The Image of Australia: a case study on the mental maps of Turkish immigrants in Sydney

In this study, mental representations of Australia were examined through mental maps in case of Turkish immigrants living in Sydney. The survey is based on 53 mental maps of Australia drawn by Turkish immigrants who reside in Sydney. The participants were asked to list the connotations about Australia, draw a sketch map of the continent and finally fill in an outline Australian map. A prominent difference between these two types of mental maps was in the number and in the categories (place names, natural-geographic elements and symbols) of the components that were displayed by the participants. On the other hand, a comparison of our study with similar academic works conducted from a European example shows that connotations on Australia are predominantly referred to the natural characteristics of the continent. This could be related to the physical isolation Australia as a continent and also to the political indifference tendencies of the urbanized part of the society because of a high living standard.