Do you guys ever remember learning about Australia or Oceania as a whole?

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AdotCanada@reddit

i did hear about australia but not oceania when i did passport in elementary

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erin_burr@reddit

Waltzing Matilda was a songs we learned in elementary school music class.

In middle and high school there was some talk of the Australia-US relationship as one of our allies.

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Single-Tangerine9992@reddit

I learned the profane version of waltzing Matilda at my school in NZ

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

I am worried about whatever next line ends in “ass”

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Single-Tangerine9992@reddit

Does that mean you want to know the lines or not?

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Single-Tangerine9992@reddit

Waltzing Matilda waltzing Matilda Lying on the grass With a dagger up her arse Along came granny And cut off her fanny And that was the end of Matilda

It is important to note that fanny refers to the vagina in Australia and New Zealand. I've spent too much of my childhood thinking about how one can be cut off.

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

Does grass and arse rhyme in Australian?

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Single-Tangerine9992@reddit

Well it's from British English, that's why we spell it 'a r s e'

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

That doesn’t answer my question. It’s in a poem meant to rhyme so I wondered how it sounds. Awkward or rhyme like

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Sevuhrow@reddit

A lot of Australian/British English speakers say "arse" with a soft R, and they say "grass" more like "graahs," so it would rhyme.

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thatsad_guy@reddit

We learned about how Australia started as a country and the emu war, but nothing much beyond that.

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Sevuhrow@reddit

Learning that is probably more than most schools

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mattpeloquin@reddit

I learned Oceania as a continent that included AU and NZ.

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djninjacat11649@reddit

There was a little bit about like, Polynesian exploration and such but not really no

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TheNerdofLife@reddit

I was taught the seven continents song in kindergarten

🎵Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia, Antarctica, and Eurrrrrrrrope 🎵

Fortunately, I've remembered all 7 continents since then as I should. Throughout my childhood, I learn things about Australia through learning about things in nature, biological sciences, or landmarks. In high school, I learned about world history and Australian and Oceanic events were mentioned at some point. Australia and Oceania as a whole aren't emphasized enough, unfortunately.

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Rogerdodger1946@reddit

I was a ham radio operator at age 11. I learned about a lot of countries are areas by talking to them. I was also a voracious National Geographic reader and loved the maps.

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Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit

For context, 40 something raised in upstate NY. I wasn't taught shit about Australia. Geography yeah, but anything pertaining to Oceana, unfortunately no.

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

Has it affected your day to day life to not have been taught specifics about oceana in school?

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Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit

No, not necessarily, but as a curious person I kinda wish I was taught a bit more. But I guess you can say that about many subjects that they breezed through.

This was pre Wikipedia, although that argument falls apart because there was always the library.

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

I am a firm believer that school should teach you how to learn. Not necessarily teach you everything.

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Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit

That's a really great point actually.

If only...

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

That’s why we homeschooled (then he chose public high school for the robotics team opportunity)

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Pazguzhzuhacijz@reddit

I remember briefly learning about the rainbow serpent and native mythology. Otherwise we learned little.

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Deep_Alps7150@reddit

7th grade social studies had a chapter about Australia but I hardly remember anything

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InevitableRhubarb232@reddit

We learned about continent and the reef and the general idea of penal colony. But honestly there is little information about oceana that affects my daily life. Perhaps if I studied something else it may be more relevant but there’s only so much info one can teach and specific about oceana aren’t really important to northerners in the scheme of things.

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Ecks54@reddit

I honestly don't recall Australia or Australian history being part of any curriculum (as an American student) in any of my classes.

We did learn (if only tangentially) that Australian forces fought in both world wars on the side of the British (and especially when we studied WW1 and the Gallipoli campaign) but not really any specifics about the history of Australia much beyond "they were part of the British Empire, and used as a penal colony for a while."

To be fair, most American history/geography curricula focus on American history or European history. Barely any of Asian history, and almost none on Africa outside of the slave trade, and Ancient Egypt.

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Legitimate_Error_550@reddit

Only that it's at war with Eur-asia... or was it EastAsia ?

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IainwithanI@reddit

Honestly I haven’t heard anything about that war in 41 years.

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Zillajami-Fnaffan2@reddit

I learned that Australia is a continent. Also learned about the coral reef there (it was part of my marine science class lol)

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Bright_Ices@reddit

Take a bow.

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DerPanzerknacker@reddit

Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

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WarrenMulaney@reddit

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia

[cue Eurythmics]

🎶Sexsexssssexsex sex crime🎶

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StevenSaguaro@reddit

We sang waltzing Mathilda in 4th grade.

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Emotional_Ad5714@reddit

I learned that disparaging the boot is a bootable offense.

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LibrarianAcrobatic21@reddit

In geography and geology. But culturally in school, no.

