About Australia
General Introduction
Australia is a country as big your imagination. It’s also a country of contrasts– gorgeous beaches and coastlines with a very rugged yet starkly beautiful interior. Locals have this insatiable yen for the unknown and they bend to it willingly, fleeing for weeks, exploring around their vast land. Then there are the Australians who feel separation pains if they stray from the coast. Australians feel a strong connection to the land, regardless of their background, and in recent years, the fragile state of the environment has emerged as a universal equalizer. Aussies are generally a sociable lot with a laid-back, easy going nature.
Australia is also a very prosperous country in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world’s largest island, while also being the smallest and flattest continent. It is known as the Commonwealth of Australia, and through immigration has become a very multi-cultural society. With an area of just under 3 million square miles and a population of around 23 million people, it is one of the least populated countries in the world. Even with such a small population, Australia has contributed more than its share of world athletes, movie stars, singers, inventions and research and development.
Even though it is thought to be the oldest civilization in the world, with the Aborigines thriving for over 50,000 years, Australia, was one of the last countries to be discovered by the western world. The Aboriginal race was of such fascination to the western explorers and over the years many researchers have gone out to study their lifestyles. 
Despite their simple nomadic life, they made unique advances like developing the aerodynamic boomerang and the woomera, a type of spear thrower. Today, Aboriginal artwork and instruments, like the didgeridoo, are known worldwide.
However, one of the main reasons that travelers like coming to Australia are the very unique and unusual animals that are indigenous to the country. The fascination with koalas and kangaroos is not to be found anywhere else in the world. No animals command such interest as these. As well, you have species like the emu, echnida, wombat and platypus that are becoming more well known and travelers go off the beaten path to see them in their native habitat.
History
Over 50 million years ago, what is now Australia broke away for the super-continent Gondwana. This division resulted in the unique flora, fauna and wildlife that is only found in Australia today.
About 50,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, the Australian Aborigines were thought to have arrived from Southeast Asia by boat. When Australia was first discovered by Europeans, there were over 1 million Aborigines in 300 clans scattered all over Australia, speaking 250 languages with more than 700 dialects. They were nomadic hunters and gatherers and traveled widely for trade and to find food. However each clan had a spiritual connection to their own land and they all had a belief in the Dreamtime, whereby spirit ancestors connected natural phenomena to all aspects of Aboriginal cultural. This was then carried down through each generation through storytelling.
In the 1700′s a number of European explorers sailed the coast of what then known as New Holland, but it wasn’t until 1770 that Captain James Cook claimed it for England. In 1788, the First Fleet arrived in Sydney, which was to be used as a penal colony. Over 1,500 people arrived at this time and half of them were convicts. By 1868, there had been 160,000 men and women transported to Australia as convicts, and life was very harsh for them. Later that century, free settlers started to arrive, and by the 1820′s boatloads of migrants from England came over due to cheap land and plenty of work available. As a result of the inland exploration of Australia, the settlers started to spread out across the country.
The name Australia was popularized by Matthew Flinders who pushed for the name to be formally adopted as early as 1804. When preparing his manuscript and charts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis he was persuaded by his patron, Sir Joseph Banks to use the term Terra Australis as this was the name most familiar to the public.
In 1851, gold was discovered in both New South Wales and Victoria and thousands of mainly young men, including prospectors from China arrived to find their fortunes. However disorder and violence prevailed and when the British Government tried to impose order in Victoria, people rebelled which lead to the Eureka Stockade in 1854. Despite all this, the wealth from the gold rush led to investments in Melbourne and Sydney, and by the 1800′s they had become quite stylish cities.
On 01 January 1901, the six states of Australia became a single nation, and today there are people from over 200 countries residing there.
In 1914, with the start of World War 1, almost 40,000 men volunteered to fight in the war. Many died or were wounded and this had a devastating effect on Australia. However post-war recovery saw the growth of cars, music, movies and support for the British Empire. The Great Depression of 1929 saw economic and social divisions widen and many financial institutions fail. Sports then became the national distraction – including cricket and horse racing.
Many Australians also fought in World War 2, but this generation came out of it with a deep sense of Australian pride. The period after the war, saw many thousands of migrants come from Europe and the Middle East, to find jobs in the manufacturing sector. This spurred the growth of the Australian economy and led to major nation-building projects such as the Snowy Mountain Hydroelectric Scheme. Exports of wheat, wool, meat and metals increased due to international demand and the rate of home ownership rose to over 70% of the population by the 1960′s.
The 1960′s also saw large changes in the economic, political and social areas. This was due to the increasing independence from Britain, new ethnic diversity and overall resistance to the Vietnam War. The 1970′s saw the end of conscription, introduction of free health care, and the abolition of university fees. As well, there was equal pay for women, no fault divorce, and through multiculturalism – the White Australia policy abandoned. Between 1983 and 1996, the government introduced economic reforms that included floating the Australian dollar, and de-regulating the banking system.
In 1999, the majority of voters rejected Australia becoming a republic.
