1

G’day, I am Steve. Shown here with my wife Moira at a Rotary DistrictConference dinner. Also Moira with children overlooking our beautiful home city ofPerth

I have the privilege and pleasure of leading and introducing our great GSE team.I also take this opportunity to thank you for hosting our team in your District andyour clubs.

3

Our team are spread across the District as shown.

4

I bring you greetings from DG Jodie Sparks on behalf of the members of ourDistrict. The District spans the lower area of Western Australia with approximately1500 members in 51 clubs.

Greetings from President Wendy Castles and members of Rotary Club ofBooragoon.A small club of 19 members, ages 22 to 84, now more than 50% ladies.We are active in all aspects of Rotary.Home club of PDG Marilyn Barton who hosted the inbound Texas team last year.Many members are active in District. We have had a strong relationship withambassadorial scholars, including sending one of our members home to Texas ashusband for Texas ambassadorial scholar Becky Alison (now Barton).

Fundraising through our markets each Sunday morning supports a variety ofprojects from local community service to Rotary Foundation matching grantprojects

My family, an old but favourite portrait.

Our son Christopher

Our daughter Natasha, her smile brings joy to all

Extended family (Relatives or Rellies to Aussies). We have live in baby sitters,Moira’s parents Buster and Margaret. Moira’s brother Mark lives in Bunbury 120miles south of Perth. My two brothers and sister and families live in South Africawhere I moved fromover 11 years ago.

Sport is a big part of our life and lifestyle, initially as a player, later as coach andspectator. Almost any sport with a ball is fair game including, Cricket, RugbyUnion, squash, Aussie Rules Football, but our first love is the world game Soccer.Shared interest with my son Chris, coaching his junior teams for eight years andwe still watch together.

Culminating in our odyssey together to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

My most significant hobby has been my involvement in Service Clubs. 10 years inRotary has brought many opportunities. Attend meetings at clubs in variouscountries, hands on projects in the community, making a member of ourcommunity a Paul Harris fellow in recognition of vocational and communityservice. Even shaving off my hair and a 23 year old beard fund-raising forleukemia research. Also a member of Round Table (men under 40 service club inSouth Africa and other countries).

Whilst now on the other side as an outbound GSE Team Leader, we haveenjoyed the opportunities of meeting and hosting wonderful people from inboundGSE teams. Shown here are last years GSE team from Portugal. We hostedMariana shown here with team leader Maria. Also a member of a Scottish team(kilt and all).

Our family has hosted a youth exchange student Luis Correia from Ecaudor forsix months

My career as a professional mechanical engineer has spanned a number ofindustries from food processing with multi national FMCG company Unilever,operating my own business electroplating (mainly components for the automotiveindustry), chemical manufacture and engineering construction and equipmentmanufacture. Some visual highlights include Site construction and maintenanceincluding equipment installation on mining sites, power stations, building a pressline for composite board processing.

And prior to my current role, Engineering Manager (sales, design, and projectmanage project construction of equipment for materials handling and mineralprocessing.

Aborigines are thought to have immigrated to Australia earlier than 70,000BC.First European discovery of Australia in 1616 when Dirk Hartog, a Dutch explorer,sails to Western Australia. Later, in 1688 an English explorer, William Dampier,arrives on the west coast of Australia. Captain James Cook lands on the morehospitable east coast of Australia, declares the land terra nullius and claims it forBritain in 1770. This has postscript in 1992 when The High Court of Australiahanded down a landmark decision in Mabo v Queensland rejecting the doctrineof terra nullius, in favour of the common law doctrine of aboriginal title,recognizing native title in Australia for the first time.

The end of the American War of Independence in 1782 had a significant impactfor Australia since Great Britain was no longer able to transport convicts toAmerica. This led to a determination in 1786 to found a settlement at Botany Bay.A fleet of 11 ships, known as The First Fleet, including the HMS Charlottedepicted here at Portsmouth left in 1787 on a voyage approximately 250 daysduration and the subsequent Foundation of Sydney in 1788.