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jorwyn@reddit

I learned it's a country that's a continent, where it is, that the Brits sent prisoners there and colonized it, pushing aborigines out (I honestly have no idea if that word is racist. I apologize if it is. I used the word that was used in my school. I learned about Ayers Rock (still called that then), kangaroos, wallabies, deadly jellyfish, that it's mostly desert and most people live near the coast, that Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth are important cities there, that boomerangs and digereedoos come from there, and other things I can no longer remember off the top of my head.

Not in school, I learned about brumbies from The Man from Snowy River.

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newbris@reddit

FYI Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart. State capitals in size/importance order.

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jorwyn@reddit

I have friends in Australia now and know quite a bit more. Those were the things I remember being taught in school.

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newbris@reddit

Gotcha. I often see threads where people say school didn’t teach them much world knowledge, and often think that most learning is after school anyway through personal choice.

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jorwyn@reddit

We get taught a lot, but what we remember is generally based on our lives from there on out. It's not really necessary for a lot of Americans to know anything about Australia in daily life. Keeping track of 50 states is hard enough.

I've just got a brain that likes to suck up trivia and store it away to provide it when something reminds me about it. I didn't put any extra effort into learning about Australia (or any other country), but I also have friends there now, so I'm sure that keeps those memories fresh.

Typically, what I've seen here is that we learn continents at around 9 years old. Then, we have an assignment when we're about 10-12 years old that has each student or group research one country and learn a lot about it. Mine was Czechoslovakia because I'm older. Then, we give presentations on our country. If the students who got Australia do a bad job, we might not learn much. Then, we have a year that's a mix of world history and geography, usually at about 14 years old. This varies by school district, but seems to be common. That class covers A LOT and focuses more on like, Europe. It can't go that deep into anything. So, we'll learn where Australia is, the shape of it, states and capitals, major geographic features, some super super basic history, and move on to the next area.

Basically, unless we get assigned Australia or actually pay attention to the kid who did, and that kid does a good job, we won't know that much about it to begin with. We're going to forget a lot from when we were 10 by the time we're adults.

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newbris@reddit

Yeah I know about much of the world but that’s personal interest and travel. Have three citizenships so that helps. Most people don’t need to know about other places so it comes down to personal interest in the end. I know quite a bit about US history, politics etc but just cause. If a person is born without the curiosity gene that can’t be changed really.

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jorwyn@reddit

I think curiosity can be taught, but it's really hard to teach once we're past about 6 years old.

I saw a quote once that Americans learn geography because of wars, and I'm ashamed to say that feels very accurate.

I have these Time Life books about countries I've had since I was a kid. I loved them so much then, but there's from the 50s and 60s, so the content is often quite problematic. They still have cool pictures, though. I'm also really into maps ever since my uncle showed me how to make one with a compass and sextant when I was a kid. I know where lots of places are that I otherwise know absolutely nothing about. It was hard to get that info in a small town with only a bookmobile that came once a week before the Internet. By the time I grew up and had that info at my fingertips, I was too busy trying to survive and buy food to look them up. Then, I guess I just forgot about it eventually. I think I'm going to take this thread as inspiration to learn more.

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newbris@reddit

I was lucky, as in my 20s, in the 90s in Australia, it was normal for lots of young people to travel. Almost everyone I knew did a stint overseas from a variety of backgrounds. It was seen as the norm so everywhere prioritised it I guess. I went for almost 4 years myself. I’m still addicted to it.

I’m in Cape Tribulation this week, in the world’s oldest rainforest. 180 million years old. The rainforest comes right down to the waterline where the Great Barrier Reef is. Such an amazing lush tropical place.

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jorwyn@reddit

I didn't have that kind of money, and with so many places to go in the states, travel outside them isn't as common as the amounts of American tourists people see would make you think. Most of us don't even have passports.

I did take off at 19 and hike the Continental Divide Trail myself. That's from just in Mexico to just in Canada. It was amazing.

We have a temperate rainforest here in Washington state (the WA that's not Aussie), and it runs right down to the shoreline, too. It's absolutely breathtaking. If things ever get sane here again, and you feel like visiting, I cannot recommend the Shi Shi Beach to Ozette hike more. Just pay attention to the tides and look for the fishing floats in the treeline. They mark places you can shelter until the ride recedes. The forest there is over 100,000 years old, and I thought that was impressive. 180 million is just inconceivable to me. Inside the forest is one of the quietest places on earth, though.

A friend from Sydney visited me in January on her way to Vancouver, and we went tromping around the much younger forest on my property and into the city to ride one of the few hand carved wooden carousels still in operation. She'd never seen the ring catch system. We had tons of fun snagging rings and rode it several times. I guess that's not a thing in Australia (or Sydney, at least). If you get a brass ring, you get a free ride. We fed the Garbage Goat (it's a metal sculpture with a vacuum system at a park you feed trash to.) I got to see where I live like it was a new place again.

I love to travel, but I also love having visitors. It reminds me that where I live is actually pretty cool.

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theflamingskull@reddit

Paul Hogan, Men at Work, and Ozploitation films taught me everything I need to know.

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Tom_Tildrum@reddit

Agreed. I was a child of the '80s.

