Women wearing protection mask in Queensland during the influenza epidemic, 1919. (National Museum of Australia)

In a remarkable coincidence, the first media reports about Spanish flu and COVID-19 in Australia both occurred on January 25 – exactly 101 years apart.

This is not the only similarity between the two pandemics.

Although history does not repeat, it rhymes. The story of how Australia – and particular the NSW government – handled Spanish flu in 1919 provides some clues about how COVID-19 might play out here in 2020.

Spanish flu arrives

Australia’s first case of Spanish flu was likely admitted to hospital in Melbourne on January 9 1919, though it was not diagnosed as such at the time. Ten days later, there were 50 to 100 cases.

Commonwealth and Victorian health authorities initially believed the outbreak was a local variety of influenza prevalent in late 1918.

Consequently, Victoria delayed until January 28 notifying the Commonwealth, as required by a 1918 federal-state agreement designed to coordinate state responses.

Meanwhile, travellers from Melbourne had carried the disease to NSW. On January 25, Sydney’s newspapers reported that a returned soldier from Melbourne was in hospital at Randwick with suspected pneumonic influenza.

Shutdown circa 1919: libraries, theatres, churches close

It also imposed restrictions on travel from Victoria in breach of the federal-state agreement. Acting quickly, in late January, the NSW government ordered “everyone shall wear a mask,” while all libraries, schools, churches, theatres, public halls, and places of indoor public entertainment in metropolitan Sydney were told to close.

The NSW government quickly imposed restrictions on the population when Spanish flu first arrived. (National Library of Australia)

Thereafter, each state went its own way and the Commonwealth, with few powers and little money compared with today, effectively left them to it.

Generally, the restrictions were received with little demur. But inconsistencies led to complaints, especially from churches and the owners of theatres and racecourses.

People were allowed to ride in crowded public transport to thronged beaches. But masked churchgoers, observing physical distancing, were forbidden to assemble outside for worship.

Later, crowds of spectators would be permitted to watch football matches while racecourses were closed.

Spanish flu subsides

Nevertheless, NSW’s prompt and thorough application of restrictions initially proved successful.

During February, Sydney’s hospital admissions were only 139, while total deaths across the state were 15. By contrast, Victoria, which had taken three weeks before introducing more limited restrictions, recorded 489 deaths.

At the end of February, NSW lifted most restrictions.

Even so, the state government did not escape a political attack. The Labor opposition accused it of overreacting and imposing unnecessary economic and social burdens on people. It was particularly critical that the order requiring mask-wearing was not limited to confined spaces, such as public transport.

There was also debate about the usefulness of closing schools, especially in the metropolitan area.

But then it returns

In mid-March, new cases began to rise. Chastened by the criticism of its earlier measures, the government delayed reimposing restrictions until early April, allowing the virus to take hold.

This led The Catholic Press to declare

the Ministry fiddled for popularity while the country was threatened with this terrible pestilence.

Sydney’s hospital capacity was exceeded and the state’s death toll for April totalled 1,395. Then the numbers began falling again. After ten weeks the epidemic seemed to have run its course, but as May turned to June, new cases appeared.

The resurgence came with a virulence surpassing the worst days of April. This time, notwithstanding a mounting death toll, the NSW cabinet decided against reinstating restrictions, but urged people to impose their own restraints.

The government goes for “burn out”

After two unsuccessful attempts to defeat the epidemic – at great social and economic cost – the government decided to let it take its course.

It hoped the public by now realised the gravity of the danger and that it should be sufficient to warn them to avoid the chances of infection. The Sydney Morning Herald concurred, declaring

there is a stage at which governmental responsibility for the public health ends.

The second wave’s peak arrived in the first week of July, with 850 deaths across NSW and 2,400 for the month. Sydney’s hospital capacity again was exceeded. Then, as in April, the numbers began to decline. In August the epidemic was officially declared over.

Cases continued intermittently for months, but by October, admissions and deaths were in single figures. Like its predecessor, the second wave lasted ten weeks. But this time the epidemic did not return.

More than 12,000 Australians had died.

While Victoria had suffered badly early on compared to NSW, in the end, NSW had more deaths than Victoria – about 6,000 compared to 3,500. The NSW government’s decision not to restore restrictions saw the epidemic “burn out”, but at a terrible cost in lives.

That decision did not cause a ripple of objection. At the NSW state elections in March 1920, Spanish flu was not even a campaign issue.

The lessons of 1919

In many ways we have learned the lessons of 1919.

We have better federal-state coordination, sophisticated testing and contact tracing, staged lifting of restrictions and improved knowledge of virology.

But in other ways we have not learned the lessons.

Despite our increased medical knowledge, we are struggling to find a vaccine and effective treatments. And we are debating the same issues – to mask or not, to close schools or not.

Meanwhile, inconsistencies and mixed messaging undermine confidence that restrictions are necessary.

Yet, we are still to face the most difficult question of all.

The Spanish flu demonstrated that a suppression strategy requires rounds of restrictions and relaxations. And that these involve significant social and economic costs.

With the federal and state governments’ current suppression strategies we are already seeing signs of social and economic stress, and this is just round one.

Would Australians today tolerate a “burn out”?

The Spanish flu experience also showed that a “burn out” strategy is costly in lives – nowadays it would be measured in tens of thousands. Would Australians today abide such an outcome as people did in 1919?

It is not as if Australians back then were more trusting of their political leaders than we are today. In fact, in the wake of the wartime split in the Labor Party and shifting political allegiances, respect for political leaders was at a low ebb in Australia.

A more likely explanation is that people then were prepared to tolerate a death toll that Australians today would find unacceptable. People in 1919 were much more familiar with death from infectious diseases.

Also, they had just emerged from a world war in which 60,000 Australians had died. These days the death of a single soldier in combat prompts national mourning.

Yet, in the absence of an effective vaccine, governments may end up facing a “Sophie’s Choice”: is the community willing and able to sustain repeated and costly disruptions in order to defeat this epidemic or, as the NSW cabinet decided in 1919, is it better to let it run its course notwithstanding the cost in lives?

Jeff Kildea, Adjunct Professor Irish Studies, UNSW

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The post Hints from the 1919 Spanish flu might give us a clue on the development of Coronavirus in Australia appeared first on .

