What if? A different Australia if all statehood proposals since 1838 had succeeded

 

Map created by Sasha Trubetskoy

The map above shows what Australia might have looked like if all statehood proposals had succeeded.

Since 1838 and right up to 2003, there have been proposals for different divisions (States) of the Australian continent and nearby neighbours. We are used to seeing Australia as 6 States and 8 Territories (yes, 8, see below) but Australia could have 24 states if the proposal/submissions for Australian Statehood were successful. For example, Australia could have included New Zealand (split into North and South islands), Fiji, New Hebrides, East Timor, and the states of Papua and New Guinea. For an interesting summary of these proposals go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_new_Australian_states. 

The creator of the 24 States of Australia map, Sasha Trubetskoy, has also calculated the relative size and economic importance of each proposed state in 2014. Go to https://brilliantmaps.com/24-states-of-australia/ to see this data. I suggest, the Pilbara State would be rather wealthy by this stage as a result of mineral wealth.

This would be a great spatial what if? exercise for a geography class to show that what we see now may not have been the case if things happened differently. This example also highlights the entwinement of history, geography and civics when we look at a map.  It may seem rather far-fetched to think of such a patchwork of states on the Australian continent and neighbouring countries but we only have to look at Europe to see that Statehood is not about size. I am sure the history of Australia would have been very different and the culture much more varied if Australia had become a patch quilt of States rather than a continent with huge divisions as history and geography has determined.  

** By the 8 Territories of Australia in 2024 are:

Internal territories:

Australian Capital Territory

Northern Territory

Jervis Bay Territory

External territories

Norfolk Island

Christmas Island

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Australian Antarctic Territory

Coral Sea Islands

Ashmore and Cartier Islands

Heard Island and McDonald Islands

A case study of change and why - let's drink to some geographical analysis!

Map created by Näytä Data

The map above shows how alcoholic drink preferences in Europe are not static. Between 1990 and 2015 several countries switched their preferred alcoholic beverage, most notably Russia and Eastern Europe moving from spirits to beer.

Everything is subject to change over time, alcohol preference is no exception. The above maps are a very relatable and an interesting example of change over a relatively short term. The maps shows what has changed (or not change) in relation to alcohol preference across Europe from 1990 to 2015. Beyond the description of change, the geographical question is what has driven and caused this change. This is a great conversation and an invitation to seek other maps to help explain the change or not the change. For example, economic maps, demographic maps, climate maps, migration maps (and many others) may help explain the change but it could just be that change happens and cannot be explained. As geographers, we are always looking for the reasons for change in cultural, economic, political and environmental terms via the spatial representation of maps. Do you think we would see a similar change across the States of Australia?  

Go to https://brilliantmaps.com/preferred-alcohol-1990-vs-2015/ for an analysis of what the maps show - not why the change or not the change occurs across space.

A great starting point for a discussion on global perception of democracy

              

Email contact:

malcolm.mcinerney@unisa.edu.au

HaSS links

HaSS Association Australia

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geography Teachers Association of South Australia

History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia
Humsteach
GeogSpace
Geogaction

People don't think their countries are very democratic - even in democracies

The map above shows how democratic they feel their government and country to be (the % that say that their country is currently democratic). What a great starting point to start teaching about Global democracy and democratic perceptions of people around the world. 

The data comes from the Democracy Perception Index, and is not an objective measure of democracy but a subjective measure of how democratic they perceive their country as being.

Only about half the world (58%) says their country is democratic. Greece is considered the least democratic by its people (43%) out of all countries labelled as “free” democracies by Freedom House.

Just a random interesting map re: dreams around the world ... or does it tell us more

Email contact:

malcolm.mcinerney@unisa.edu.au

HaSS links

HaSS Association Australia

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geography Teachers Association of South Australia

History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia
Humsteach
GeogSpace
Geogaction

Mapping dream searches

The map above shows the most frequently searched dreams by country, categorized into themes like The Human Body, Animals & Nature, Love & Relationships, Money & Objects, Family, and Death. What does it tell us about what is happening in different countries. Yes, geography via random maps. To create this map, Google search data for every country was entered in a spatial data base.