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rckblykitn14@reddit

I didn't know it was called Oceania until like, a few months ago.

I graduated high school in 1998.

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According-Couple2744@reddit

No. We focused on the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, both World Wars, and the Cold War. In World History we learned about Ancient Egypt, Rome, and a little about China.

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JNorJT@reddit

nope all i know from them are spiders, upside down, and theyre bad at breakdancing

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Careful-Depth-9420@reddit

I remember some film in class about the people there. I don’t remember much but there was this one lady who threw ping pong balls at the crowd in a bar…

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Enough_Roof_1141@reddit

I remember learning about Pacific Islanders and that Australians were dirty British prisoners. I thought it would be rad to get dropped off at the beach for being a prisoner.

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PotentialAcadia460@reddit

It's a continent.
Sydney's there, and it has a funky opera house.
Kangaroos

That's about it.

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newbris@reddit

That’s a pretty simplistic explanation and conclusion for a complex problem that all similar countries face:

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Awkward_Tip1006@reddit

I learned australia is a continent. Later along (maybe now that everybody has a high level of English and in different education/language systems they teach geography different) ive seen “Oceania”. I don’t know if they’re taught Oceania is a continent or a region of the world, but it does make more sense. Because all the countries- papa New Guinea, indonesia, Malaysia, etc are overlooked from just asia

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newbris@reddit

Indonesia and Malaysia are in Asia and Papua- New Guinea is in Australia.

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Awkward_Tip1006@reddit

Papa New Guinea is not part of australia lol

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newbris@reddit

Australia the continent

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Awkward_Tip1006@reddit

Australia the continent is australia the country. Oceania includes all the islands in south east Asia north of Australia, including Australia

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newbris@reddit

“The continent includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, the island of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea), the Aru Islands, the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, most of the Coral Sea Islands, and some other nearby islands. “

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(continent)

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artemswhore@reddit

prob just basic biomes and animals. not anything about politics other than mentioning it was a prison colony

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Most_Researcher_9675@reddit

My professor was Crocodile Dundee...

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Amazing_Divide1214@reddit

Yeah man, Cangaroo Kriminals and the spot where they shot LOTR.

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Bluesnow2222@reddit

We got maybe 1-2 sentences in history class about convicts being sent there.

We had a much bigger section in elementary school science classes about all the weird animals there. We watched alot of kids shows about the Outback. I know one of them had a rap about Kangaroos.

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Rogue-Accountant-69@reddit

I was definitely told to refer to the continent as Oceania many times in school in the late 90s, early 2000s.

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fupafighter9000@reddit

Yea. Prison colony, kangaroos.

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anneofgraygardens@reddit

I'm sure I learned that Australia was founded as a prison colony in school, but beyond that....not much.

As an adult I've read a few books about Australian history, which presented basically totally new information to me. FWIW, the best but also longest that I've read is The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes, which makes it seem like a miracle that the original colonies survived at all - like they took a bunch of London street urchins, stuck them on a beach on the other side of the planet and were like "good luck and adios". None of the planners considered whether or not it might be useful to have people who knew how to grow food, or build shit. An extremely haphazard way to build a community.

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newbris@reddit

It feels odd to standard on dazzling modern Sydney Cove today and know what it was like not that long ago. Amazing what people can do.

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anneofgraygardens@reddit

I'd love to visit and see historic sites. idk how many people want to go to Hobart for the history, but I'm one of them!

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Spongedog5@reddit

I learned about it in relation to it being established as a colony by Great Britain. Nothing about it independent from that. To be fair, not a very relevant area for United States history, or really world history for that matter.

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cheekmo_52@reddit

Australia, briefly. However, I was not taught to call the region Oceania when I was in school. (I’m in my 50’s) In fact, I was in my thirties before I had ever heard the term Oceania. We called the region the Pacific Islands back then. But we did learn that Australia itself was both a continent and a country. Other than that just some random factoids…like it was established as a British penal colony, and that its indigenous people were called Aborigines. (So just a little a bit about Australia, but not much about Oceania as a whole.)

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count_strahd_z@reddit

I learned it was worth two armies in Risk. They drank Foster's. They ate bloomin' onions. They talked like Crocodile Dundee. Per Monty Python, they were all named Bruce and had lousy table wines.

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calicoskiies@reddit

No. Its a continent. That’s probably all I learned.

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DammitKitty76@reddit

We also learned that it was largely settled by criminals who were transported to the colonies as punishment.

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TheGardenOfEden1123@reddit

Massive oversimplification. As an Australian, I can tell you the convicts were not a majority of the population. Most of our population has come from free settlers and aboriginal peoples. Chinese gold miners have also had a huge effect on our population. Only around 20% of Australians today are descended from convicts, so it is a bit overplayed how many convicts we had. We were not and are not just a prison island.

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Jorost@reddit

A lot of those "free settlers" were not necessarily as free as we might think when hearing that word. Many were low-income folks or the families of people who had run afoul of the law (the law, at that time, being notoriously unjust). So maybe not "criminal" the way we think of it (i.e. murderers and thieves) but "undesirable" in that uniquely snooty, upper-class English way.

