| Show australians much like folks back home americans discover 4 servicemen mingle with aussien in fun sports and worship by ELLIOTT PINE released by western newspaper union about the time the jamestown settlers were setting sail for virginia a spanish navigator was exploring the strait bearing his name that separates new guinea from australia the sea captain was torres and the year 1606 this was the beginning of definite knowledge of the great island known as australia in 1942 this strange land was rediscovered by men stemming from those jamestown colonists an expeditionary force of the U S army until the war with japan broke americans knew little and probably cared less about australia As one writer put it A vast bond of ignorance united americans am and australians tra lians but war has changed all that now many thousands of S soldiers ol 01 diers from the states hav emet thousands of australians have eaten at their tables drunk in their public bouses danced and played in their comforts USO to us and worshiped in their churches the thea aus sies turned out to be very much like the folks back home this is not remarkable after all for australians are largely of british stock english scotch irish welsh with smaller numbers of other peoples represented they are generally tall sturdy independent people much like americans of the western states with much of the same forthrightness and friend friendliness lines ss characteristic of a people close to pioneer days while most of the australians live in cities on the coasts they are a rugged outdoorsy outdoor sy folk for instance in their army training camps there are no cots provided for enlisted men they sleep on the ground I 1 roughing it is a sort of fetish partly making a virtue of necessity partly an inheritance from tougher days when survival depended on endurance appear old fashioned while australian cities like melbourne sydney brisbane and adelaide are modern enough smaller places appear a bit old fashioned to american eyes the architecture belongs 0 to a generation or more ago su such ch comforts as central heating plants and electric refrigerators are not so common as in the states because the climate is mild they get along without much heating beating but the summers are warmer too so the absence absence of refrigeration is surprising considering that the australians are a mechanically minded and practical people at all events the furnishings Is nish ings and equipment of the homes look pretty crude to americans but the australian tells himself and probably the nearest yank that he just cant be bothered with too much comfort the aussien were amazed and perhaps a bit envious when they saw the army equipment that came with the U S first contingent all F 16 A A baby wallaby which is a small species of kangaroo is the pet of pat albert of milwaukee wis he calls it jasperso Jas dempsey ap the gadgets from kitchen mixing machines to movie projectors tor for an army on war duty if this an american army in the field takes along what must the civilians at home have reflected the natives the farms down under dont measure up so well beside american standards either barns and other buildings haaf have a patchy ramshackle appearance in in sorry contrast to the trim handlo handsome me appearance of everything ei ery thing on many american farms all this is explained perhaps not too convincingly by the statement that australians have had only about half as long to conquer their country as we have had here besides that As might be expected many american servicemen found their hearts desire in australia one soldier bierwas was married two weeks after he landed to i a girl he met on the docks somewhat more formal was this wedding in our lady of lourdes church in arma armadale ale australia in which chief petty officer lowell lowall rudy and miss alice drew were united attendants are petty officer waldo gustafson also of the 17 S navy and miss bliss lita lila drew bridesmaid bridei bridesmaid maid the soil and climate are harder to contend with than in most of the united states an arid country most of the big island is desert and poor scrubby grazing land out of square miles almost exactly the size of continental cont mental united states over a million miles is real desert stone and sand and salt flat that is entirely out of the question for any purpose at present another million miles grows scanty vegetation sufficient to support the hardy sheep for which the nation is famous the really good farm land comprises an area about the size of the three states of the pacific coast oregon washington and california only one region in the south is tropical enough to grow bananas pineapples and such exotic plants early settlers found that their wheat dried out and died in the heavy reddish soil but a new hard variety called Federi federation tion is resistant to drouth and rust and ls is yielding well the acreage of wheat 1 I 1 i I 1 I 1 ff y P e t roughing it seems to be a lark for these two american army nurses who are stationed somewhere in australia frances cox is getting a shampoo from a bucket of 0 cold water with the assistance si of lily fucci has been almost doubled by the invention of the Stump jump plow adapted to the rough bush country the manpower shortage is even more severe on australian than american farms since men are in the armed forces and drain on the male population equivalent to an american military mobilization of I 1 0 o urs ours is actually about now another men are working in factories as are many thousands of women to make matters worse australian farms are not as highly mechanized as are american so manpower does not go 90 as far for these reasons food is a bit scanty vegetables that require a lot of hand cultivation are scarce even potatoes are hard to get and ar are largely requisitioned for troops oranges are another thing civilians rarely see jams and jellies are real luxuries too give their