Bushfires in Australia. (bert knottenbeld / Flickr)

In Australia, bushfires occur almost every other day and continue with a rapid movement across any terrain. Even though fires may be considered more like a bane than a boon, Australia’s ecosystem has adapted to these bushfires and, in fact, it forms an integral part of its ecosystem. Some bushfires are naturally occurring while some are man-made. Although we have no control over the natural fires that occur, the human population of the region can implement certain safety measures to reduce the damage caused by these bushfires.

What causes the bushfires?

Bushfires spread quite rapidly compared to normal fire, however, it is not as fast as the outbreak of a deadly grassfire. The reason why Bushfires are such a common occurrence in Australia may be attributed to the presence of elements like fallen leaves, barks, and other dry material, that are easily combustible. The weather conditions in Australia are favourable for bushfires, as the scorching heat maintains a constant state of drought in parts of the continent. These factors coupled with strong winds make it just the right combination for the fires to start. While most of the causes are from activities conducted by humans, sometimes the widespread devastation caused by bushfires is triggered by lightning. Emission of greenhouse gases, sparks from power lines, and global warming caused by humans, are other contributing factors to the increasing bushfires in the Australian subcontinent.

Fire ecology of Australia

The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions of Western Australia states “Many plants hold their seeds in thick woody fruits or capsules, where they are protected from fire. The heat of the fire assists in opening the capsules, allowing the seeds to be shed within a few days. When the seeds fall to the ground they land in the ash bed, which is high in the nutrients needed for strong seedling growth.”

Bushfires, over the years, have actually become an essential part of the Australian ecosystem. Many of the indigenous flora has evolved to not only survive the flames, but also to benefit from them. The plants have adapted themselves to survive by sporting thick barks, leaf sheaths, below-ground roots, and underground stems. One interesting adaptation is above-ground re-sprouting that uses epicormic buds for reproduction, in the event of a fire. These buds are located below the bark thus ensuring their safety in case of a bushfire. This unique adaptation of fire-activated seeds has helped increase productivity in farms and other forest areas. Once the foliage has been cleared by bushfires, the sunlight falls directly on the soil. This improves soil quality and facilitates improved regeneration of the plants. These plants are termed as “Pyrophytic plants”.

A panoramic photo of a wildlife refuge recovering from forest fire over a period of two years. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region)

Fires used by birds and humans

The Australian Aboriginal Lore is a species of bird that has set a precedent for both humans and other birds to draw inspiration. In order to capture their prey, the Australian Aboriginal lore has been using fire for centuries to hunt their prey, following which other species of birds such as the Australian Raptor have also used fire as a means of hunting. Humans have also followed suit and made changes to their ways of farming and clearing out the lands for fresh crops.

Australian Aborigines, or what we call indigenous Australians, have made progress in using pyro-techniques more effectively by understanding how the birds use it to hunt their prey. It is considered a tradition in the indigenous tribe and has been a part of their culture. Some tribes have discontinued the use of pyro-techniques owing to the lack of control they have over the fire. The technique called fire-stick farming, dating back to over 120,000 years ago, had also evolved as a pyro-technique for farming. Though this technique was discontinued by most, officials in Australia are considering using these aboriginal farming techniques to control the fires growing frequency of bushfires, and improve the current condition of land management employed by the modern-day farmers.

Effects of the fires

The air quality of a region is quite a critical factor that governs the over-all health of the populace. The forest fires have ensured that the air quality in Australia is sub-par, which is especially concerning for big cities, like Sydney, that suffer from air quality more than 20 times worse than desirable. Consequently, people suffer from intense respiratory issues and other ailments making their daily life difficult.

A technique called ‘back burning’ has been used to get rid of any vegetation that may serve as fuel for future fires caused by man-made or natural factors. This involves the burning of bushes in a controlled manner which can ideally be put out at any time. Even though the concept was to have controlled bushfire outbreaks, some have spiralled out of control and claimed lives and damaged property.

Among other things, loss of livestock is very common during bushfires.

Bushfires changing the climate?

With the increasing intensity and number of bushfires, it has been established by the Bureau of Meteorology in Victoria that the phenomenon is generating its own weather conditions. This weather incites thunder and lightning which are generating more bushfires as time progresses. The clouds that are forming due to the bushfires are called pyro-cumulonimbus clouds and are also generating smoke-filled air which degrades the general air quality. Due to the sheer intensity of the bushfires and strong winds coupled with the Pyro-cumulonimbus clouds, there have been instances where a fire vortex or fire-tornado is created and causes severe damage to the areas in its path.

The fires are causing so much devastation across Australia at the moment that people are constantly evacuating their homes and taking shelter in public spaces such as beaches and parks that have a wide-open space and are less prone to bushfires. While the bushfires generate their own weather, they are also making the sky look red. People have been asked to be prepared for the worst.

Loss of habitat

While us humans can escape and evacuate promptly when danger strikes, most animals may not be able to do the same and end up getting trapped in the blaze.

Koalas are an integral part of the Australian wildlife and have recently been under threat because of the increasing bushfires occurring in and around Sydney. In one such case, a koala bear had been wandering and found itself trapped in a bushfire. Luckily a woman had spotted that koala bear from far away, the woman rescued the koala from the blaze by covering it with her own shirt. However, unable to recover from the burns the koala later succumbed to burn injuries.

What we can take from this is that humans are not the only ones being affected by the bushfires in Australia. Putting up effective countermeasures will not only help humans but also animals who are extremely helpless in such conditions. While Koalas remain an integral part of Australia’s ecosystem, they are under a massive threat. The Australian Koala Foundation places the death toll of the animal at a thousand and counting. The bushfires have destroyed more than eighty percent of their habitat and have rendered the remaining “functionally extinct” since the koalas only consume parts of the eucalyptus trees, which have been burnt down in the bushfires. Roughly only 43,000 koalas are still left in the wild, and measures need to be taken to safeguard the ecosystem successfully.

Countermeasures for the bushfires

With almost 4 million hectares of land consumed by bushfires and countless lives lost, the Australian Government has made plans to counter the bushfires by deploying naval and air forces to help people evacuate and at the same time assist the firefighters to mitigate the fires. To avoid more sparking of bushfires, certain areas have been cut off from any form of electricity. Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister has pledged to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions down by 26-28% which if followed, will reduce bushfires drastically due to reduced heat conditions. While all that may seem like a plan for the future, the areas that have already been affected are getting support from the government in terms of money, food, fuel, and water. Most importantly, people are being evacuated in an orderly manner to help them escape the rampaging bushfires.