1829 brings the annexation of the Swan River, the PARMELIA conveys firstimmigrants to Swan River and the whole of Australia claimed as British territory.

Over the period 1897-9, The Federal Convention and First and second FederalReferendum are held leading to the Commonwealth of Australia becomes areality in 1901.

The opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by HRHThe Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V), May 9, 1901 representedby Tom Roberts’ painting which brings to life the major figures present at theceremony. The major events of the ceremony including the speech by His RoyalHighness (HRH) Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George VI), the messageof King Edward VII to Australians and the Governor-General’s swearing in ofmembers of each house.

Australian troops fight in World War 1 during 1914-1918.

The Gallipoli Campaign from 25th April 1915, was the first major battle undertakenthe Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). Often considered to markthe birth of national consciousness in both countries.

ANZAC day, 25th April, remains the most significant commemoration of militarycasualties and veterans in Australia.

The ANZAC spirit represented by the Statue of Simpson and his donkey at theAustralian War Memorial in Canberra

Australian troops fought in World War 2, Vietnam and other conflicts in support ofallies and democracy.

As part of the celebration of our Bicentenary in 1988, the new Parliament Housewas opened in Canberra.

The Australian Federation is formed by six states and later two territories).Australia and the United States have similar political systems. Both enshrine theidea of democracy, base on principles of political equality, majority rule andpreservation of minority rights

24

Three levels of government, Federal, State and Local

The Australian political system has elements of both the British and US systems.Similarities include constitution, representative systems, two major politicalparties and legislative processes.The Australian Federal design was derived form the US. However, theparliamentary and executive aspects of Australia’s political system are derivedfrom England. The leader of the Government is the Prime Minister (currently MsJulia Gillard) is the leader of the majority party elected in the House ofRepresentatives and appoints an executive from the elected members of bothhouses of parliament. The United States President appoints an Executive whoare not allowed to be elected members of Congress or Senate.

Parliament (same as Congress) composed of two houses, house ofrepresentatives and a senate that represents the states equally.Independent judiciary, High Court of Australia (= US Supreme Court) whichinterprets the constitution and acts as final court of appeals.

The US is a republic with President directly elected as the head of State.Australia is a constitutional Monarchy. The Queen is represented in Australia bythe Governor General, currently Ms Quentin Bryce

Our country has moved on from a history of white Australia policy to embrace amulti-cultural society. Immigration has had a major impact on our society. 50% ofAustralians were either born or have parents born outside Australia. Includingpeople like me, refugees from war and crime in Africa.

Closing with some fun and rivalry between friends. We heard that everything isbigger and better in Texas. We got this Texas view of the world from a friend.(Outbound GSE team member from Georgia USA)

30

But we can fit more than 2 of Texas in WA

31

So, we have the Western Australia view of the world’s biggest and best.

32

Thanks for listening and I’ll now hand over to my team mate Jo

33

Fremantle, or Freo as we like to call it, is full of lots of outdoor restaurants, shopsand pubs.

34

It is the best preserved example of a 19th century port streetscape in the worldand has many heritage listed buildings including Notre Dame University, the ArtsCentre and Old Fremantle Prison.

35

It is also home to Fremantle Harbour, the Fremantle Dockers Football Club andthe grave site of AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott

36

This is the house I live in and this is my family

37

These are my parents – my Dad Ron and Mum Sylvia

38

This is my Sister Veronica, her husband Leo, my niece Maya and nephew Levi

39

This is my brother Mario and his fiancé Amanda; and this is my partner John.

40

I work at a State Government agency called Main Roads Western Australia,which is similar to your Texas Department of Transport. We build and maintainroads across Western Australia and we often have to do this in very ruggedterrain

41

I’ve worked there for 16 years and I am currently working in the Public Relationsarea where I deal with media queries, write speeches and arrange road openingceremonies.

