Location Description

Australia, one of the Oceania countries is located between the South Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. This developed and one of the wealthiest countries of the world covers a total of 7, 741, 220 sq. km of area, making it the sixth largest countries of the world. Australian territory beside its mainland include Tasmania Island and many other smaller islands on the Pacific Ocean. Timor and Arafura Seas separate Australia from Asia and Tasman Sea separates it from New Zealand.

Canberra

Is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 381,488, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne.

Climate

Australia's climate is governed largely by its size and by the hot, sinking air of the subtropical high pressure belt. This moves north and south with the seasons, so that the rainfall pattern over Australia is highly seasonal. Australia's rainfall is the lowest of the seven continents (besides Antarctica). But it is variable, with frequent droughts lasting several seasons—thought to be caused in part by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The climate varies widely due to its large geographical size, but by far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil. The northern part of the country has a tropical climate, varied between tropical rainforests, grasslands, part desert.

Language;

Although Australia has no official language, English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language. Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon, and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.[246] General Australian serves as the standard dialect. According to the 2011 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 81% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (1.7%), Italian (1.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese (1.3%), Greek (1.3%), and Vietnamese (1.2%); a considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. A 2010–2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic, followed by Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese, and Hindi.

Religion;

Australia has no state religion; Section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the federal government from making any law to establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion. In the 2011 census, 61.1% of Australians were counted as Christian, including 25.3% as Roman Catholic and 17.1% as Anglican; 22.3% of the population reported having "no religion"; 7.2% identify with non-Christian religions, the largest of these being Buddhism (2.5%), followed by Islam (2.2%), Hinduism (1.3%) and Judaism (0.5%). The remaining 9.4% of the population did not provide an adequate answer.

Culture;

Since 1788, the primary influence behind Australian culture has been Anglo-Celtic Western culture, with some Indigenous influences. The divergence and evolution that has occurred in the ensuing centuries has resulted in a distinctive Australian culture. Since the mid-20th century, American popular culture has strongly influenced Australia, particularly through television and cinema. Other cultural influences come from neighbouring Asian countries, and through large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking nations.

Animal life:

When the earth was formed there was only one continent . About 200 million years ago Australia was separated from this big continent and animals developed differently from those that live in other places. That is why Australia has animals which you can’t find anywhere else. Australia’s most famous animals are marsupials. They are mammals that have their babies in pouches. Kangaroos, koalas or wallabies are the best-known marsupials in Australia. The platypus is a mammal that lays eggs , from which babies hatch.Australia has about 700 different types of birds. Among the most famous is the kookaburra. Emus are large birds that cannot fly.There are many species of reptiles and snakes in Australia, some of which are poisonous.

Typical Plant Life;

The eucalyptus or gum tree is a classic Australian tree. It has narrow , oily leaves that look like leather and smell good but also cause the tree to burn easily. It is one of the tallest trees in the world and can grow up to 100 metres. Tourists who wander around in Australia can find thousands of wildflowers in the country. The seeds lie in the desert during the dry season and when it rains they blossom in all kinds of different colours.

People of Australia;

Australia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. 9 out of 10 people live on only 3% of the land. Most of Australia’s 19 million people live near the coast, because the inner parts are made up of deserts. 80% of the country’s population live in the south-eastern part of the country. Here you can also find the big cities like Sydney and Melbourne, or the capital Canberra. Most people in Australia are immigrants or come from families who came to the country from Europe. Until the beginning of the 20th century most of the immigrants came from Great Britain and Ireland. After World War II, Australia’s government allowed people from other countries to enter . Since the 1970s more and more people from Asian countries have been coming. However, not everybody is allowed to come and live in Australia. You must pass a special test and show special skills that the Australians need.

Industry;

Australia is a country which is largely dependent on its agricultural industries. Agriculture has always been one of the primary sources of income for Australian people. Earlier agro products accounted to about 80% of the total export goods but now it has gone down to 3% of the total export. Despite the decline in agricultural exports, even now, about 370,000 people are engaged in farming in Australia. Although the agricultural industry has witnessed a fall from its position during the 1970, it still contributes largely towards Australian economy. Australia was one of the largest exporters of beef and wool in the whole world and the third largest of wine and wheat even in the year 2005.

Sports;

In Australia sports is an integrated part of the lives of the people. The Australians have interest in a wide range of sports and it has made its presence felt in all the major arenas of world sports. Team sports and water sports are the main areas where the Australian sportsmen have excelled over the years. The people of this country have invented a game called Australian Rules football or the AFL which is very popular in this nation. Mostly all kinds of sports are played in Australia like, basketball, baseball, tennis, cricket, rugby, hockey, golf, netball and tennis. The national teams of Australia participate in the world level competitions and there are also frequent leagues within the country. The main reason behind such sports enthusiasm among the Australian people is the perfect and varied climates in the country. Apart from the cricket, hockey and football, surfing in Australia has become very popular over the years. The perfect waves in the beaches attract hundreds of surfers from around the world each year.

Economy;

Australian Business and Economy is the most thriving in the world and has made a stable base in the world economy. Australia was highly praised by various international organizations like International Monetary Fund for brilliant macroeconomic management and consistent economic reform. The small business sectors in Australia are the most significant part of its economy. The amount of investment in Australia is fourth largest in the world. The per capita Gross Domestic Product is marginally less than United States and United Kingdom which proves the high standard of Australian Economy. The development in the economic sector has led to the significant rise in the living standard of the citizens. Low inflation rate is also a positive characteristics of Australian economy which is absent in most of the developed countries.

History;

The History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago. The artistic, musical and spiritual traditions they established are among the longest surviving such traditions in human history.

Education;

In Australia is primarily the responsibility of the states and territories. Each state or territory government provides funding and regulates the public and private schools within its governing area, although the Federal government also funds independent or private schools. The federal government helps fund the public universities, but was not involved in setting university curriculum. As of 2012, the Australian National Curriculum,[9] under development and trial for several years, has already been adopted by some schools and will become mandatory soon. Generally, education in Australia follows the three-tier model which includes primary education (primary schools), followed by secondary education (secondary schools/high schools) and tertiary education (Universities, TAFE colleges and Vocation Education and Training providers/VET providers).

Health;

Australia has the third and seventh highest life expectancy of males and females respectively in the world. Life expectancy in Australia in 2010 was 79.5 years for males and 84.0 years for females. Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, while cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease, responsible for 7.8% of the total mortality and disease. Ranked second in preventable causes is hypertension at 7.6%, with obesity third at 7.5%. Australia ranks 35th in the world and near the top of developed nations for its proportion of obese adults and nearly two thirds (63%) of its adult population is either overweight or obese.

Demographics;

Until the Second World War, the vast majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles, and a majority of Australians have some British or Irish ancestry. In the 2011 Australian census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were English (36.1%), Australian (35.4%), Irish (10.4%), Scottish (8.9%), Italian (4.6%), German (4.5%), Chinese (4.3%), Indian (2.0%), Greek (1.9%), and Dutch (1.7%).