Want to share photos of the Australian bushfire? Email your photos to [email protected].

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Forest Fire: Birds Deliberately Setting Forests on Fire to Flush Out Prey“.

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Australian Bushfires: Deadly Yet an Inextricable Part of the Australian Ecosystem appeared first on .

Min Min light sign in Boulia, Queensland, Australia. (www.gondwananet.com)

The small outback town of Boulia in Queensland, Australia, is home to a peculiar phenomenon that has been spooking trespassers for ages. These sentient ‘ghostly orbs of light’, dubbed Min Min light by the locals, are usually described as about the size of a football, and can grow in size or brightness, as well as alter in colour, while they follow the travellers in their path.

Though these Lights were first documented by Europeans in 1838 (in the book “Six Months in  South Australia”) after the colonization of Australia, they have been prominent in Aboriginal lores for aeons before. The cause of this mysterious phenomenon has eluded scientists as well as conspiracy theorists since its discovery.

The Stockman’s report

The origin behind the name of the Min Min Light, revealed in a Sydney Morning Herald article about an eyewitness’ account, is in itself quite interesting. Published on January 25, 1947, the story states the account of a local stockman who claimed he was followed by these lights on his way to Boulia.

The Min Min Hotel, burnt down in 1918, was notorious in the era as a den for modified alcohol and drugs, where a lot of people died over the years in brawls, murdered by robbers, or from the use of drugs and tainted alcohol, and were buried behind the hotel. The graveyard remains to this day.

The Stockman (who gave his story for the article) had passed by the area shortly after the infamous hotel had burnt down, and he witnessed a “strange glow appear right in the middle of the cemetery” which “got bigger, till it was about the size of a watermelon” as quoted to the police. He claimed to have tried to ride away, but kept being pursued by the phantom lights till he arrived at the town boundary. The police had not believed his account, but there have been thousands of alleged sightings since the Stockman’s report. The name of the bewildering ghostly lights stems from this mysterious Min Min Hotel around which the sightings were reported.

Regional folklore

Word about the Min Min Light has been a part of local folklore for centuries before the Stockman’s report. The stories date back so far that it is difficult to ascertain an exact timeline of the sightings, having passed on through the oral traditions of the Aboriginals.  

The Aboriginal Australians have always been wary, and have consistently believed that the lights were the spirits of their dead ancestors risen from their graves. This theory got a further boost with the increase in sightings of these phantom lights in the Boulia region after Europeans started killing off the Aborigines. The natives believed their ancestors had risen to avenge the atrocities against the community.

Phantom lights around the world

The Min Min Light have also been reportedly spotted in other regions of Australia such as the Northern Territory, and northern New South Wales. In fact, stories of such phantom lights have cropped up in the folklore of numerous cultures around the world, most notably in the Celtic culture of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Popularly known as ‘Will-o’-Wisp’, these orbs appear mostly around bogs and marshes, and believed to be fairies or spirits. The popular Jack-o’-Lantern Halloween decoration stems from this folktale. Other names associated with this phenomenon include ‘fairy lights’, ‘ghost lights’, and ‘ignis fatuus’. Other sightings of this phenomenon include that of ‘Luz Mala’ (‘evil light’) in Southern American countries and the ‘Brujas’ of Mexico (believed to be witch souls), both rural phenomena that are associated with negative superstitions and are part of the local folklore.

Fact or fiction?

The theories about the origin of these mysterious glowing orbs are endless, though none of them are definite. Barring the superstition discussed already, conjectures range from firefly-like bioluminescent insects, to UFOs and aliens, to the result of gaseous releases from the earth, such as those often seen at graveyards.

One of the most popular scientific theories backing the appearance of the Min Min Light is that of the Fata Morgana, hypothesized by Professor Jack Pettigrew, Emeritus Professor of Physiology and Director of the Vision, Touch and Hearing Research Centre at the University of Queensland.

Professor Pettigrew has had multiple encounters with these lights, which he had initially thought to be the planet Venus, or a cat’s glowing eyes, but then carried out extensive research and narrowed it down to a kind of mirage caused by temperature inversions when a layer of dense cold air is trapped under a layer of warm air. He called this optical phenomenon the Fata Morgana and explained that in such situations the light passing through the layers of air undergo steep refraction, making it seem as though the image is floating above the horizon or in front of the person. The Boulia region is especially conducive to this optical illusion because of the gullies and flat surfaces which can effectively trap the cool air.

The Professor backs his theory with an experiment where he recreated the appearance of the Min Min Light: while driving a car for 10kms in the requisite weather conditions with the headlights on, 6 witnesses believed they saw the phantom lights. Well-known Australian scientists such as Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki have vouched for Professor Pettigrew’s research.

The cultural impact of Min Min Light

Though the mystery of the Min Min Light of Boulia seems to be apparently resolved, it will continue to be passed down the generations. Whether it is parents frightening their children with this Bogeyman-like legend, or a reminder of the rich oral traditions of the Aborigines, the Min Min Light have undoubtedly taken on a cultural importance in Australia, featuring in books like those of Mavis Thorpe Clarke’s “The Min Min” (1967) and “Trust the Dream” (2004), and in popular Australian television series like “McLeod’s Daughters” and “Wolf Creek”.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “The Classic Whodunit Mystery of the Marree Man of Outback Australia“.

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Min Min Light: The Elusive Phantom-Lights of the Australian Outbacks appeared first on .

Beginning of the Emu War after World War-I

When World War-I had started to gather momentum, a lot of common, working-class Australian men were sent off to fight for their country on the battlefield. These men, who had previously been farmers, goatherds, shepherds, industry workers and the like, returned home after the war ended and tried to lead a normal life. But the government found it difficult to support these soldiers, who had come back in the thousands. So it was decided that these five thousand odd war veterans would each be offered money and allotted a piece of land to cultivate wheat on and raise cattle as part of the soldier settlement scheme.