There is a wonderful history of Australia called The Fatal Shore that really covers the founding of the country in great detail. Super interesting and well written.

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FlappyClap@reddit

It’s interesting that you’ve written most are free settlers and aboriginals despite only 3.2% of Australia’s population being aboriginal. If you can’t get that right, the rest of your comment can probably be discarded as well.

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DAS_COMMENT@reddit

There was obviously various points in time when there would have been 100%, ClappyFlap

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FlappyClap@reddit

In other words, before the prisoners, before the free settlers, aboriginal peoples would have comprised 100% of the population of Australia. That’s correct, great job.

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newbris@reddit

Yes, interestingly after the US stopped being a confined place to send them.

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Inside-Run785@reddit

About all I learned about Australia growing up is that’s where Mick Dundee comes from, “put another shrimp on the barbie” and “A dingo ate my baby.”

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Jorost@reddit

Yes. We did a semester of Australian/Oceanian history in HS. Mostly what I remember is the name Lochlin MacQuarrie. And cargo cults.

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WrongJohnSilver@reddit

I honestly can't remember how much about Australia and Oceania I learned from school, and how much I learned from my parents, and how much I learned when we vacationed there in the 1980s.

My father taught me about Ned Kelly, that much I know.

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WichitaTimelord@reddit

We learned about Australia. Crocodile Dundee brought a lot of attention to Australia.

But we didn't learn anything about Oceania. I don't recall even hearing about it until college.

Anglo bias I suspect

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La_noche_azul@reddit

Why would they teach about a continent less influential then a state (ca)

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floodmfx@reddit

I teach World History in an American HS.

There are two slides in one powerpoint on Australia, in a lesson on the expansion of the British Empire. That’s it.

There are easily 100 powerpoint lessons in the year, 30 to 40 slides on average.

There is more on New Zealand. There is one whole lesson on Polynesian culture, which mostly focuses on Hawaii, but also includes New Zealand and the rest of Polynesia.

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newbris@reddit

Random fact for you. One in five Maori people now live in Australia.

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FlappyClap@reddit

Despite compromising only 15% of New Zealand’s entire population, 52% of New Zealand’s prison population are Māori. 65% of imprisoned women in New Zealand are Māori. That systemic racism might have something to do with moving to Australia.

Those percentages truly show what a mockery of the Haka by non-Māori New Zealanders is. They’ve obviously not accepted their indigenous population despite the appearances.

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CountChoculasGhost@reddit

I remember learning approximately 2 things about Australia in school.

It started as a penal colony
They had an invasion of non-native cane toads (learned about this in an environmental science class).

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iPoseidon_xii@reddit

Yes. I went to a public that acted as a prep school. We had to take classes like swim, sex ed, finance, etc. Two of those classes were civics and American government. I learned about alliances and partnerships in those classes and Australia and Oceania were referenced a lot

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hobokobo1028@reddit

Yeah

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The_Grimm_Macarena@reddit

I learned most of what I knew from watching Steve Irwin's shows on Animal Planet, school just covered that Australia was the only country that was also a continent (though these days it is generally considered part of the larger Oceania) and that it had a ton of marsupials. Very little if any history or culture was brought up.

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JohnMarstonSucks@reddit

I'd never heard the term Oceania until I was well into adulthood. Is it a newer term?

But everything I know about Australia and the surrounding areas, I know from TV, movies, and one commercial featuring Paul Hogan.

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BeautifulSundae6988@reddit

You learn there are seven continents in American schools. Australia is number 6 on that list.

You'll learn next to 0 history or culture about it unless your geography class in highschool has someone get it (or another oceana country) for their country project, where they talk for 10 minutes or so about its culture and history.

It won't be mentioned in a history class unless it's world history, and you're referencing a list of British colonies.

So no. Not really. But there's a lot of social studies you'll just never learn in the US.

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BubbhaJebus@reddit

We were taught that Australia itself is a country and a continent.

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newbris@reddit

With continent being more than just the country.

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Warmasterwinter@reddit

They don’t teach much about it in school. Aside from the fact that it was apart of the UK, and was originally set up as a penal colony following Britains loss of the colonies during the revolutionary war.

I’ve learned more about it studying its history of course, but the actual level of education provided on Australia in public schools is extremely sparse.

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newbris@reddit

Fyi, gained independence from UK in 1901. In case you’re interested.

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SouthernFriedParks@reddit

Home of Midnight Oil - the band U2 could have been if they really gave a damn.

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nevadapirate@reddit

I haven't been in school since the 1980s but I learned about some of the critters that live there and the British Prison Colony and the Great Barrier Reef.

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newbris@reddit

I’m in the Daintree at the moment. The world’s oldest rainforest at 180 million years old. With the barrier reef offshore. The two ancient systems meet each other at this place, Cape Tribulation. Interesting reading all these comment from the other side of the globe.

