OT: Australia Day

[Legbreaker]

Ah, better make that 1788 Targan, otherwise we had the bicentenial a decade too late!



I believe there are some oil reserves on land, however I can't think of any actual wells in use. We do have a number of offshore platforms, mainly up off the Western Australian coast between us and Timor.

We also have the bulk of the worlds Uranium.....

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Ah, better make that 1788 Targan, otherwise we had the bicentenial a decade too late!

Oops. Typo

[Cdnwolf]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

.

We also have the bulk of the worlds Uranium.....

Ummmm second place for the Uranium...

The world's top uranium producers are Canada (28% of world production) and Australia (23%).

Its more like the July 1'st Holiday in Canada when it proclaimed a country...

(And yes we have oil and lots of other minerals that our southern aggressive neighbor would love to steal... )

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

Ummmm second place for the Uranium...



Its more like the July 1'st Holiday in Canada when it proclaimed a country...

(And yes we have oil and lots of other minerals that our southern aggressive neighbor would love to steal... )

better get some wmd`s before they come and grab everything

I hear they envy your bacon ..

[Legbreaker]

Canada might produce more, but I think Australia's reserves are greater, around double the next best contender - Kazakhstan. Canada is a poor 5th on the list behind Russia and South Africa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_reserves
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf48.html

Australia is also the most efficient producer of sugar cane, a resource even more readily convertable to alcohol production than grain.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

James Cook was a Lieutenant when he charted the east coast of Australia in 1770. Upon his return to Britain he was promoted to Commander and later embarked on a second voyage. Upon completion of the second voyage he was promoted to Captain.
While the Dutch sighted Australia decades before the British (as early as 1606), there is also circumstantial evidence to suggest the Portuguese sighted the continent in the 1500s. They were trading in Timor which lies less than 700km NW of Australia and actively patrolling the region to prevent Spanish ships trading in the area. Even the Spanish were lured 'down under' with the promises of discovering some 'unknown southern land' and were the first Europeans to discover Vanuatu.

As for uranium, Cdnwolf is quite right, Canada is the largest producer and exporter of uranium in the 2000s, although Kazakhstan is likely to claim the title by 2010. However Australia does have the largest currently known uranium deposits with 24% of the world's uranium reserves.

There is some oil & gas production on mainland Australia, mostly in the Cooper Basin. The Basin stretches between South Australia and Queensland but the amount available is minor in comparison to offshore sites. However it has also been found to be a potential source of geothermal energy with oil drilling having been responsible for the discovery of this information.
South Australia is sparsely populated and the biggest oil production facility is located in Moomba in the more desolate part of that state. Control would be difficult simply because all food, water and spares would have to be trucked in to the site and although a sealed landing strip is available, whose going to have the avgas to fly supplies in/out of the town?
The temperature sits around 38C in summer and 20C in winter and there is minimal rainfall during the year. While oil and gas pipelines do transport those products to cities such as Sydney, patrolling over 1000km of pipeline would also provide massive challenges in the T2k setting.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

James Cook was a Lieutenant when he charted the east coast of Australia in 1770. Upon his return to Britain he was promoted to Commander and later embarked on a second voyage. Upon completion of the second voyage he was promoted to Captain.

Heh heh. Yes, you're absolutely right. Still, although Lieutenant was his Royal Navy rank, as the master of his vessel it is technically permissible to refer to him as the ship's captain *desperate pedantic backpeddle on my part*

[Mohoender]

Originally Posted by Targan

Heh heh. Yes, you're absolutely right. Still, although Lieutenant was his Royal Navy rank, as the master of his vessel it is technically permissible to refer to him as the ship's captain *desperate pedantic backpeddle on my part*

No no. Absolutely right. Can't you also refer to him as the commander or is it equally confusing?

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

Ummmm second place for the Uranium...

You're talking about production. I think Leg was talking about reserves (as in "we have" rather than "we produce"). Estimates vary but some figures suggest that Australia may have greater exploitable uranium reserves than anywhere else.

Edit: Just read Leg and SSC's posts where they say what I just said.

[Mohoender]

Then, have a happy Australian day. And yes totally ignored this. Thanks for the short explanation it was very interesting.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

Its more like the July 1'st Holiday in Canada when it proclaimed a country...

That would be January 1 for us (Australia became an independent nation on January 1st 1901). Which makes it a bit difficult for us to have a special public holiday to mark the aniversary as January 1 is already a public holiday for obvious reasons.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

We also have the bulk of the worlds Uranium.....

I'll have to check the satellite photos, and see if Australia glows in the dark.