As it is, most parts of Australia were already facing a drought-like situation with westerners being the worst affected. Add to the misery, these allocated lands in Perth were either not arable or were in such bad shape that it couldn’t be used for wheat cultivation. To make situations even more difficult, The Great Depression of 1929 hit hard on the world and the Australian soldiers-turned-farmers, who were greatly affected, sunk further into financial crises. Wheat prices fell drastically and even the promised but failed government subsidies did not help them in any way. But just when things were beginning to look a wee bit sunny in the year 1932, emus began to migrate in large numbers from central Australia towards the west, in search of water and a better habitat. The flock of these large, flightless birds, which had no less than twenty thousand emus, was ready to run amok and ravage the farmlands as it moved west.

The immediate action plan

Emus, which are the second largest species of flightless birds in the world native to Australia, with a height that can reach up to 1.75 metres on an average, was a preserved species in Australia up until the year 1922. Things took an ugly turn on the 2nd of November 1932, when these migrating emus started destroying standing crops and eating away the newly cultivated wheat, thus forcing farmers, many of whom were former military men, to shoot down these birds. But the number of emus only kept increasing each time and the farmers had to finally request government intervention and military support.

Some war veterans, who had turned to farming, were taken to see the then Australian Defence Minister Sir George Pearce in Canberra, where they relayed their distressing situation to him in person. He agreed to send troops, armed with machine guns to shoot down the marauding birds, hoping it would all end well for the farmers. Major G. P. W. Meredith, of the Seventh Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery, who was the commanding officer of the Emu War, descended on Campion, a West Australian town close to Perth to fight off the nuisance. But there was more to it than met the eye.

War on the emus

Soldiers using Lewis Machine Gun during the Emu War. (Wazee Digital / Wikimedia Commons)

With two Lewis guns and some ten thousand bullets, soldiers began firing rounds at the emus, which created an almost stampede-like situation in the area on the first day. Out of the fifty birds that were sighted, only some of them could be killed. Major Meredith and his men were unsuccessful on their first day. A handful of birds were killed at the commanding officer’s orders but that was not all. Despite their tight tactical firing, the emus, which had clearly outnumbered the troops, managed to scatter in all directions and there were very few bird casualties. A couple of days later, when more flocks entered the area, soldiers, who staged an ambush this time, opened fire on the giant birds. But the emus outwitted the onslaught of bullets and escaped unhurt even on the carefully planned military attempt. Out of the thousands that were spotted, only a dozen birds were gunned down. The operation, which was already delayed due to rainfall and jammed guns, bore no fruits again.

As the military was involved in the killing of emus in large numbers, the entire operation had garnered quite a lot of media attention. But with poor results and low outcome, there was more negative press coverage, which forced the Australian government to withdraw their troops to Canberra eventually and put an end to the procedure on November 8, 1932. The emus had won their first battle.

Second attempt at killing emus

After the forces retreated, emus continued to return in large flocks to pillage the wheat crops all over again for a couple more days. So on November 13th farmers requested military support yet again, and this time it took the government a little longer than usual to respond. Finally, when the military arrived, with Major G. P. W. Meredith in command once again, they were able to take down approximately fifty birds in their first attempt than they did previously. Over a hundred emus were killed every week, but the sly and quick-on-their-feet birds still dodged the bullets. It reportedly took ten rounds of ammunition on an average to kill one bird at a time, which later the government thought, was a mere waste of time and energy. Although around five hundred emus were shot down when the military returned to Campion, the entire effort was not worth it and the forces were recalled for good this time. And so on December 2, 1932, just a month after it all began, the great Emus had won the war again.

A deceased emu during the war. (Wikimedia Commons)

The aftermath of the War

Although the government provided the locals with limited ammunition to gun down the birds on sight, not many emus were killed during the operation either. Though the emu population had gone down due to the shortage of food and water, this was due to a natural cause. Farmers requested military aid many times again in the years that followed but it was declined by the government every time. Instead, a bounty system had been initiated, wherein more than fifty thousand bounties were claimed in six months in the year 1934 alone.

As word spread across the globe about the killing of the flightless birds in such large numbers, protests to preserve the rare bird species began and the bounty system, too, had to be done away with gradually. Then on, locals began making use of emu-proof barrier fences to keep the birds away from their lands, which is still a very popular method of pest (emus in this case) control in the Australian farms.

Emu Fence. (WA Government)

Despite the Australian government trying to bring down the rare bird species in order to keep a check on them, the emus won both the wars that were waged against them. A failed wildlife management on part of humans was the main reason these wild birds continued to wreak havoc on farms at every seized opportunity. While emus continue to be an integral part of Australia till date, there was once a time in history, when these birds were tough adversaries for humans that stood tall, dodged bullets and came up trumps too.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “The Story of The Most Inspiring Football Match in History: Christmas Truce of World War I“.

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post The Great Emu War: When Thousands of Emus Evaded Australian Armed Forces and Won the War appeared first on .

Bushfire in Australia. (80 trading 24 / Wikimedia Commons)

For the first time through the 1963 film called ‘The Birds’, director Alfred Hitchcock informed the world that avian attacks are nothing new and they could turn gruesome at times.

In the classic film, Hitchcock shows how birds can turn violent when nature becomes harsh and food supply depletes. The film was loosely based on a story of British author Daphne du Maurier.

Decades after the release of The Bird, Australian ornithologists are now confirming that certain birds have become creative in finding their food. The Australian birds have been using burning twigs to trigger bushfires during summer and scare prey into their waiting claws (talons).  

Australian raptors

Brown falcon (Falco berigora). (Marc Dalmulder / Flickr)

According to ornithologist Bob Gosford of the Central Land Council in Alice Springs, Australia, the birds in question are Black kites, whistling kites and brown falcons.

Writing in an article titled “Australian Raptors start fires to flush out prey”, Bob Gosford says these predatory birds regularly gather close to the edges of bushfires. They then take advantage of the exodus of insects, small lizards and small birds.

He further writes that the avian creatures have not only learnt to use fire to trigger bushfires, but also learnt to control the fires. Therefore, bushfires are nothing but happy hunting grounds for Australian raptors.

Australian aboriginal lore

According to Australian aboriginal lore, the avian arsonists’ fire-bombing the savanna landscape is nothing new. They have been carrying fire to catch their prey across the savannas of Australia’s far north for centuries.

This is more or less the first recorded occurrence of fire being used by avian creatures.

Australian ornithologists confirm that birds make solo and at times group attempts to carry burning twigs in their claws to trigger wild bushfires. This behaviour is known to aborigines of the Northern Territory, an article in the Journal of Ethnobiology says.

