Columnar Basalt at Fingal Head, NSW :: (Thanks to all who responded - Explore:26Mar23)
In my childhood, my worldview was skewed. Through my grandparents we informally learnt about England and Scotland. We learnt the way so set the table, the way to greet other people, particular games, recipes, songs and nursery rhymes, and old English words we were not to use. We had to have our regular precautionary treatment for illnesses that were peculiar to Britain and Western Europe such as ricketts (we had our doses of Hypol or cod lIver oil in case we weren't getting enough Vitamin D - as if ??!! but it might protect us from colds was the thought, and the manufacturers sponsored children's program on the radio!)
OK so what has that to do with basalt at Fingal Head? We learnt at high school geography classes about columnar basalt at Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.
That's interesting, but why didn't we learn that there was basalt in many places in Eastern Australia? Because our world view was skewed and British-centric, and our textbooks were written by a London headmaster in 1951. So when my turn came I had the sheer privilege of co-authoring the first Australian textbook for secondary geography on Geomorphology - landforms and landforming processes - loaded with Australian images, maps, case studies and examples (and global illustrations as well).
Ian
Columnar Basalt at Fingal Head, NSW :: (Thanks to all who responded - Explore:26Mar23)
In my childhood, my worldview was skewed. Through my grandparents we informally learnt about England and Scotland. We learnt the way so set the table, the way to greet other people, particular games, recipes, songs and nursery rhymes, and old English words we were not to use. We had to have our regular precautionary treatment for illnesses that were peculiar to Britain and Western Europe such as ricketts (we had our doses of Hypol or cod lIver oil in case we weren't getting enough Vitamin D - as if ??!! but it might protect us from colds was the thought, and the manufacturers sponsored children's program on the radio!)
OK so what has that to do with basalt at Fingal Head? We learnt at high school geography classes about columnar basalt at Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.
That's interesting, but why didn't we learn that there was basalt in many places in Eastern Australia? Because our world view was skewed and British-centric, and our textbooks were written by a London headmaster in 1951. So when my turn came I had the sheer privilege of co-authoring the first Australian textbook for secondary geography on Geomorphology - landforms and landforming processes - loaded with Australian images, maps, case studies and examples (and global illustrations as well).
Ian