Ylistetty etelä

by Sulo-Weikko Pekkola

"Ylistetty etelä" by Sulo-Weikko Pekkola is a travelogue written in the early 20th century. The book follows a Finnish traveler across Australia and the South Pacific, blending on-the-spot reportage with tart social critique and economic observation. Readers can expect vivid cityscapes, remote interiors, colonial ports, and encounters with settlers, officials, laborers, and scattered Finnish expatriates. The opening of the book surveys Australia with a critical eye: the “White Australia” policy, high wages and protective tariffs, dependence on imports, showpiece railways, and the heavy human and financial costs of war. The narrator contrasts Australian identity with Britishness, pokes fun at ill-prepared immigrants, and stresses how much capital and know‑how were needed to make farming viable. He then turns to Sydney—its penal-colony origins, bar culture and a resoundingly failed prohibition referendum, aggressive policing of petty infractions, a monumental harbor bridge rising, lavish cinema organs, high prices, and a sprawling, spectacular harbor and surf beaches. A Sunday outing to Manly and Narrabeen yields keen natural observation and a comic episode with a small shark whose jawbones become a malodorous souvenir. The Finnish consulate serves as a community hub, where old-timers share tall tales, before the narrative widens to Australia’s sheep-and-wool economy: the rise of merino, boom-and-bust from droughts, environmental damage, rabbit plagues, dingoes and doggers, mechanized shearing, expert wool sorting, and global auctions with Japan an ascendant buyer. Finally, the traveler approaches New Caledonia through treacherous coral gates toward Noumea at night, ending with formalities at anchor.