The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 414: Chapter 344: Hunting and the Royal Zoo

As the King of Australasia, during times when political affairs were not too busy, Arthur's work was actually quite relaxed and enjoyable.

Since cabinet meetings were held once a week, this also meant that, in the absence of cabinet meetings and not many political affairs, Arthur had six days a week to arrange freely.

However, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was not easy to find some sufficiently entertaining leisure activities, even for Arthur as the ruler of a nation.

Fortunately, Arthur had enough power to do anything he wanted, including promoting popular activities in Australasia, such as sound films, football, sports, and more.

Arthur has many ways of entertainment now, such as occasionally watching a new movie, watching football matches organized by various Australasian states, horse racing, and even traditional nobility hunting, all of which are among Arthur's leisure activities.

Speaking of horse racing, it has been a noble sport for centuries, loved by nobles in the East and West.

Before the birth of cars and trains, horses were the only convenient means of transportation for humans. They appeared in various aspects of life for people before the 20th century.

As early as 1174, the first rather formal horse racing took place at the Smithfield Friday Horse Market in London.

With the development of British horse racing, a horse racing craze swept Europe around the 13th century.

In the West, horse racing is known as the Sport of Kings. Because the outcome depends on knightly skill and the running speed of the horse, it is a considerable test of riding skill and the endurance of the horse.

During the undeveloped Middle Ages, those who could afford to organize and participate in horse racing events were usually local nobility and wealthy households.

So far, horse racing has become popular in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, Australia, and some parts of Asia, and each horse racing event in these areas attracts a large number of spectators.

Australasia's horse racing history dates back to the colonial period of 1840. Flemington Racecourse held more formal horse racing events even during colonial rule and continues to this day.

As Australasia's largest horse breeder, Arthur's assets have as many as several hundred thousand Australian wild horses.

Of course, "Australian Wild Horse" is a relatively unified term. In reality, of the hundreds of thousands of horses that Arthur owns, there are about three main breeds: purebred Arabian horses imported from overseas, and native Australian Victorian Kent horses and Donald horses.

These three horse breeds have the longest history in Australasia and are the most numerous breeds.

The Arabian horse breed dates back hundreds of years, when British colonizers imported purebred Arabian horses to improve the bloodline of working horses native to Australia.

The remaining two native Australian horse breeds, both possessing remarkable speed and endurance, have been preserved throughout long European history, becoming two of the few superior horses retained among many horse breeds in Australia.

These three herds are all suitable for military use and are the main breeding targets of Arthur's horse farms.

At present, Arthur's private horse farm has more than 500,000 Australian horses, making it the largest horse breeder in Australasia, with a total number of horses that could directly arm at least 100,000 cavalry troops.

As the monarch of Australasia, and the real owner of the horse farm, Arthur has ridden as many as ten horses, all among the finest horses in Australia.

As the largest horse breeder, Arthur's horse farm also hosts horse races. Although not held at Arthur's behest, for most large Western horse farms, holding horse races is even more normal than eating and drinking.

Arthur hosts the largest horse race in Australasia each year at Victoria State's largest horse farm, Kent Racecourse.

Of course, Kent Racecourse has nothing to do with the Butler Kent father and son. The racecourse is located in the town of Kent, Victoria State, which is the birthplace of Victorian Kent horses. That's why the racecourse was named Kent Racecourse.

At Kent Racecourse, over 100,000 Victorian Kent horses and tens of thousands of horses of other breeds are bred, making it not only the largest horse farm under the royal financial group but also the largest horse farm in Australasia.

Whenever a horse race is held at Kent Racecourse, tens of thousands of spectators gather around the racecourse.

Many people are just there to watch the fun and seek the lively atmosphere, but others seek to get rich overnight by gambling on the horse races.

However, fortunately, at Arthur's horse farm, there is a rule that the maximum bet amount for any individual is not to exceed 10 Australian dollars.

After all, gambling is a matter of luck – although there would be no cheating at Kent Racecourse, who could guarantee that these gamblers wouldn't lose money?

To prevent the situation where families are ruined by gambling, the racecourse staff sets a maximum bet amount for each person as a solution.

Of course, this restriction does not exist for nobles and capitalists with high social status.

Because nobles and capitalists would not bet with common people, this restriction would only apply to the commoners.

Actually, ten Australian dollars is not a small amount. Based on the current average income in Australasia, ten Australian dollars is equivalent to more than two months' salary for common people, which can also be considered a large amount of money.