42

When I’m not working I love going to the beach and most of all I love to travel andmeet new people. I also love to talk about Australia!

43

I was able to attend this Group Study Exchange thanks to the support of mysponsor club – the Rotary Club of Rossmoyne. As well as having manyCommunity and Vocational projects, one of their major International projects isproviding sustainable housing and education in Cambodia, which is 4957km(3080 miles) north of Perth

44

The program focuses on helping to establish village communities by teachingthem agricultural and organisational skills, providing education and developingfresh drinking water wells, vegetable gardens and schools

45

Australia must seem to you all, to be so far away from Texas.Well to be honest - it is! It took our team almost 22 hours of flying to get here, butdon’t let that put you off visiting us one day in the future.

46

Australia is a special place and when you hear it mentioned you’ll probably thinkof images like this -The Sydney Opera House; Ayers Rock (or Uluru) in the Northern Territory; TheGreat Barrier Reef in Queensland; Bondi Beach in Sydney

47

The Boxing Kangaroo; andSteve Irwin.

But did you know that there is so much more to Australia than that!

48

Yes it’s true – we do have some of the best beaches in the world, with miles andmiles of pristine coastline

49

But did you know that there is a regular snow season in Victoria, the AustralianCapital Territory and New South Wales

50

And it’s also true that over 40% of Australia is considered desert

51

The interior of Australia is very hot and dry and considered one big desert regionwith very little or no rainfall

52

But did you know that we also we have large areas of tropical rainforest. In fact,Cape Tribulation in North Queensland is one of the most biologically diverseareas in the world and was included in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area in1988.

53

Most of you would also think that the majority of Australians live in ‘The Outback’or ‘The Bush’ as we like to call it.

54

But in fact Australia is actually very urbanised, with 89% of our population of 22million living in cities along the coast

55

Western Australia is the largest State in Australia and is also the most isolated.We have a population of around 2.3 million, with 85% of us living in the south-west corner of the state

56

This is our State flag and Coat of Arms. Our floral emblem is the Red and GreenKangaroo Paw and our fauna emblem is the Black Swan

57

WA has some of the harshest landscape in Australia and is home to some veryunusual rock formations like the Bungle Bungls and the Pinnacles

58

We also have some spectacular landscape like Wave Rock and Nature’s Window

59

Now, Australia often has an image of being dangerous when it comes to ourwildlife… And yes – it’s true that all of these animals can kill you…

60

But we also have lots if very cute and cuddly creatures…and some others thatare a little unusual looking.

61

And while it’s not true that we have kangaroos in our back yards – we do havethem on our golf courses!

62

Our flora isn’t quite as scary! Our vegetation ranges from lush rainforest in thenorth east, hardwood forest and vineyards in the south west, grasslike spinifex inthe central desert region and colourful wildflowers in the mid west. In fact, thereare over 12,000 species of wildflower in WA alone.

63

One of our most unusual plants is found in the north west of WA – it’s called aBoab Tree and it can store its own water!

64

I hope that gives you a quick insight into the real Australia, which as you can seeis almost as big as continental USA. But before I go I’d like to let you in on a fewthings you’ll probably need to know if you ever visit us:

65

A White Christmas….is possible in December!

66

A Barbie…..is something you cook on!

67

Thongs……are something you wear on your feet!

68

Thanks for listening and I’ll now hand over to my team mate Jenny

69

I live in Western Australia in a place called Kalgoorlie, which is 400 miles inlandfrom Perth and has a population of approximately 33000 people. The road is longand dusty and full of red dirt. In fact, Kalgoorlie is located in the heart of theGibson Desert. The ocean is a 4 hour drive away and, as you can see from themap, we don’t really have many other towns or cities close by. However, we dohave 11 small Indigenous communities surrounding Kalgoorlie and this area iscalled the Ngaanyatjarra lands, which is an Indigenous name. Although Australiahas many urban based Indigenous people, a large number still live in remotecommunities.

