Backbencher

Lecture five was kind of bland. It dealt with the economy of Australia and New Zealand. It seems to me the Australia can be looked at as a “great plains” area in that it is greatly agricultural and ranching oriented. New Zealand on the other hand does not have nearly as much land mass as Australia and have to depend on other resources such as fishing. I find it very interesting that they grow a lot of flax, ND is the leading flax producer in North America and I can see the connection between ND and NZ in that area.

The abundance of natural resources and precious metals and other materials also played a great role in the forming of Australia’s economy. The discovery of gold played a great role in the development of Australia. The Australian gold rush brought many people to the island. The discovery of Opal in Australia was also very important and opened up a whole new market in the country.

As time passed new inventions and improvement in technology helped to increase exports form Australia and New Zealand and make them more involved in the world market. England’s role in the world market also influenced Australia and New Zealand.

My main thought of this lecture is not very interesting but I do have one question. How big is the tourism market in Australia and New Zealand? How is it compared to the rest of the world?