Hmm...the girl you talked to probably does represent the majority of Americans. To be honest, a lot of news headlines, especially ones that might involve other countries, unless it's some huge natural disaster or war, however, probably won't reach a good majority of the areas in America. The only way to really know what's going on would be to search it out online. Having said that, however, I , as an American do know about Australia at least a little bit. Though where I live, not many news stories outside of the U.S. actually get printed in the paper, so any current events, I'm honestly clueless about. And, though I hate to admit it, I really don't think much about ANY countries until something happens that brings them to my attention. But that really counts for America too. I don't really think about what's going on in my own country until something happens that could affect me. (God, that sounds so self-centered or something.) XP

No way, that's just crazy, the person who said that was either very young or just very very short sighted? of course we know about australia, i actually didn't ever think it was terribly small, if it weren't such a long flight from the states, i know i would have visited by now, i'm so wanting to see how the water in the toilet goes down the opposite direction from how it does in the states!

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Love 'em so~

I'm not American though. Just putting it out there~ XD

Just sounds like a lot of ignorance to me. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it stems back to American history classes. Generally their focus is on America and her exploits only versus the happenings/exploits of other countries. I'm Canadian and my high school's history courses (some being optional, I will admit) covered Canadian history as well as American, English, French, Greek, Italian/Roman, African (more generally) and Russian. Seeing how we're still under the Queen we got a few tidbits about the Commonwealth.

In any case the Aussies are one of the few countries in the world with an economic surplus so they're pretty badass. We had a New Zealand exchange student staying at our place a few months back and through him we got to meet some Aussie students as well. Very kind and lovely people (but don't confuse them with Kiwis - they don't like that!).

I meant my reply in the more literal sense than what's being posted here. Then again, I seem to be more cynical about the US than most even if Obama did restore quite a lot of my faith in America.

, It's not my fault :( I turn on G4 and it would be like "Sexpo! hosted by someone who's Dad is probably ashamed somewhere." and that's all I'd ever see on TV about Australia. Ever. After watching the pole dancing I'ma trade my ticket from Comicon to that so yay Australia, you're my favorite place next to Hawaii, if your creatures don't kill me. Well, I guess in my case it's a B-horror film because of the monsters/porn stars.

I'd have thought Australia would be a pretty well known country simply because it has so many symbols that are unique to Australia. Boomerangs, kangeroos, wallabies, koalas, kookaburras.... I'm English though and I guess Australia is probably our bestest friend out of all the countries. Bit weird that given that it's further than anywhere else!

this girl sounds like kind of an idiot if i may say so or else i weep for the american public and their fallen brain cells so no, i hope that australia is known pretty widely in the u.s., and that while the typical american might not know what role aussies play in global politics and whatnot, folks probably know some things about the country then again they might not know MUCH except there are kangaroos and lots of poisonous things; at least it's... something......... (sigh)

So I read the original post, but only skimmed the responses, so apologies if I repeat.

I'm thinkin' that the girl was just really really really ignorant. I mean, I grew up in the states, and I don't know every single thing about Australia, but I acknowledge it's existence pretty often. I mean, it's it's own continent and is a pretty big ass island. I would expect that kind of a response for a different country like Togo or even a bigger country like Chile, but not about Australia. That's just dumb.

To be honest I just sort of skimmed the entire dialogue section of your post... so I'm just going to answer the "does Australia exist in the eyes of Americans" thing.

We acknowledge the existence of the country, but we don't really think about it much... when I hear "Australia," I think kangaroos, koalas, Sydney, the Great Coral Reef, and then that's the limit to my knowledge of the country. Well, then there's how at a point in history a lot of prisoners were exiled there, but that's not really relevant to today's world. But at least where I live, there's isn't really any news about Australia on the news I watch/read here. But I'm visiting the country for the first time this summer!

[edit]I should add that we should all know that Australia exists, not only because it's a huge country, but also because it takes up one of the seven continents...... but then again maybe some Americans don't know; I came across a girl recently that asked if our state had a capital... -_-

Yeah, taking the opinion of one American who claims to speak for 'all Americans' never really works out XD

Most of the people I know really want to go to Australia for a visit, actually. My grandparents went several years ago and absolutely loved it. My Grandpa has a picture of himself at the top of some bridge (I think in Sydney) that they let you climb but you have to put on these outfits that are the same color as the bridge so you don't distract the drivers, I guess it's pretty dangerous. Anyway, they travel all over the world (they've been to like 120 something countries) and that picture of him at the top of that bridge is the only photo from their travels that he has displayed anywhere in the house, Australia had that much impact on them! I had friends in college that studied there, and I always hear people saying "I'd love to go visit Australia."

