What If Each Australian State Became Independent?

have you ever looked at Australia and thought whoa that's a pretty big space for just one country well I have I've also thought that's a forsaken land full of animals and bugs all trying to kill you but that is another story in this video I thought we could take a look at the possibility of Australia being separated into independent countries now obviously this is highly unlikely if not completely impossible but it's still fun to think about Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy a pretty long name but all that matters to us right now is that they have States there are six states New South Wales Victoria Queensland Western Australia South Australia and Tasmania and historically each is a successor to the previous Australian colonies each state has its own Constitution with its own parliament judiciary an executive on top of these six states they also have ten territories the one which catches our attention the most is the Northern Territory which takes up a big chunk of the Continental landmass I actually thought this was a state another important one is the Australian Capital Territory there are also seven other external territories but we won't get into those although being external they're actually more likely to eventually be independent like the Keeling Islands Norfolk Island or the Australian Antarctic Territory each of the six states and the two regions will focus on have their own flag if they were all to become independent states would probably need to change their flag apart from the Northern Territory in the capital territory which already used new templates will talk about flags in more detail when we go state-by-state so let's get started from left to right first Western Australia this state occupies the entire Western third of the Continental landmass it's 2.5 million square kilometres being the second largest country subdivision in the world only surpassed by Sakha Republic in Russia it has 2.6 inhabitants but about 92% of those live in the bottom-left corner in or around the city of Perth which would likely be the capital of this new independent country the share of the national economy is only 14% and the GDP is close to 255 million Australian dollars ranking last on almost all economic indicators its main business sector is mining which shows some difficulty transitioning into modern industries when we compare it to the last decade Western Australia has more unemployed people than it did probably because mining employment has decayed however they're not doing that bad their economy would rank 56 when compared to other countries still being ahead of nations like Hungary or guai or Slovenia their flag is Australia's wet the stars were placed by a yellow circle with a Black Swan so one can assume these colors and symbol would likely be present on a new independent flag a fun fact is that Western Australia has actually tried to become independence being the only state in Australia to do so ever since colonisation they were the most reluctant to join the Commonwealth of Australia and it said they only did so because a large amount of people from the other states moved there to work on the gold mines in fact in a referendum in 1933 68 percent of voters voted for the state to leave Australia and become its own autonomous territory as a part of the British Empire but the British refused next we would have an independent Northern Territory the reason why this area is an estate is a complicated one but it seems to boil down to the fact that it doesn't have enough people and therefore enough tax revenue to support itself so it needs funding from these central governments for instance in 2016 the budget was only 29% self-generated because of this it would likely be one of the states which would struggle the most with a possible independence it's very big with about 1.3 5 million square kilometers but only about 250,000 people less than half then Tasmania for instance being saddled by humans over 65 thousand years ago by Indigenous Australians the first settlement of Europeans was Port Darwin in fact Darwin is still the biggest city and the most likely capital if independence was ever achieved its share of the national economy is only 1.4 percent with a GDP of 26 million with the main business sector being natural gas although it did have a big growth of 4 percent last year but it's not enough to put it higher than 100 and 18th on a ranking of world economies amongst other countries being a territory and not a state the flag they use is slightly different in fact it follows a model that many recommend all of Australia adapts it was the first official Australian flag to not include the Union Jack a tricolor flag with a black stripe on the left and a constellation of the Southern Cross in white on the right is an orange field and a stylized Sturtz desert rose a local flower when Australia first came to be the Northern Territory was part of South Australia quickly being separated once they realized hey this isn't the south anymore South Australia would be the seventieth economy in the world if it became independence and the main business sector is household services although I have no idea what this includes plus agricultural manufacturing and mining industries speaking of mining they have what is called the Olympic Dam mine which is the largest deposit of uranium in the world possessing more than a third of the world's reserves it's around 980 thousand square kilometres and counts with 1.7 million people it's the only stay there a border with all other mainland states so it would be privileged when it comes to trade and land travel most people live in Adelaide which would probably be the capital as opposed to many other states South Australia's colonial origins are unique because they were a freely settled planned British province rather than a convict settlement it also differs in another aspect most of Australia was colonized under the rule of de hannelius which sort of means no one's land meaning that anyone who claimed a plot of land would be its owner South Australia didn't follow this rule the first royal letter establishing the colony fixes the boundaries of the province and states that they could never affect the rights of any Aboriginal natives something that was initially ignored by the local governors their flag is Australia's plus a state symbol in black and white over a dark yellow circle the symbol is described as a piping Shrike bird with stretched wings so an independent flag would probably use these colors and element as well then we have Queensland they are in the Northeast and their population is significant five million people with about 1.8 million square kilometers it is the location of the first European arrival in Australia in 1606 Dutch navigator willem yon zoom arrived in what is now the state in 1770 James Cook claimed the eastern part of Australia for Great Britain and soon after the prison colony of Brisbane was created the state's current capital later on the state was named in honor of the British Queen and in fact the earliest state flag contained a profile of Queen Victoria in replacement of the current seal currently their flag is like the others Australia's plus the state seal a light blue Maltese Cross with an imperial crown in the centre however there were other proposals for seals these three so in case of Independence maybe one of them can be recovered for a new flag or just use the Maltese Cross with or without a crown their economy is the 46 largest in the world when compared to sovereign countries a reasonable results with the largest sector being services especially in business and tourism so it seems that so far Queensland would be amongst the most likely to do well on their own in case of Independence its neighbor to the south New South Wales their capital is the world-famous city of Sydney the country's most populous city their population is also the largest with over 8 million people and around 5 million living in Sydney itself their flag carries their badge based on