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Revolutionary_Buy943@reddit

I learned most of what I know about Australia from Colleen McCullough (The Thorn Birds, Morgan's Run).

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albertnormandy@reddit

From what I recall New Zealand is basically Middle Earth. Australia is where they invented boomerangs and all the animals are incredibly venomous.

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Sparkle_Rott@reddit

We learned some basics about Australia. How it was founded; flora and fauna; some other basics about geography. I never heard the term Oceana until I watched NHK World Japanese television as an adult.

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Disastrous_Mud7169@reddit

Not much. I learned a lot after watching h2o and becoming fascinated

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makerofshoes@reddit

Honestly, in my high school days, I don’t think it was ever mentioned. In college I studied geography and world history so I think it came up there

Oceania is mentioned in some contexts, because of the history of US imperialism and of course WWII, or existing territories like Guam and American Samoa

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Armin_Tamzarian987@reddit

I would say no more or no less than any other country that we didn't have a huge history with. It probably got a smidge more attention because of the cute animals, but we didn't learn about it with any sort of depth.

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CuriosThinker@reddit

I can’t remember learning about any country, other than the US, in depth. There were quick highlights of major events in history (Egypt, Greece, Rome, Britain) that culminated in the US, but that was about it. I probably learned more in high school about WWII in English class when we studied Anne Frank than in my history classes.

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iPoopandiDab@reddit

Taught where it was at. That’s it though.

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Vachic09@reddit

The continent was called Australia when I was in school. The main thing I recall being taught is that it was a British penal colony.

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yozaner1324@reddit

You don't really believe in all that, do you?

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Fae-SailorStupider@reddit

My school taught us about the aboriginals and such, and how it started off (for white people) as like a prison Island.

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Livid_Swordfish_4125@reddit

...hidden in the summer for a million years

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Livid_Swordfish_4125@reddit

townsville's certainly a hole.

and the Gong's not too flash anymore

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lifesaplay@reddit

What a coincidence lol I just finished watching a movie called Wolf creek set in Australia where the bad guy asked the good guy to answer 10 questions about Australia and if he answer 5 correct, he’ll let him go lol

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iampatmanbeyond@reddit

Not really much Hostory aside from a paragraph or two about colonization and WWII

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DDDragon___salt@reddit

I was taught it as Australia and Oceania being another name for it. Throughout my school years though we started calling it Australia less and Oceania more

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graphgear1k@reddit

Oceania is NOT another name for Australia. Jesus Christ.

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NecessaryPopular1@reddit

Yes, I remember learning about Australia and Oceania as a whole/continent in elementary, middle and high school Geography lessons.

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Bright_Ices@reddit

In elementary school (ages 5-12) I learned that Australia is a continent and it’s called “Down Undah.” Also, it’s the place where kangaroos and koalas come from.

In high school (ages 14-18) we read George Orwell’s 1984, and that’s where I learned the word Oceania. I had to ask where that was.

In college (age 18-22 for me) I took an Education course that involved a lesson on why it’s important to let students make mistakes, self-evaluate (with teacher support and feedback), and try again. The guest lecturer was Australian and she had us draw the shape of Australia from memory. We did a terrible job, but then we got to compare our drawing with a decent map, figure out what we got right and wrong, and try again. We all did much better the second time, obviously.

Basically everything else I’ve learned from YouTube and Reddit. I’m in my 40s.

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Future_Potential_108@reddit

I just learned it existed but that’s about it

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TwinFrogs@reddit

Yes, because my grandfather was USMC 1939-1947. Mostly stationed in Samoa. His place was full of wood carvings and souvenirs. He was shit scared of the Japanese doing to him what they did to Wake and The Philippines.

Those stories about Marines shitting their pants while being shelled and digging a hole with their bare hands? Very true.

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LoudCrickets72@reddit

Interestingly, yes. When I was in 3rd grade, we studied about basic surface level information about Australia. But I think this was because the 2000 Olympics were in Sydney. Overall, I’d have to bet most American schools don’t study about Australia and Oceana all that much.

I still know some of the words and the tune to Waltzing Matilda back when I had to sing it in class 25 years ago. Funny the small things you’ll remember.

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JuanG_13@reddit

No, in fact I never heard of Oceania until a few years ago.

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bananapanqueques@reddit

Yes. My TX school district did a half-decent job teaching us about our allies, especially Anglophones.

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Ganymede25@reddit

Also from TX. I agree that we learned about Australia and the Pacific islands. We even read the book about Kon Tiki.

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spacemusicisorange@reddit

I don’t remember learning about Oceania at all!! Must’ve fallen asleep that day /s

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zero_and_dug@reddit

I remember watching a PBS Kids show (aired on my local TV channel) called Kratt’s Creatures where they went to Australia and spoke with Aborigines. That always stuck out to me when I’d think of Australia as a kid.

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BoldBoimlerIsMyHero@reddit

Yes but that was when we had to pick a country to do a report on and I chose Australia.

