Sue Paull photographed the most incarcerated famous prisons Australia for 15 years when she taught them art. Her stunning photographs reveal the world of murderers and rapists hidden behind bars.

Before becoming a prison art teacher and photographer, Poll worked in a school system whose rules she didn't like. When she came to classes with especially dangerous prisoners, she felt quite at ease.

Under her leadership, hundreds of prisoners painted paintings, made pottery and sculptures, which were later exhibited at the Long Bay prison entrance and in many galleries overseas.

While working in the penitentiary system, Poll began photographing prisoners, first only in the art studio, and then outside it. Her stunning black and white photographs provide a glimpse into the hidden world of Australian prisons between 1993 and the late 2000s.

Using a documentary style in many of his photographs, Paull nevertheless draws attention to beautiful images, such as the tattoos of prisoners and their physical strength, vital to survival behind bars.


Prisoner Terry stands in front of one of his paintings entitled "Long Bay Hilton Foyer."


A prisoner on the exercise floor at Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1993 during the daily exercise routine that many prisoners do to keep fit in the rather dangerous prison environment.


Officer Jane in full gear at Goulburn Correctional Centre, where a female officer saved male officers during a prisoner uprising in 2002, suffering stab wounds and severe head injuries.


Prisoner Tom Foster shows off his powerful physique and tattoos while working in a garden statue workshop at Silverwater General Security Prison, where he was transferred from Long Bay Prison.


A guard on duty in 1996 on the top tier of Parramatta Correctional Centre, which opened in 1798 and closed in 2011, an old crumbling sandstone prison infested with rats.


Amanda and Michael in 1993 at Long Bay Prison, one of 34 correctional centers in New South Wales where transgender relationships are part of prison life.


Convicted murderer Geoffrey Websdale, described by Sue Poll as a "superb specialist", next to one of his works at Long Bay prison in 2004. In 1989, while a combine trainee, he shot and wounded two people at a combine camp, earning a maximum 25-year sentence.


Prisoner Wayne Brown, wearing prison green sweatpants, poses for prison art teacher and photographer Sue Poll inside the Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1997. Poll was intrigued by his tattoos, which included the word “Mum” on his right arm.


Barbed wire and steel bars lined the gates of the old Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1997, which then housed high-risk prisoners, including murderers and rapists. Later, the prison began to accept less dangerous criminals.


Prisoner Andrew in the statue workshop at Silverwater Prison in 1997, during one of the final stages before release.


A shirtless prisoner sunbathing at Long Bay Prison in 1994


An armed guard at Tower 8 of the Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1997. Only the guards in the tower can carry weapons and, if necessary, shoot fugitives or rioters.


An inmate at Long Bay Prison exercises in the yard in 1993.


A female jailer at the gate of the Long Bay Correctional Complex in 2007, through which all guards must pass to enter the working part of the prison.


Prisoners make a variety of sharpening points from any found pieces of metal and even from toothbrushes.


Prisoner Steve shows off his tattoos at Long Bay Correctional Center in Sydney in 1994.


Segregated courtyards at Parklea Correctional Center in 1996 for violent and violent prisoners.


A prisoner on the training ground at Long Bay Prison in 1994.


Sue Paull worked with prisoners as an art teacher. She found creative talents in hundreds of especially dangerous criminals.


Sue Poll photographed some of the prisoners' tattoos.


A wedding between a woman and an inmate at Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1996, before authorities banned weddings in maximum security prisons. The few that take place behind bars must now be resolved by a commissioner.


Some of the tattoos are quite difficult to decipher.


Prisoner Tom Foster had a flower depicted in his painting at Long Bay Correctional Complex in 1997.


The interior of Wing 9 of Long Bat Prison in 1997 shows cell doors during the reconstruction period when inmates were moved to other prisons.


A civil servant, smoking a cigarette, who kept records of wages, poses for Sue Poll at Long Bay Prison in 1993.