For example, snakes are the most common dream in many countries worldwide. Teeth falling out is a significant dream theme in North America and parts of Europe.  Dreams related to Marriage and Pregnancy are also prevalent in various regions.

Each country is color-coded based on the theme of its most common dream.

For more information about this map go to https://brilliantmaps.com/the-most-common-dreams-by-country/ and watch the video.

Mapping the UK election in 2024

 

Some thematic maps of the 2024 UK election - published in September 2024.

Email contact:

malcolm.mcinerney@unisa.edu.au

HaSS links

HaSS Association Australia

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geography Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia
Humsteach
GeogSpace
Geogaction

Thematic mapping of different types is a powerful way to display election data for analysis. At the last ESRI user conference in San Diego in July 2024, different ways to map the results of the last U.K. parliamentary election were shown. In particular, how the thematic mapping changed from the previous election. The following posts discuss how each presenter went about their mapping tasks: 

Kenneth Field at https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/mapping/a-melange-of-maps/ and John Nelson at https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/mapping/how-to-make-this-thematic-map-and-stuff/

Some fantastic examples of authentic and useful thematic mapping. We look forward to see similar maps for the next Federal election in Australia in 2025 (to be held  on or before 27 September 2025). Keep posted - there should be some great data to map after the election.

The power of maps to make sense of the world - or just question why!

 

The map above shows where Twitter (aka X) is blocked or restricted. 

Email contact:

malcolm.mcinerney@unisa.edu.au

HaSS links

HaSS Association Australia

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geography Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia
Humsteach
GeogSpace
Geogaction

Check out the new HaSS Association Australia at https://hassaa.org.au/

Hi all!

I have been busy for the past 6 years and neglected the Spatialworlds blog - sorry about that but life got in the way! Here is the start of the blog again, now that I am teaching geography at Uni SA in Adelaide. Time to get into all things geographical and spatial again.

With the discussion on the role of social media in our society, I thought this map showing where Twitter (X) is blocked is a great starting point to discuss freedom of information and the role of governments in the HaSS classroom.

Posts such as this one will be brief and provide just one or two examples of resources. A great site to get such maps is Brilliant maps at https://brilliantmaps.com/ There are maps of everything on this site, some you really scratch your head about why they have made them, i.e. the map below on preferred sauce on chips in the UK  is such an example of map porn! I am sure the creative HaSS teacher can find a purpose for such a map - even if just to say "it is just interesting and why is there such a range of sauce use across space?"

I am looking forward to share my love of geography with you again over coming years. I am afraid many of the links on previous Spatialworlds blogs do not work now - I hope these new ones make up for that!

New Directions in Humanities Conference in Philadelphia

Image above: 4th July celebrations in Philadelphia.

The focus of the workshop at the Humanities conference at Pennsylvania University


This year I was lucky enough to attend and present at the New Directions in Humanities Conference in Philadelphia from 5-7 July. My workshop explored the distinction between the so called "vocabulary" of subjects such as history, geography, economics, and civics and the "grammar" of these humanities subjects. A conversation was initiated to explore the idea that the most important aspect of humanities education is the development of conceptual thinking rather than just learning content and skills. It was suggested that the concepts developed in the Humanities curriculum in the new Australian Curriculum provide a conceptual lens for teachers and students to make sense of their world and to think in a particular way in the Humanities classroom. The workshop initially demonstrated the nature of the concepts in the Australian Humanities Curriculum and provided practical illustrations that could be used in the classroom. The majority of the workshop involved participants in a simulation activity developed to demonstrate how student conceptual thinking can be encouraged and developed when studying the myriad of topics encountered in the humanities curriculum. 
The point was made that considerable professional learning is being conducted in Australia using this workshop simulation to move teachers beyond the "vocabulary" of humanities and to use conceptual thinking to develop a high degree of "meaning making" when studying humanities in the classroom. 

