Adventure Ausrama Blog

Science: Dingo dog came to Australia via Southeast Asian seafarers. Archaeological evidence shows that dingoes arrived in Australia 4,000 years ago.  There is no mystery as to who brought them.  Southeast Asian seafarers did land in Australia to get fresh water and herbs to treat constipation. The dingo is common across the world today, all the way from India to the Pacific islands.  In news videos you see dogs roaming about the street in the background that are absolutely identical to the dingo, same tail, same color coat. People chosen as the distributor of the dingo are the Lapita who moved eastward out into the pacific.  This choice is just for convenience.  It is definitely wrong.  The dog is common everywhere.  Let's face it, Timor is so close to Australia that sailors obviously landed here, often. Genetic evidence places the origin of dingoes in China.  This is only where the breed began.  It rapidly spread to every ...

There is nothing wrong with the quality of Australian teachers. Saying that we can learn a lot from Asian teachers is absolutely wrong. It is the culture of the student that determines whether he/she will be successful in becoming educationally proficient. Children of Chinese immigrants to Australia do much better than offspring of many other subcultures. Native third generation Australians do worst of all. This is because their parents get on with living their own lives and leave their kids to learn by themselves. There is nothing wrong with this policy. Chinese parents do similarly, but they do help much more financially with education. Mao Tse-tung was once asked by a Western reporter what was the most difficult thing about governing China. He replied it was teaching children to believe in Communism when Chinese are born Capitalists. Trading has been an important part of Chinese culture for thousands of years so calculating and finance are important. To be successful in l...

New research tells us that the dingo is a uniquely Australian dog. This is despite the strong evidence of Asian dogs looking exactly the same and in Asia they are domesticated. This silly "mythification" of animals in Australia says something about Australians generally. Are they seeking something to make themselves unique? Australian academics have revived the name Canis dingo a term coined in 1793 by German naturalist Friedrich Meyer. Skulls examined by researchers showed the dingo had a long snout and a broad head. A look at a modern dingo in the bush shows it to be exactly the same as Asian specimens living today. There is nothing special about them. Because they are inter-fertile with ordinary dogs shows that they cannot possibly be a different species. Their offspring in this case are also fertile. Unlike the donkey which when mated with a horse gives birth to an infertile mule. Saying they are not descended from wolves is total rubbish - all dogs ar...

Australian bushrangers ( outlaws for those in other countries ) were all believed to be Caucasian. They were of mostly of Irish heritage with a few of English and Scottish heritage thrown in. Oddly, I cannot seem to find any Welsh bushrangers, but I will stand corrected on this. There was a Jewish offender, of English origin. The one exception to this "rule" was a Chinese bushranger. His life is being made into a movie. Named Sam Pu, he came to Australia in the early 19th century in the search for gold, like many fellow Chinese. His spirit was raised to hostility at the riots of Lambing Flats, where white immigrants fought against the Chinese as they worked in large groups and moved into sites abandoned by whites, who usually worked on finding the alluvial gold in small groups. The greatest problem was "running costs" - they ate less than Europeans! Sam Pu had two quirks. Firstly, he had a white girlfriend. Secondly, he couldn't ride a horse. ...

With climate change insects move geographically. New regions open up to be populated. Warming of the Australian mainland has taken place. The Asian tiger mosquito has been found on Thursday and Horn islands in the Torres strait close to Australia itself. Dengue and chicungunya are the greatest dangers. These diseases can be fatal. There is no way the mosquitoes can be stopped. They will move into Australia proper. Spraying insecticides will only slow them down. They won't fly to Australia. They will be brought here on small boats moving all over the Torres Strait. The threat is serious. Once established in Australia Asian tiger mosquitoes will be spread by humans as far south as Tasmania. They prefer a cooler climate than the main dengue host, Aedes aegypti. Tigers will carry dengue, however. The outside-life of Australians is under threat. Having a barbecue will be a dangerous pastime. Recently it has been established that mosquitoes are not native to Pa...

Generally, people do not keep up with the latest infectious diseases that could come their way. We all know about the Asian flu because it has been around for a while. However, there is little fear involved because many believe that they will not catch it. Last year a new disease appeared called Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). It killed more than half of the 79 people infected. In the serious 1957-1958 Asian Flu outbreak the death rate was 0.13 per cent. While MERS is still present, the number of new cases has held steady. There is a worry that the disease could suddenly become highly contagious. It is not yet known whether the virus is spread by human contact or it has an animal source. The number of cases did rise during the Muslim hajj to Mecca. The World Health Organization (WHO) is in an emergency sitting at present considering whether to declare the coronavirus a public health emergency. An emergency would allow travel restrictions to be put in place. Pilg...

Just what Australia wants - another fast food chain. The Japanese are invading Australia with a burger chain, MOS Burger, which is a copy of McDonalds. The fourth store has opened in Booval, Brisbane. For some reason the chain is targeting Queensland for its new outlets. The company claims, of course, that their offering is different than McDonalds. Project manager Vincent Cheng says they offer better service. This is difficult to justify considering service at McDonalds is second to none. When was the last time you waited for more than five minutes to order and another five minutes to get your food? What potential customers really want to hear is lower prices not better service. The market place shows that when customers have a choice between paying extra for service or a lower price for the product they overwhelmingly choose the cheaper price. With another 10 stores opening in Queensland this year and further developments in Sydney and Melbourne time will tell if their ma...