I am a workforce development consultant and run my own small business called,Lifeworx. The majority of the work I do is with Indigenous people, not for profitorganisations, community, and youth. I assist individuals and organisations withBusiness and Strategic planning, human resource development, and thedevelopment and delivery of various programs.

70

The statue you see is a statue of Paddy Hannan who was one of the founders ofKalgoorlie. In 1892 he was gold prospecting around the area and discoveredgullies where gold was clearly visible. Within a week there were over 1000 minerslooking for gold in Kalgoorlie and investors soon came to the area from the UK.Kalgoorlie was originally called Hannans but was changed to Kalgoorlie afterIndigenous plant called Karlkurla, meaning place of the silky pears

The Super Pit produces up to 850,000 ounces of gold every year and itsoperation far outweighs any other mining centre in Australia. The Super Pit is thebiggest gold open pit mine in the country and employs over 550 personnel and100s of contractors. The mine operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and avisitor centre overlooks it. Each of the massive trucks carries 225 tonnes of rockand the round trip takes about 35 minutes, most of that time being the slow uphillhaul.

If you were to drive around Kalgoorlie, you would see that the majority of peoplewear reflective clothing, which is a mine site requirement. The clothing wornusually consists of steel cap boots, reflective wear and hard hats.

The Exchange Hotel is the most photographed hotel in Australia.

71

I have lived in Kalgoorlie for 6 years and live in the house my Dad built. Untilrecently he lived in the house his Dad built. I am the fifth generation fromKalgoorlie.

72

As you can see from the map I live quite a distance from my family. This is quite acommon occurrence in Australia with families spread across States. Although Ihave family history in Kalgoorlie, many people live in parts of Australia other thantheir home city due to work. Kalgoorlie has a population of approximately 33 000people and our main industry is gold and nickel mining. Most of the people whowork in Kalgoorlie live in other parts of Australia and do Fly In Fly Out, morecommonly known as FIFO, which means the company they work for flies then infor a couple of weeks at a time and then flies them back to their home town. Theylive on site for the time they are working.

73

The Rotary Club that sponsored me is the Rotary Club of Hannans. The RotaryClub of Hannans has 30 members and is a mixed gender club. Here PresidentEsther Roadnight awards certificates to RYLA members.

74

The Club was named in honour of Paddy Hannan. Our club is one of three RotaryClubs in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. We are the only breakfast club.

The main annual fund raising event they run is the Balzano Barrow Race. Theevent involves teams walking 15 miles from the ghost town of Kanowna to thefinish in Kalgoorlie, pushing a wheel barrow. In Western Australia in the 1890'stransport was always a problem and most Gold miners pushed a Wheelbarrow tostore their equipment. With just a single wheel and two shafts the wheel barroweasily tripled the amount of equipment a man could transport into the wilderness.This simple device helped to open up huge tracts of gold bearing country muchearlier than would otherwise have been possible.

A man called Balzano pushed a record distance for a loaded wheelbarrow. Hecovered an incredible 546 miles through the desert goldfields of WesternAustralia. The Banzano wheelbarrow race is held in his honour and to raise fundsfor local community groups.

75

As I mentioned before, a large amount of work I do is with IndigenousAustralians. The history of Indigenous Australians is thought to have spanned40 000 to 45 000 years, although some estimates have put the figure at up to 80000 years before European settlement. For most of this time, the IndigenousAustralians lived as nomads and as hunter-gatherers with a strong dependenceon the land and their agriculture for survival. The path of Australian Aboriginalhistory changed radically after the 18th- and 19th-century settlement of theBritish: Indigenous people were displaced from their ways of life, were forced tosubmit to European rule, and were later encouraged to assimilate into Westernculture. Since the 1960s, reconciliation has been the pursuit of EuropeanAustralian – Indigenous Australian relations.

