-billed

platypus

echidna

• introduced species: nonnative animals introduced by humans threaten Australia’s unusual wildlife

these species include hunting dogs (called dingoes) sheep, cattle, foxes, cats, and rabbits

these animals have multiplied & taken over habitats of native wildlife

• some of Australia’s native species have become extinct & 16 kinds of marsupials are endangered

Forest, Soil, and Water (pages 839-840)• in Australia many woodlands have been

cleared for farms & grazing (=wind erosion)

soil conservation is linked to deforestation

countries with valuable timber resources include New Zealand and New Guinea

• drought, irrigation, and agricultural runoff threaten Australia’s freshwater sources

in the fertile Murray-Darling River Basin, the use of water agriculture & growing city populations has reduced the river’s flow

• in Oceania, agricultural runoff & inadequate sanitation cause pollution that threatens limited freshwater supplies on the small islands

the lack of clean drinking water keeps the standard of living low

• agricultural runoff, chemical fertilizers, and organic waste also threaten South Pacific oceans

toxic waste endangers the Great Barrier Reef & other Pacific coral reefs; tourists, boaters, and divers also stress the reefs

• pollution also effects marine life, including the tiny organisms that make up coral reefs

algae & plankton are key parts of the ocean’s food web: the interlinking chains of predators and their food sources in an ecosystem

as these things are destroyed, the larger plants & animals that rely on them for food also die off

The Nuclear Legacy (pages 84-841)• in the late 1940s and 1950s, the USA & other

countries with nuclear capability carried out aboveground testing of weapons in the South Pacific

in early 1954 the USA exploded a nuclear bomb (code name Castle Bravo) on Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. Castle Bravo was about 1,000 times more powerful than each of the atomic bombs which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.

• the residents of Bikini Atoll had been moved, but those living nearby on Rongelap Atoll, which was downwind, were exposed to massive radiation (a Japanese fishing boat & US soldiers were also contaminated)

the explosion was 15 megatons (expected to be 4-6 megatons)

Atmosphere and Climate (page 841)• in the 1970s, scientists found a hole in the

ozone layer over Antarctica

• ozone layer: protective gases that prevent harmful solar rays from reaching the earth’s surface

• from 1975-1993, the ozone hole grew to cover more than 9 million square miles

in 1989, a similar ozone hole developed over the Arctic

• the loss of protective ozone may be behind the global rise in the rates of skin cancer and cataracts (caused by overexposure to UV rays)

increased solar radiation through the ozone hole could also lead to global warming

• climate & weather in the South Pacific are affected by El Nino-Southern Oscillation

causes droughts in Australia & powerful cyclones in the South Pacific

• these weather patterns are increasing in frequency & severity and may be linked to global warming

• global warming could be devastating for the South Pacific

if polar ice caps were to melt, many of Oceania’s islands would be flooded

rising ocean temps causes overgrowth of plankton & algae that grow in warm waters, choking out other life-forms

• diatoms: plankton that flourish in cold ocean waters would die if ocean temps rose, negatively affecting life-forms that feed on them