Not only is much of Queensland underwater, but the northern half of the state has finally carried out its long-standing threat to secede, forming a new entity called Capricornia
,
according to the ever-reliable Daily Mail. I confidently predict civil war and further secession as Cairns and other cities seek to escape the oppressive rule of Townsville, the self-proclaimed
Hat tips: Crikey/Deltoid
{ 29 comments }
Chris Brooke 01.02.11 at 11:09 am
The Mail website ran a story the other day under the headline “Prince Harry hails sacrifice of those who tried to flee Hitler laying wreath in Berlin snow”, under the misapprehension that the Berlin Wall was something to do with the Third Reich.
You can still visit the page, which redirects you to the corrected version they eventually got round to posting:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339953/Prince-Harry-hails-sacrifice-tried-flee-Hitler-laying-wreath-Berlin-snow.html
g 01.02.11 at 11:43 am
“For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-crocoroach-roofed confederate States with reference to the subject of Roofing crocoroaches.”
David S. 01.02.11 at 11:45 am
Excellent! I’ve always said what Queensland needed most was a circumcision. Maybe now Brissy can have daylight saving.
Brett Bellmore 01.02.11 at 3:08 pm
I confidently predict that the Powerpuff girls will ruthlessly crush any secessionist attempts.
Tim Worstall 01.02.11 at 3:17 pm
Similarly spotted at the same places. But where on earth did the Mail get the map/picture from? I’ve tried searching for it on Google images and it doesn’t seem to turn up anywhere. So it’s not that they’ve just been a bit careless about where they lifted it from. They have actually created it themselves…..
P O'Neill 01.02.11 at 3:32 pm
Clearly someone has decided that the Mail could be the useful idiots of the secessionist movement.
StevenAttewell 01.02.11 at 4:58 pm
So…with the flooding, it should be easy for Farragut to move up his gunboats in support of Grant?
Daragh McDowell 01.02.11 at 5:23 pm
Sorry to say this, but having just pointed out this piece of Mailorobilia to my parents, former residents of the now undersea kingdom of Rockhampton, I am reliably informed that the northern half of Queensland is generally referred to as Capricornia, after the similarly named Tropic. I agree that the labelling is ambiguous though.
Phil 01.02.11 at 5:28 pm
I am reliably informed that the northern half of Queensland is generally referred to as Capricornia
Sometimes, by some people. Actually drawing a line on the map and labelling ‘Capricornia’ as not Queensland is the part that’s strikingly eccentric.
Jonathan Dresner 01.02.11 at 5:37 pm
Whether intentional or not, they seem to be channeling some mid-20th century satire. Makes you wonder where they’re getting their maps.
Jonathan Dresner 01.02.11 at 5:43 pm
Also, oddly, the map does not correspond to the section indicated on the inset.
Zamfir 01.02.11 at 7:38 pm
After all the rain, can we call it Cornucopia?
John Quiggin 01.02.11 at 7:39 pm
Actually, “Capricornia” refers to the whole area north of the tropic (Xavier Herbert’s novel is set in the NT), so if civil war can be avoided, we can expect to see the reclamation of Capricornia Irredenta.
Daragh McDowell 01.02.11 at 8:50 pm
That sounds like a really promising new Ronald D. Moore series….
Lemuel Pitkin 01.02.11 at 9:14 pm
It’s true that Capricornia sounds like Caprica. How you get “promising” from that is a bit of a mystery.
Daragh McDowell 01.02.11 at 9:36 pm
I thought Caprica was pretty promising. It didn’t necessarily fulfill that promise, but there you go…
Substance McGravitas 01.02.11 at 10:01 pm
The Daily Mail has pictures that fit in the margin and homes for orphaned commas.
marcel 01.02.11 at 11:00 pm
Well, to this denizen of New England, the area seems to be pretty close to the Spice Islands, and Caprica sounds like it would be good on meat, so, yeah: it does sound promising.
PHB 01.02.11 at 11:30 pm
Any chance the Spice girls could be sent there.
Omega Centauri 01.03.11 at 3:21 am
I’m with Daragh, Caprica did seem really promising, unlike its (parent (sibling?) Battlestar G..).
But, it did degenerate, quickly ending up with no characters who you could be sympathetic to. I was hoping it might generate some interesting questions about the dangers of monotheism, etc., but it didn’t seem to want to pursue philosophical ground……. And then it got canned……
In any case Capricornia, as anything north of the epinonymous tropic makes perfect sense.
piglet 01.03.11 at 7:45 pm
Barry 01.03.11 at 7:47 pm
Prostate Cancer :)
Or Colon Cancer :)
ajay 01.04.11 at 9:46 am
How do they call the region South of the tropic of cancer then?
“Australia”, I think.
piglet 01.04.11 at 5:27 pm
Australia is South of the tropic of cancer but it is not “the region South of the tropic of cancer”.
bh 01.04.11 at 6:56 pm
#13 if we’re going to get Roman about it, I’d suggest Capricornia Comiata, as was used for the untamed part of Gaul.
bh 01.04.11 at 6:58 pm
Arghh… should be Capricornia Cometa.
roac 01.04.11 at 7:53 pm
Not to threadjack or anything, but where’s the discussion about y’all’s ex-Prime Minister blaming population decline on education for women?
ymr 01.06.11 at 1:11 am
There was secessionist political posturing from Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen 20 years ago.
Crikey is one of the least reliable news sources in Australia.
I would expect the flooded areas to pick up their disaster relief funds BEFORE the any kind of secessionist talk is resumed. AND, one last problem, the rebels will need a Ouiji board to talk with Sir Joh.
reason 01.07.11 at 9:23 am
Were they threatening to seceed or promising?
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