Culture
Since 1788, Anglo and Western culture has been the basis of the Australian lifestyle. The influence of Australia’s natural environment and the culture of the Indigenous people have contributed to distinctive cultural characteristics. Since the mid 1900′s, the influence by American popular culture through cinema and television has been dominant. As well, there has been a large influence from neighboring Asian countries as well as immigration from non-English speaking nations.
With regards to art, Australian visual arts has been influenced by the cave and bark paintings of the Indigenous people. Along with European settlement, the theme has been the natural landscape, which is still an inspiration for modern artists of today.
Many of the performing arts companies get funding from Australia Council. Each state has a Symphony Orchestra and the National Opera Company was made famous by Joan Sutherland. The Australian Ballet represents ballet and dance and each state has a publicly funded theater company.
Even though in 1906 Australia was regarded as the producer of the first feature length film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, by the 1950′s Australia’s feature films had ceased. However with initiatives by the government in the 1970′s, saw the growth of the New Wave of Australia Cinema that included films like Picnic at Hanging Rock and Breaker Morant. The later release of The Adventures of Barry MacKenzie, Mad Max and Gallipoli, Shine and Rabbit Proof Fence has Australia back as one of the top film producing nations. Along with this, the world has seen the rise of notable actors which include Errol Flynn, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush.
As with arts, Australian literature has been influenced by the landscape through the works of Banjo Patterson, Henry Lawson and Dorothy Mackellar. The colonial character of Australia, found in the early literature has become popular with modern Australians. In 1973, Patrick White was the first Australian to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature.
The ABC and SBS are the two public broadcast stations, and there are 3 commercial TV stations, several pay for TV stations and many non-profit TV and radio stations. Each main city has at least one daily newspaper and The Australian and The Australian Financial review are the two national daily newspapers. Most print media are controlled by News Corporation and Fairfax Media.
The cuisine of Australia has been influenced by its inhabitants. Aboriginal cuisine was based on indigenous bush food of native berries, fish, fruit, animals and native insects like the witchetty grub. Later, the influence of British food prevailed with the roast becoming a Sunday tradition. With immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, cuisine was influenced by the Asian and Mediterranean cultures.
The influence of sport was seen after the Great Depression years of the 1920′s, and since then, cricket has been a very important part of Australia’s lifestyle. In fact, Australia is the only country in the world that stops for a horse race – The Melbourne Cup.
Over 25 % of Australians participate in a form of sport and Australia has been a strong contender in many international competitions for different sports. Probably one of Australia’s best sports is swimming in which they are the second most medal winner in Olympic history. Noted Australian swimmers are Dawn Fraser, Shane Gould, Ian Thorpe and Murray Rose.
Tennis is another area where Australia has excelled and famous tennis players include Rod Laver, Evonne Goolagong, Margaret Court and Ken Rosewall. Australia has achieved in areas of cricket, motorcycle Grand Prix, and Formula One racing. Popular sports with Australians include, surfing, Australian Rules Football, rugby, soccer and motor car racing.
Australia hosted the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and has hosted the Commonwealth Games 4 times. Other international events held in various cities in Australia include the Australian Grand Prix, The Grand Slam Australian Tennis Open and numerous cricket competitions.
Population
Most of the estimated 22 million Australians are descended from colonial era settlers and post-Federation immigrants from Europe, with over 90% of the total populace having European roots.
For generations, the majority of immigrants came from the British Isles, and the people of Australia are mainly of British or Irish origin. In the 2006 Australian census, ancestry was denoted as predominantly Australian (37%), followed by English (32%), Irish (9%), Scottish (7.5%), Italian (4.3%), German (4%), Chinese (3.4%) and Greek (1.8%).
Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants, meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born overseas. The Federal Government estimates that cutting immigration from 280,000 to its target of 180,000 will result in a population of 36 million by 2050.
In 2001, a bit over 23% of Australians were born overseas with the five largest immigrant groups being from the UK, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism.
The Indigenous population in 2001, mainland Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, was counted at 410,003 (2.2% of the total population), a significant increase from 115,953 in the 1976 census. A large number of Indigenous people are not identified in the Census due to undercount and cases where their Indigenous status is not recorded on the form. After adjusting for these factors, government estimated the true figure for 2001 to be around 460,140 (2.4% of the total population).
In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2004, the average of the civilian population was 38.8 years. A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03) live outside their home country.
Based on 2009 government statistics, Sydney is the largest populated city with 4.5 million people, followed by Melbourne with slightly under 4 million, Brisbane with 2 million, Perth 1.6 million and Adelaide 1.1 million.
Geography
The Geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of geographic regions being the world’s smallest continent but the sixth-largest country in the world. The population of the country is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts. The geography of the country is extremely diverse, ranging from the snow-capped mountains of the Australian Alps and Tasmania to large deserts, tropical and temperate forests.
Australia is a not only a country, but an island, and a continent. It is located in Oceania between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. As one of the largest countries in the world with a total area of 7,686,850 square kilometers (2,967,909 sq. mi) making it slightly smaller than the contiguous 48 states of the US and 31.5 times larger than the UK.