Many Indigenous people were removed from their families prior to the 1960s andplaced with Non Indigenous families as a part of this displacement.

76

On Wednesday 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians who were removed from their families and communities as children, also known as The Stolen Generation.

The motion honoured the Indigenous peoples of the land and reflected in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations.

The apology was important for the healing process for those affected. The apology by the Australian Government was an important step in achieving Reconciliation, removing barriers to establishing respectful relationships.

77

The Aboriginal flag is based on the connection Aboriginal people have with theearth and the sun. The yellow circle represents the sun, while the red bandacross the bottom represents that land, and the black represents the people

78

As with the Torres Strait Islander flag, the black bands represent the people, theblue represents the ocean, the green is for the land and then white represents thetraditional head piece

79

Aboriginal culture considers the following aspects extremely important: familyand kin, land and place, and the Dreaming and Spirituality. They express thesecultural values through art, dance and music.

The didgeridoo is possibly the world's oldest musical instrument and is a windinstrument. Is made from limbs and tree trunks hollowed out by termites (insects)and used as an accompaniment to chants and songs. Traditionally only men areallowed to play it.

The lady doing a dot painting is one of the participants in the healthy livingprogram I run. As you can see, the equipment required is very minimal and shewas very happy to simply sit and do her painting while keeping an eye on thechildren playing the play area. It is very common for the ladies to watch eachother’s children even if the mother isn’t around.

80

A lot of the work I do is in remote communities. Kiwirrkurra is the most remotecommunity I have ever worked in. It is the most remote Indigenous community inAustralia. To get there I had to fly out of WA, into the NT and then drive back intoWA in a 4WD which took 6 hours. We were lucky that there weren’t any floodsand that the roads were open. The food truck comes in once a fortnight, if thecommunity is lucky.

81

While on community I had the opportunity to go goanna hunting with the ladies.This was the most amazing and surreal experience I’ve ever had. The ladiesseem to simply know where the goannas were sleeping. We drove out of thecommunity for about an hour and a half and then all of a sudden the ladies yelledout STOP in language and all piled out of the car with crowbars. As you can seefrom the first image, they walked around the area they though the goannas wereand thumped the ground with the crowbar. In the second image you can see oneof the ladies digging in the dirt from where she could feel the goanna slitheringaround. They kill the goanna by whacking its head on the crowbar. This middleimage shows one of the children holding a dead goanna. The bottom left image isof the fire they started to cook the goannas on. They would bend the goanna’slegs back and then char grill them on the open fire. And this final image is of thegoannas cooking.

The goanna I tasted was very rubbery and tasted a little bit like burnt chicken.

82

Thanks for listening and I’ll now hand over to my team mate Kylie

83

It is a multicultural community with the town being built around the farmingindustry.

84

I grew up in regional towns on the east coast of Australia with my mum and olderbrother. As kids we would assist on the family farm and once the work was donecreated our own fun, including riding horses and catching yabbies.After completing a degree in Agricultural Economics my now husband, Steve andI moved to Western Australia.

85

I am an Agribusiness & Commercial Business Bank Manager with theCommonwealth Bank of Australia. I manage a portfolio of farming andcommercial business clients with financing needs and assisting to achieve theirbusiness goals. This role allows me to not only do the number crunching but to beon client’s farms to see the day to day operations.

86

Outside of work I enjoy playing hockey, watching rugby union, water skiing andrelaxing with friends and family.

87

My sponsoring club is the Rotary Club of Katanning and has 27 active membersmade up of farmers, local business owners and community members. Projectsthat the club is involved in include Nathan Drew Memorial Trust for CoastalSafety and The Anak Anak clinic for Children in Bali providing volunteer doctorsand dentists. The Rotary Club of Katanning is a strong promoter of the GSEprogram with a large number of alumni originating from the club.