A female guard armed with a rifle at Goulburn Correctional Center in 2004, two years after a riot in which 30 prisoners with homemade weapons attacked staff, injuring seven guards and nearly killing one.


Aboriginal prisoner Doug Pearce with one of his paintings. His works are now in collections in Canada, the USA, France and the UK.


Inmate clothing hanging on railings at Bathurst Correctional Center in 2000.


Young prisoner Simon at Long Bay Prison in 1993.


Aboriginal Jason stands in the shadow of barbed wire from his large-scale painting outside the art studio at Long Bay Prison in 1999.

It appeared thanks to the discovery of new lands by Captain James Cook, a navigator who proclaimed New Holland(now Australia) British possessions. Soon, in 1786, it was decided to make East Coast Australia is a place of exile. The following year, the First Fleet sailed from the shores of England to establish Australia's first colony, called New South Wales. Other ships followed him, and soon many convict settlements were formed in Australia.

Eastern Australia was declared a British territory in 1770, and the first colony was founded on 26 January 1788. As Australia's population grew, six self-governing colonies were established within Australia.

On January 1, 1901, the six colonies formed a federation. Since that time, Australia has maintained a stable democratic system of government. Australia's neighbors are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua - New Guinea from the north, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu from the northeast, New Zealand from the southeast. The shortest distance between the main island of Papua New Guinea and mainland Australia is 150 kilometers; however, from the Australian island of Boigu to Papua New Guinea is only 5 kilometers.

The name "Australia" comes from the Latin. australis, meaning southern. Legends about the “unknown southern land” (terra australis incognita) go back to the times of the Romans and were a common place in medieval geography, but were not based on real knowledge. The Dutch used this term for all newly discovered southern lands from 1638.

The name "Australia" became popular after the publication of A Voyage to Terra Australis by Captain Matthew Flinders. Governor McQuire of New South Wales used this name in correspondence with England. In 1817 he recommended this name as the official one. In 1824, the British Admiralty finally approved this name for the continent.

How did immigration to Australia begin?

In Great Britain, the 18th century was marked by significant social changes, which led to an increase in crime rates. The main reason for this was extreme need. To stop this, the authorities have issued strict laws with severe penalties. At the beginning of the 19th century, approximately 200 crimes were punishable by death. “Even the most petty theft is sentenced to death,” wrote one traveler. For example, one 11-year-old boy was hanged for stealing a handkerchief! Another man was found guilty of insult and the theft of a silk purse, a gold watch and approximately six pounds sterling. He was sentenced to death by hanging. The execution was replaced by lifelong exile. In that terrible era, approximately 160 thousand people suffered a similar fate. Women, as a rule, together with their children, were sentenced to 7-14 years of hard labor.

However, at the beginning of the 18th century, the authorities passed a law that in many cases made it possible to replace the death penalty with deportation to the English colonies in North America. Soon, up to a thousand prisoners a year were being sent there, mainly to Virginia and Maryland. But, having declared themselves an independent state in 1776, these colonies were no longer willing to accept British criminals. Then they began to be sent to terrible floating prisons on the Thames River, but they were also overcrowded.

The solution appeared thanks to the discovery of new lands by Captain James Cook. In 1786, it was decided to make the east coast of Australia a place of exile. The following year, the First Fleet sailed from the shores of England to establish the first colony called New South Wales. Other ships followed him, and soon many convict settlements were formed in Australia, including on Norfolk Island, located 1,500 kilometers northeast of Sydney.

"Many of the 'criminals' deported to Australia were pre-teens," writes Bill Beattie in his book Early Australia - With Shame Remembered. As the book says, in one case a court sentenced a seven-year-old boy to “lifelong exile in Australia.”

First wave of immigration to Australia: founding of convict colonies.

At first, transferring to the Australian colonies was a real nightmare for prisoners placed in damp and dirty ship holds. Hundreds died en route, others soon after arrival. Scurvy claimed many lives. But over time, doctors appeared on ships, especially those carrying female prisoners, and the mortality rate dropped significantly. Subsequently, with the improvement of ships, the journey time was reduced from seven to four months, and deaths became even fewer.

