Australia Challenge Of A Growing Nation (1966)

name Tony Maretta. He was born in Italy. Now he's making the longest trip of his life, over 10,000 miles to a land he's never seen. He has brought only two things with him. Ambition and hope. They come from almost every nation. From Great Britain, from Italy, from Greece, Holland, Germany. Australia welcomes them. Over 100,000 a year. The reason Australia needs them. You're new to the country and when you are, you start at the beginning by getting to know it. Australia needs people, but you'd never know it from the streets of its most populated city, Sydney. Over 2 million people live here. Another 2 million live in Melbourne. Together they account for more than onethird the population of this whole vast continent. What are the people like? You can see the answer on the faces you pass. Most Australians are of British [Music] descent. The street signs you see are reminders of where most of their grandparents came from. So too with the statues you see in the parks. Captain James Cook, who in 1770 first hoisted the British flag on Australian soil. Captain Arthur Phillip, who 18 years later brought the first shiploads of colonizers from Britain, half of them convicts. Queen Victoria, under whose reign in 191, Australia became a proud self-governing commonwealth. If you still have doubts, you have only to hear the people talk. Yeah, he should be a good draw for the the next test match. If he was as good as boulder as was he was a batsman, he'd be all right. Yes, he had a few bowls. Get a fair dick of feed and only cost you a few bowls. Those chickens in the baskets are a bit small. Tea time comes up around 5. Well, that's the heavy meal a day. That's sort of really fills you up. The crowds were absolutely terrific and you didn't have much time to notice anything except the hustle and bustle. If the accent sounds British, you'd best keep this to yourself. Australians are a proud people. They're proud of what makes them different. And an Aussie takes a backseat to no one. Not even when he rides in a cab. He thinks it's more democratic to ride up front with the driver. Not everyone who wants to move to Australia can. But once you've arrived, you have to answer only one question. What can you do? Chances are, whatever it is, you're needed. Tony Marcetta may be a newcomer, but as far as Australia is concerned, he's no outsider. He belongs. He's a new Australian, a man who's very much needed by the challenge of a growing nation. The challenge begins in the very nature of the [Music] land. Onethird of the country receives less than 10 in of rain a year. Without water, no crop can grow here. No animal can graze. Another one-third is almost as dry. This is the outback with as much as 15 acres needed to keep a single sheep alive. In strong contrast, to the far north lie equatorial rainforests, and along the great dividing range, the continent's rich farmlands. But though there are a variety of challenges in this land, half of Australia's entire population lives in six coastal cities. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart. Over 93% of its population lives within 500 miles of the eastern and southeastern coast. A varied land alive with promise. But which part of it is for Tony Machetta? Where does he belong? Where will he find his opportunity? 500 miles northwest of Sydney to the west of the Great Dividing Range is the edge of Australia's farm belt. It rains just enough here to keep grass growing. And where there's grass in Australia, there are bound to be sheep. [Music] 1,200 acres of land. This is where another new Australian, Arthur Mosby, found his opportunity. 5 years ago, Arthur was a mechanic in Montreal, Canada. Roundup time can be hard work, even with the help of his dog. That's when he can depend on the help of Paul Vlattis. Paul didn't know much about sheep, but he knew and loved horses. He worked with them in his native Hungary. He's got a full-time job in the neighboring town. But when Arthur Mosby needs help, one Australian comes to help another. [Music] Arthur raises marino sheep. They grow a fine, long wool, but equally important, they're able to survive in a semi-d dry climate. Arthur has a herd of about 400 sheep, which is about all the land will support. He estimates he needs at least 3 acres to keep one sheep alive. On farms like this one and on thousands of square miles of outback land, Australia raises more sheep than any other country in the world. Where you find sheep in Australia, you'll usually find wheat. Most of the nation sheep are raised in wheat country where they can feed on the stubble left after the harvest. The semi-arid climate makes for a low wheat yield per acre. But by using the latest equipment, Arthur Mosby is able to cultivate a wide area. Australia produces more wheat per manh hour of labor than any other nation in the world. It isn't all hard work. Sometimes Arthur and his wife and baby head for the nearest town, Narr. There's shopping to do, but it also gives them a town 7 mi away at the end of the dirt road. After a heavy rain, Arthur's seen this road turn into a sea of mud. The flat land stretches around them. Australia is almost the size of continental United States and yet has only a few million more people than New York City. Narr, a town very much like you might find in the American West. But what this family needs, it can pretty well satisfy in this one street town that offers everything from saddles and movies to ice cream sodas and sewing machines. The local utility company is a good place to start when a man wants to check