The Australian mainland has a total coastline length of 35,876 kms (22,292 mi) with an additional 23,859 kms (14,825 mi) of island coastlines.
The western half of Australia consists of the Western Plateau which rises to mountain heights near the west coast and falls to lower elevations near the continental center. The Western Plateau region is generally flat, though broken by various mountain ranges such as the MacDonell Ranges and the Musgrave Range. Surface water is generally lacking in the Western Plateau, although there are several larger rivers in the west and north, such as the Muchison, Ashburton and Victoria river.
The Eastern Highlands or Great Dividing Range, lie near the eastern coast of Australia, separating the relatively narrow eastern coastal plain from the rest of the continent. These Eastern Australian temperate forests have the greatest relief, the most rainfall, the most abundant and varied flora and fauna, and the densest human settlement.
Between the Eastern Highlands and the Western Plateau lie the Central Lowlands, which are made up of the Great Artesian Basin and Australia’s largest river systems, Murray-Darling Basin and Lake Eyre Basin.
Off the eastern coast of Australia is the world’s largest coral reef complex, the Great Barrier Reef. The State of Tasmania, a large and mountainous island, sits in the south-eastern corner of Australia.
Australia developed a unique fauna when it broke away from the super-continent Gondwana more than 50 million years ago. Today Australia is home to a wealth of wildlife not found anywhere else in the world. There are around 800 species of birds, half of which are unique to this country. The marine environments contain more than 4,000 fish varieties and tens of thousands of species of invertebrates, plants and micro-organisms. About 80 per cent of Australia’s southern marine species are found nowhere else in the world.
Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory or ACT.
Climate
By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid – 40% of the landmass is covered by sand dunes. A total of 18% of Australia’s mainland is desert. Only the south-east and southwest corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil. The northern part of the country has a tropical climate: part is tropical rainforests part grasslands, and part desert.
Rainfall is highly variable, with frequent droughts lasting several seasons thought to be caused in part by the El Nino effect. Occasionally a dust storm will blanket a region or even several states and there are reports of the occasional large tornados.
Australia’s tropical/subtropical location and cold waters off the western coast make most of western Australia a hot desert with aridity, a marked feature of the greater part of the continent. The Outback covers 70 percent of the continent.
Getting around Australia
Australia has a very extensive public transport system. Each city has a train and bus system, and many have a ferry system. Melbourne still has a tram system. In many cases, the system is 24-hours but with limited service during the late night/early morning hours. It is possible to get transportation passes in each of the cities, based on a certain number of days and different inclusions. These are very popular with tourists as it keeps the transportation costs down.
Air
There is an extensive airline system with service to many of the smaller towns and islands within the continent. However the service to more remote areas is usually on a limited basis, and often it is necessary to plan your trip around the dates and times of these flights.
Flying is the best way to cover large distances in a short time. Australia’s domestic airlines – Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Blue, Rex and their subsidiaries – serve all state capital cities and regional centers.
Drive
Australia has a vast network of well-maintained roads and some of the most beautiful touring routes in the world. Travel from Sydney to Brisbane past sleepy seaside towns and lush hinterland. Experience Australia’s Red Center in an epic drive across the desert. Or follow Victoria’s Great Ocean Road as it hugs the spectacular southeast coast. You’ll find car rental companies at major airports, central city locations, suburbs and resorts. So hire a car, four wheel drive, caravans or motorbike and hit the highway.
Driving Laws
Driving is on the left hand side of the road, and the speed limit on freeways is 100 kilometers an hour (60 mph). If you are driving on a freeway you must keep to the right unless you are overtaking. Drunk driving rules are very strict, and most people find it is better to have a designated driver or get a taxi. Taxis or cabs are a very popular way of traveling especially in the major cities.
Bus/Coach
Coach and bus travel in Australia is comfortable, easy and economical. Coaches generally have air conditioning, reading lights, adjustable seats and videos. Services are frequent, affordable and efficient. Australia’s national coach operator, Greyhound, offer passes to fit every budget.
Rail
Train travel gives you an insight into Australia’s size and diversity, all from the comfort of your carriage. Scheduled services are a great way to get quickly between our cities and regional centers. Your travelling options range from budget to luxury and a range of rail passes let you see large sections of Australia at an affordable price. For touring by rail take the classic Indian-Pacific rail trip from Sydney to Perth. Or hop on the legendary Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin, past red desert and the tropical Top End.
Ferries
The Spirit of Tasmania runs a passenger and vehicle ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania nightly. Extra services are running during summer peak times. Sealink ferries connect South Australia and Kangaroo Island several times a day. Ferries connect suburbs in our capital cities – they criss-cross Sydney Harbor, the Swan River in Perth and the Brisbane River in Brisbane.
Walking
Walking is a great way to get around our cities, so get ready to pound our wide, easy-on-the-feet pedestrian streets. You can also tackle some of the longest tracks and trails in the world in Australia – impressive journeys of a thousand kilometers or more that can take several weeks to complete.
