I was recently looking at an advertisement for an art installation by an Estonian artist who is comparing her experience between the "lands" of Estonia and Sydney.
Being a pedantic so-and-so, my first instinct was to day "Sydney is a city", but then I suddenly realised, with absolutely clarity, that it really is a country.
The thing about Australia is that we're under the illusion that the entire continent is one country, simply because it is governed by one federal government. But the truth is, this giant chunk of land of ours used to be hundreds of countries, and each one had it's own particular and peculiar features.
Sydney is a completely different country to, say, Townsville. Both are entirely different to Stanley in NW Tasmania, and even that is different to Cockle Creek, in SE Tasmania. Tasmania isn't terribly big (by Australian terms), but even it was once considered to be multiple lands with multiple "nations" living there.
I was looking at a map of Indigenous Australia, and the area where I live used to be three separate "countries" - and when I think about it, each of those areas is quite distinct from each other. You can tell when you've moved from Bindal into Gugu-Badun - the landscape changes completely.
Which got me thinking about the difference between what we (Westerners) think of when we say "country" and what the First Nations/Indigenous people think of when they say "country". It's the same word, but there is a world of difference in the meaning.
I've been reading a bit about the traditional folk life and history of Estonia lately, and they note distinct differences in the cultural life, farming practices and landscape between one area and another - even though Estonia is about half the size of Tasmania.
The land shapes the people and the people shape the land.
At least, that's how it used to be.
