When asked what I miss about home, aside from friends and family, my usual response has been to reply real ale and salt and vinegar crisps. For this trip however the answer has changed. While the range of real ale, or craft beer as it is known here, is not as broad as the choice back home, salt and vinegar crisps are everywhere. In fact, this has been the case in both New Zealand and Australia. What has been missing however has, for me, been much more significant.
As we travelled through New Zealand and are continuing through Australia we read up and try to discover what the various towns we pass through have to offer. Many of the towns seem very similar – at least in architectural terms – with decorated concrete facades, an occasional clock tower and fairly low rise. Of course, there are exceptions, usually in the bigger cities.
The fact that these countries were late for habitation means buildings, key dates and local information all generally fall around 1860 – ten years after my flat was built in my home town of Edinburgh. Asked what I miss of home….the reply was history. It’s amazing just how much we can take this for granted.
While as someone interested in self build and who enjoys admiring modern design, I miss the mix of housing styles. I miss temples, old churches and cathedrals, palaces, forts and other buildings that give each town it’s own identity. I also miss the multi-culturalism of the UK.
I have to confess we didn’t do much of the Mauri activity on offer in New Zealand and to date have been only to Uluru, Ayers Rock, to consider the Aboriginal influence of Australia but this last trip blew me away.
During our bus ride out to Kings Canyon (no…we didn’t bring the bikes to Australia’s red centre) we were shown a video outlining prehistoric wildlife and landscapes here. It was amazing to watch. In Uluru, we learnt much more of the Anangu people with a walk around the base of the rock by Cassidy Uluru. His family led on negotiations for title deeds for this land to be handed back to the traditional landowners. Despite this history going back for around 50, 000 years the national park at Uluru was only handed back in 1985.
While, much like in parts of Africa, this is not history that has affected skylines and build but this oral tradition is very much that thing which sets a country apart. For me, what makes Australia so distinct is seeing how what we would call primitive living exists alongside a much more advanced Western culture. The relationship between these two can certainly be tense. The desire to develop while maintaining tradition – the frustration of supporting something which is hesitant to change. There are no easy answers and we see similar discussion both at home and throughout the rest of the world.
I will still miss the architecture but the history is most definitely here. Perhaps the key thing missing is it’s integration?