New Directions in Humanities presentation

Email contact:

malcolm.mcinerney@unisa.edu.au

Here are some of the Australian Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) resources and links I profiled at the conference.

HaSS links
HaSS Association Australia

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
Geography Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia
Humsteach
GeogSpace
Geogaction



* The Australian Curriculum Portal

* GeogSpace: the resource from AGTA and Education Services Australia (ESA) to support the Australian Curriculum: Geography 

 * South Australian Parliament teaching resources

* Parliamentary Education Office resources

* A primary school resource from Parafield Gardens Primary School for Civics and Citizenship

* A primary school resource from Parafield Gardens Primary School for Economics and Business

* Department for Education Australian Curriculum: HASS resources 

The Working with curriculum' resource has been designed  to support the teaching and learning of the Australian Curriculum: HASS.

* The Virtual War Memorial

A great resource for commemoration activities, historical research and work on Australian identity in the Civics and Citizenship curriculum.

 
* South Australian Aboriginal Cultural Studies Curriculum
http://dlb.sa.edu.au/tlsmoodle/enrol/index.php?id=83
Click on ACS Aboriginal Cultural Studies course, log on as a Guest and then in the next screen,enter password in reverse.

* Outreach Education

The Australian experience in South Africa

*Email contact:

malcolm.mcinerney@unisa.edu.au

HaSS links

HaSS Association Australia

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geography Teachers Association of South Australia

History Teachers Association of South Australia
History Teachers Association of Australia
Humsteach
GeogSpace
Geogaction

SA Geography Teachers Conference in Johannesburg

I am attending the South African Geography Teachers Association Conference in Johannesburg this week. Here are some resources for the participants. 

Links to the PowerPoints for the SAGTA/ GeoforAll conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, June 2017

* Keynote presentations: GIS implementation in Australia and developing the Spatial Citizen
* Workshop: Taking on the spatial technology learning curve

Some useful links

* GeogSpace: the resource from AGTA and Education Services Australia (ESA) to support the Australian Curriculum: Geography

* Spatialworlds blogspot: 350 postings on everything you wanted to know about geography but to afraid to ask!

 
*The fantastic Scoop.it resource with thousands of Internet sites related to geography in schools
* Geographical thinking Scoop.it
* Spatial literacy Scoop.it
* Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it
* Scoop.it sites from Seth Dixon
* GTAV Australian Curriculum Scoop.it on each year level

BBC physical geography site

CK site for physical geography.

GIS Zone: A great site to start using spatial technology.

Map Zone: An excellent basic mapping site

*  Mick Law's Spatial Educators Tool Kit resource

 

* ACARA Introduction on Australian Curriculum: Geography    

Getting out and about with spatial technologies - from Victoria

Image above: The Spatial Technologies and Fieldwork from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).

Related links to Spatialworlds
GeogSplace (a teaching blog for Year 12 geography)
Geogaction (geography professional learning blog)
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace
Australian Geography Teachers' Association website

Geographical thinking Scoop.it

Spatial literacy Scoop.it

History and geography Scoop.it

Spatial Education and technology Scoop.it
Just real interesting Scoop.it

Follow Spatialworlds on Twitter

Email contact:

manning@chariot.net.au

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority Spatial Technology Resources

This really useful spatial technology and fieldwork resource is the product of a 2015 VCAA pilot project that trialed evidence-based practice of digital learning through the use of personal mobile devices and spatial technologies. Teachers and students from two Victorian schools, Werribee Secondary College and Bayside P-12 College participated in the pilot.

The site contains an application guide, and cases studies on Levels 7-8 Landforms and Landscapes and Levels 9-10 Geographies of Interconnections.

The case studies show how students used their personal mobile devices in the field with free apps utilising global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers, to collect their fieldwork data. This became the basis for post-fieldwork analysis tasks using cloud-based data sharing and mapping using a basic Geographic Information System (GIS).

Thanks to Stephen Matthews for this information - a great Australian based resource Stephen, congratulations.