Oceania (Health Conditions)
Health
conditions vary greatly within the many
countries of Oceania. Infant mortality, a
good measure of the general health status of
a population, ranges from 7 ‰ in Hawaii and
below 20 ‰ in New Caledonia, French
Polynesia, Guam, Fiji and American Samoa to
over 50 ‰ in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
Similarly, life expectancy is only about 60
years in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, but
over 70 years in Hawaii, New Caledonia,
Guam, American Samoa, Wallis and Futuna,
French Polynesia and Palau according to
Countryaah.
In the most disadvantaged countries in
Oceania, the disease pattern is
characterized by inadequate nutrition and
infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis,
malaria, diarrhea, respiratory infections
and intestinal worms. Outside urban areas
lacking 2/3 of the
population have access to safe drinking
water, while 3/4 not
have health safe disposal of waste water and
latrine.
In other countries, diet and lifestyle
have changed in a westerly direction. This
has led to a sharp increase in the incidence
of diseases such as high blood pressure,
diabetes mellitus (diabetes),
atherosclerosis and heart disease as well as
alcohol and drug abuse. Nauru is a
frightening picture of how particularly
vulnerable populations exposed to Western
abundance can fare. Mainly due to too fat
and too plentiful diet and lack of exercise,
more than 70% of Nauruan are severely
overweight and 40% have diabetes.
Uptake of radioactive iodine compounds
from nuclear tests has in some places
increased the population's risk of diseases
of the thyroid gland, including cancer.
Australian Architecture
Australia's indigenous people, the
Australians, have been migratory hunters for
millennia, building simple screen huts of
bark and branches. The continent's oldest
known permanent buildings were created by
Europeans, mainly Englishmen, during the
colonial period of 1788 - c. 1850. Good
access to suitable land and British colonial
tradition from other continents were factors
that led to the construction of large farms
with spacious, single-family dwellings.
These were often fitted with stately portico
and the characteristic wide porches of
Australian architecture under large roofs,
usually supported by slender, Doric columns.
Preserved examples of such buildings are
Elizabeth Farm in Parramatta (1790s) and
Fernhill Farm in Mulgoa (1842). The colonial
period's public construction was primarily
focused on Australia's function as a penal
colony; it was dominated by barracks,
churches, prisons, courthouses, etc.,
characterized by high technical and
aesthetic quality and the English Georgian
architectural ideal. The first architect of
the period was former prisoner Francis
Greenway, primarily active in New South
Wales. erected the Hyde Park Barracks prison
in central Sydney (1817-19). John Verge
designed several large farm buildings.
Mortimer W. Lewis designed the Darlinghurst
Courthouse (circa 1840) in Sydney, one of
Australia's few new antique buildings. In
Tasmania, the Irish architect John Lee
Archer, who among other things worked
erected Saint George's Church outside Hobart
(1837–38). Nygotics was introduced in
Australia by Edmund T. Blacket with his
Christ Church in Geelong (1844) and with
Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, begun as
early as 1837 and completed by Blacket
1845-70.
The gold rush in Australia during the
second half of the 19th century stimulated
construction. As in Europe, the architecture
of Australia during this period was
characterized by the language of
historicism, mainly neo-Gothic and
neo-Renaissance. In Melbourne, William W.
Wardell erected the government building in
the Italian Renaissance (1871–76) and the
neo-Gothic Saint Patrick’s Cathedral
(1858–99, completed in 1927). Wardell also
designed Australia's largest cathedral,
Saint Mary's Cathedral in Sydney (1865–99,
completed in 1940).
The close contacts with England meant
that a number of buildings were designed by
prominent British architects; William
Butterfield designed the plan for the
Anglican Saint Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne
(begun in 1877) and John Loughborough
Pearson designed Saint John's Cathedral in
Brisbane, with one of Australia's most
beautiful neo-Gothic interiors (begun in
1887).
Neo-classicalism characterized both
Victoria's parliament building in Melbourne
(1856-1930), designed by Peter Kerr and John
George Knight, as well as the library
building in the same city (begun in 1854),
designed by the prolific Joseph Reed. James
J. Barnet, the leading neo-Renaissance
architect in Australia in the late 19th
century, designed the headquarters office in
Sydney (begun 1865).
The porch returned during the gold rush
in the town's townhouses. Several
residential areas were designed with terrace
houses fitted with richly decorated cast
iron railings around the veranda.
Well-preserved examples are Paddington in
Sydney and Parkville in Melbourne.
The abrupt end of the gold rush in the
early 1890s dampened construction in
Australia. After the federal state formation
in 1901, the architects sought expression of
a national identity in early colonial
construction. Representatives of this
national direction were among others. Robin
Dods with Tamrookum Church in Beaudesert
(1915), Hardy Wilson, Australia's first
architectural historian, with Eryldene House
in Sydney (1912-14) and Harold Desbrowe
Annear with a couple of villas in Melbourne.
Influences from the United States,
especially from Frank Lloyd Wright and the
Chicago School, influenced Australian
architecture of the 1910s. This not least
through Walter Burley Griffin and his wife
Marion Mahony, who after winning the
competition for the planning of the new
federal capital Canberra emigrated from the
United States to Australia. One of Griffin's
works is Newman College in Melbourne
(1915-17).
After the Second World War, many
Australian architects joined the ideals of
modernism. Among the leading architects is
Frederick Romberg, German educated and moved
to Australia in 1939. designed the Stanhill
Flats residential building in southern
Melbourne (1942–50), Harry Seidler, pupil of
Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, who
erected several buildings for industry and
commerce, including the office tower on
Australia Square in Sydney (1961-67), and
Roy Grounds, which designed the Victorian
Art Center in Melbourne (1965–81).
Scandinavian architecture has also given
impetus to modern Australian construction;
The Mercy Hospital in Melbourne (1935–38) by
Arthur Stephenson was designed with Alvar
Aalto's sanatorium in Pemar as a clear
example. Australia's most famous modern
building, the Sydney Opera House (1957-73),
was designed by Danish Jørn Utzon, who won
the international competition.
1980s Australian architects have drawn
inspiration and ideas from older indigenous
colleagues such as Robin Dods, Hardy Wilson
and Harold Desbrowe Annear. In this
nationally oriented architecture, the
veranda has gained new importance and
popularity. Examples are Short House in
Kempsey, New South Wales (1975, 1981) by
Glenn Murcutt and Andrews House in Eugowra,
New South Wales (1980) by John Andrews.
Other prominent architects in Australia are
Daryl Jackson. designed the Hyatt Hotel
Canberra in the capital Canberra, and Philip
Cox, who designed the National Athletics
Stadium in Bruce (1981). Australia's new
Parliament House in Canberra (completed in
1988) was designed by the internationally
active architectural team Mitchell /
Giurgola & Thorp after a contest in 1979. |