However, European ornithologists refuse to accept the observations of the Australian aboriginals that bushfires are happy hunting grounds for the Raptors. That is why there has been no scientific documentation of this avian behaviour to date.

Fascinating phenomenon

In this context, Gosford and his co-authors spent at least six years to collect over 20 witness accounts across the Top End. This indicates that the behaviour of the Australian raptors appears to be spread across the tropics of Queensland and Western Australia.

Terming the Australian Raptor’s behaviour as a fascinating phenomenon, scientist Alex Kacelnik said this is the first time that he heard of birds trying to control fire. Kacelnik is an expert on animal tool use at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Innovative solutions

The Australian Raptor’s behaviour, Kacelnik says, is an indication of how birds are good at finding innovative solutions to food problems. Kacelnik then speculates that the skill could be interpolated at far off locations and also among younger raptors in the same flock.

Till today, history has told us that humans and lightning have been the only vectors of fire Down Under. But, the behaviour of these “firehawks” is forcing us to re-examine human understanding of the history of fire in the Australian landscape.

Gosford’s co-author Dr Mark Bonta confirmed that most of the data they collected is based on their collaboration with Australia’s Aboriginal peoples. The natives, he feels, perhaps knew of the behaviour of the firehawks for 40,000 years. Bonta is a National Geographic grantee and geographer at Penn State University, US.

Killing frenzy

For decades, people in the Northern Territory of Australia have considered firehawks a part of nature.

Gosford writes that the firehawks like black kites and brown falcons perch on the edge of the wildfires and indulge in a killing and feeding frenzy.

In 1964, Australian journalist Douglas Lockwood compiled an autobiography of Waipuldanya Phillip Roberts in “I, the Aboriginal”.

In the autobiography, Roberts says he saw a firehawk pick up a smouldering twig in its claws and drop it in a fresh patch of dry grass.  The firehawk then waited with its friends for the mad exodus of frightened reptiles, lizards and rodents.

Pack hunt

Roberts then said the process was repeated elsewhere after the area got burnt out.

Do the flying firehawks know what they are doing? Or, are they accidentally carrying the burning twigs? Researchers believe that the avian arsonists do know what they are doing. Their behaviour is not a fluke one, but a premeditated and coordinated pack hunt for scared prey, says Gosford. 

He says the purpose or intent of these firehawks is simply to say that hundreds of them can get a good meal. This hypothesis confirms that a third force in nature has the ability to spread devastating bushfires. According to Dr Bonta, not all birds indulge in aerial arson. Firehawks like Black kites, whistling kites and brown falcons have mastered the art of triggering bushfires.

According to official data, every year, up to 75% of Earth’s tropical savannas burn and account for half of the biomass that burns worldwide. Australia is not an exception to this rule.

Between 1997 and 2011, at least 18% of Australia’s 730,000 square miles of savanna got burnt down each year.

Benefits of forest fire

Forest fires are a necessary and natural part of the ecosystem. Forest fires turn the ash from the dead trees and decaying plant matter in healthy forests as nutrients. These nutrients then return to the soil and enrich it in the process.

Another benefit is that the fire clears the thick overgrowth and allows sunlight to fall on the soil. This process helps native plant species to re-grow.  

The forest fires also free the plants of invasive weeds and stop the spread of insects and diseases.

Interestingly, healthy and resilient trees survive the forest fire and spring back to life resulting in young and small forests. Such forests become home to diverse species re-establishing the changing ecology and life goes on.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “The Crooked Forest of Poland“.

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Forest Fire: Birds Deliberately Setting Forests on Fire to Flush Out Prey appeared first on .

Wave rock. (Pxhere)

Australia is a land full of surprises. Right from being home to strange animals to unusually-formed natural structures, Australia has it all. There are so many naturally-occurring prehistoric formations in the country that an entire year’s trip Down Under wouldn’t be enough to check out all of those. Apart from the many rare structures found here, there’s one odd-shaped rock that has wowed more than half the world’s population in all these years. The Wave Rock in Western Australia, as the name suggests, is a unique-shaped, natural rock formation, which is a true beauty present in its natural form.

The appearance of the wave rock

One look at it and people are sure to imagine that a huge wave, just about to break, has turned to stone and frozen in time. But that is not the case in reality. Nestled close to the small town of Hyden in Southwest Australia, this rock formation, also known as the Hyden Rock, in the shape of a huge crashing oceanic wave is actually an inselberg. Rising straight out of the earth in isolation, this rock is estimated to be around 2.7 billion years old and made up of ochre, red and grey granite stone.

Wave rock from above. (Brian W. Schaller / Wikimedia Commons)

Around 300 kilometres from the southeastern city of Perth, the Wave Rock rises up to a height of about 49 feet and runs approximately 330 feet in length. The remarkable red, yellow and grey colours of the wave are a result of the minerals that have trickled down the slope due to the rains that keep lashing the structure over and over again. It is one of Australia’s most cherished natural marvels, which has kept geologists busy for years, studying its formation and rock composition.

How did the rock form into a wave-like structure?

Geomorphologists that have been studying the Wave Rock closely for years are of the opinion that the inselberg has taken a beating and suffered erosions over the centuries. This sedimentary activity has left nothing but a rounded projection hanging from above the cliff. What is more surprising is the fact that the wave formation is only on one side of the rock, which scientists have termed a flared slope. A flared slope is a stone or rock formation (mostly made up of granite) where the rock wall is solid on one side, while it is concave on the other side because of the damage suffered due to exposure to rough weathers over all the millennia. There are many other such examples of this kind of a structure in the world, but none is said to be as fascinating as the Wave Rock in Australia.

Wave rock. (dilettantiquity / Flickr)

Dam on top of the Wave Rock

It is believed that the Aboriginals that set foot in the country, were the first ones to discover the oversized Wave Rock, but nothing more concrete is recorded about this part of the history yet. Although the Wave Rock is a natural surf-like formation, a stone wall was built on top of the gigantic rock in the year 1928 by the Australian Public Works Department to collect rainwater. Revamped in the year 1951, the method of rainwater harvesting on the dam served as the only source of water to the nearby dry areas and the stone wall on top of the Wave Rock, channelled towards a dam, continues to provide abundantly for the arid regions till date.