the coat of arms it is a white circle with the cross of st. George and inside it is a golden lion in four eight pointed stars before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 people in the region and given the relationship of Australia with the UK even today it's interesting to wonder whether state Independence's would change the focus back to a more native culture in this case or regardless in case of Independence they would need a new flag some proposals use the state flower as a new symbol in economic terms it seems that it would be the strongest out of all these new countries according to the state of states reports by the Australian Government New South Wales is consistently strong across all indicators it also has the biggest growth in business investment at seventeen point six percent if it became independent it would be the world's 26th largest economy a very good results like Queensland and all following states the main sector is business services New South Wales is one of only two states which has the HQ of a multinational firm but who knows if they maintain the HQ should Australia dissolve interestingly when it was first created the colony of New South Wales included several other islands of the Pacific including New Zealand so who knows in case of Independence they might join their Kiwi neighbours but probably not inside New South Wales we have another internal territory the Australian Capital Territory I guess we could kind of think of it in the same way as Washington DC in the u.s. it is a Federal Territory of Australia containing the Australian capital city of Canberra it holds the seed of the central Australian government so it's interesting to think what would happen to it in the case of separation and state independence would it become a small landlocked sovereign country or would it become in operated into its surrounding neighbor of New South Wales this option seems the most likely their population is only around four hundred and thirty thousand but they earn more money and have more qualification degrees than the average Australian so New South Wales would probably be eager to incorporate them and all their infrastructure it would rank a hundred and second on the world economy ranking it's a very small territory so we can't expect an unbelievable result there are certain physical limitations however they are number one on housing finance and second-ranked on population growth just like the Northern Territory they aren't a state and therefore their flag is different but following the same template as the northerners changing the colours to blue and gold the colors of the city of Canberra on the right it contains a stylized version of their coat of arms in blue and white the blue Swan black on the coat of arms represents the native population while the white one is said to represent the European immigrants next Victoria it was initially part of the New South Wales colony then becoming its own state in 1851 and being named after Queen Victoria a gold rush in the 1850s and 60s significantly increased both the population and wealth of the area and by the time the Federation of Australia was created in 1901 Melbourne had become the largest city and financial center in this economic well being has sort of lasted until today if it became independent it would be the world's 39th largest economy in the last year it was the state with the highest population growth and its economy was also the best performing in terms of evolution there were more than 30 Aboriginal languages spoken in the area prior to the European settlement of Australia but these days the descendants of those native people are only a small percentage of the 6.5 million population their flag is honestly the most underwhelming of the state flags equal to the national flag except it removes the star from under the Union Jack and adds an imperial crown of Saint Edward on top of the constellation on the right in case of Independence I would think they would have as serious need of replacing it especially because these independent states would most likely be republics so monarchist symbols especially related to their former imperial rulers would probably not be used they have other national emblems like the sea dragon or the common Heath flower so one of these could become a new seal and symbol for an independent Victoria and finally the eighth independent state we would have should this very unlikely scenario happen Tasmania the fact that it's separated from the mainland sort of makes this more likely in my head for some reason but it's probably just as unlikely as all the others it's located 240 kilometres south of Australia an island of 68,000 square kilometres and around half a million people Tasmania differs a lot from the rest of the country because 42 percent of its area is protected being made up of national parks and World Heritage Sites des mania was the founding place of the first environmental political party in the world so in case of Independence it is likely that this would be a big priority for them also pretty low on the world economy ranking only achieving the one hundred and twelfth place but it was the fourth most growing in the past year the island was settled by Europeans in 1803 as a prison settlement of the British Empire to prevent claims to the land by the French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars it was called Van Diemen's land in 1825 and it had seventy five thousand prisoners lived there until the prison settlement idea was abandoned then eventually becoming estates the name comes from the man who sponsored the Dutch explorer who found the island governor of the Dutch East Indies Anthony Van Diemen however later on the name was changed to that of the actual explorer Abel Tasman their flag is equal to the others with its badge being a white circle and a red lion the meaning of the lion is unknown but we can assume it has to do with England so a new flag would also be necessary in case of Independence their initial flag as Van Diemen's land was this one with blue stripes so maybe that could be the basis for a new independent and with a couple exceptions such as West Australia and the Northern Territory their economies are pretty good and would likely be able to support themselves in case of Independence their populations are reasonably sized and would allow for a big influx of new immigrants as well but there are other obstacles to the solving national unity such as military forces the need to restructure government support to the population amongst many others so despite it being fun to think about it's highly unlikely that this will ever happen it would be viable giving the levels of local administration and the amount of sovereignty the states and territories already have but it's precisely because those institutions and autonomy exists that full-on independence is not necessary it makes much more sense for Australia to be united under a single country with federal states having a certain degree of autonomy given the gigantic size of the land so I wouldn't recommend Australia separate itself but I do recommend that they change their national flag anyway thanks for watching the video if you enjoyed it subscribe and leave a comment below who do you think would do better as a country in a situation like this would you like to see it happen or not and do you think it's even possible I will see you next time for more general knowledge

Channel: General Knowledge

Views: 682,431

Keywords: generalknowledge, funwithflags, countriesthatdon'texist, independent australian states, what if australia dissolved, what if australian states became independent, independent western australia, independent northern territory, independent victoria, independent new south wales, independent tasmania, independent queensland, australian capital territory, victoria, queensland, northern territory, western australia, south australia, new south wales, australian territories

Id: HwvBu3Jpps8

Length: 16min 56sec (1016 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 18 2019