20-10-2003, 11:42
(Just the relevant parts, longer history exists but there's no need to bore you here)
...[F]ollowing the First World War, New Hopetoun's administration was passed to Australia for geographical and strategic reasons. However, the new administrative power was not as proactive in administering the colony as it should have been. As a result, great tracts of the land were left undeveloped - at least in the Western sense of the word - and much of the territory was unexplored.
Following considerable pressue from the United Nations and other multinational bodies, Australia finally assented to independence for New Hopetoun. The years after independence were marked by great hope and rapid progress as the national capital, Port Jackson, expanded rapidly.
***
However, this prosperity was not to last. The political and judicial systems of this new nation were gradually corrupted and foreign investment was beginning to dry up.
The basic rural lifestyle of the Hopetounese also created its own problems. Some 80% of the country is still unemployed - in the sense that they do not have paid work which contributes to GDP. Living as subsistence farmers, these Hopetounese often have long periods of inactivity and boredom - a situation exacerbated during a poor cropping season. As a result, many have left their villages and moved to Port Jackson, only to find that work there is just as difficult to come across.
This deadly mixture of boredom and unemployment has led to gangs of criminals or "huligans" taking to the streets after dark and terrorising the law-abiding citizens.
Hope still exists for this nation, however. While it will take considerable willpower to reform this system, business leaders (both native and expatriate) and political visionaries are attempting to do so.
...[F]ollowing the First World War, New Hopetoun's administration was passed to Australia for geographical and strategic reasons. However, the new administrative power was not as proactive in administering the colony as it should have been. As a result, great tracts of the land were left undeveloped - at least in the Western sense of the word - and much of the territory was unexplored.
Following considerable pressue from the United Nations and other multinational bodies, Australia finally assented to independence for New Hopetoun. The years after independence were marked by great hope and rapid progress as the national capital, Port Jackson, expanded rapidly.
***
However, this prosperity was not to last. The political and judicial systems of this new nation were gradually corrupted and foreign investment was beginning to dry up.
The basic rural lifestyle of the Hopetounese also created its own problems. Some 80% of the country is still unemployed - in the sense that they do not have paid work which contributes to GDP. Living as subsistence farmers, these Hopetounese often have long periods of inactivity and boredom - a situation exacerbated during a poor cropping season. As a result, many have left their villages and moved to Port Jackson, only to find that work there is just as difficult to come across.
This deadly mixture of boredom and unemployment has led to gangs of criminals or "huligans" taking to the streets after dark and terrorising the law-abiding citizens.
Hope still exists for this nation, however. While it will take considerable willpower to reform this system, business leaders (both native and expatriate) and political visionaries are attempting to do so.