Other features nearby the structure

A variety of flora and fauna can be found near the Wave Rock. Wildflowers, an assortment of orchids, fame grevillea and particularly the acacia plant are very common to the area. A host of animals and birds, mostly endemic to Australia have also been spotted in the Hyden Wildlife Park, including wombats, kangaroos, emus, koalas and wallabies. The wildlife surrounding the Wave Rock is said to keep the area bustling with life and sounds.

One can even climb to the top of the granite wave to enjoy a panoramic view of the town of Hyden just three kilometres away from the rock. The awe-inducing shape and size of the Wave Rock pulls in a flock of tourists to this place every year. The astonishing Wave Rock is now a part of the 160-hectare natural reserve in the Hyden Wildlife Park, where visitors from all over the world come to witness an enormous wave just about to crash that might destroy everything in its path, had it been part of the ocean instead of stone.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “The Wave in Arizona: A Geological Wonder“.

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Wave Rock: Where a Massive Prehistoric Wave, Just About to Break, is Etched Permanently in Stone appeared first on .

Lake Hillier, Australia. (Kurioziteti123 / Wikimedia Commons)

Oceans, rivers, and lakes, as a rule, contain salt amongst other minerals with oceans having the highest content of salt since they contain waters from rivers and lakes combined. Rainwater renews the water in rivers; hence the salt is most diluted in them. Lakes, on the other hand, can be both freshwater and salty. When a lake contains an excessive amount of salt, it starts to produce a type of algae that has a reddish-pink hue to it. The lakes with this type of algae are colloquially known as pink lakes due to their colour.

Saline lakes generally have a higher concentration of salt and chemicals than most lakes. Lakes become saline when there isn’t enough water flowing into them or the water flowing into it is unable to drain into the sea, the remaining water then goes through the natural evaporation cycle thus increasing the concentration of salt. When lakes reach saturation or near saturation point of salt, they are termed as brine lakes. Brine lakes have extremely high salt concentrations of 40%, which is even higher than the ocean. They exist due to very high evaporation rates in dry climates. Saline and brine lakes have a very unique flora and fauna that can only survive in such high salt concentrations. 

Pink lakes in Australia

In Australia, there are 3 pink lakes existing due to this condition. Hutt Lagoon lies north of the Hutt River in Western Australia. There are tourism road trips that take you from Port Gregory to Kalbarri, on which you can view the Hutt Lagoon. It can also be seen from flights. It is an excellent place for salt production. The salt and gypsum produced here have received commendable recognition.

Hutt Lagoon. (Dan Nevill / Flickr)

Spencer Lake lies in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It had not been pink for a decade until 2017, and it is speculated the reason for this was due to the construction of a railway and a highway. Lake Hillier also lies in the Goldfields-Esperance region and is often confused with Spencer Lake. It is noted that the lake appears a bright bubble-gum pink from flights, but up close near the shoreline it only has a light pink hue.

Bird’s eye view of lake Hillier. (Aussie Oc / Wikimedia Commons)

Pink lake in Senegal

In Senegal, Africa, the Lake Retba also exist under similar conditions of high salinity and a pink hue. Although, due to seasonal variation, the pink hue is majorly visible during the summer season and not as much during the monsoons. The flora and fauna here are different than in the Australian lakes, however; the fish here have evolved to live in saline waters but are much smaller than average due to dwarfism.

Lake Retba. (Antonin Rémond / Flickr)

Other pink lakes around the world

Apart from these, there are other pink lakes that exist due to similar conditions. There’s another one in Australia called Quairading Pink Lake and a Field of Lakes which has multiple pools of pink water with varying shades of pink. There is also the Salina de Torrevieja in Spain and the Masazirgol in Azerbaijan. Although, the Dusty Rose lake in Canada is pink not because of high salinity but because of the rock flour that pours into the lake from surrounding glaciers.

Salina de Torrevieja, Spain. (Alberto Casanova / Flickr)

The speciality of Lake Retba in Senegal

Considered a high-ranking contender in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005, the pink-coloured Lac Rose or Lake Retba in Senegal is a bit different from most of the other pink lakes in the world. Its high salt content makes it almost impossible for living creatures to drown in it, thus making it a lot like the infamous Dead Sea of Jordan. People can float in it but there are a host of activities that a tourist needs to undertake just to have a dip in the pink lake.

The Senegalese lake is also known for its salt collection activity, which in itself is an interesting task. Fishermen, armed with spades, make use of narrow canoes to bring back huge chunks of salt from under the water body. They position themselves in the middle of the lake and start digging for salt, which they then collect in large baskets and bring them back to their boats. The women folk then wade through the shallow waters to collect these chunks from the canoes to bring them ashore. Here the salt is later treated with iodine and processed further before it is sent out into the West African markets.

A worker harvesting salt from Lake Retba. (Anthea Spivey / Wikimedia Commons)

One thing that sets the salt collecting activity in Lake Retba apart from the regular ones is the use of shea butter. Fishermen and women both apply shea butter on their exposed skin parts to protect themselves from the dangerous effects of the high salt content. In the absence of shea butter, the salt in the lake has the potential to cut open the skin or make wounds to the exposed areas.

Thieboudienne. (T.K. Naliaka / Wikimedia Commons)

But if there is one thing that people really love about Lake Retba, it is a traditional delicacy prepared from local fish. Called thieboudienne, it is a dish prepared with a mix of rice, tomato sauce and fish, which Senegalese fishermen preserve using salt, obtained especially from Lake Retba. The stew is a very popular dish in the country and Lake Retba provides for the continuous supply of salt for the particular food item.

The science behind the colour

The science behind the pink coloured lakes is actually quite complex. The salt content of the lakes has to be higher than that of the sea, and the temperature has to be high enough, and perfect light conditions have to be met. The high content of salt in the lakes makes it a breeding ground for a beta-carotene producing algae, also scientifically called Dunaliella Salina, that thrives in salty environments. 

Beta-carotene is the same chemical that is found in carrots, and that gives it its orange colour The chemical is actually a reddish-pink colour, but the combination of it being mixed with water and the right light conditions give the lakes a pink hue. Carrots only contain 0.3% of beta-carotene, whereas these algae contain up to 14% of it. This chemical also coats the chlorophyll that is found in the algae, thus protecting it from the extreme heat conditions in these arid regions. 