88

Australia’s economy in 2011 had a GDP of $1.23 trillion which is the 13th largestnational economy in the world with a population of 22.8 million people. The USAhad a GDP in excess of $15 trillion for the same time period, making it the largesteconomy in the world with a population of 313.3 million people.In Australia, WA contributed a Gross State Production of $244 billion ,incomparison, Texas had Gross State Production of $1.33 trillion.

89

Two of the main contributing industries are mining and agriculture making up 57%of Australia’s exports. China is the largest user of Australia’s exports taking 22%worth $64 billion per year.

90

Western Australia’s agriculture industry is dominated by cereal production with inexcess of 15m tonnes harvested from 8million hectares (20 million acres) in 2011.The majority of the crop grown is exported around the world.

91

Other commodities grown in WA include sheep, cattle, dairy, fishing, horticultureand wine.

92

Challenges facing the agriculture industry are drought, which in 2010 WAexperienced the lowest rainfall in over 100 years severely reducing the output.Bushfires cause major damage throughout farming and residential communitiesand when combined with a dry season can result in catastrophic damage similarto the wildfires experienced in Texas during 2011. Other issues include floods anddisease outbreak.

93

WA’s major industry is mining. This started across WA the early 1960’s and hasbecome one of Australia’s largest export markets. It is the highest earningindustry in WA with a turnover of $101billion & employing approx. 75,000 peoplein 2011. Mining contributes about 5.6% of Australia’s Gross Domestic Production,by comparison in the USA mining represents about 1.6% of GDP.

94

Resources mined in WA include iron ore, coal, diamonds, gas, gold, nickel andlead. China is the largest user of WA’s resources taking about 47% of allresources mined. Most of mining for iron ore is done in the Pilbara and Peelregions of WA and exported from Port Hedland. Gold mining is completed in theGoldfields, predominately at and around Kalgoorlie with the main mine being theSuper Pit which is the largest open pit mine in Australia.Many multinational mining companies operate in WA including BHP Billiton,Newcrest and Rio Tinto plus many other smaller multinational and local miningcompanies.

95

The mining industry has created a large amount of wealth for these largecompanies as well as personal wealth for some of Australia’s richest peopleincluding Gina Rinehart and Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest with a net wealth of $9band $6.9b respectively.

I hope that has provided a small snap shot about myself, Australia’s farming andmining industries. I would now like to introduce…

96

Thanks for listening and I’ll now hand over to my team mate Mick

97

98

Introduction• G’day my name is Michael (Mick) Quirk and I am a 34 year old from

Rockingham, Western Australia.

• I am proud to be here in Texas through the support of the Rotary Clubof Rockingham from District 9465 in Western Australia.

Rockingham• Rockingham is a fast growing, coastal City located approximately 25

miles from the Perth CBD

• Approximately 108,000 people currently live in Rockingham but this isprojected to reach more than 170,000 by 2031

• This photo shows many of the natural features that make Rockinghama popular destination – the protected waters of Cockburn Sound, theretained bushland on Point Peron and the marine life within ShoalwaterMarine Park and Penguin Island.

Rockingham• Rockingham is best known for its magnificent aquatic and marine

based experiences, and relaxed coastal living lifestyle.

• This includes sailing within the many protected bays diving and snorkelling off the neighbouring islands swimming with wild dolphins surfing some of the best breaks enjoying the stretches of white sandy beaches

99

Family• I am married to Clare who I met in Dublin whilst travelling around

Europe in 2000 and we married in County Kildare, Ireland in September2005

• We have two children - Sinead (5) and Tadhg (nearly 3)

Personal Interests• Sport – playing and watching sport is my passion. Whilst Australian

Rules Football is my sport of choice I have played a wide range ofsports over the years including basketball, cricket, tenpin bowling,soccer and squash.

• Travelling – I try to combine my love of sport with travel and this hasincluded watching AFL in Melbourne, cricket in England, rugby in Walesand soccer in Holland.