[edit]

LOL at people on this topic responding for the entire country.

That person you talked to.....sigh ignore her completely. I might not meet a lot of people from Australia, but I know it exists, as well as it's history. Then again, that girl probably doesn't even know much about America. The things she said show that she is just plain ignorant and arrogant all around, and believes that she is the center of the universe. Instead of trying to obtain more knowledge, a person like that will just make it seem as if such pieces of information and history are simply not known to anyone at all, and that it is perfectly fine to be, well, stupid. Ask her something about America, or simply something about the state she lives in, like the bird that represents her State. She won't know the answer.

I'm an American and I've been to Australia. People always seem really jealous when I tell them that, so obviously it isn't THAT obscure.

LOL. Well, I don't personally know anybody from Australia, or even anybody that has ever set foot in Australia.

To be honest, Australia rarely, if ever, crosses my mind... But I mean, I would say it is there, and is still a country with people, and is thus significant.

But I mean, Australia stays of out the news. Heck, I hear more about New Zealand than Australia. I also like Flight of the Conchords. Haha.

Hahaha, we know about you're existence. The reason why most Americans don't know anything about Australia is because we never have time to learn it in school.

In social studies classes, Australia and Oceana is usually the last region of Earth we learn but since we spend a lot of time on the other regions, when the end of the year comes we only have like a few days left so the teachers are like "scratch Australia."

A lot Americans don't even care about other states as long as it doesn't affect them.

I'm not american (I live in Belgium, that tiny spot on the european map). But I had some experiences like this too. It's been a while ago already, because i don't talk with that girl much anymore.

But she knew absolutely nothing about europe and she even assumed we had the same tv shows, tv commercials, same food, same shops, same malls (hey surprise we got only about 5 malls in the entire country).

I wasn't able to convince her that over here, we don't have everything the same as in America. She just couldn't grasp that we even have tv shows without advertisement or she couldn't understand that we have different breakfast cereals here than in America. Because according to her, everything around the world was the same as in the usa. She thought the entire world lives like the americans do. And she thought everyone spoke either english or spanish.

But she was aware of the existance of australia because is australian and she was in our friends group. Which was kinda a miracle I think. Without Sharisa she probably wouldn't have known australia existed.

So not really related to americans not pretending australia doesn't exist. But it's kinda related.

I didn't even finish reading your post before I decided to tell you. I FUCKING LOVE AUSTRALIA MAN. I wann go there T_T is an American That was a ho bag move of the person there. Australia seems like an amazing place to live. I once dreamed about living there when I grew up.

How could I not know about Australia when it was home to my childhood hero (Steve Irwin)? xD

Your friend is out of touch, my dear. Sure, geography may be an American's worst enemy (guilty as charged) but being completely unaware of a place? I find it hard to fathom that people don't acknowledge Australia! Some of the nicest folks I've gamed with hail from there, and the place looks so beautiful, both environmentally and culturally. 8D

Except for your giant insects. You can keep those. ;p

Also you guys have Elysian, which is such a good melodic death metal band. So jelly. <3

I met a couple of Aussies a while back. I let them crash in my apartment. Awesome people. They have just the right amount of crazy in them...lol I've wanted to visit AU since I was a kid. I had to pick a country to do a report on and picked AU. Learned a lot about it. I was also obsessed with Savage Garden (remember them? lol)

But...now that I've gotten older and realize how much of the world cannot stand my country, I'm hesitant to travel outside of the US. I just don't want to be surrounded by people who may not like me simply because of where I live :/ I know there are good people and jerks in every part of the world, but man so many dislike America.

P.S I'm fully aware that the toilets flush the other way, you drive on the wrong side of the road, and hamburgers eat people down there :P And I'm pretty sure it's winter there right now. Oh and Australia day is in January. Crazy stuff!

P.P.S I'm sitting here eating a violet crumble and Freddo frog, sent to me by some aussie friends ;)

people don't know much about australia, what about new zealand? we're half the size :P hah. i have actually talked to people who thought new zealand was "an island off australia" and "oh NZ, so you're australian!" our animals aren't cute though. see; 'giant weta'.