I would call this a national embarrassment if it’s true to be frank. Don’t parents buy books to help educate their children? Geeze, I bought books on all different subjects for my children at age appropriate levels and still have them. My children grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s.
They knew who Australia’s two main poets Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson were because I made sure they did and I bought Australian history books and an Atlas for them starting school and a range of Australian nature books etc. There is no bloody excuse for such ignorance of Australian flora and fauna or history either. You can’t not see Australian wildlife on tv either because it’s always on tv.
If there are young people who really know what native wildlife is in Australia, one must wonder what is the public education system teaching children? This is stuff learned in primary schools and most city people have never seen Australian wildlife up close, but know from learning at school or in books at home or online. They handle money with Australian animals on them too, except the 1 and 2 cent coins were removed from circulation in the 90’s. The one cent coin had a bandicoot on it and the two cent coin had a frill neck lizard. A platypus is on the 20 cent coin for at least 50 years that I remember.
I learned about Australian wildlife in school as an immigrant child, and in books living in the middle of Sydney and I had never seen any native animals in their natural habitat until I moved to Canberra over 30 years ago, I only saw them in the Zoo in Sydney like most people, but could identify them, except for little things like marsupial dunnart and a few other little animals.
I am more inclined to believe they aren’t interested in learning such things because other things hold their interest. One thing is for sure though, Australians do love their native animals and the bush.
