Evening star., 1944-02-27

(This Is the sepenth OF IL ar
ticles titled where Are the
Ydnks?" The series has been
prepared by the National Geo.
graphic Society for The Sunday
Star to INFORM readers about the
regions tDhere american serpice-
men are stationed. An article
DtH appear in The Star each
Sunday)
When Japanese troops forced q
landing on New Britain in January
1912, they were the first enemy to
set foot on Australian territory
Their action started the world to
asking questions about the lonely
continent dividing the South Pacific
and the Indian Ocean.
How could a nation with a popu-
lation less than that Of New York
City defend an area almost as large
as the United States? How could
1t send its sons half way around
the globe to fight for England's
A1CCOOlu dIlQ lIS OWnr
Yanks who streamed into Aus
tralia to help hold the United Ma
tions front are getting the answers
at first hand. They are seeing q
land fringed with mountains and
hills, pocked with dry pan" lakes
scanned in the east with rivers
patched In the center with rolling
plains and pastures, marred in the
west with bleak deserts, clad with
jungle growth in the north.
Nature grudges water, makes
farming difficult, gives man few
odds except space and sunshine
besets him with tropic heat in the
north and 100-mile -an-hcur winds
from the Timor Sea.
Fabulous Flies.
Land clearing calls for spartan
spirtt-bugs, mosquitoes, spiders,
snakes, leeches infest the jungle
Thorny vines, poisonous plants
weeds or leaves take their toll In
stingings and itchings. The flies
of desert towns are fabulous TO,
their stick-to-it-iveness. Sharks
prowl coastal waters, raise the
hazards of deep-water swimming.
Australians are about 81 per cent
British in ancestry, are hardy and
resourceful. When the glitter OF
easy gold dulled in the '7Os, miners
took to the land. conquered the
bush country, learned to think and
act for themselves in the wilds they
called "the outback."
Aborigines, black and backward
$4,000 strong, live in the so-callec
"never-never" land OF the north
"Abo" women are known as lubras
or Marys. Natives serve as track.
ers, guides, do some manual work
still make fire with sticks, hunt
game with spears, throw boom
erangs for sport.
More than half the people live
in cities, biggest of which are sgd.
ney and Melbourne, with more than
a million residents each. Next are
Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. Can
berra, the capital. is pumped in a
sort of District of Columbia official
zone between Sydney and Mel
bourne.
The saying goes that Australians
ride to fortune on the backs OF
their sheep. Wool yield supplies
one-quarter of the worlds need, is
most valuable export. Australia can
count II. sheep per person, 2 heads
OF cattle, but ratio of horses is !
to four persons. Many "Aussies
grow up in the saddle, work as
cowboys, make superb cavalrymen
patrol rough and roadless parts OF
country.
Land Of Contrasts.
Wheat is the No. l crop, puts
Australia among the worlds three
leading wheat exporters. Sugar
cane plantations are tended wholly
by white labor. Tonnages of fruits
run high in the south. More than
300 species of eucalyptus trees and
two thirds Of the worlds acacias
are native to the continent.
Australia is a land of contrasts in
creatures and customs. The little
Koala, a teddy bear come to life
neat, clean and cute, never drinks
gets its moisture from leaves. Yanks
may argue that the platypus could
not be, but there 1t is-a fur-coated
four-footed, duck-billed paradox
that lays eggs, but suckles its young
Other freakish inmates of this con-
tinental ZOO include laughing birds
bearded lizards and a legion OF
pouched animals headed by the
kangaroo.
Australians picked almost every
night but Saturday night for their
big night, made Sunday a day OF
mortuary quiet.
American standbyS have strange