27 million[9] people live in Australia, and about 85% of them live near the east coast.[10] The country is divided up into sixstates and two territories, and more than half of Australia'spopulation lives in and around the cities ofSydney,Melbourne,Brisbane,Perth andAdelaide. The first people to live in the country were theIndigenous Australians: many of them died fromsmallpox during colonisation.
Australia is known for itsmining (coal, iron, gold, diamonds and crystals). It produceswool, and is the world's largest producer ofbauxite.[11] Itsemblem is a flower called thegolden wattle.
Australia is also known for its animals. The national symbols of Australia are thekangaroo and the golden wattle. Scientifically, perhaps even more important are its twomonotreme mammals: theplatypus and theechidna.
Australia's landmass of7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300sqmi) is on theIndo-Australian plate.[13] The continent of Australia, including the island of Tasmania, was separated from the other continents of the world many millions of years ago. Because of this, manyanimals andplants live in Australia that do not live anywhere else. These include animals like the kangaroo, thekoala, theemu, thekookaburra, thewallaby and thewombat. The duck-billed platypus and the echidna are completely unique.
The population is about 26 million people (2021 census = 25,890,773). Most Australians live in cities along the coast, such asSydney,Melbourne,Brisbane,Perth,Adelaide,Newcastle and theGold Coast. The largest inland city isCanberra, which is also the nation's capital. The largest city is Sydney.[15]
Australia is a very large country, but much of the land is very dry, and the middle of the continent is mostly a hotdesert. Only the areas around the east, west and south coast have enough rain and a suitableclimate (not too hot and dry) forfarms andcities. The island state ofTasmania has a more balanced climate than much of the mainland.
All the capital cities exceptPerth andDarwin are in the south-east of the country. There is now increasing rainfall andflooding which affects this region, which is ominous [threatening]. It is thought this is caused byclimate change, and may continue to get worse.[16] The BBC report comments: "In the past three years, record-breakingbushfire andflood events have killed more than 500 people and billions of animals.Drought,cyclones and freaktides have gripped communities". The BBC report continues: "Nowhere is this a bigger issue than inQueensland. It is home to almost 40% of the 500,000 homes projected to be effectively uninsurable". This means people can't getinsurance because the risk of flooding (in one season) or fire (in another season) is too great.
TheAboriginal andTorres Strait Islander people arrived in Australia about 60,000 years ago or maybe even earlier.[17][18][19] Until the arrival of British settlers in 1788, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived by hunting and gathering food from the land. They lived in all sorts of climates and managed the land in different ways. An example of Aboriginal land management was the Cumberland Plain where Sydney is now. Every few years, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would burn the grass and small trees.[20] This meant that a lot of grass grew back, but not many big trees. Kangaroos and wallabies like to live on grassy plains, but not in forests. The kangaroos and wallabies that lived on the plain were a good food supply for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Sometimes, Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders would name a person after an animal, and they could not eat that animal to help level out the food population.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people did not usually build houses, except huts of grass, leaves and bark. They did not usually build walls or fences, and there were no horses, cows or sheep in Australia that needed to be kept in pens. The only Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander buildings that are known are fish-traps made from stones piled up in the river, and the remains of a few stone huts inVictoria andTasmania.[21][22][23] The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people did not use metal or make pottery or use bows and arrows or weave cloth. In some parts of Australia the people used sharp flaked-stone spearheads, but most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander spears were made of sharply pointed wood. Australia has a lot of trees that have very hard wood that was good for spear making. Theboomerang was used in some areas for sport and for hunting.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people did not think that the land belonged to them. They believed that they had grown from the land, so it was like their mother, and they belonged to the land.
In the 1600s,Dutch merchants traded with the islands ofBatavia (nowIndonesia), to the north of Australia and several different Dutch ships touched on the coast of Australia. The Dutch governor, van Diemen, sentAbel Tasman on a voyage of discovery and he foundTasmania, which he namedVan Diemen's Land. Its name was later changed to honour the man who discovered it.
TheBritish Government was sure that there must be a very large land in the south, that had not been explored. They sent CaptainJames Cook to thePacific Ocean. His ship,HMS Endeavour, carried the famous scientists, SirJoseph Banks and Dr Solander who were going toTahiti where they would watch the planetVenus pass in front of theSun. Captain Cook's secret mission was to find "Terra Australis" (the Land of the South).