100

Rotary Club of Rockingham• Chartered on 10 June 1967 the Club currently has 35 members

• Medical Equipment Project – the Club sources medical equipment andsupplies from Western Australia and distributes it locally, nationallyand internationally. Wheelchairs, crutches, electric beds, trolleys andchairs are sent to a Burns Hospital in Vietnam and Tanzania AmanaHospital

• Rotary Mart – is the main source of funds for the Club and attracts alarge crowd to the Rockingham Waterfront each Sunday. A largepercentage of funds raised are returned to local projects, schools andhospitals.

• Fundraising – the Club raises funds to support numerous causesincluding Canteen (helping young people living with cancer) and CampQuality (a children’s family cancer charity)

101

City of Rockingham• I am employed as the Manager Community Infrastructure Planning at

the City of Rockingham

• The City is a Local Government Authority covering approximately 160square miles and we have a vision to lead Rockingham’s evolution intoone of the safest, most liveable and sustainable Cities in Australia

Community Infrastructure Planning• I am responsible for the forward planning and design of a broad range

of infrastructure including libraries, playing fields, sporting complexes,community centres, aged care accommodation, aquatic centres andsurf life saving clubs

102

103

National Identity & Mateship• The popularity of sport in Australia can be partly attributed to the

warm climate that encourages people to get outdoors and get active• It has enabled our national identity to be built upon values like

mateship, ‘having a go’, equality and larrikinism.

Social Change• Sport also reflects social change away from our British roots towards a

more Americanized yet distinctly Australian cultural hybrid. Sports likecricket and rugby point to our British heritage, modern sports likebasketball demonstrate an American influence yet at the same timelocal sports like Australian Rules Football continue to thrive.

The Old Enemy• Sport has underpinned our national identity since our foundation as an

English Colony, and to this day there is nothing better than beating thePoms

• We have been playing cricket against England since 1882 and the nextAshes series is in 2013.

104

Australian Exports• Kylie will have you believe that Australia’s main exports are iron ore,

coal, gold and our main export partners are China, Japan and India• But our most priceless exports are our athletes, and the US has been

one of our most notable export destinations

Sporting Exports• NBA - Andrew Bogut (Bucks now Warriors) was the number one draft

pick in 2005• NBA – Luc Longley, from Fremantle in Western Australia (where Jo is

from) played alongside Michael Jordan for the Bulls• MLB – Liam Hendriks from Perth is a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins.

And Guy Edmonds is an up and coming catcher who has recentlyearned a rookie contract with the Texas Rangers

• NASCAR – Marcos Ambrose currently drives in the NASCAR Sprint Series• NFL – Ben Graham (Arizona Cardinals) and Sav Rocca (Philadelphia

Eagles)• These two guys have made the transition from Australian Rules

Football to the NFL here in the States

105

National sport - Australian Rules Football• The greatest sport in the world originated from a combination of earlyIrish, English and Aboriginal games

• It is the highest participation sport in Australia

• All major States are represented by a team in the Australian FootballLeague (AFL) including the West Coast Eagles, Sydney Swans, MelbourneDemons and Brisbane Lions.

• Over 7 million people attended AFL matches in 2011 with the GrandFinal attracting 99,000 spectators at the MCG in Melbourne

USAFL• And Australian Rules has infiltrated the US with the USAFL beingestablished in 1997

• The 15th Annual USAFL National Tournament was held in Austin lastOctober but unfortunately the Austin Crows did not prevail

• The Denver Bulldogs defeated the Calgary Kangaroos in the Grand Final

106

West Coast Eagles• When it comes to AFL the pride of Perth and Western Australia is the

West Coast Eagles

• As with all major sporting leagues around the world the AFL has a draftsystem

Draft Picks• One of the Eagles best ever draft picks was Chris Judd in 2001

• One of our most famous draft picks was Barrack Obama in 2011

• And hopefully one of our best and most famous draft picks is yet tocome in about 2026 – Tadhg Quirk