Australia
Australia is part of Oceania, and a largely secular nation. As a secular nation it does not have a "national" religion and it accepts citizens of a variety of creeds and faiths, just as the USA. It is about 7,500 miles from the United States. The mainland of Australia is about the same size as mainland USA - exluding Alaska. Australia has six states and two territories. The states are Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. The territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory which is the location of Australia's capital city: Canberra.
Australia was originally inhabited by people who are commonly known as Aborigines although they come from a number of smaller "nations" and "tribes." 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. Many indigenous languages and traditions have survived the more than 200 years of white settlement. Indigenous 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.
The mainland of Australia was found by Dutch sailors heading to the spice island of 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 the 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 two most populated being New South Wales (capital city of Sydney) and Victoria (capital city of Melbourne). These colonies later became the states.
The 1850s saw the discovery of gold and large number of people moved to Victoria to find new wealth - prospectors from China and the USA came in the hope of prosperity. Eventually this wealth helped build the great cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo. Australia become 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 two law making houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state also has their own parliament. Australia is a democracy which has allowed men and women or European descent to vote since federation, with 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 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.
Strangley enough the Liberal Party, who have ruled in Australia since 1996 are actually conservative. They take on the name Liberal to indicate their belief in free trade and lack of government interference in business and day to day life. The more liberal (in terms of USA speak) party is the Labor Party whose leader is Kevin Rudd. The Labor Party are social democrats while the Liberals are liberal conservatives.
Australia relies a great deal on industry, agriculture and tourism to foster its economny. 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 favourite 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 least densely populated countries. Despite the low population water is scarce and most cities have some form of water restrictions in place to allow for basics such as washing and drinking. Weather extremes are common in Australia with temperatures sometimes measured into the high 40s (Celcius scale is used in the rest of the world) which is about 120 F. The city of Darwin was destoyed by a cyclone in 1974 and bushfires often ravage the southern states - one of the worst occuring on Ash Wednesday in 1983 when over 2000 homes were destoyed and over 70 people lost their lives in Victoria and South Australia.