Shipwrecks posed another threat to life. The British ship Amphitrite, five days after sailing from England, was still within sight of the French coast when it encountered a violent storm. Tossed mercilessly by the waves for two days, the ship ran aground a kilometer from the shore on August 31, 1883 at five o'clock in the afternoon.

However, the crew did not make any rescue attempts and did not launch lifeboats. Why? For one simple reason: so that the prisoners - 120 women and children - do not escape! After three horror-filled hours, the ship began to sink, and people began to be washed out to sea. Most of the crew and all 120 women and children died. In the following days, 82 corpses washed ashore, and among them was the corpse of a mother who hugged her child so tightly that even death could not separate them.

But it must be said that the situation of some prisoners was not so bad. After all, for some people in Australia, in fact, better prospects opened up than in their homeland. Yes, that part of Australia's history was extremely contradictory: it combined cruelty and mercy, death and hope. It started in Great Britain.

The Settlement of Australia: When Death is Desired.

The Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane, decreed that the worst criminals should be sent from New South Wales and Tasmania to Norfolk Island. “There these scoundrels will lose all hope of returning home,” he said. Sir Ralph Darling, the next governor, vowed to create "conditions worse than death" in Norfolk. This is what happened, especially during the reign of John Price, a governor of noble birth. Price “guessed the thoughts of criminals with deadly accuracy, and this, coupled with strict adherence to the law, gave him some kind of mystical power over the convicts.” For singing, walking too fast or not pushing a cart of stones hard enough, a convict could receive 50 lashes or 10 days in a cell with up to 13 prisoners and where you could only stand.

Only priests, as spiritual persons and therefore inviolable, could openly condemn such inhuman treatment. “No words can describe how cruelly the convicts were treated,” wrote one priest. “What is scary to even think about was done with complete impunity.”

Australian History: A Glimmer of Hope.

With the arrival of Captain Alexander Maconoch in Norfolk in 1840, the situation improved somewhat. He entered new system ratings, which took into account how much the convict had improved, provided rewards for good behavior and gave him the opportunity to earn freedom by accumulating a certain number of ratings. “I am confident,” wrote Maconochie, that with the right methods, any criminal can be corrected. A person’s intellectual abilities are quickly restored if one directs his thoughts in the right direction, treats him humanely and does not deprive him of hope.”

Maconock's reform was so effective that it was subsequently widely used in England, Ireland and the United States. But at the same time, with his innovations, Maconoch dealt a strong blow to the pride of some influential people whose methods he rejected. It cost him his place. After his departure, abuse in Norfolk resumed, but not for long. In 1854, thanks to the priests, the island ceased to be a place of convict settlements, and the exiles were transported to Tasmania, to Port Arthur.

Port Arthur, especially in the early years, also terrified people. But still, the treatment of convicts here was not as cruel as in Norfolk. Corporal punishment was abolished almost completely here in 1840.

As Ian Brand wrote in his book Port Arthur - 1830-1877, George Arthur, the strict governor of Tasmania, wanted to secure his colony's reputation as a "place of iron discipline." And at the same time, Arthur wanted every convict to learn that “good behavior is rewarded, and bad behavior is punished.” To do this, he divided the convicts into seven categories, starting with those who were promised early release for exemplary behavior, and ending with those who were sentenced to the hardest labor in shackles.

When Exile to Australia Was a Blessing

“For convicts, with the exception of those who were sent to Port Arthur, Norfolk ... and other similar places when conditions there were intolerable,” wrote Beatty, “the prospects for the future in the colony were much better than in their homeland ... Here the convicts had the opportunity to live a better life.” Indeed, convicts who received early release or served their sentences realized that in Australia they and their families were waiting for better life. Therefore, after liberation, only a few returned to England.