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Strict-Farmer904@reddit

Yeah no. We barely learned anything about the rest of the world

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okraspberryok@reddit

Australia does not exist. If you think you met an Australian, you really just met a British person or a South African either playing a joke/being paid to persuade the theory that it's a real place. The wildlife is an obvious clue.

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PurpleLilyEsq@reddit

I don’t think the continent was ever called Oceania when i went to school, it was all just called Australia and I don’t recall learning about New Zealand or any other country down there while in school. I learned in high school that it was a place that British and Irish prisoners were sent. I knew there were crocodiles and kangaroos and stuff from watching Steve Irwin. I honestly don’t think I knew anything about Aboriginals until the Russian couple did that horrible ice dance program at the 2010 Olympics when I was in college. I went to Australia in 2019 but I don’t know many other people who have been there.

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Middle-Scientist-438@reddit

Didn't know New Zealand was a thing until Lord of the rings

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Top-Temporary-2963@reddit

I was big into Australia because I was a huge Crocodile Hunter fan. I think I even did like two presentations on everything I'd taught myself about Australia back in elementary school

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Ok-Highway-5247@reddit

Only Australia.

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toooldforthisshittt@reddit

A dingo ate my baby.

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La_Rata_de_Pizza@reddit

I know they’re on smoko and are big on the Toyota Hilux

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2FistsInMyBHole@reddit

No.

Do I remember learning about Madagascar? The Dominican Republic? Taiwan?

No.

There are a lot of places that are mostly irrelevant from the perspective of American/Global history.

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littletexasbee@reddit

The first time I ever heard of Oceania was around 3 years ago, and I’m 68 years old. How is it pronounced?

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manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit

I remember learning the word 'billabong'.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

Just the general geography.

I learned a lot more about Aus from books later in life.

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chabadgirl770@reddit

Australia a bit, Oceania never heard of until recently

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DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit

Crocodile Dundee was a phenomenon when I was a kid

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Current_Poster@reddit

Not really, no. Not in school, anyway.

The way I was taught history in school, as I recall it, was mostly US history and then (unless it was specifically a World History or Ancient History course or something) enough of the histories of other countries to explain their interactions with the US. This means some countries just didn't get covered, much.

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kartoffel_engr@reddit

Barley

Seems like your English class skipped a bit as well.

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tranquilrage73@reddit

Australia and New Zealand, yes. Not Oceania.

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mcc9902@reddit

So it's been quite a while since school and I honestly can't remember it very well but I know I learned a bit. Something along the lines of how it started as a penal colony and how they interacted with the natives. It definitely wasn't as in depth as a lot of other places but we probably spent a week or two on it.

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DeltaFlyer0525@reddit

My son who is in 6th grade just did a 3 week unit on Australia right before summer break. He learned a brief history of the continent and what their current government is like as well as a lot about the biodiversity of the area.

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TillikumWasFramed@reddit

We didn't even learn about the barley.

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vadabungo@reddit

I learned about Australia from crocodile Dundee. Never learned anything about it in school. 0.

I read someplace you guys lost a war against emus

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4MuddyPaws@reddit

I did. In middle school, we were each assigned a country to do an in-depth report to present to our class i had Australia. We had to include its history, any special cultural aspects, economy, government, wildlife, etc.

This was in the '60s, way before internet.

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No_Entertainment1931@reddit

No, Oceania wasn’t a subject below college.

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Reasonable-Company71@reddit

Yes but I'm from Hawai'i so that's our neck of the woods.

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MageDA6@reddit

We learned about both. Like all the other continents we learned which countries were there. We then had to pick a country to an assignment over before moving on to another continent l.

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Impossible-Baker8067@reddit

Not at all.

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Midaycarehere@reddit

A war with emus. That is all.

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kennymfg@reddit

First time I ever heard of Oceania was from Orwell

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Samiam2197@reddit

Yeah we had a unit on it in third grade

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QueenieofWonderland@reddit

It was mentioned some, but I was interested/obsessed with it outside of school, so I did my own research lol

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teslaactual@reddit

It existed it started as a prison colony and that's it lmao

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JohnTunstall505@reddit

Yeah. They brought in a didgeridoo.

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coronarybee@reddit

Yes. Multiple times!

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Weightmonster@reddit

Not much.

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AlienDelarge@reddit

I supplememted with Crocodile dundee as well.

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MyUsername2459@reddit

They taught us what was, and wasn't, a knife.

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Littleboypurple@reddit

Everything I learned about Australia in school can be counted on one hand

It was a former British Penal colony

It is a continent

It exists

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Better-Passenger-200@reddit

My sister is a teacher and I remember she was making up lesson plans about Australia. She baked those Anzac biscuits and took out children’s books about how Australia was a penal colony.

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ShylokVakarian@reddit

Not a damn thing. Always focused on Europe, some of Asia, and surprise, the Americas. We did get a small unit on the Rwandan Genocide, but that's the most out there I got in terms of history lessons in school.

