True Girt

by David Hunt

In 1856, Victoria was the first place in the world to allow the voter to choose from a list of candidates in the privacy of a cosy little booth. London’s Times labelled this anonymity in voting a “vile system”, yet the Australian ballot, as it is now known, was adopted by Britain in 1872 and American states from 1888. It is now used around the globe.

Australia imported Afghan cameleers and their bad-tempered beasts to build Australia’s telegraph, railway and overland transport networks. The camels were turned loose after they were replaced by trains and trucks in the early twentieth century and their 750,000 living descendants are the largest wild camel population in the world.