About one-half of Australia is desert. This area is the Outback. The name comes from the word “out in the back of the mountains and the cities.” The weather is very hot and dry, and the winds are strong. Sometimes there is no rain for many years. But when it rains, there is water everywhere! Not many people live the Outback. The people in the Outback have cattle or sheep farms. The farms are called stations. The stations are very big. Some stations are as big as a small country. Life is difficult because everything is far away. Sometimes it takes a day or two to drive to the next station. Towns are usually far away, too. People go to town once a week or once a month.
The station homes are very large because they have many purposes. They must be gig so visitors can sleep there. Houses also have large rooms to keep extra things. Families buy a lot of food and supplies in town. Life in the Outback is different in other ways. People get mail once a week. Children don’t go to school every day. They study with a school called the School of the Air. The teacher and the student talk to each other with a special radio. Most stations have an area for airplanes to land. It is like the station’s own airport. Sick people call the Royal Flying Doctor service. A doctor gives advice over the radio. In an emergency, the doctor picks up the sick people in an airplane. Then they go to the nearest hospital.
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