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iamsiobhan@reddit

Not a whole lot. I think we covered Australia in seventh grade geography.

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wwhsd@reddit

I want to say the first time I’d ever heard of it was when I read 1984 in 8th of 9th grade. I don’t think I realized it wasn’t a fictional place until I was an adult and learned that people in other parts of the world learn a different model for the continents than we do in the US.

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Zip83@reddit

Learned the basics. It's continent, the British set up penal colonies there. It was part of the allied forces in WW2.

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Robbylution@reddit

We had a semester studying the background, tactics, and technology of the Great Emu War. That's it.

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MizzGee@reddit

We learned about how it was colonized in high school. It was in the 80s, so I learned more on my own after hearing songs from Midnight Oil.

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Otherwise-OhWell@reddit

I think we covered some of its history during a geography lesson (elementary and middle school) and World History (high school) but; overall, Australia's mentions were pretty thin in my schooling.

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Icy-Whale-2253@reddit

Unfortunately everything I know about Australia is from my own reading or meeting Australians in real life. Outside of that, it was only brought up when learning about continents.

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Sample-quantity@reddit

Australia yes, Oceania not that I recall.

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ShakarikiGengoro@reddit

No one ever mentioned Australia unless we were watching Finding Nemo.

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QuicksandHUM@reddit

What’s an Australia.

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AluminumCansAndYarn@reddit

I didn't even know Oceania was a thing until I was an adult. I knew basically nothing about Australia besides it was a penal colony once upon a time and that the seasons are backwards there because of the hemisphere thing. We also heard that the toilets flush the opposite way but we also heard that that's a myth.

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Extension-Dot-4308@reddit

Yeah, but in geography not really in history. I think Oceania was mentioned briefly twice when talking about colonies and again when talking about early human migration theories

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SlowInsurance1616@reddit

I believe it was founded by a wallaby named Matilda.

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kerfuffle_fwump@reddit

Yes, but at my school “world geography” was an elective (for fun/not required to graduate).

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Intelligent_Break_12@reddit

Yeah in world history we learned about Australia's start as a penial colony and a bit about the Aboriginals. Also, some about the islands in the Pacific but I can't recall much other than some in regards to WWII and the US and Japanese dealings with them. Also though outside the war a bit with explorers, like Cook and Magellan but it was more focused on them than the islands themselves. Also I recall learning sime of both Micronesia and Polynesia.

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tavikravenfrost@reddit

I don't remember Australia coming up much in school outside of WW1 and WW2 contexts. Despite that, I loved everything that I learned about Australia outside of school and wanted to live there.

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Just_curious4567@reddit

Nope never learned about that area at all.

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djfilms@reddit

We learned Australia is one of the 7 continents, not much beyond that. The word “Oceania” was not in any of my textbooks when I was in school.

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AnymooseProphet@reddit

We all watched Crocodile Dundee. What else about Australia is there to know? /s

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Sorry-Analysis8628@reddit

Sure. Some from a historical perspective (colonization, prisoners, etc.). Some scientific (animal habitats, things that will kill you with poison, koalas and kangaroos). Most of what I know (or think I know) about modern Australia comes from pop culture (Muriel's Wedding, Strictly Ballroom, Jim Jeffries).

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slatchaw@reddit

We were told some basic stuff about Australia. Quigley Downunder told me the most about Australia. I was in my 20's when I found out about Oceania.

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cdb03b@reddit

In school I learned about the animals in Elementary school. And I learned a small amount about their participation in the world wars. But most of the actual historical stuff I have learned I did on my own not in school.

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Affectionate_Map2761@reddit

Nope. Other than one of the 5 continents and everything wants to kill you

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Maleficent-Hawk-318@reddit

Off the top of my head, I remember learning about their contributions in World War II at least, and some biology stuff about the wildlife and ecosystem (not necessarily as a whole unit, but for example I remember it being talked about a lot when we were learning about evolution). And I remember learning a little about how it was colonized when we were learning about American history, because we kind of touched on a bunch of British colonies and the different ways they've evolved.

So I feel like I actually did learn a reasonable amount about it, I guess? Definitely not as much as I learned about Canada or Mexico, and not even as much as I learned about some European countries (feel like the UK, France, and Germany in particular were covered a lot), but I think a pretty good amount.

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AncientGuy1950@reddit

I learned Australia was a continent and Oceania was a collection of islands, neither is a hole,

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CODENAMEDERPY@reddit

Yeah?

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Lamballama@reddit

We didgeridon't do much with yall

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neronga@reddit

Nope never learned a thing about it other than from pop culture

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Confetticandi@reddit

We talked a bit about the colonization of the Aboriginals, the Stolen Generations, and watched the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence. That’s all I remember.

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worrymon@reddit

I was 15 when Crocodile Dundee came out and 17 when Young Einstein came out.

Does that count?

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NittanyOrange@reddit

I just remember learning about Oceania as a continent and that there were aboriginal/indigenous people there before Europeans.

I think that was mostly it?