Governor Lachlan Macquarie, an ardent defender of freed convicts, said: “A person released from prison should never be reminded of his criminal past, much less reproached for it; he should be made to feel like a full-fledged member of society, who has already redeemed his guilt by exemplary behavior and has become decent.” human." Macquarie backed up his words with deeds: he allocated plots of land to the liberated exiles, and also gave them some prisoners to help them in the field and with housework.

Over time, many hardworking and enterprising former convicts became wealthy and respected, and in some cases even famous people. For example, Samuel Lightfoot founded the first hospitals in Sydney and Hobart. William Redfern became a widely respected doctor, and Australians owe many architectural structures in Sydney and its environs to Francis Greenway.

Finally, in 1868, after 80 years, Australia ceased to be a place of exile. The modern society of this country bears no resemblance to those terrible years. Partially preserved convict settlements are of historical interest only. Less horrific evidence of the era also survives: bridges, buildings and churches built by convicts. Some of them are in excellent condition and are still in use today.

This, at first glance, strange, but often mentioned prefix to the name of the country sounds like a “prison continent.” However, in reality, how many countries are there in the world whose eleven prisons have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List? Or is there another state that has issued a collection of gold coins dedicated to the domestic penitentiary system, which was done by the Central Bank of the Commonwealth of Australia - that is the official name of the country, in 2012? And so we will take this series as a guide.

Prison numismatics

The history of prisons in Australia and Oceania began in the eighteenth century, when the first batch of convicts were landed on the shores of the continent in the Botany Bay area, who were forced to spend the rest of their lives away from their native Great Britain - laying roads in the bushes, building new berths in ports. An army of officials arrived with them and settled in the building of the farm, which has survived to this day under the name " an old house government" and minted on one of the coins.

So, the first prison camps appeared on the southern coast of Australia, which later became known as the state of South Wales, and convict coal mines on the island of Tasmania, also immortalized on a coin. Three more coins are dedicated to the government institution "Hyde Park Barracks", a convict prison in and Casnade women's prison. The five-dollar series was completed by Fremantle Prison, one of the very first prisons built to house especially dangerous criminals. Its history began in 1850, when 75 convicts on the ship Scindian, which arrived on the shores of the fifth continent, began construction that lasted nine years. After some time, again with the help of prisoners, a unique kilometer-long hydraulic structure was built under the prison - a system of tunnels with drainage tanks. And at the beginning of the twentieth century, when during the “gold rush” the number of serious crimes sharply increased, a block was added to the main citadel in which death rows were located and sentences were carried out. The last person to be hanged here was serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke, in 1964.

Unfortunately, the inattention of prison authorities to the conditions of detention of prisoners led to tragic consequences. In January 1988, when a fifty-degree heat wave hit Australia, due to the lack of air conditioning, several inmates of the cells died from heatstroke, and the rest started a riot, during the suppression of which several more prisoners died. Among other things, due to the fire that broke out, a significant part of the premises received significant damage.

After this incident, the authorities decided to transfer prisoners to the renovated and expanded Perth prison, and turn Fremantle into a museum. Now visitors can get acquainted with the history of the prison and its inhabitants, but also get married in the Anglican Church. The building of the former hospital houses a Children's Literary Club, an art college and an art gallery of paintings created by prisoners during art therapy sessions.

Pioneers in shackles

Strangely enough, it was not the most hardened criminals who were sent here first. It’s just that the prisons of Foggy Albion turned out to be so overcrowded that it was decided to send all prisoners there indiscriminately - it doesn’t matter whether he was a murderer or a petty swindler. But the fate for both was the same - shackles, an iron collar with spikes, punishment in the form of flogging or being stripped naked and chained to a pole under the scorching rays of the sun. However, those who could pay the overseers not only did not spend the night in miserable shacks, but according to the “introduction” of the authorities, those who were not fit for physical labor could spend all their time in good-quality houses built at their expense.