The voyage of discovery was very successful, because they foundNew Zealand and sailed right around it. Then they sailed westward. At last, a boy, William Hicks, who was up the mast spotted land on thehorizon. Captain Cook named that bit of landPoint Hicks. They sailed up the coast and Captain Cook named the land that he saw "New South Wales". At last they sailed into a large open bay which was full of fish and stingrays which the sailors speared for food. Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander went ashore and were astonished to find that they did not know what any of the plants or birds or animals that they saw were. They collected hundreds of plants to take back toEngland.
Captain Cook saw the Aboriginal people with their simple way of life. He saw them fishing, hunting along with collecting grass seeds and fruit. But there were no houses and no fences. In most parts of the world, people put up a house and a fence or some marker to show that they own the land. But the Aboriginal people did not own the mainland in that way. They belonged to the land, like a baby belongs to its mother. Captain Cook went home to England and told the government that no-one owned the land. This would later cause a terrible problem for the Aboriginal people.
In the 1700s, in England, laws were tough, many people were poor andgaols (jails) were full. A person could besentenced to death for stealing a loaf ofbread. Many people were hanged for small crimes. But usually they were just thrown in gaol. Often they were sent away to the British colonies in America. But by the 1770s, the colonies in America became theUnited States. They were free from British rule and would not take England's convicts any more, so England needed to find a new and less populated place.
By the 1780s the gaols of England were so full that convicts were often chained up in rotting old ships. The government decided to make a settlement in New South Wales and send some of the convicts there. In 1788 theFirst Fleet of eleven ships set sail fromPortsmouth carrying convicts, sailors, marines, a few free settlers and enough food to last for two years. Their leader was CaptainArthur Phillip. They were to make a new colony at the place that Captain Cook had discovered, namedBotany Bay because of all the unknown plants found there by the two scientists.
Captain Phillip found that Botany Bay was flat and windy. There was not much fresh water. He went with two ships up the coast and sailed into a great harbour calledPort Jackson, which he said was "the finest harbour in the world". There were many small bays on the harbour so he decided on one which had a good stream of fresh water and some flat shore to land on. On 26 January 1788, the flag was raised andNew South Wales was claimed in the name ofKing George III of England, and the new settlement was called Sydney.
For the first few years of the settlement, things were very difficult. No-one in the British Government had thought very hard about what sort of convicts should be sent to make a new colony. Nobody had chosen them carefully. There was only one man who was a farmer. There was no-one among the convicts who was a builder, a brick-maker or a blacksmith. No-one knew how to fix the tools when they broke. All of the cattle escaped. There were no cooking pots. All the plants were different so no-one knew which ones could be eaten. It was probable that everyone in the new colony would die of starvation.
The little group of tents had a hut for the Governor, Arthur Phillip, and another hut for the supply of food. Soon it grew into a small town with streets, a bridge over the stream, a windmill for grinding grain and wharves for ships. By the 1820s there was a fine brick house for the Governor. There was also a hospital and a convict barracks and a beautiful church which are still standing today. Settlements had spread out from Sydney, firstly toNorfolk Island and toVan Diemen's Land (Tasmania), and also up the coast to Newcastle, where coal was discovered, and inland where the missing cattle were found to have grown to a large herd.Spanish Merino sheep had been brought to Sydney, and by 1820, farmers were raising fat lambs for meat and also sending fine wool back to the factories of England.
While the settlement was growing in New South Wales, it was also growing in Tasmania. The climate in Tasmania was more like that in England, and farmers found it easy to grow crops there.
Matthew Flinders went round the whole continent of Australia. Australia was first calledTerra Australis.
Because Australia is such a very large land, it was easy to think that it might be able to hold a large number of people. In the early days of the colony, a great number of explorers went out, searching for good land to settle on. When the settlers looked west from Sydney, they saw a range of mountains which they called theBlue Mountains. They were not very high and did not look very rugged but for many years no-one could find their way through them. In 1813,Gregory Blaxland,William Lawson and a 17-year-old calledWilliam Charles Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains and found land on the other side which was good for farming. A road was built and the governor,Lachlan Macquarie founded the town ofBathurst on the other side, 160km (100 miles) from Sydney. Bathurst became Australia's first inland settlement.
