Australia

Australia is part of Oceania, and a largely secular nation. Of Australia's population of over 20 million approximately 1.5 million attend weekly religious services (1). It is about 7,500 miles from the United States. The mainland of Australia is about the same size as the mainland 48 states of the USA. Australia is the smallest continent in the world, it is 2400 miles, (3,860 km) from east to west and 2,000 miles (3,220 km) from north to south. It covers an area of 2,967,877 sq miles (7,686,810 sq km). The Australian coastline is 22,812 miles long (36,735 kilometers).

Australia has six states and two territories. The states are New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. The territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory which is the location of Australia's capital city: Canberra.

History

Pre European Contact

Australia was originally inhabited by people who are commonly known as Aboriginals although they come from a number of smaller nations each with their own national name. Over time many of these nations and tribes lost their identity or were decimated by disease, poor nutrition, massacres by white settlers and the forced removal of children from their parents into white families or mission stations. Nevertheless, many Aboriginal languages and traditions have survived the more than 200 years of white settlement. Under recent legislation recognizing native title, Aboriginal communities now have the right to claim back land dispossessed from them where they can prove that lasting cultural links still persist and where the native title has not been extinguished by freehold or leasehold title.

Post European Contact

The mainland of Australia was found by Dutch sailors heading to the spice isles of what is now Indonesia in the 16th Century. Most of their descriptions of Australia are based on the exploration of the North West coast which is very rugged and inhospitable. It wasn't until 1770 that Captain James Cook from England discovered the east coast of Australia which is much more capable of maintaining life and settlers. In 1788 the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove, New South Wales - comprising of officers, some free settlers and convicts. A number of later fleets settled convict areas around what is now Sydney Harbour.

As the 18th century came to a close convicts were given land packages and more free settlers came to the land in the hope of setting up farms and businesses. A number of colonies started to be formed - the most populated being New South Wales (whose capital city is Sydney). These colonies later became the states.

The 1850s saw the discovery of gold and large number of people moved to Australia to find new wealth. Most of these people were British and there was a significant number of Chinese immigrants during this rush. "Americans were drawn to Australia to participate in various enterprises such as the gold fields" Australian Dept of Immigration and Citizenship

System of Government

Australia became a federated country in 1901 with its parliament sitting in Melbourne, Victoria, while the capital city of Canberra was being built.

Australia has a parliamentary system of government based on the British system with a bicameral system: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state also has its own parliament.

Australia is a democracy which has allowed men of European descent to vote since federation, with women gaining the vote in the early 20th Century and Aboriginal men and women gaining suffrage in 1962.

Its Head of Government is called the Prime Minister; at the moment he is the leader of the Liberal Party, John Howard. The Head of State is Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Australia (who is the same person, but a different title, as the Queen of Great Britain), who acts through the Governor-General.

Strangely enough the Liberal Party, who have ruled in Australia since 1996 are actually conservative, a paradox established since the years that Sir Robert Menzies was prime minister, who moved the party to the right-wing of Australian politics. The party that most Americans would recognize as "liberal" is the Labor Party whose leader is Kevin Rudd. The Labor Party are social democrats while the Liberals are liberal conservatives.

Geography

Australia relies a great deal on industry, agriculture and tourism to foster its economy. It has a thriving film industry and very advanced technology. Most tourists visit places such as Sydney Harbour, Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Central Australia and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. Other favorite destinations are the wine making areas of South Australia and northern Victoria, the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, the natural wonders of Tasmania and the huge outback expanses of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Some cattle stations in Australia rival Texas in size and the distance between towns in some areas is enormous.

80% of Australia's population, of just over 20,000,000 people, live on the coast line. It is one of the world's most sparsely populated countries (2.7 people per square kilometre)ABS. Water is scarce and some cities have some form of water restrictions in place.

Weather extremes are common in Australia with temperatures sometimes measured into the high 40s Celsius (45 degrees Celsius = 113 degrees Fahrenheit). The city of Darwin was destroyed by Cyclone Tracey in 1974 and bushfires often ravage the southern states - one of the worst occurring on Ash Wednesday in 1983 when over 2000 homes were destroyed and over 70 people lost their lives in Victoria and South Australia.

Australia is noted for its unique biodiversity. Many animals are found only in Australia, the most well known examples are the group of marsupials (Kangaroos, Wombats, Wallabies and Koalas)and the Platypus. Examples of plants that are native to Australia are the banksia, yellow wattle and gum tree.

Studies (2) indicate that Australia's unique wildlife is the result of Australia becoming an island, cutting itself off from the Asian landbridge between 40 000 -250 000 years ago (though there is a difference of opinion as to when Australia became an island).

Sport

Australia is often known as a sporting nation with success worldwide in swimming, tennis, rugby league and rugby union, cricket, netball and even speed ice skating. Australians are very keen horse racers with the Melbourne Cup attracting up to 120,000 spectators at Flemington Race Course. There is even a public holiday for the cup race in Melbourne.

Unique to Australia is a game known as Australian rules football or Aussie Rules which is played on a cricket oval in winter and draws huge crowds across Australia.

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(1)National Church Life Survey 2004

(2) Mammals of Australian islands: factors influencing species richness Andrew Burbidge, Matthew Williams & Ian Abbott