Female convicts, who were sent to a nearby weaving factory, also enjoyed relative privileges. However, some of them, selling their bodies, successfully married their regular clients, often fellow convicts.

How are we sitting?

The main prison in Australia today is rightly called the Parramatta prison in the state of New South Wales, where prisoners who have committed the most serious crimes serve their sentences. We will return to this list later, but for now it is worth noting that the inhabitants of this prison can afford things at public expense that are beyond the means of other ordinary taxpayers. For example, inserting an artificial jaw, having cosmetic surgery, or even changing your gender. The rules here were so liberal that the administration even allowed people to receive parcels with condoms for men and latex wipes for women, and even mobile phones. However, as it turned out in 2005, many prisoners, mainly from among the “godfathers,” tried to use mobile phones to lead their groups, even from behind bars. The police radio interception service identified 17 cases of such negotiations in just one month. After which the guards conducted wholesale searches, confiscating cell phones. The notified occupants of the cells tried to hide the tubes in different places. Men - by disguising them in pieces of bread, and women - by hiding them in... intimate places. It turned out to be difficult to combat the penetration of this infection into the cells, so the prison director ordered the installation of “jammers.” It is also curious that after the introduction of this ban in another prison, Rimutaka, the guards organized a business. Some sold the pipes to prisoners, while others confiscated them after a while and then sold them again.

It also turned out that during the Christmas period, numerous Santa Clauses brought various gifts to prisoners. During the operation carried out by the prison authorities, in just two weeks, dozens of bladed weapons were confiscated from the Father Frosts - knives, machetes, sharpeners and even (just in case) ladies' false acrylic nails.

Last year, it was proposed at government level to close this oldest penitentiary institution, founded in 1852, and turn it into hotel. But this year they decided to reconstruct another nineteenth-century prison, Pentbridge, into residential and shopping complexes.

By Russian standards, the food of prisoners can be equated to that of a sanatorium. Moreover, the menu claims to be international. Breakfast is typical English: scrambled eggs, oatmeal, bacon, sausages, buns, coffee, tea or juices. But for lunch, prison chefs can offer dishes from Malay, Japanese or Chinese cuisine. The majority of the diet consists of vegetables grown in prison farms. Agricultural production is especially developed in the Banbury prison, from where vegetables are supplied to other prisons. For example, in 2008, a pumpkin weighing 135 kilograms was grown here, which not only won a prize at a food exhibition, but was also used as the main ingredient for soup served for lunch to the residents of this correctional facility.

Without the right to pardon

We will not dwell in detail on the Australian judicial system for the reason that it can be described as “legal chaos”. Surprisingly, this civilized country still does not have a single criminal code. The only document that is valid in all states determines the degree of responsibility for committing state crimes. But at the county and district level, the main legal documents in accordance with which crimes are classified, be it murder or petty theft, are special acts. Yes, in addition, the legal proceedings themselves are extremely confusing: in the country there are county and district courts, magistrate (intermediate), small sessions courts, family courts - regarding divorces. In the state of Victoria there is even a special tribunal that deals with controversial issues arising during construction. Several states also have “industrial” tribunals that conduct arbitration in resolving conflicts between entrepreneurs. True, sentences for serious crimes come into force only after they are approved by the Supreme Court.

But the laws in the country are quite harsh. Russians today are waiting with interest to see what amendments deputies will make to laws that will tighten responsibility for automobile recklessness, including for driving vehicle drunk. This problem has already been solved in Australia. In October 2012, former kickboxing champion Gürkan Ozkon sped through a red traffic light in his Mazda racing car at 180 kilometers per hour in Melbourne. So, the district court did not accept as mitigating circumstances either the fact that the trip ended without serious consequences, or the fact that the Turk was an honored guest at the Australian Martial Arts Association. A traffic violator was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for dangerous driving. Moreover, parole can occur only after two years.

