While grey nomads are busy acquiring an intimate knowledge of all the corners and contours of Australia as they travel, a new survey has revealed that many of the general population remain alarmingly ignorant of our geography.
A survey conducted by a third party for Tourism NT discovered that nearly two-thirds of the Aussies surveyed were so unfamiliar with the Northern Territory that they believed it had more crocodiles than people, while one person in 10 believed Arnhem Land was a mythical place from a children’s book
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that 12% of those surveyed didn’t know Darwin was the Northern Territory’s capital or believed the state was bordered by NSW or the ACT.
And despite the Top End receiving about 1700mm of rain each year, nearly three quarters believed the NT was as dry as the Sahara Desert.
Incidentally, the survey of 1000 Australians found that 57% of Australians believe Uluru is the nation’s most iconic landmark … although only about 4% of us actually went there last financial year.
* Has travelling Australia made you realise how little you knew about the place before you set off? What has been the most surprising thing you have learnt? Comment below.
We travelled for 6 months last year and were amazed at the number of thermal springs we enjoyed along the way! Our friends and family were totally unaware that these existed in Australia.
what a wonderful place we live in went to Uluru what a wonderful place also undara the lava tubes the devil marbles plus the olga’s will try to travel to the top end as i am in my seventies these are places that we learnt at school so good to be able to see them
Being a west Aussie and seeing the survey was done by The Sydney Morning Herald I’m not at all surprised by the lack of knowledge of NT.
In fact if similar questions were asked over there about WA the answers would be pretty much the same. It surprises me the number of NSW & Qld people who cannot name the capital of WA or more than 3 WA major towns or cities.