The environmental conditions are so vital to the colour of the lake that any external changes can affect it. One such example is Spencer Lake; since the construction of the Southcoast highway, the lake lost its connections with Lake Warden which supplied the lake with salty water. Once the connection was lost, the algae began to perish, thus making the lake lose its pink hue.

Salt ponds at South Bay, San Francisco. (Doc Searls / Flickr)

Importance of salt lakes

Salt lakes prove to be an excellent place for salt production and help manufacture table salt which is an important constituent of our diets. Even the climate that is created by the evaporation cycle around these lakes is supposed to be one of the healthiest. In fact, the microclimate that surrounds the lake in Spain is considered to be the healthiest in all of Europe by the World Health Organization (WHO). Many of these lakes are also rich in minerals with healing properties for skin and lung disease patients. These salt lakes are also heavily laden with brine shrimp, which are used by fish farmers as feed for the fish and in the aquarium fish market. 

Most importantly, these lakes also help bring in tourism trade due to their uniqueness. The elaborate conditions for the lake’s existence are not easy to replicate elsewhere, and hence draw tourists from all over the world. There are special road trip tours as well as flight tours that help you see these mythical-looking natural wonders.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “The Lonar Lake: An Astronomical Marvel“.

Recommended Visit:
1. Lake Hillier | Western Australia
2. Lake Retba | Senegal, West Africa 
3. Salina de Torrevieja | Spain 
4. Masazirgol | Azerbaijan

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Pink Lakes: Where Rose-Tinted Lakes Surrounded By Lush Greenery Are Truly a Sight to Behold appeared first on .

Aerial photo of the Marree Man from 1998. (Peter Campbell / Wikimedia Commons)

Twenty years have passed since a pilot first spotted The Marree Man — a bewildering colossal artwork whittled into the desert sands in a dim and distant town of Marree in parts of southern Australia, nearby to the far-reaching military Woomera Prohibited Zone. Its origin and the people behind its formation are still nameless. It is extensively recognized as the second largest geoglyph (an enormous design etched on the ground) in the world.

Initial sighting of Marree Man

A charter flight was travelling over South Australia on June 26, 1998, between Marree and Coober Pedy, a town known for its opal mining. Its pilot Trevor Wright was the first person to spot the towering figure of an indigenous tall and naked man spread over 2.6-miles along the desert sand. His left arm was raised, ready to strike prey with a woomera (a hunting stick) or a boomerang.

The carving was coined the Marree Man after the non-descript outback town of Marree in whose vicinity it was discovered.

Satellite photo of Marree Man from 28 June, 1998. (Diceman / Wikimedia Commons)

The widely incised borderlines gouged out by 10 inches below the ground, could be visible only from the air above. However, despite the exact planning, precision and absolute intensity invested in making it, nobody approached to profess the geoglyph’s authorship and seemingly even no eye-witness was traced to corroborate its creation.

Unidentified press releases

Shortly after its revelation, between July and August 1998, the media and local businesses received sundry press releases from an unidentified source. Specific features of the writing highlighted the guesstimate of it being the handiwork of a foreign author and that the Marree Man was the creation of the natives from the United States.

To start with, the letter had measurements being cited in units of miles, yards, and inches. It was a strange drift from the metric system used in Australia. The releases further mentioned names and phrases like “your State of SA”, “local Indigenous Territories” and “Queensland Barrier Reef” that were queer terms hitherto not being used by Australians.

Outline of Marree Man. (Lisathurston / Wikimedia Commons)

The press release also had a reference to the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio, something which hardly had any cognition outside the US. There were widespread conjectures about these press releases being more of red herrings placed tactfully by an audacious eccentric to render the impression of an American authorship.

Discovery of a plaque and strange items

Adding to the puzzle, were a bunch of peculiar items discovered from a freshly dug out trough at the site. They comprised of a small glass jar that contained a tiny flag of the United States, a photo of Marree Man clicked from a satellite and a note which had remarks about the Branch Davidians, a Texas-based cult group that had its cult leader David Koresh and 82 other followers killed following a raid in 1993.

In January 1999, after receiving a fax message, officials surrendered to their curiosity, dug up the area and unearthed a dedicated plaque buried in close proximity to the figure’s nose.

The plaque was essentially the American flag with an engraving of the Sydney Olympic rings and bore the statement “In honour of the land they once knew. His attainments in these pursuits are extraordinary; a constant source of wonderment and admiration” which had its origin from a book titled “The Red Centre” written by Hedley H. Finlayson in 1946.

The quote was lifted from a page narrating about the poaching of wallabies with throwing sticks and included the photos of aboriginal hunters short of loin clothes that resembled very much the Marree Man.

It may be mentioned here that the book deals with the existence of the Pitjantjatjara tribal hunters. Investigators attempted to connect the dots with these weird accumulations of clues but all their efforts were in vain.

Conjectures about the creation

Rumours were running amok around the tiny hamlet of Marree. Some expressed their opinions about the geoglyph being the brainchild of an inhabitant flight operator, who pulled off this stunt to amass huge profits from the deluge of tourists who started visiting the place post its discovery.

Surely, the local charter flights were found to be plying overtime in meeting the burgeoning demand for joy rides to have a look at the amazeballs spectacle the ground below.

Different odd hypotheses that began doing the whirlwind rounds indicated at Marree Man being the creation of extraterrestrials who descended with an intent to throw caution to a politician named Pauline Hanson against his despicable racist remarks about Australian Aborigines.

Surveyors theorize that a bulldozer might have been used to sculpt the figure and taken a long time to finish, yet nobody could sense a hint of suspicion about seeing or hearing a thing or two. Just a single track was used as an entry and exit point from the site, however, no discernible footprints or tyre marks could be detected. Even a thorough-going police examination came up with nothing substantial.

Most suggested creator

Then there came Bardius Goldberg, who was an Australian craftsman and had expressed enthusiasm for creating a masterly work that could be visible from space. Goldberg, however, showed an inherent proneness towards being provoked. He also had a knack to concoct aboriginal dot paintings in the neighbourhood of the desert town of Alice Springs.

He incidentally got entangled in a hostile dispute with Herman Malbunka, a local landowner. He threatened Malbunka with dire consequences and borrowed a tractor along with a GPS to transmit him a vile notification containing the Marree Man’s silhouette. It had been reported by few of his friends that Goldberg was paid a hefty sum of $10000 to create the figurine.