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paka96819@reddit

I live in Oceania, but we learned mostly about Polynesia and Fiji.

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biddily@reddit

All I need to know I learned from Crocodile Dundee.

What kind of question is this? I learn things. It absorbs. I have no idea where Iearned it.

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RoryDragonsbane@reddit

I teach World History. The text/curriculum doesn't spend much time on it. We touch on it briefly when learning about British colonialism, but that's about it.

The issue is that, on a global scale, Oceania didn't have much impact. Non-natives hadn't even heard of it until a few hundred years ago.

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brian11e3@reddit

In world history, my school learned a little bit about key points in Australian history. It was mostly post European occupation and a few other things, like the Emu War of 32'.

I'd say we probably only spent a few days on it at most.

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machagogo@reddit

Yes.

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Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

We learned it was a continent. That was literally it lmao. And I’ve been to Australia and New Zealand. But I learned a lot of that outside of school because it was an ambassador program

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rf8350@reddit

We were warned about the dreaded Drop Bear

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Ok_Depth_6476@reddit

No, I really just remember learning about it as far as being a continent. But then, I spent 8 years in Catholic elementary school, through 8th grade, and 4 years in public high school. I think in Catholic school, one whole year of Social Studies was world history, in 5th grade. Otherwise it was mostly U.S. history, with 4th grade devoted mostly (maybe entirely) to history of the state of NJ. (All I remember of that was the Lenne Lenape Native Americans, who our books still referred to as "Indians" back then. And the fact that the Statue of Liberty is actually in N, and not NY). Fifth Grade world history I remember learning about ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece, etc. but not so much Australia.

In high school, we had 2 years of U.S. History....basically the same stuff we'd already learned at least three times by that point...and one year of World History. Yeah our educational system sucks.

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Yankee_chef_nen@reddit

I’m old, I learned about Australia in grade school. That its a continent as well as a country. That it was a British penal colony, you could get sent there just for looking Irish.

I never heard about Oceania until about two years ago.

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jessper17@reddit

In elementary school, maybe 1st or second grade, we had a whole Australia unit where we had little fake passports, one of the classrooms was a plane, and we flew to Australia to learn all about it. I very vividly remember learning the songs Waltzing Matilda and the one about the kookaburra. I’m sure we learned more actual stuff but I was little and that’s what stuck with me.

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dildozer10@reddit

We didn’t learn anything about Australia aside from it being a continent in school. Everything I learned about Australia was through Steve Erwin’s show “the crocodile hunter”. I also have family who live in Australia so I’ve learned a little bit through them.

Everything else I learned about Australia came from The Big Les Show.

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RonMcKelvey@reddit

Nar

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workntohard@reddit

Geography and history for sure. Oceania was mostly in relation to WWII.

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Application-Bulky@reddit

I have a really vivid memory of a textbook chapter about a boy from the Pitjatjantjara tribe in Australia. They made sure to tell us he ate grubs sometimes. That’s how I learned what grubs were.

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IainwithanI@reddit

We learned about Oceania, but not in real depth. Mostly we had a bit of Australian history, a few mentions of New Zealand, and a map of the rest.

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IHaveALittleNeck@reddit

Yes. Geography in elementary school, then again in world history

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Kestrel_Iolani@reddit

I did a report on Australia in middle school? (Bob Hawke was PM... The first time.)

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Katesouthwest@reddit

For Australia, we learned how the country started, Christmas was in the summertime, and about kangaroos. For Oceania, nothing- it wasn't mentioned.

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SillyBanana123@reddit

It’s Tonga time

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Alarmed-Extension289@reddit

It's continent not an Island, it was also a prison Colony for the British. I remember asking what happened the prisoners since it's a modern country now and all got was "were moving on....". Wasn't till college that I got a better picture of the Country.

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TehLoneWanderer101@reddit

All I remember was learning that it was a British penal colony. I learned this back in the early 2000s. It was like, junior high world history.

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SirCharlito44@reddit

When I was a kid granted it was over 20 years ago it was Australia as the continent and not Oceania. My wife is a few years younger than me and grew up in South America and they were taught Oceania. They were also taught that there were 5 continents and Antarctica doesn’t count.

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hail_to_the_beef@reddit

We learned about how it began as a penal colony, and a bit about the aboriginal peoples there before the Europeans colonized. Not a lot though.

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Ilsluggo@reddit

Yeah, we covered it in passing. The first real discussion I can recall was when reading Great Expectations in English class the teacher explaining about Magwich being transported and what that meant. Later, it got a chapter or so in history class, but no more. Most everything else was picked up from films and Nevil Shute novels. And the Thornbirds, of course.

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itds@reddit

Olivia Newton John, Crocodile Dundee, Steve Irwin, Kangaroos and Koalas. That’s about all I knew about Australia growing up.

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terrovek3@reddit

Purple, worth 2 points, easily defended from attack via Indonesia.

Lost a land war to birds.

Lots of deadly fauna.

Rock melon.

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