Australia is a Cuban village and consejo popular ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Jagüey Grande, Matanzas Province. It has an estimated population of 8,850.[1]
History
The village, founded in 1862, is in a sugar growing area and "dominated by the old, out-of-service sugar factory's chimney, with "Australia" written prominently down its length."[2] The village is named after the factory, the Central Australia, which like others in the area were named after continents.[citation needed]
The village was the first sugar town in Cuba to stop using slave labour,[3] and served as Fidel Castro's base of operations during the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.[2]
Geography
Located 2 km south of Jagüey Grande, Australia lies next to Zapata Swamp (Ciénaga de Zapata). It is served by the A1 motorway (linking Havana to Santa Clara) at the exit of Jagüey.[4]
See also
References
- ^ "Australia's Cuban namesake is a small town with a proud history". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- ^ a b Atfield, Cameron (22 October 2014). "Town of Australia, Cuba: The Australia you've never heard of". Traveller. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- ^ "Australia's Cuban namesake is a small town with a proud history". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
- ^ Google. "Australia" (Map). Google Maps. Google.
External links
- (in Spanish) Historical infos about Australia (guije.com)