Some people, like CaptainCharles Sturt were sure that there must be a sea in the middle of Australia and set out to find it. Many of the explorers did not prepare very well, or else they went out to explore at the hottest time of year. Some died like Burke and Wills.Ludwig Leichhardt got lost twice. The second time, he was never seen again. MajorThomas Mitchell was one of the most successful explorers. He mapped the country as he went, and his maps remained in use for more than 100 years. He travelled all the way to what is now western Victoria, and to his surprise and annoyance found that he was not the first white person there. The Henty brothers had come fromTasmania, had built themselves a house, had a successful farm and fed the Major and his men on roast lamb and wine.
Thegold rushes of New South Wales and Victoria started in 1851 leading to large numbers of people arriving to search for gold. The population grew across south east Australia and made great wealth and industry. By 1853 the gold rushes had made some poor people very rich.
The transportation of convicts to Australia ended in the 1840s and 1850s and more changes came. The people in Australia wanted to run their own country, and not be told what to do fromLondon. The first governments in the colonies were run by governors chosen by London. Soon the settlers wanted local government and moredemocracy.William Wentworth started the Australian Patriotic Association (Australia's first political party) in 1835 to demanddemocratic government. In 1840, the city councils started and some people could vote.New South Wales Legislative Council had its first elections in 1843, again with some limits on who could vote. In 1855, limited self-government was given by London to New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. In 1855, theright to vote was given to all men over 21 inSouth Australia. The other colonies soon followed. Women were given the vote in theParliament of South Australia in 1895 and they became the first women in the world allowed to stand in elections.[24][25]
Australians had started parliamentary democracies all across the continent. But voices were getting louder for all of them to come together as one country with a national parliament.
A painting of the opening of the firstParliament of Australia, 9 May 1901, painted byTom Roberts. Australia has had democracy since the 1850s.Countries of birth of Australian estimated resident population, 2006. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics[26]
Until 1901, Australia was not anation, it was six separatecolonies governed by Britain. They voted to join to form one new country, called the Commonwealth of Australia, in 1901. Australia was still part of theBritish Empire, and at first wanted only British or Europeans to come to Australia. But soon it had its ownmoney, its own Army and its ownNavy.
Australia had a really hard time in theGreat Depression of the 1930s and joined Britain in a war againstNazi Germany whenHitler invadedPoland in 1939. But in 1941 lots of Australian soldiers were captured in theFall of Singapore byJapan. Then Japan started attacking Australia and people worried about invasion. But with help from theUnited States Navy, the Japanese were stopped. After the war, Australia became a close friend of the United States and Japan.
When the war ended, Australia felt that it needed many more people to fill the country up and to work. So the government said it would take in people from Europe who had lost their homes in the war. It did things like building theSnowy Mountains Scheme. Over the next 25 years, millions of people came to Australia. They came especially fromItaly andGreece, other countries in Europe. Later they also came from countries likeTurkey andLebanon. An important new party, theLiberal Party of Australia was made byRobert Menzies in 1944 and it won lots of elections from 1949 until in 1972, thenGough Whitlam won for theLabor Party. Whitlam made changes, but he made theSenate unhappy and theGovernor-General sacked him and forced an election in 1975. ThenMalcolm Fraser won a few elections for theLiberal Party.
In the 1960s many people began coming to Australia fromChina,Vietnam,Malaysia and other countries inAsia. Australia became moremulticultural. In the 1950s and 1960s Australia became one of the richest countries in the world, helped by mining and wool. Australia started trading more with America, than Japan. Australia supported the United States in wars againstdictatorships inKorea andVietnam and laterIraq. Australian soldiers also helped theUnited Nations in countries likeEast Timor in 1999.
Today Australia is a rich, peaceful and democratic country. But it still has problems. Around 4-5% of Australians could not get a job in 2010. A lot of land in Australia (likeUluru) has been returned to Aboriginal people, but lots of Aboriginals are still poorer than everybody else. Every year the government chooses a big number of new people from all around the world to come asimmigrants to live in Australia. These people may come because they want to do business, or to live in a democracy, to join their family, or because they arerefugees. Australia took 6.5 million immigrants in the 60 years afterWorld War Two, including around 660,000 refugees.[28]
Australia constitutionally is aConstitutional Monarchy meaning that the Monarch has little power and in Australia must be neutral in Australian politics[source?]
