Australia

Overview

The flag: a blue field with the Union Jack in the upper left and a large white seven-pointed star known as the Commonwealth Star underneath it. The other stars are a representation of the Southern Cross constellation. The Union Jack represents loyalty and the connection to the British Empire.

The Coat of Arms is officially called The Commonwealth Coat of Arms. There is a shield showing the six states of Australia and it is held by the typical Australian animals, the kangaroo and the emu. The seven-pointed Commonwealth Star above the crest also represents the states and territories.

The Australian Aboriginal Flag represents Aboriginal Australians. It is one of the official flags of Australia, and has special legal and political status. It is often shown together with the national flag.
The symbolic meaning of the flag colours:
Black – the Aboriginal people of Australia
Yellow circle – the Sun, the giver of life and protector
Red – the red earth, the red ochre used in ceremonies and Aboriginal peoples’ spiritual relation to the land.

Official languages: none, although the national language is mainly Australian English. Other languages are various indigenous languages, as well as Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Italian.

Currency Australian dollar (AUD)

Capital city: Canberra

Biggest city: Sydney

Nickname for Australian people: Aussies

Another expression for "Australia" Down Under

National Day Australia Day is celebrated each year on 26 January

National Holidays: Australia has 12 public holidays a year, including New Year's Day, Australia Day and Anzac Day ( 25 April is a national day of commemoration for all Australians who have fought in wars)

National colours: green and gold

Famous Australian folk song: Waltzing Matilda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwvazMc5EfE

the Golden Wattle - national tree

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCQLmteikdM
Australian National Anthem "Advance Australia Fair"

Royal Anthem: God save the Queen

Opal - the national gemstone

Official animals: emu and red kangaroo

Current Prime Minister: Scott Morrison

Monarch: Elisabeth II

AUSTRALIAN STATES

New South Wales

Victoria

Queensland

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

the cross of St George with lion and stars

an Imperial Crown and Southern Cross

a blue Maltese cross and the Crown

the Australian piping shrike

a black swan

a red walking lion

GEOGRAPHY

Climate

Australia is an island, a country and a continent. It is the smallest continent in the world with 7.692.000 km² (2969898 square miles). It consists of Australia, the island Tasmania, New Guinea and smaller islands. Mostly many island countries belong to the Australian continent and today it all is called Oceania.
The most northern part of Australia is on the equator,located on the islands of Kabara and on the southern part is the island of Tasmania. The mainland of Australia is mostly dry and flat. The most populated parts are coastal areas, but the inland has barely anyone living there because of the dry and harsh deserts. As well as deserts there are mountains (like Mount Kosciuszko, MacDonnell Ranges and Uluru). There are many rivers like Darling,Murray and Snowy river. There are not many sweet water reserves but there is a saltwater lake called Lake Eyre. Australia is under the influence of three climates: the tropical,subtropical and the cold climate. The common temperature for the coastal area is 27 Celsius.
The main influence of the climates of this area has three factors: the tropical low pressure belt, the impact of the winds and the subpolar winds. During summer there are many storms, but during winter there is no rain. About 80% of Australia's surface has semiarid and arid climate with less than 250 mm precipitation per year.
South Australia is the most populated area exposed to the southern ozone hole.

The Outback

The Outback is a term used to describe the large interior area of Australia that is quite far away from the densely populated coastal areas. Not very many people live here because of the harsh conditions ( about 70% of the Outback is dry). This region stretches from the northern to southern Australian coastlines, and covers a number of climatic zones: from tropical and monsoonal climates in northern areas, arid areas in the ‘red centre’ and semi-arid and temperate climates in the southern regions. Its biggest city is Alice Springs.
The bush is another expression used to describe land where people don't live. It is land that is a long way from cities, or forests. When used to describe the land, the bush means a wooded area, but not dense forest. When talking about people, the bush means any populated areas outside of the main metropolitan areas. This can include mining and farming areas.

The Outback

Alice Springs

The bush

HISTORY

Australia was discovered in 1790 by an explorer named James Cook.
40 000 years ago Aborigines lived all over Australia. It is believed that they are actually from Asia.
Aboriginal people hunted,went fisching and used stone tools. Australia's Aboriginal people have the oldest continuous culture on Earth.
At the time of the European settlement there were up to one million Aboriginal people living across the continent as hunters and gatherers. They were scattered in 500 different clans, or ‘nations’, speaking about 700 languages.
European settlers ruined their peaceful life when at the end of 18th century they sent prisoners from British jails to Australia. Then after a few years more and more people started coming to Australia. With the time passing the new settlers started killing the Aboriginal people and committed other horrendous crimes so the number of them drastically fell.
In 20th century there was a gold rush in Australia.At that time a lot of Asian people came to Australia. People only wanted to find gold and get rich so many of them ended up dead.
In 1901 Australia became a free country and participed in both World Wars. The First World War had a devastating effect on Australia. There were less than three million men in 1914, and around 420,000 of them volunteered for service in the war.
During the Second World War, Australian forces made a significant contribution to the Allied victory in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. In February of 1942, the largest single attack ever conducted by a foreign military power on Australia took place in Darwin. The Bombing of Darwin involved 260 enemy aircraft and targeted the town, port and airfields. The generation that fought in the war and survived came out of it with a sense of pride.

Gold miners

Aborigines under attack

English convicts in a penal colony in Australia

Why so many convicts? - Life in Britain was very hard. As new machines were invented, people were no longer needed to do farming jobs so they moved to the cities. The cities became overcrowded. Many people didn’t have a job and were very poor. People stole things to survive. Smaller crimes such as stealing things worth more than 1 shilling (a lot of money for a working person at that time), cutting down a tree in an orchard or stealing livestock were punishable by transportation.