Nederlands

Children in Australia

Berry Springs (NT), 06.VII.2001 Fogg Dam (NT), 07.VII.2001 Darwin (NT), 05.VII.2001
The Australian warning signs for children on the road belong to the UK-group of roadsigns:
+ the girl is the taller person
+ she guides the smaller boy.

The shape of the panel deviates from the mother-country. The diamond says new world or Ireland. The drawing however is very much UK-group.

More countries belong to the same UK-group: Iran South-Africa, Namibia, Iceland, Great Britain, and Finland.

   The 'Berry Spring' type sign is most wide-spread. Some signs (new installations?) come with a red background colour and sometimes the message is brought by a pedestrian sign. Could the proper sign have been out-of-stock? Or is it an indication of the level of education provided?

Observe how the man takes over from the girl when they reach adulthood. (A similar case in Egypt.)
 
  An all-in-one type sign is often used in urban zones. The drawing of the children is mirrored and now erroneously suggests right-hand driving. There is no consensus about the speed limit.

Harold Scruby told me:
..., the authorities sign-post the speed-limit for children in the cities at 40km/h, but allow 60km/h in the country. ... ... It suggests that children in the country must be more alert and faster at getting across the road than their city friends.

Visit the Pedestrian Council of Australia
Pine Creek (NT), 15.VII.2001 New South Wales;
pict. H. Scruby		   Speed limit in some other countries
+ 20 km : Madagascar, Madeira
+ 25 km : Costa Rica
+ 30 km : Canada, Chile
+ 90 km : Belgium

It is probably this kind of roadsigns that caught the eye of Bill Bryson when he was in Australia.
Falling rocks also manage to make their way into the printed world. Read M. Amis in Italy and V.S. Naipaul on the home page.		   ...
I dumped my stuff and walked into town through the baking end-of-day heat. Now I saw the 1950s everywhere. Even the Children Crossing signs in Australia, I noticed, show kids in 1950s attire - a little girl in a party dress, a boy in short pants, like Dick and Jane in silhouette.
...
(In a sunburned country - Bill Bryson, 2000)
Path: Home / Country list / Children in depth / Children in Australia  e-mail:  
More signs from Australia: Men at work - Falling rocks