And there is a category of convicts who are not eligible for early release at all. These are, firstly, members of the Mark Hayden gang from the town of Snowtown, who are serving their sentences in a special unit of the Prarramatta prison. The leader and three of his accomplices were convicted of luring victims to a rented former bank building starting in the mid-1990s. After which representatives of the so-called sexual minorities were killed after torture, their bodies were dismembered, and the remains were preserved in barrels. So, according to the leader, they “cleansed the world of filth.” Hayden will spend the rest of his life behind bars; his friends received sentences ranging from 26 to 48 years in prison. Only with a note on the sentence “Without the right to pardon.”

Barra John Watts and his girlfriend Valli Fay Back are now in the same prison. These two slackers, who were engaged in fraud and theft, having smoked “weed”, decided to use seven-year-old Shiang King for their sexual pleasures. When they were traveling around Australia, small town Nuza they kidnapped the girl, and then, having abused her, Watts killed the baby.

Vincent Farrow also became a kind of prisoner of this prison. At the age of twenty, he organized a gang that was engaged in robberies and murders, but thanks to the efforts of lawyers, it was not possible to prove the young man’s guilt as the leader of a criminal group. But the judge still gave him a substantial sentence of 55 years in prison for... participation in a criminal act, which, through the efforts of the prosecution, was classified as gang rape. As the state's Attorney General Bob Dubus noted, this is the harshest sentence handed down in Australia for such an act.

But the most famous prisoner of the prison remains the great-grandson of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill - Nicholas Bartan, who, having settled in Australia, found nothing better than to start producing ecstasy drugs, supplying them not only to clubs and discos, but also to prisons. As a result of the police operation, his underground laboratory was liquidated. The extraction of 55 kilograms of raw materials for the production of the potion, stamping equipment and production manager, New Zealander Ross Woodrith. Both were sent to jail, and their former buyers were not depressed for long. After the supply channel for the potion was blocked, for example, in the same Parramatta prison where the accomplices ended up, prisoners began breeding poisonous black widow spiders, from the extract of which, diluted with water, they made a drug.

And in the Goulburn Prison prison, things got to the point where the prison administration, which was happy with the desire of its charges to work in greenhouses, was unpleasantly surprised to learn that the “agronomists” were growing hemp there, which was then processed into marijuana.

However, the prisoners did not grieve for long over the absence of “dope.” One of them came up with a brilliant plan. The fact is that one of Australia’s troubles is the rapidly expanding range of frogs, which devour beneficial insects, and which have been declared a total hunt. So, a smart prisoner suggested to the authorities that they start sewing leather shorts in the prison workshop. The go-ahead was received, the work began to boil, but the final product was in no hurry to appear. It turned out that from the skin of a poisonous amphibian, craftsmen brewed a drug that was in no way inferior in quality to the drug LSD.

Beware, Al-Qaeda!

The psychosis that gripped Europe and the United States in connection with the activities of terrorist organizations did not bypass Australia. The authorities even designated the Barwon prison near Melbourne to hold such terrorists. For example, Jack Roche, a British citizen, spent nine children there. An Englishman who converted to Islam was accused of trying to organize a terrorist attack at the Israeli embassy. During his arrest, he himself admitted that he had undergone training in one of the al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan and even met with bin Laden.

However, after serving his sentence, it was decided to release him early on the condition that Jack would regularly report to the police station to register, and that his telephone and Internet communications would be monitored by Australian counterintelligence. Another “Australian Islamist,” taxi driver Joseph Thomson, was much less fortunate. He was sentenced to 25 years for participation in preparing an explosion at a nuclear power plant. He was unable to serve his entire sentence because in April 2006 he was beaten to death by fellow inmates.

By the way, the most extravagant convict committed the crime from this prison. Robert Cole, in order to gain freedom, made a hole in the wall, but due to his fullness he could not squeeze through it. And then he went on a diet. After several months of fasting, he lost 14 kilograms, and then carried out his planned escape.

