Why Australia is better than Texas, and Wales

[Egbert]

Everything is bigger here.

For example:
King Ranch (biggest ranch in Texas) 1,289 sq km
Anna Creek (biggest cattle station in the world) 24,000 sq km

Victoria River Downs (Northern Territory of Australia) was the largest cattle station in the world with an area of 41,000 sq km until it was broken up. (That is bigger than Wales).

Australia

[regexcellent]

Better than Wales...talk about damning with faint praise.

[Egbert]

Better than Texas...talk about damning with faint praise.

[Alexander's Horse]

No BD, the Texans are on our side man.

[Egbert]

So are the Kiwis.

And the Poms.

[Dinner]

Everything is bigger here.

For example:
King Ranch (biggest ranch in Texas) 1,289 sq km
Anna Creek (biggest cattle station in the world) 24,000 sq km

Victoria River Downs (Northern Territory of Australia) was the largest cattle station in the world with an area of 41,000 sq km until it was broken up. (That is bigger than Wales).

Australia

To bad the soil in Australia is so unproductive/has such low productivity that the ranch in Texas probably produces more in total volume. Or, at the very least, I wouldn't be surprised to see they produce 3-5 times more per acre. Australian agriculture just has world reknowned low productivity due to depleated soils due to lack of glaciation, most of the soil that is there tends to be sandy and so becomes depleated quickly, lack of rain fall further lowering productivity, while Australia has the world's worst problems with salinity.

It's a shame really because with better soils Australia could easily have 2-3 times as many people & economic activity. It would be a great power instead of a regional power but the truth is the continent is the lowest in elevation, the driest, has the oldest most leached soils, and there just hasn't been much active geological history in the last several tens of millions of years to renew the soil fertility. Even worse recently (geologically speaking) much of Australia was an inland sea thus the salinity problems which plague all but the very best portions of Australia's farmland. Worse bad irrigation practices has meant that even if you have the best soils on the continent (right next to the river flood plains) your land can still be ruined by salt due to some other dumb ass up slope who over waters and sends the resulting mobilized salts your way.

[Egbert]

Facts should be used selectively.

[Dinner]

What you guys really need is some active volcanism and for your continent to crash into a few more land masses tectonically speaking. That way you can have some uplift resulting in mountains acting as rain collectors and generating some new more productive soil. It wouldn't hurt to move the continent a few degrees further north or south too so that more rain fall can solve your salinity problem.

[Egbert]

What you guys need is to apply to become an Australian External Territory.

[Alexander's Horse]

What you guys really need is some active volcanism and for your continent to crash into a few more land masses tectonically speaking. That way you can have some uplift resulting in mountains acting as rain collectors and generating some new more productive soil. It wouldn't hurt to move the continent a few degrees further north or south too so that more rain fall can solve your salinity problem.

What we need is climate change - it could make the desert bloom again - please keeping pumping out the crud

[giblets]

What you guys need is to apply to become an Australian External Territory.

Makes about as much sense as a tiny island ruling over a continent.

[BlackCat]

Aussie isn't that big - less than four times the size of kingdom of Denmark.

[Docfeelgood]

Australia
Texas

[The Mad Monk]

Actually, that's almost exactly TWICE the size of Wales! If you're going to use an internationally recognised measurement of area, at least get it right!

Size of Wales (also available in whales and the Prince of Wales)

Size of Wales rainforest campaign

I'm afraid the campaign to restore Welsh rainforests is doomed to failure.

[Docfeelgood]