Transportation: The Unsung Hero of Progress
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Australia is one of the largest territories in the world with a land area of more than seven and a half million kilometres squared. Simply put into perspective, the country has almost thirty percent more land than the Roman Empire at its peak in 117 A.D. This of course doesn’t include the Mediterranean Sea, but even if it did, Australia would still be larger by virtue of its territorial waters.
Australia and Ancient Rome This information is important because one of the reasons the Roman Empire failed was its inability to sustain its size. The more the empire expanded, the more the government spent to protect and maintain the standard of living across its territories. How is it that the much greater territories can survive in relative peace without running into the same problems? Obviously, Australia doesn’t have barbarian hordes or Persian armies on their borders to worry about, but that doesn’t remove the problem of governing over large expanses of land. Even during the time of the Emperors, the answer was obvious – transport systems. The better the method of transport a town, city or country has at its disposal, the more convenient and efficient their operations will become.
Benefits to Moving Around There are many advantages to having the ability to move quickly from one place to another; communication, job creation, and population distribution among them. But, the most essential of these lies in the delivery of resources. This allows more cities to urbanise by centralising the generation of raw goods such as food and minerals in other areas. Transportation also has a hand in creating industries as well, the most obvious examples being tourism and security. Quality roads limit the need for multiple entry points such as airports inland, and docks along the shoreline. This allows governments to focus their resources in securing a select number of locations without compromising the potential revenue tourists can inject into the economy. The size and continued prosperity of Australia is a testament to the quality of the transportation systems within the country.
SOURCES: http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-189_t-505_c-1865/nsw/history/australia%27ssocial-and-cultural-history-in-the-post-war-period/the-impact-of-changing-technologyon-everyday-life/transport:-1950s---1960s http://www.ariescarrental.com.au/