236 - Victoria Victorious Over Rest Of Australia
“I used to work in a library and an old gentleman came in with it”, is about as much info as Jayson Emery can offer up about this map that he sent me.
What is obvious nonetheless is that the map is an advertisement of the self-aggrandizing pride taken by inhabitants from the state of Victoria in their constituent part of the Commonwealth of Australia. It is somewhat reminiscent of this map, projecting a similar boastfulness about Texas.
Victoria is Australia’s smallest, but also its most densely populated state. Just over 5 million people live in the state, out of a total of 21 million Australians. Clearly, these 5 million Victorians have some issues with their 16 million compatriots.
This parody map shows Victoria taking over the largest part of the country, pushing all other states to the periphery of the island-continent. Victorians, it appears, hold a lot of records, including ‘World’s most generous people’, ‘World’s best beer’, ‘World’s woolliest sheep’ and even ‘World’s highest taxes’. The other states are markedly less attractive.
Western Australia contains ‘Head hunters’ and is therefore ‘No good for white man’.
The Northern Territory (NT; or Not Teetotal, as it’s called here) holds the ‘World’s savagest crocodiles’ and the ‘World’s biggest mosquitoes’.
Queensland offers ‘Cannibals’, ‘Impenetrable jungle’ and the ‘World’s worst weather’.
South Australia is mainly marked as ‘Desert’ and ‘Unexplored’.
Particularly spiteful is the minuscule rendering of New South Wales, which is marked ‘Incomplete surveys’ and ‘Rabbits only’.
Antagonisms like these translate to other countries, with for example the aforementioned Texan example; other well-known animosities exist between the northern and southern Italians, the English and the Scottish (not to mention the Irish), the Catalans, the Basques and the rest of Spain, etc. All of which proves, quite ironically, that regional chauvinism is quite a universal trait.
That map seems quite accurate to me! Yes, I do live in Victoria, why do you ask.
But I must point out that Victoria isn’t the smallest state, Tasmania is.
Comment by Brett — January 26, 2008 @
I know nothing of victoria, but wanted to comment on what a great idea this blog is. My family and I are always buying box lots and odd bits and pieces at estate auctions…we’ve had some weird maps, and let them slip away, but I’m sure we’ll get more.
DNW
Comment by David Niall Wilson — January 26, 2008 @
Egad, *please* thumbnail these large maps :(
Comment by Max — January 26, 2008 @
Oh, that’s better. Thanks.
Comment by Max — January 26, 2008 @
Really hilarious, made my day! :) Thanks!
Comment by littleredpoppy — January 26, 2008 @
“English and the Scottish (not to mention the Irish)”
Ahem. And the Welsh.
Comment by Jeff Gill — January 26, 2008 @
Seems just a wee bit racist.
Comment by Ken Kleinman — January 26, 2008 @
I note that “Canberra” (Capital) has “Unlimited hot air resources”.
Comment by Lurker — January 26, 2008 @
Victoria’s more than three times the size of Tassie. And, well, you know, they’re right about South Australia …
I love this blog!
Comment by Brachychiton — January 27, 2008 @
Awesome! Another great piece of map ephemera.
Comment by michael5000 — January 27, 2008 @
LOL dude, but its true that the Victorians are better . we’re the happier bunch of people than any other part of Australia ^__^
and you kinda forgot Tasmania … >___>” apparently Canberra are very moody people .. so come visit melbourne instead XD
i got my sources from today tonight .. a news program . and yea i live in Vic =]~
Comment by minjee4micky — January 27, 2008 @
I have a tea towel that is a lot like this one - “Tasmania and its Territory” - with Tasmania as the enlarged state. It’s labelled with ones like “World’s wildest rivers”, “World’s best diamonds” and “Oldest pub”. A very small Australia is to the north labelled as “Large desolate island off the northern coast of Tasmania” along with stuff like “Deadly scorpions”, “Concrete jungle” (over Victoria/NSW), “Permanent drought area”, and many “Sharks” and “Crocodiles” around its coast. I wonder if there’s souvenirs and maps like this for every Australian state?
Comment by Talbert — January 28, 2008 @
My grandparents (Tasmanian & proud - a dubious honour if you’re from the Mainland) used to have the “Tasmania & its Territory” tea-towel framed on their wall. I was always fascinated by it when I was a kid, although I took a lot of it quite literally. It buys into the whole (ahem) “friendly” rivalry between the states…
Comment by wayne — January 28, 2008 @
Funny how among all the boasts of the world’s best, Vic also claims
“World’s Highest Taxes”, “World’s Worst Traffic Jams” and “World’s Fastest Parking Meters”? And “World’s Most Drunks”?…just seems too neutral.
Comment by bellyfeller — January 30, 2008 @
A strange little map, much enjoyed by children in the very early 1960s, before we knew better! I had one, and it was the laugh of the school yard. It reflects nothing about how Victorians feel about anything. It was just a joke, and all we kids knew it. There were other similar ones at the same time for all the other Australian states
Comment by Mark — January 30, 2008 @
I’m startled. Victoria hasn’t claimed south east Queensland, where most Victorians actually live.
Comment by Maozze — January 30, 2008 @
Maozze, zoom in to the Gold Coast, ‘Colonized by Victorians’. Gold.
Comment by loz — January 30, 2008 @
Haha! hilarious - 1 Victorian Football Ground = Tasmania…
Comment by kassu — January 31, 2008 @
Any guesses on how old this map might be. It looks like something you could find at a dollar store.
Comment by cyclepromo — January 31, 2008 @
It could “regional” chauvinism as long as populations belong to the same stock of origin… not the case of Scots, Welsh, Irish and English, nor Basques, Catalans and Spaniards.
Comment by Hitur — February 4, 2008 @
hiya: lovely blog you got here! this post reminds me of an economist article on the insularity of the americans. there was a hilarious map of the world drawn with that perspective where an enormous USA was flanked by a smaller Canada (huntin’ fishin’) and an even smaller Europe (some sort of culture), Africa (killin’) and Asia (starvin’). I think Mexico was slightly large as well, being a good place for burritos. Do you know the map I speak of?
Comment by Feanor — February 7, 2008 @
It’s funny because it’s true! Victorians and particular Melburnians have this inferiority complex and they’ve got to continually proclaim that they’re best, and have to brand everything as “proudly made in Melbourne/Victoria”. Even TV commercials for consumer products will be branded as such.
Comment by Northerner — February 9, 2008 @
…and in other parts of Australia, they only brand things as “made in (insert anywhere else)” because they’re proud, not because they’re feeling inferior? :)
Comment by wayne — February 13, 2008 @
[...] Strangemaps: Victoria Victorious Over Rest Of Australia [...]
Pingback by Victoria: World’s Best Everything Map | Melbourne Metblogs — March 9, 2008 @
…here’s some more about the great state of Victoria.
Comment by monaro — March 26, 2008 @
And here’s a real map showing that the land called Victoria is actually Southern New South Wales – an illegally occupied land.
Comment by monaro — March 26, 2008 @
[...] Check out this map, I’m sure you’ll get the picture. Linked here. [...]
Pingback by A Victorian map of Australia | Right Pulse — April 4, 2008 @