Australia wascolonised by people from theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,[29] but today people from all over the world live there. English is the main spoken language. Christianity is the main religion, though all religions are accepted and not everybody has a religion. Australia ismulticultural: all its people are encouraged to keep their different languages, religions and ways of life, while also learningEnglish and joining in with other Australians. Australia has many immigrants from different countries around the world.
Australian TV has produced many successful programs for home and overseas.Skippy the Bush Kangaroo,Home and Away andNeighbours are examples. It has had well known TV stars, such asBarry Humphries (Dame Edna Everage),Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) and The Wiggles. Major Australian subgroups such as theBogan have been shown on Australian TV in shows such asBogan Hunters and Kath & Kim.[30]
Australia has two public broadcasters (the ABC and the multicultural SBS), three commercial television networks, three pay-TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Each major city has its daily newspapers, and there are two national daily newspapers,The Australian andThe Australian Financial Review.
Sport is an important part of Australian culture because the climate is good for outdoor activities. 23.5% Australians over the age of 15 regularly take part in organised sporting activities.[36] The most popular sports areAustralian rules football,rugby league andcricket. In international sports, Australia has very strong teams incricket,hockey,netball,rugby league andrugby union, and performs well incycling,rowing andswimming. Local popular sports includeAustralian Rules Football, horse racing, soccer and motor racing. Australia has participated in every summerOlympic Games since 1896, and everyCommonwealth Games. Australia has hosted the1956 and2000 Summer Olympics, and has ranked in the top five medal-winners since 2000. Australia has also hosted the 1938, 1962, 1982 and 2006Commonwealth Games and are to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Other major international events held regularly in Australia include theAustralian Open, one of the fourGrand Slam tennis tournaments, annual international cricket matches and theFormula OneAustralian Grand Prix. Corporate and government sponsorship of many sports and elite athletes is common in Australia. Televised sport is popular; some of the highest-rated television programs include theSummer Olympic Games and the grand finals of local and international football competitions.
The main sporting leagues for men are theAFL (Australian rules football), theNRL (rugby league), theA-League (soccer) and theNBL (basketball). For women, they are the AFLW (Australian rules football),ANZ Netball Championships (netball), theW-League (soccer) andWNBL (basketball).
Just 60 years ago, Australia had only one big art festival. Now Australia has hundreds of smaller community-based festivals, and national and regional festivals that focus on specific art forms.[37]
Australia is home to many animals and plants that can be found nowhere else on Earth, except perhapsNew Guinea.[38]
Theplatypus and theshort-beaked echidna are unique, and are two of the only five survivingmonotremes. Monotremes are only found in Australia and New Guinea.
Thegum trees are almost as remarkable as the animals. They are mainlyEucalypts and other gum trees. These are woodyevergreens which make essential oils and are prone to fire. Sticky heavily scented gum squeezes out of their wood. The tribe has about 860 species. They are allnative toSoutheast Asia andOceania. Most live in Australia. Until British settlement in Australia, these trees were almost entirely unknown. They had been separated from the Americas, Africa and much of Asia for millions of years.[39]
↑Collins English Dictionary. Bishopbriggs, Glasgow: HarperCollins. 2009. p.18.ISBN978-0-00-786171-2.
↑"Population clock".Australian Bureau of Statistics website. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved1 July 2017. The population estimate shown is automatically calculated daily at 00:00 UTC and is based on data obtained from the population clock on the date shown in the citation.
↑Turner, Kate (2008).National Geographic Australia. Tokyo: Horupu. p.8.
↑Cummins, Brian R. (1990).Australia. Canberra: the Australian Government Publishing Service. pp.16-17.ISBN9780644097840.
↑Tanabe Yu (1997).Oceania South Pole. Shinjyuku ward: Asakura Bookstore. p.3179.
↑Australia election: How climate is making Australia more unliveable.BBC News.
↑Hesp, Patrick A.et al. 1999. Aboriginal occupation on Rottnest Island, Western Australia, provisionally dated by aspartic acid racemisation assay of land snails to greater than 50 ka.Australian Archaeology, No 49 (1999)
↑Australian government."Art festivals". Archived fromthe original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved15 November 2010.
↑Australia and New Guinea were linked for many millions of years.
↑Macphail, Mike; Thornhill, Andrew H. 2016. How old are the eucalypts? A review of the microfossil and phylogenetic evidence.Australian Journal of Botany64 (8): 579.
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