Australia and Oceania

Australia and Oceania

1971 — 1995

Island Nations Yearn to Be Free

Australia dominates a region still isolated from much of the world. Oceania is a checkboard of social and economic conditions. But Australia, the most populous country of the region, boasts 100 percent literacy, a low infant mortality rate, and a relatively healthy standard of living. At the same time. Tiny Tuva has a per capita GDP lower than many African nations…

The white man – not the indigenous peoples of the South Pacific islands – controls Oceania today. Although some islands have gained independence in recent decades, Australia and New Zealand, each populated primarily by descendants of European settlers, dominate the region politically and economically. Both countries have been independent for nearly a century. But for some of the younger island nations, independence remains a turbulent experiment.

For many of Oceania’s island nations, independence has come withing the last two decades. Several islands remain territories, some controlled by the United States. French Polynesia and New Caledonia are still overseas territories of France. More than 25,000 islands (not including the islands of Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia) are spread across Oceania. The area includes the world’s smallest continent (Australia), and large islands groups such as New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji, as well as three other main island groups – Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. Island tribal languages and customs still exist, but English is the region’s dominant language and Christianity its dominant religion.

1970 – Antiwar Fever: Public opinion condemns Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, causing the largest antiwar protest in the nation’s history. Australian Labor Party opposition members and prominent clergy urge Australian youths not to register for military service. In response to the opposition, the government declines to enforce the National Service Act, which requires young people to register.

1975 – Papua New Guinea Gains Its Freedom: Papua New Guinea’s governor-general lowers the Australian flag and declares the nation an independent parliamentary state and member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Papua New Guinea’s leaders pledge to maintain good relations with Australia and to reach out to China. Shortly thereafter, the new minister for defense, trade and foreign relations, Sir Maori Kiki, visits Beijing.

Oceania Girls. Credit photo: Elena

1978 – Anti-Immigrant Fever Sweeps Australia: As boatloads of poor Vietnamese refugees flood the country after the fall of Saigon to the Vietcong, Australian public opinion turns against the government’s liberal immigration policy. Media reports of Vietnamese refusing to learn English, receiving preferential employment treatment, and bringing existing old rivalries and conflicts with them frighten the populace.

1983 – 84 – Trouble in Hawke’s Paradise: Robert Hawke establishes himself as Australia’s most popular prime minister ever. Public opinion polls put his popularity at 73 percent after his first year in office. But his image tarnishes when opposition politicians declare hos low inflation figures are tainted by convenient miscalculations. Later, a Hawke minister is involved in a spy scandal involving secret material leaked to a Soviet diplomat. Amid a deep recession in 1991, Hawke is ousted by Paul Keating, the first time an Australian prime minister is removed from office by his own party.

1985 – The Rainbow Warrior Bombed: The Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of the environment advocacy group Greenpeace, is bombed in New Zealand’s Auckland Harbor. New Zealanders jail two French military agents who plead guilty to manslaughter in the incident. When France threatens to impose trade sanctions if New Zealand does not release the prisoners into French custody, both countries agree to international arbitration. In 1986, the U.N. Orders the prisoners to serve their terms in French Pacific territory and demands that France formally apologize and compensate New Zealand.

1989 – Unrest in Tonga: Public dissatisfaction with the government reaches a climax when peasants’ representatives stage a two-week parliamentary boycott in protest of the cabinet’s refusal to boost public servant salaries. Underlying the protest ins discontent with the 1875 constitution, which guarantees that the king’s nominees and Tonga’s nobles will dominate parliament. When they demand that more representatives be elected by popular vote, police urge citizens to respect their king, as required by law.

1991 – Micronesia Gains Its Independence: Once know as the Caroline Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia gain independence after Fiji and 80 other countries nominate them for admission into the United Nations. Micronesia had been ruled at different times by Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States.

1992 – Explosive Borders: Bougainville, legally part of Papua New Guinea but culturally part of the Solomon Islands, triggers a border dispute between the two nations when it tries to secede. When a blockade imposed on the island by Papua New Guinea is breached by the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinean forces attack civilians across the border and destroy fuel supplies.

Sizing Up Australia and Oceania’s Countries and Territories (Capital, Independence Day, Relative Size, Form of Government, Dominant Religion, Official Language, Currency)

    Australia – Canberra. January 01, 1901. 7,686,850 sq. km. – Slightly smaller than the United States. Federal parliamentary state. Christianity. English. Australian dollar.

    Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby. September 16, 1975. UN trusteeship under Australia. September 16, 1975. Parliamentary democracy. Christianity. Pidgin English. Currency: Kina.

    New Zealand – Wellington. September 26, 1907. Parliamentary democracy. 268,680 – About the size of Colorado. Christianity. English language. New Zealand dollar.

    Solomon Islands – Honiara. July 7m 1978. UK. Parlamentary democracy. 28,450 – Slightly larger than Maryland. Christianity. Melanesian language. Currency: Solomon Islands dollar.

    New Caledonia (overseas Department of France) – Noumea. 19,060 – Slightly smaller than New Jersey. Religion – Catholicism. French language. Currency: Comptoirs Français du Pacifique Franc (CFP franc).

    Fiji – Suva. October 10, 1970, Uk. 18,270 – Slightly smaller than New Jersey. Republic. English language. Fiji dollar.

    Vanuatu – Port-Vila. July 30, 1980. France and UK. 14,760 – Slightly larger than Connecticut. Republic. Christianity. English and French languages. Currency: Vatu.

    French Polynesia (overseas Department of France) – Papeete. 3,941 – Slightly less than one-third the size of Connecticut. Religion – Christianity. French and Tahitian. languages. Currency: Comptoirs Français du Pacifique Franc (CFP franc).

    Western Samoa (UN trusteeship under New Zealand). – Apia. January 1, 1962. 2,860 – Slightly smaller than Rhode Island. Constitutional democracy under native chief. Christianity. Samoan and English languages. Currency : Tala.

    Tonga – Nuku’Alofa. June 4, 1970. UK. 748 – Slightly more than 4 times the size of Washington, D.C. Hereditary constitutional monarchy. Christianity. Tongan and English languages. Currency: Pa’anga.

    Kiribati – Tarawa. July 12, 1979. Republic. 717 – Slightly more than 4 times the size of Washington, D.C. Christianity. English language. Currency: Australian dollar.

    Federated States of Micronesia – Kolonia. UN trusteeship under U.S. Constitutional government in free association with the U.S 702 – Slightly less than 4 times the size of Washington, D.C. Christianity. English language. U.S. dollar.

    Guam (U.S. Territory) – Agana. 541.3 – Slightly more than 3 times the size of Washington, D.C. Religion – Catholicism. English, Chamorro, Japanese languages. Currency: U.S. dollar.

    Northern Mariana Islands (Commonwealth, in political union with the U.S.) – Saipan. Commonwealth in political union with the U.S. 477 – Slightly more than 2.5 times the size of Washington, D.C. Catholicism. English, Chamorro, Carolinian languages. Currency: American dollar.

    Pacific Islands/Palau (U.S. Administrated UN trusteeship) – Koror. U.S. Trusteeship under U.S. 458 – Slightly more than 2,5 times the size of Washington, D.C. Religion – Christianity. English, Sonsorolese, Angaur, Japanese, Tobi, Palaun languages. Currency: U.S. dollar.

    American Samoa (U.S. Territory) – Pago Pago. 199 – Slightly larger than Washington, D.C. Religion – Christianity. Somoan and English languages. Currency: U.S. dollar.

    Marshall Islands – Majuro. October 21, 1986. UK trusteeship under U.S. Constitutional government in free association with the U.S. 181 – Slightly larger than Washington, D.C. Christianity. English language. U.S. dollar.

    Tuvalu – Funafuti. October 1, 1978. UK. Democracy. 26 – About one-tenth the size of Washington, D.C. Christianity. Tuvaluan and English languages. Currency: Tuvaluan dollar.

    Nauru – Yaren District (no official capital, government offices are located in Yaren District). 21 – About one-tenth the size of Washington, D.C. Republic. Christianity. Nauran language. Currency: Australian dollar.

(Source World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency).

Australia and Oceania

    Largest Lake – Lake Eyre, Australia, 3,700 square miles.

    Longest River – Murray-Darling, Australia, 2,330 miles.

    Highest Point – Mount Wulhelm, Papua New Guinea, 14.794 feet.

    Lowest Point – Lake Eyre, Australia, 52 feet below sea level.

    Largest City – Sydney, Australia.