We Want to Hear From Australia Letter Readers

Australian mail it’s a weekly newsletter from our Australian bureau. Register to request via email. This week’s issue is written by Natasha Frost, a reporter in Melbourne.

Australian Mail recently celebrated its sixth birthday. Over more than 300 issues, we’ve shared stories back to travel reporting, local recommendations and providing slices of life below.

Perhaps one of the best things about writing this newsletter is hearing from you – Australians in Australia; Australia is no longer Australia; New Zealanders at home or away; and there are many Times readers who are curious about other ways of life, or who might like to stay in Australia or New Zealand.

We try to write for you all. (We use American English. Sorry.) And you usually tell us what you think is right or where you disagree, often with typical Antipodean candor. We read every single one of those emails.

Today, we turn inwards and call you – all of you! – once again, tell us: Do you want to see more in this newsletter? Are there any stories from Australia and New Zealand that you think the world should know about?

For those new to Australia Letter, or those wanting a refresher, some introductions.

Damien Cave, our bureau chief since 2017, is based in Sydney. This newsletter is now mainly written by me – Natasha Frost, in Melbourne – and Yan Zhuang, a reporter in Sydney. Between us, we created a bureau. From time to time, you can expect a guest spot from another Times contributor from around the region.

Damien has been in Sydney for a long time, so his children now explain cricket to him and sound Australian. Yan is a long-time Sydneysider back from Melbourne. And I grew up in New Zealand and have lived in Melbourne since 2021.

As Australia and New Zealand are home to us, it might be good to be reminded of the wonderland of newcomers.

Earlier this year, I met Matthew Futterman, a sports reporter for The Times, while he was covering the Australian Open. He was struck, he told me, by two things: no one paid for the tram, and the locals seemed to dislike clean, nice and cheap public swimming pools.

My brother-in-law, who has been visiting from England for the past month, has a different observation: People in Australia seem to be happier than their friends back home. (For what it’s worth, Australia ranks 12th in the world with the most content countries, while the UK is 19th.)

These thoughts stopped me in my tracks. We hope that the newsletter can do something similar for Australians and New Zealanders, and be a window to how the world sees you and where you live. We aim to do what our readers have been asking for since opening the bureau: Add perspective.

Australia and New Zealand are relatively peaceful, stable and wealthy countries. This does not mean that they are not complicated or unimportant, or that they do not have their own difficulties. But it means that sometimes we get more room for good news – stories about the quirks of British Australia; custom shower for Melbourne’s bat; or the quest to save rare turtles, to name three recent examples.

You can expect much more in this newsletter. But what else would you like to see? And what do you like so far?

For example, we know you want to read more stories from outside of Melbourne and Sydney. We are working on it, and welcome certain suggestions. But do you want to hear about local books, television, movies or other content? An explanation of how to report the story they did? Q. and A. with great Australian thinkers? Or something else altogether?

Ideally, we want Australia Post to be something you look forward to – a Friday dessert at the end of a weekday meal. Therefore, we try to keep it short and conversational, and save a deep analysis or a more rigorous investigation for the story that finally opens in the newspaper. (You can subscribe here, if you haven’t already.)

Let us know what you’re missing and send your thoughts to NYTAustralia@nytimes.com. And thank you to those who have been reading this newsletter for a long time, and to those who have just signed up. It’s good to have you with us.

Now for the story of the week.

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