prices on a new freezer for his wife. But first, there's always the talk so important to townsmen and farmer alike. The weather. When will the next rain come? Here, they're not waiting for the rain to come. 25 miles from Arthur's farm, a new crop is growing because some Australians are doing more than talk about the weather. This is Ted Griffith. Country of origin, the United States. But he found his opportunity here. If not enough water will come out of the sky, the next best thing is to get it to come out of pipes. Irrigation pipes. Only 1% of Australia's entire land is now used for crops and half of that is for wheat. But with the coming of new Australians has come the development of a new agriculture. Part of that new agriculture is cotton, a crop that Australia hadn't been fully successful at growing before. Today it is growing. Irrigation made the difference. This is what he'd been trained for. Ted Griffith holds a degree from an agricultural college in California. Today, new and old Australians alike are working to make a new source of national wealth. Uh, would you call Wayne Harris at Wei 209 and tell him we'd like to spray this number three field and also check at the air strip. A call on the car radio brings modern technique into action. I'll get onto that straightaway. Over and out. A plane sprays a cotton field with insecticide. flying over land that once had been thought good only for Australia's tried and tested combination wheat and [Music] sheep to help provide water for irrigation that a new Australia needs. Rivers from the rainier east face of the mountains are being tapped and part of their waters diverted by underground tunnels to the western slope. The biggest of these projects is at the Snowy Mountains, the highest part of the Great Dividing Range. This is the Snowy Mountain scheme. New Australians working beneath tons of earth are helping make it happen. Opportunity for them is here. Electric power to meet the needs of over 2,000 square miles of what once was arid land. New Australians are helping make semi-arid land productive. They're also helping distri Australian farms and orchards produce enough to feed the ins of Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth, helping ship Australian products, more wool than is exported by any other country in the world. Tons wheat emptied into ships holes to be transported to grain-hungry nations of Asia. pan. New discoveries of vast mineral deposits at wealth. The uncovering of the largest deposit of boxite in the world has made it possible to ship this mineral essential to the manufacturer of aluminum to markets [Music] everywhere. Smelting plants have been built to help manufacture the aluminum needed for domestic use. New Australians are at work here, as they are in the new iron ore mines, in the mining of new sources of zinc and copper, in the drilling for oil and natural gas. The increased use of its own natural resources has given Australia the base upon which to build a growing industrial power. New industries mean new opportunities for all Australians. Almost half of the country's entire labor force is now employed in industry, making the goods that not long ago had to be imported. Today, Australia produces about 3/4s of all her industrial needs. This is where another man found his opportunity in a factory in Sydney. He's Peter Dre's country of origin Germany. In Berlin, he'd been a tool and die maker. He escaped from Nazi Germany in the late 30s. He's no longer so new in Australian, but he's still a very needed one. For new Australians and for old ones, 5:00 means the same thing. Time to head home. The average Australian owns a car. frequently. He also owns his own home. Most Australians prefer living in a city because they can live more comfortably here than anywhere else and comforts are important to them. When Peter is not working, he can go to a movie and see a Hollywood film, or he can take his wife to one of the new Italian restaurants. And of course, there are always the pubs where an Aussie can take it easy and talk about anything that comes to mind. Usually, it has something to do with his favorite subject, sports. Or if he's not talking about some game, he can try his hand at one. And if he's feeling very energetic, he can even have a go at a fast-paced game of rugby. If sitting happens to be his favorite form of exercise, he can just relax in the park and read about sports. But the mild climate of Australia's coastal cities makes most Aussies want to be on the move. Whether sailboating in Sydney Harbor, surfboarding at Bondi Beach, or leaping the waves, Australians are usually outdoors enjoying what they have. Australia, 6,000 m from Los Angeles, USA, 12,000 m from London, England. A continent closer geographically to Asia than to Europe and North America. But in the way Australians live, work, and play, they are very much of the West. This is Sydney Harbor for many Australians, their first glimpse of their new land. And as they've come, they've helped change it. The city and the country. This is where Tony Maretta found his opportunity. Working on a skyscraper that is changing the face of an entire city. In Italy, Tony had been a carpenter. He found his opportunity in using an old skill in a new land. Other new Australians are doing the same thing. Finding opportunities in a nation that is still growing, that still has frontiers, that still needs people. Why does a man seek opportunity? Maybe this is the main reason. to provide for his family. Tony Marchetta, country of origin, Italy. Occupation, carpenter. Nationality, Australian.