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Chapter 12 Lecture
World Regional
Geography
A Developmental Approach
11th Edition
Australia,
New Zealand,
and the
Pacific Islands

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Chapter Learning Outcomes
• Outline the environmental advantages and disadvantages
of the Australian continent.
• Explain the settlement history of Australia and New
Zealand.
• Compare the situation of Aborigines and Māoris in the
contemporary societies of Australia and New Zealand.
• Identify why Australia and New Zealand are among the
most well-off and stable countries in the world.
• Characterize the challenges facing the Pacific Islands.
• Show how remoteness influences the region’s economic
opportunities and choices.
• Explain the importance of Australia’s growing relationship
with it Asian neighbors.

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Map

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Map

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Regions

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Environment of Australia
• Five natural regions
1.Humid highlands—The core
2.Mediterranean southwest and east—Most
populated
3.Tropical savannas in northern fringe
4.Interior is desert (outback) and steppe.
5.Ancient rocks in West

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Environmental Challenges / Australia
• Shortage of arable land (10%)
• Most land requires irrigation for farming.
• 5% used for food crops
• 40% of country has ranching as its major
economic use

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Early Settlement
• Until 1788—Inhabited by aborigines
• Numbered up to one million
• 300 distinct “nations”
• 1770—Captain James Cook sails by
eastern shore.
• 1778—First British ships disembark at
Sydney Cove beginning “white”
settlement.

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Australia
• 3 million square miles
• 21 million population

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Australia Migration
• Immigration encouraged by Britain through
land grants.
• White Australia policy
– Restricted Immigration Policy—Official term
– Strong preference for people of British origin
– Exclusion of non-whites
– After WWII, amended to allow other European
and Anglo-American settlers as long as they
were white
– Quietly shelved in 1970s

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Australia’s Minorities
• New immigration policy focuses on economic
and social skills.
• Now a considerable Asian influx due to proximity
• Aborigines
– 450,000 or 2 percent of population
– Heavily concentrated in Northern Territory
– Movement now to big cities
– Bottom of socioeconomic ladder
– Government has not apologized for the “stolen
generation.”
– Aboriginal art has caught on as an economic
development potential.

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Australian Economy
• High standard of living
• Well-developed and diversified export
economy
• Production of agricultural, mineral, and
industrial goods
• Agriculture
• EU tariffs place some constraints on
exports.
• Manufacturing is a weaker link.

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Resources of Australia

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Australia Agriculture
• Sheep and cattle farming
• Wheat farming
• Sugarcane on northern fringe

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Australia Trade

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Australia Trade

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Australia Tourism
• In 1980s tourism began to grow behind
services, mining, and agriculture
• More than six million visitors per year
• Sydney, Great Barrier Reef, and Uhuru
are biggest draws

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Future of Australia
• Has enjoyed remarkable economic growth
in recent years
• It has a small population relative to land
size.
• Isolation is another problem in the way of
continued growth.
• Possible ending of its association with the
British monarchy

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New Zealand
• Two main islands
• Located entirely in temperate zone
• Formed from Ring of Fire
• Discovered by Captain James Cook—1769
• 80% of population has European origins
– British
– German
– Others

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New Zealand Economy
• Pastoral economy
– Production of livestock and livestock products
– One of the highest proportions of livestock
(cattle and sheep) to human population
• Heavy dependence on trade
• Some coal, gold, natural gas, and iron ore—
Much less than Australia
• Extensive soil erosion

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The Maori
• Indigenous population
• Polynesian group that has resided there for
1,000 years
• Largest minority group at 14–15 percent
• Long decline under European settlement after
Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840
• Upsurge since 1970s
• Still socioeconomically marginal
• See films Once Were Warriors and Whale Rider.

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Political Structure of Australia and New
Zealand

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Population Density

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Pacific Islands

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Pacific Islands
• Known as Oceania
• Only 10.5 million population
• Scattered islands (30,000 total)
• Regional groupings
– Melanesia—Islands from northern perimeter of
Australia eastward
– Micronesia (small islands)—Groups of islands north of
Melanesia
– Polynesia (many islands)—Largest grouping
• From Hawaii to New Zealand
• New Zealand, however, has begun to establish its own
distinctive character in spite of Maori heritage.

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Pacific Islands
• Twenty-three political entities
• Four self-governing territories in free
association with colonial rulers
• Seven continuing dependencies of France
• New Zealand
• One U.S. state (Hawaii)
• Mosaic of political structures is the result
of the region’s complex colonial history
and post-independence struggles

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Pacific Islands / Challenges
• Adapting to global economy while being
geographically distant
• Low levels of health and income
• Social inequities
• Weak governments
• Uncertain national identities

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Papua New Guinea
• Covers parts of three large islands, as well
as many smaller ones
• Collection of many clans with over
700 languages
• Population is indigenous Papuans and
more recent arrivals
• Most live in very rural settings
• Rich resources that have not been used
effectively

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Hawaii
• 50th U.S. state
• String of mountainous volcanic islands
• Most transformed population that is
struggling to keep Polynesian culture
• Largely tourist in nature, although some
manufacturing is occurring
• Large population, especially in Oahu
• Decent agricultural base
• Increasing Asian presence in population

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Guam
• Largest island in Micronesia
• Transformed by foreign occupation
• “Unincorporated” territory of the United
States.
• Large military presence
• Popular tourist destination for Japanese
who want to experience “America in Asia”

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New Caledonia
• Political and environmentally challenged
• Located on the parts of multiple islands
• Colonized by France in 1853 as a penal
colony
• Asian and Polynesian settlers came for
large mining wealth

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Summary of Chapter
• Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands are quite
unlike any other world regions in the nature of their diversity
– In Australia, there is far too much land with too little water.
– In the Pacific Islands, there are vast amounts of water, but in most
cases far too little land.
– In New Zealand, where water exists in frozen, liquid, and thermal-
heated states, paradise is threatened by tectonic hazards.
• The region occupies a remote but strategically significant part
of the planet.
• Although far from the Western world in location, Australia and
New Zealand are now Western in culture.
• Past trade relationships with the United Kingdom were strong
historically. Both Australia and New Zealand, however, are in
the process of reorienting their economic relationships, largely
toward the Pacific Rim.