By Jasper Dean
Post-island expedition trip to North Stradbroke, we first
reconvened as a group again bright and early Thursday morning for a lecture on
the political structure and history of Australia. The lecture largely carried a
theme of ‘compare and contrast’ to America’s system. Australia is also a bicameral, two-party state, but operates
in a much different fashion. Instead of voting regularly to elect a multitude
of faceless politicians to ambiguous positions of responsibility, Australians
essentially vote once: on their favorite party; on a style of government. Once
parliamentary seats are divvied up, a Prime Minister is selected from the
dominant party. Many other complications ensue, but Parliament is crucial to
the functioning of Australian government, and thus this lecture preceded a
field trip to the Queensland parliamentary house.
Our guide at the house took us through 3 main rooms, and a
few extras. The first was the official reading room, a gorgeously constructed
mini-library, covered wall-to-wall in proceedings and transcripts and other
official government documents. Every chair and table is ornately carved from a
native and now-protected Australian wood and finished with black leather. Alone
with the doors closed and the fire-place ablaze, I can see that room being a
true sanctuary of intricacy and peace.
The next room we visited was the upper house of Parliament.
The highlights of this room were the pair of six-figure valued chandeliers, and
the royal red Queen’s chair. Though now defunct of power, prominent movies such
as “Inspector Gadget 2” are regularly filmed here.
Finally we crossed the hall to reach the lower house, flush
with green to represent the meetings on grass that were held among commoners
before they received representation in England. This room is the primary site
of debates and votes on matters today in Queensland. Amidst all the
significance, they let us sit in the Speaker’s chair and hold a mace. A brief tour of the gardens and group picture concluded the
tour.
Friday’s first lecture focused on the history of women in
Australia. Despite its youthful nature and history of oppressing those they
don’t like, Australia has a surprisingly long record of women’s’ movements and
subsequent progress in gaining equal status. The World Wars also played a
significant role in moving women into the workforce, and away from submission
into domesticity.
Our second lecture covered Australia’s environmental history
since its European settlement. We discussed the abuse and gradual adjustment of
certain industries, the boom of cities, and finally the emergence of suburbia
into Australian culture in contrast with the Bush Legend, or the idea of the
typical Australian as a rough, do-it-yourselfer, adaptable to any environment
and always true to his mates.
When all the learning had commenced, we embarked on a
walking-heavy tour of the West End neighborhood of Brisbane. Down by the river,
we learned that what used to be a factory heavy few blocks had been converted
to their modern state of upper-middle class housing. Later on, we stopped to
see the former Rialto Theatre, which used to be a prominent broadcasting site
for Brisbane radio, that has been converted into restaurants but nonetheless
preserved. One of our final stops was the 17 Browning Street house. Famous for
its colorful cast of characters over the years, their story has been compiled
in a published book, and the house is now used during festivals by actors
portraying the quirky former tenants. The house is also one of the few
remaining examples of Brisbane’s earliest architecture dating back to the late
1800s. Our final-final stop was a
delectable Indian lunch; a fitting end to a lively day.
Most of the weekend was pretty quiet, with the Reds (the
local rugby unit) kicking off their season with a win and the rest of us holed
up, hammering out our papers. In need of a break, a good handful of the group
spent Saturday afternoon at Coby and David’s house soaking up the sun, the pool
water, and the wine.
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