“Kangaroomu”—it was on the list of names in the running for the title of the Australian capital. Also in the running were “Shakespeare,” “New London” and “New England.” Of course Canberra won but I do think Kangaroomu—a Dr. Seussian combination of two of Australia’s most iconic fauna, the kangaroo and emu—would have been the most Australian (and funniest) choice. And it would be one more thing that we could find so amusing about Australia. Another option could have been “Koalapus” (koala and platapus) or maybe “Dingocroc” (dingo and crocodile). Or maybe since Australians have a way of making everything sound cutesy, “Croco.”
We learned this bit of fascinating Australia lore during our tour of the Australian House of Parliament. We also learned that Prime Minister McEwan (1967-1968) went swimming in the state of Victoria one day and disappeared never to be heard from again. Conspiracy theories raged that maybe he was a Chinese spy who returned to China or that he was kidnapped by in Russian nuclear submarine. In a traditionally Australian sense of dry humour and sentimentality, a swimming pool in Victoria was named in McEwan’s honour.
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