When Goldberg was confronted about it, he neither affirmed nor denied the rumours on Marree Man’s creation. Unfortunately, Goldberg passed away in 2002 before this theory could even be totally investigated.

Others anecdotes have apprehended that Australian Army members or American soldiers who were positioned in Woomera had designed and fabricated Marree Man.

Revival initiatives of the abraded geoglyph

The monumental geoglyph of Marree Man quickly became an icon and made the township a largely popular tourist spot. But the famous carving was gradually fading into oblivion because of natural erosion by shifting sands and forceful desert winds and could gradually be seldom seen. It seemed only a matter of time before the prodigious illustration would cease to be visible evermore, confiscating the secrets of its creation alongside.

In 2013, through a landmark initiative, some passionate natives submitted a public plea, spearheaded by Phil Turner, a pub owner in Marree to plough back the outline into the sands and revive the geoglyph. According to Turner, it had everything to do with reinforcing the mystery and the myth.

Turner in a bid to strengthen the tourism business embarked upon the project costing half-a-million dollars along with the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation to enliven the artwork after its considerable dissipation into the sand.

The latest technological advancements made it convenient for them to locate the eroded Marree Man in 2016, with the support from a zealous and prolific restoration team and redefine the geoglyph using imaging data, a grader, GPS and satellite images.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “The Incredible Geoglyphs of Peru, the Nazca Lines“.

Recommended Visit:
Marree Man Historical landmark | Australia

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post The Classic Whodunit Mystery of the Marree Man of Outback Australia appeared first on .

Signboard with a mining truck, Coober Peddy. (Graeme Churchard / Flickr)

Man must go wherever his work takes him. Work is also central to his settlement. So, when Willie Hutchison, in 1915, discovered opal- the precious stone, in the desert of northern South Australia, a stage was set for mining as well as the habitation of the area 846 KM north of Adelaide. In time the area became a township named Coober Pedy with most inhabitants living underground.

History of Coober Pedy’s underground homes

The logic behind underground homes is simple: a buffer against extreme variations of ambient temperature. At Coober Pedy, the average annual temperature ranges from 14 degree Celsius to 28-degree centigrade, and in peak summers it may touch up to 47 degrees Celsius. Inhabitants realized that ambience below-ground was more agreeable than above-ground. Miners working deep inside earth felt easy living deep down than living on the surface of the earth. If deep mines were so comfortable to work in, why couldn’t they have similar homes to live in? The Idea culminated in cave-like subterranean homes.

The interior of the underground Serbian church in Coober Pedy. (Peter Myers / Flickr)

Earth-sheltered or earth-bermed home is advantageous in many ways except for being flood-prone. If heavy rainfall or waterlogging is not a problem, earth homes are fun and best for living.

Apart from underground enthusiast group, even the U.S Department of Energy has endorsed dug homes where conservation of energy is a big advantage. The human settlement doesn’t stand out as odd protrusions on topsoil, and extremes of weather like strong winds, hailstorms, hurricanes and tornados do not ruffle the home dwellers. Earthquake and fire are no more significant threats and homes are surprisingly soundproof. Subsoil homes are also immune to manmade disasters like explosions, thefts and break-ins. In fact, privacy is served best in these earth embraced houses.

An underground room in Coober Pedy. (Peter Myers / Flickr)

Hotel in Coober Pedy. (Steve Collis / Flickr)

Underground dwellings in other parts of the world

Coober Pedy is neither alone nor the very first to subscribe to subterranean living. There are references to it in Scythian and German literature. Excavations have revealed the presence of dug homes in Switzerland, Mecklenburg and Southern Bavaria. Caves in mountains, as well as plain areas, have served humans as convenient living abode since pre-historic times.

Replace natural caves with designed and dug out cave houses and we get underground homes, buildings, cities and much more. Apart from Coober Pedy, dug homes are scattered all over the world. Sassi di Matera of Italy, Yaodong in China, Nok and Mamproug Cave Dwellings in Tongo and Africa are examples of famous deep dug buildings.

Earth bermed houses have one wall or one portion of house peeping out on the ground surface. Rammed earth homes, like traditional brick constructions, are not underground in a real sense but are tightly hugged around by mud on the ground surface. Free from the binding quotient of cement, rammed homes are adequately insulated against vagaries of the environment.

Another variety of earth home is cut-and-cover type or culvert structures. These are precast homes. The entire architecture is frame-casted, assembled, and then lowered down the hole. Subways and basement buildings are so common these days that we scarce think of them as underground structures. Yet the fact remains that these are underground abodes. Tunnels too are a way of living underground. Taisei Corporation’s proposed Alice City in Tokyo is going to be a milestone of this genre. It would be a massive shaft carrying various levels of office, residential and multipurpose living spaces deep inside Earth.

Life in Coober Pedy

Geologically, Coober Pedy is situated on 30 meters deep bed of sand and siltstone topped with a treeless desert. It is home to a population of 3500, 45 nationalities 60% of which are Europeans. It is a popular tourist destination since 1987. Annual rainfall is lowest in Australia, making it an ideal place for underground houses. Aerial view of the area is plain desert except for scattered chimneys, the ventilation outlets, jutting out on earth surface from the living spaces below the earth surface.

An underground Jewellery shop. (Lodo27 / Wikimedia Commons)

A barren topography though hasn’t robbed natives of sports and recreation. Daytime being too hot for a game, golf is played at night with a glowing ball. Australian Rules football club organizes football in a professional way. The scenic beauty of the town has attracted filmmakers and many films like Opal dream, Wim Wenders and Until the End of the world.

On the flip side, the cost of constructing an earth-sheltered house is comparatively higher. However, options to build are as diverse as in building over ground houses. With global warming touching a new high with the passage of time, it may not be surprising that earth houses become more of a rule than an exception.

Enjoyed this article? Also, check out “Project Riese: Hitler’s Shadowy Incomplete Underground Complex that Remains a Mystery“.

Recommended Visit:
Coober Pedy | Town in South Australia

Fact Analysis:
STSTW Media strives to deliver accurate information through careful research. However, things can go wrong. If you find the above article inaccurate or biased, please let us know at [email protected].

The post Photos: Underground Town of Australia, Coober Pedy appeared first on .