The Metaphor
The speculation on the seismic event was used by Bill Bryson in his book In A Sunburned Country (named Down Under in the UK) as a metaphor and an example of the world's lack of interest in Australia and her affairs. He points out that in 1997 there were just 20 articles in the New York Times on Australia (compared to, for example, 50 on Albania), and that this was a good year. He describes this as a shame, as Australia is "A country where interesting things happen,… all the time".
Bryson goes on to describe the seismic event at Banjawarn in detail, drawing on the NYT article, concluding that Australia is a country "so vast and empty that a band of amateur enthusiasts could conceivably set off the world's first non-governmental atomic bomb on its mainland and almost four years would pass before anyone noticed".
Read more about this topic: Banjawarn Station
Famous quotes containing the word metaphor:
“Often in winter the end of the day is like the final metaphor in a poem celebrating death: there is no way out.”
—Agustin Gomez-Arcos (b. 1939)
“By metaphor you paint
A thing. Thus, the pineapple was a leather fruit,
A fruit for pewter, thorned and palmed and blue,
To be served by men of ice.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)