Sergey Uranov
Based on newspaper materials
"Behind Bars" (No. 5 2013)

Dreaming about distant countries is common for children and adults. But this is perhaps the most amazing country. A country. Island. Continent. And all this is about Australia! South of Indonesia, between Indian Ocean And Southern part Quiet is this smallest continent on globe. When talking about this wonderful part of our planet, we will often use superlatives and the word “most”.


The flattest state in the world. The landforms in this part of the earth are quite shallow. There are no high mountains and very few rivers here. Perhaps the only big river is the Murray-Darling. Australia is the driest continent inhabited by humans. No more than 500 mm of precipitation per year falls on its deserts, semi-deserts of the Center and West and the jungles of the eastern and southeastern coasts. The coast cannot boast of a large number of bays and coves, because... coastline pretty smooth. The largest bays are the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Great Australian Bight.


Important physical characteristics of the island also include the Great barrier reef– coral reef is the longest in the world. Its length is 2300 km and it is visible from space.








Beautiful cities are located along the ocean coast, numerous huge sandy beaches. In winter there is a huge amount of snow in the mountains, such as Snowy mountains or the Australian Alps. Sometimes - more than in the entire mountainous Switzerland.
The cleanest air in the world is in Tasmania, Australia. Most White sand at Hyams Beach, located on the shores of Jersey Bay. It was even included in the Guinness Book of Records.

Australia is the oldest continent, but the youngest state. And yet...it has no land borders with any country. Leading in literacy rates, Australia is one of the ten countries in the world with the highest standard of living. Outstripped such a monster as South America for diamond mining. After opening in 1979 diamond vein in Western Australia, it now ranks first in the world in the production of these precious stones. The country's currency is the Australian dollar, which, by the way, is made of plastic.

The largest city in this country is Sydney (population: 4 million people). The capital Canberra is not so crowded - its population is 300 thousand people. But this is where the largest building in the southern hemisphere is located. This is the magnificent Australian Parliament building.


The Sydney Opera House is an architectural marvel, built in 1960. Think about it, it has 1000 halls! Accommodates 5000 people! And the roof of this grandiose structure weighs 161 tons.


Another monumental structure is the largest arched bridge in Sydney Harbor Bridge. And the Sydney Television Tower is the tallest in the southern hemisphere.

Making up 1% of the world's population, 88% of Australians live in cities. Moreover, literally a quarter of the population of this continent was born outside its borders. And 32% of women and 34% of men have never been engaged. 2.5 people per 1 sq. km is the population density of this country, whose area is comparable to populous Europe.

Once upon a time - the most big prison- a former British penal colony...now a continent with the lowest crime rate on the globe. Although over the past 200 years, a total of 160 thousand prisoners have been exiled to this remote continent. The indigenous tribes (aboriginals) living in “New South Wales” (as Australia was called in those days) spoke 200 languages ​​and dialects. Now they make up only 1.5% of the population and eke out a miserable, beggarly existence. But the other part of the population is not shy about their spending, for example when playing poker. 20% of the money lost worldwide in this insanely gambling game comes from residents of this country.

The world's largest pasture (in Australia it is called a ranch) is comparable to the territory of a European country such as Belgium. The most popular pets are sheep. And if the population of these animals is 150 million, then, for comparison, the population of the continent is 20 million people. In this amazing country there are 16 times more rabbits than people. There they are classified as pests. There are a lot of kangaroos, which are now even bred on ranches.

Marsupials living in Australia, like many millions of years ago, are not the only rare species of the animal world. IN national parks and reserves of the continent, such as Buffalo, Kosciuszko, South West, etc., the emu, kangaroo, kookaburra, koala, various parrots, cockatoo, wild dog Dingo, platypus and echidna, snakes (among them there are many poisonous ones) feel great .



Penguins and seals swim from Antarctica to the southern coast of the continent. There are many types of insects in this country: 4000 species of ants, 350 termites, 6000 flies, 1500 spiders.
©Inga Korneshova article written specifically for the site
Since this continent is located in the southern hemisphere, when we have winter there is summer heat and beach season. And even the disk of the moon on this “island-continent” is turned upside down.