steaks to yanks As part of the reciprocal lend lease program australia is trying to provide food for american troops and is doing a successful job at it but the home folks have to pull in their belts a bit in meat for instance civilians have had to reduce their consumption by two thirds they used to eat pounds a year U S consumption is 95 pounds since australia is a meat exporting country in normal times it can be inferred how much of a pinch the warlis waris putting on the livestock industry added to their other difficulties was a beet beef from the americans that they were getting too much mutton and not enough beef so the Australian home folks had to forego their steaks almost entirely and turn them over to the yanks the equivalent of victory gardens are austerity gardens in australia ia these are not only small plots in in vacant land but window boxes and tubs the need for small vegetables is real enough for many truck farms are not in production this year canned goods have disappeared from the markets austerity is the name for getting along without a lot of things ue like spices tea malted milk chocolate candy and so on the gasoline allowance is four gallons a month cigarettes are limited to a pack a day 10 in a pack matches are very scarce laundry and dry cleaning services are available only once in two weeks traveling is restricted horse racing is closed down liquor is scarce clothes have to be made over repaired and made to last with the war right at their back doors the australians are taking I 1 these privations in stride without much complaint a thuu tough breed after all on the social side the americans and australians get along pretty well considering the self salt esteem and pugnacity on both sides after the ane yanks and aussien had fought together a few times the bond of battles shared united the comrades in arms americans were instructed beforehand in getting along and behaving nicely and it appears that most mos t of them are doing so the australians tr tra lians allans who are grateful for the timely succor are acting as hosts and allies should there is of course some grumbling among the aussien about the yanks snatching away their girls the famous american line goes over pretty well too and the certain awe that most foreigners feel toward americans helps to make an impression then the higher pay scale of the U S army gives our men more spending money and they probably show the girls a better time than the native boys do australian girls say that americans treat them as equals and are more courteous than their own men folks who are following traditional behavior that is out of date in america in new zealand where the situa tion parallels that in australia pretty closely a member of the parliament i introduced a resolution asking the U S army to reduce the pay of our soldiers because the local chappies were being put to shame sham e when it came to free spending nothing came of it but it shows how some of them feel love comes to U S soldiers many americans have found romance in the big island only lately australian women brides and finances of american soldiers landed in san francisco and began to adjust themselves to their new home land many other brides are staying over there until the war ends some soldiers plan to remain in australia prime minister curtin recently stated that he wished that as many as americans would settle in his country it is not reported how the average australian fellow feels about this proposition until lately australia frontier countries had a large preponderance of males how kindly the aussien take to additional competition for their women and their jobs is not revealed australian girls are rather bigger than american girls our soldiers say they are athletic and healthy and interested in sports such as swimming and tennis their endurance on the dance floor is a marvel to husky americans who are often hard put to keep up they want to learn leam the latest american steps they enjoy american slang on the other hand there is considerable sid erable british conservatism in social life throughout australia many forms of amusements are closed on sunday the churches exert more influence there than many american communities only a few months ago for instance clergymen of all denominations were protesting against hasty marriages between americans and australian girls the remonstrance carried considerable weight while australians play ov our brand of baseball they do so keep in condition for football in the off season and football to them is a special game of their own unlike american football or english rugby it is a fast game with much kicking leaping and running eighteen men play on each side cricket is the national game as in other british countries americans found it is not as slow as they had been led to believe tennis and golf are popular horse racing used to be a national passion but wartime stringencies have closed most tracks the future how much greater australia can become depends on many factors the great areas of desert and semiarid land is unfavorable to extension of agriculture without great irrigation projects forest resources are inadequate for much lumbering or papermaking paper making the mineral resources have not been ex exploited very much yet and off offer er con considerable sidera promise there is a good deal of manufacturing but the heavy industries need further development unless the population increases c considerably the commonwealth cannot expect to become a great nation postwar years may see considerable sid erable migration to this country still a frontier land with reaal real opportunities tuni ties perhaps many eu europeans will try their luck there enough american soldiers may decide to settle there to set the pace and to attract other americans in years to come on the other hand australia may not be much more interesting to most people after the war than it was before V W tw I 1 |