Of course, there are also many leisure activities for the common people of Australasia.

In addition to the annual horseracing event at the racecourse, Arthur has also built many zoos of various sizes and crowds of tourists and citizens can buy tickets to watch.

Zoos were initially a form of entertainment exclusively for Eastern and Western ancient nobility and monarchs, enclosing gardens of diverse landscapes and housing a variety of rare and treasured animals for the nobility and monarchs to enjoy and hunt.

The earliest zoos evolved from hunting grounds and started with relatively common wildlife to provide nobles with hunting opportunities.

Over time, some zoos became more formalized, growing trees and flowers and breeding rarer wildlife, serving merely as places for amusement and appreciation.

In Europe, these zoos first appeared at the end of the 18th century, more than a hundred years ago.

Along with the development of zoos, some even began scientific research in biology.

While Australasian zoos developed early enough, the abundant number of Australian wildlife and a lack of support from colonial-era policies led to slow development of zoos.

After Arthur's arrival, two large-scale zoos were established in the Capital Territory and Victoria State followed by another one in New Zealand.

The good news was that each of the three large zoos housed at least hundreds of different animal species, thanks to Australia's diverse wildlife.

Of course, Australasian zoos did not exhibit poisonous snakes. Arthur had no interest in displaying such deadly creatures, despite the wide variety of venomous snake species in Australia.

The largest zoo in Australasia, the Sydney Royal Zoo, currently houses more than 300 plant and animal species, receiving over 5,000 visitors daily.

With an admission fee of 0.5 Australian dollars per person, the Sydney Royal Zoo's daily ticket revenue amounts to more than 2500 Australian dollars.

However, the daily cost of feed for over 300 species and more than 5000 animals within the zoo far exceeds that revenue.

Fortunately, there was a royal ranch nearby, providing part of the meat consumption for the zoo's wild animals.

Of course, there were also many herbivorous animals in the zoo. Their daily food consisted of vegetation from the zoo and additional feedings.

It is worth mentioning that the Sydney Royal Zoo is open to the public from Sunday to Friday. Saturdays are reserved exclusively for the royal family and nobility's service.

Even during other times when royal family members wish to visit, it is theoretically necessary to clear the zoo for royal service.

However, after visiting the zoo once or twice, Arthur lost interest in the flora and fauna there.

On the contrary, Queen Mary and the two children frequently visited the zoo.

This prompted Arthur to consider: since Australasia's zoos lacked flora and fauna from other regions, why not bring them here and breed them in designated areas?

This would be especially beneficial for some rare wild plants and animals of later generations, allowing early investment and planning.

After a few days of contemplation, Arthur made a list of rare plants and animals from later generations and handed it to Butler Kent. He asked the butler to use the royal financial group's power to purchase these items from around the world.

For the royal financial group, acquiring rare wild plants and animals from around the world and transferring them to Australasia for cultivation and breeding was not a difficult task.

Compared to later generations, some wild plants and animals that were highly valued were not as precious a hundred years ago thanks to the slower pace of industrial development.

Furthermore, the concept of protecting rare wild plants and animals did not yet prevail during this time. Normal hunting activities took place in Europe as the pollution from industry was less severe.

The underdeveloped industrialization in Australia only made this phenomenon more apparent.

Most of Australia's land remains in an undeveloped, barren state with vast primeval forests and abundant wildlife.

Australasia had previously imposed a ban on long guns, which Arthur later admitted to be a mistake, and changed the restriction to banning short guns instead.

However, firearms available for circulation among civilians in Australasia were mostly plain hunting rifles and muskets.

The more advanced Lee-Enfield rifles, Gew-98 rifles, and other national standard rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, hand grenades, and larger caliber weapons remained strictly regulated.

Even the popular fully automatic pistols from abroad required stringent management in Australasia.

Nevertheless, these measures did not suggest Arthur feared assassination attempts. Under the protection of a large number of intelligence personnel, royal guards, and security forces, Arthur was never exposed to any danger or unforeseen circumstances while in Australasia.

It was not an exaggeration that just one simple trip for Arthur involved the deployment of thousands of security personnel.

Around Arthur, within a radius of two to three hundred meters, anyone with the slightest abnormal movement would be instantly subdued by the protective forces.

For Arthur's exclusive security personnel, their course of action was to err on the side of caution: rather kill ten men by mistake than miss a single potential threat.

After all, Arthur's safety was the top priority; everything else had to take a backseat.