Once a huge prison, Australia now ranks first in the world's happiness rankings.

Story modern Australia began in 1606, when the reckless Dutch captain Janszoon landed on an unknown land and named it “New Zealand” - in honor of the Dutch province.

Here this name did not take root, but later it went to the islands east of Australia. The Dutch didn’t take root either: local population met them with hostility, several sailors died. Having given the order to raise the anchors, the captain wrote in the ship's log: “Nothing good can be done there.”

This conclusion was confirmed by his compatriot Captain Karstenz: “These shores are unsuitable for life, they are inhabited by poor and pitiful creatures.”

The largest prison in the world

Well, the Dutch have always been good sailors, but absolutely no warriors. The British are a different matter. James Cook was sent to extend the power of the crown to unknown lands- he spread it. With fire and sword, the English colonists won food and water for themselves on the Australian coast. The Dutch probably saw this only as confirmation of Captain Janszoon's words.

In those years it already became clear that Great Britain had taken a bite out of more land than I could actually master. The only use that has been found for Australia is a beautiful prison, well isolated from civilization (thousands of miles of water).

Already 18 years after Cook’s first visit, those who would later be delicately called “stowaways on Her Majesty’s ships”—convicts—landed ashore. Several tens of thousands of embittered people, often seriously ill, dying at hard labor, expelling the Aborigines and infecting them with diseases unknown in Australia - became the basis of the future of Australian society.

FOR REFERENCE : Now, in the 10s of the 21st century, Australia ranks first in the world happiness rating Better Life Index from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. GDP per capita is off the charts for 45 thousand dollars - a place in the world's top ten, from big countries Only the USA is ahead. 84% of Australians say they experience positive emotions “much more often” than negative ones.

How the hell did they do this?

At one time, Australia (like New Zealand) began to rise on gold and wool. Convicts began raising sheep, and later it literally became a national occupation (“Australia rides a sheep”) and until the end of World War II provided the main influx of funds into the country. Suffice it to say that in the 1880s, a unique “dog fence” was built here, more than 5 thousand kilometers long (more than enough to block off the European part of Russia from north to south), protecting pastures from dingoes.

Like New Zealand, Australia experienced a gold boom in the 1870s. But if easily accessible deposits quickly depleted, then in general Australian reserves have not yet become depleted. This is a real world pantry: almost the entire periodic table is mined here.

Australia secured its de facto independence from the British crown thanks to... meat freezing technology. After the opportunity arose to export not only wool, but also other parts of sheep, a country with a well-developed agriculture by that time could simply ignore London. And the British were wise enough not to start a military operation far away: the smell of the First World War was already in the air.

And they had little chance of winning. After all, it was the peculiar contingent of the first settlers that played a role in the success of Australia. Courage, endurance, perseverance, ability for physical labor were originally Australian trump cards over pampered Europe.

There was no happiness, but the war helped

And then the world wars thundered, which greatly enriched Australia, which was far from conflicts, both with an increased demand for raw materials and with human capital: thousands of qualified specialists left here from mobilization, battles, and devastation.

It must be said that not everyone was accepted: until the 1970s, the concept of “White Australia” dominated, and, say, Asians were actually denied entry. Only when the level of education in Asia rose to a more or less decent level was the ban lifted - and now people from China, Indochina, and India play an important role in the country.

Rich mineral resources, wonderful climate south coast, multiplied by the stern Protestant ethic (its traces can still be traced in the country, although the majority of its inhabitants have long been no longer religious), helped make a prosperous land out of an inhospitable continent. There are quite a lot of problems in Australia, as elsewhere - now, let’s say, it’s the opposition to Muslim expansion (more precisely, the way of life that migrants bring with them), but it’s hard to doubt that Australians will cope with this scourge. This is not Europe, everything is more serious and simpler here.