Introducing Australia

Introduction

The main idea of the course work: Australia as the world’s smallest continent but is also the sixth largest country in the world.

The topicality of the work: I decided to write about this country, because the animal world of Australia is very interesting. Australia has been called "the land of differences and the continent of contrast". Also the history is interesting too. I think that this country is very beautiful, and you must to know about her all facts. The map helps to you to learn this country. (Appendix 1)

In this paper I will tell some fun facts about Australia. Australia is the world’s smallest continent but is also the sixth largest country in the world. If it is summer here then it's winter there! Australia has some incredibly hot weather and some of the world’s greatest animals and forests. The hottest temperature actually reached 53.1C in 1889. If you want to go to Australia you should learn some of their unusual lingo. Yes, they do speak English but they have their own language for almost everything. Australia is referred to as "The Island Continent".

 To begin with this work let me introduce Australia. The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern". Legends of an "unknown land of the south" (terra australis incognita) date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography but were not based on any documented knowledge of the continent.

The name Australia was popularized by Matthew Flinders, who, as early as 1804, pushed for the name to be formally adopted. When preparing his manuscript and charts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis, he was persuaded by his patron Sir Joseph Banks to use the term Terra Australis as this was the name most familiar to the public.

"Had I permitted myself any innovation on the original term, it would have been to convert it to Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth." (Sir Joseph Banks, 1814).

This work is devoted to observing the main structural and traditional features of the country. It consists of three parts, introduction, the main part and conclusion. The first part of the work is based on statistics materials and covers such themes as history and geography. The second part is based on the material about cultural life of the country, its traditions and customs, also about the system of government and education in Australia. [21]

The urgency of this work is determined by the feasibility of the material studied and analyzed to be in use and interesting for the students learning foreign languages country study. The material highlights all basic aspects of the country’s life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter I   Introducing Australia

1. The history of Australia

         The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aborigines, who migrated there at least 40,000 years ago from Southeast Asia. There may have been between a half million to a full million Aborigines at the time of European settlement; today there are about 350,000.Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish ships sighted Australia in the 17th century; the Dutch landed at the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1606. In 1616 the territory became known as New Holland. The British arrived in 1688, but it was not until Captain James Cook's voyage in 1770 that Great Britain claimed possession of the vast island, calling it New South Wales. A British penal colony was set up at Port Jackson (what is now Sydney) in 1788, and about 161,000 transported English convicts were settled there until the system was suspended in 1839.

      Free settlers and former prisoners established six colonies: New South Wales (1786), Tasmania (then Van Diemen's Land) (1825), Western Australia (1829), South Australia (1834), Victoria (1851), and Queensland (1859). Various gold rushes attracted settlers, as did the mining of other minerals. Sheep farming and grain soon became important economic enterprises. The six colonies became states and in 1901 federated into the Commonwealth of Australia with a constitution that incorporated British parliamentary and U.S. federal traditions. Australia became known for its liberal legislation: free compulsory education, protected trade unionism with industrial conciliation and arbitration, the secret ballot, women's suffrage, maternity allowances, and sickness and old-age pensions.

     Australia fought alongside Britain in World War I, notably with the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in the Dardanelles campaign (1915). Participation in World War II brought Australia closer to the United States. Parliamentary power in the second half of the 20th century shifted between three political parties: the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party, and the National Party. Australia relaxed its discriminatory immigration laws in the 1960s and 1970s, which favored Northern Europeans. Thereafter, about 40% of its immigrants came from Asia, diversifying a population that was predominantly of English and Irish heritage. [10]

    In March 1996 the opposition Liberal Party–National Party coalition easily won the national elections, removing the Labor Party after 13 years in power. Pressure from the new, conservative One Nation Party threatened to reduce the gains made by Aborigines and to limit immigration. An Aboriginal movement had grown in the 1960s that gained full citizenship and improved education for the country's poorest socioeconomic group.

       In Sept. 1999, Australia led the international peacekeeping force sent to restore order in East Timor after pro-Indonesian militias begun massacring civilians to thwart East Timor's referendum on independence. Australia's relations with East Timor have soured since then over a dispute over oil reserves claimed by both countries. In Nov. 1999, Australia's 11.6 million voters rejected a referendum that would have ended Australia's formal allegiance to the British Crown. The referendum would have replaced the British governor-general with an Australian president chosen by Parliament. Although the vast majority of Australians do not consider themselves monarchists, they rejected the referendum because it did not provide for direct, popular elections but gave Parliament the power to select the president. [15]

        In 2000, Prime Minister Howard instituted a new tax system, lowering income and corporate taxes, and adding sales taxes on goods and services. John Howard won a third term in Nov. 2001, primarily as the result of his tough policy against illegal immigration. It has also brought him considerable criticism: refugees attempting to enter Australia—most of them from Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq, and numbering about 5,000 annually—have been imprisoned in bleak detention camps and subjected to a lengthy immigration process. Asylum-seekers have staged riots and hunger strikes. Howard has also dealt with refugees with the “Pacific solution,” which re-routes boat people from Australian shores to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. In 2004, however, the government began easing its policies on immigration. [4]

      Prime Minister Howard sent 2,000 Australian troops to fight alongside American and British troops in the 2003 Iraq war, despite strong opposition among Australians. There were no Australian casualties. Australia released the Flood report in 2004, an assessment of pre-war intelligence on Iraq, which described the evidence supporting Iraq's possession of WMD as “thin, ambiguous, and incomplete.” But like similar U.S. and UK intelligence reports, it cleared the government of manipulating the intelligence.

     In July 2003, Australia successfully restored order to the Solomon Islands, which had descended into lawlessness during a brutal civil war.

    Australia has been the victim of two significant terrorist attacks in recent years: the 2002 Bali, Indonesia, bombings by a group with ties to al-Qaeda in which 202 died, many of whom were Australian, and the 2004 attack on the Australian embassy in Indonesia, which killed ten.

The Commonwealth of Australia is composed of 6 states and 2 territories: the State of New South Wales with its capital in Sydney, the State of Victoria with its capital in Melbourne, the State of Queen land with its capital in Brisbane, the Sate of Western Australia with its capital in Perth, the State of Tasmania with its capital in Hobart, Australian Capital Territory with its Federal Capital in Canberra, and Northern Territory with its capital in Darwin. [1]

 

 

 

 

1.2 Geographical situation and animal world of Australia

Australia is situated in the south-west of the Pacific Ocean. The area of this country is 7, 7 million square kilometers. The population of the country is about 20 million people. The capital is Canberra. The population of Canberra is about 300 thousand people. Official language is English.  Australia is the largest island in the world and it is the smallest continent.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a self-governing federal state. It has got 6 states: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and 2 internal territories. (Appendix 2).

Australian national flag consists of 5 white stars of the Southern Cross and the white Commonwealth star (the large seven pointed star) on a blue background with a Union Jack in canton. The Southern Cross is the southern Crux, whose four chief stars are in the form of cross.[23]

The flag of Australia is the only one to fly over a whole continent. The small Union Jack represents the historical link with Britain, and the large seven-pointed star represents the six states and the Territories, and the small stars form the Southern Cross –  a prominent feature of the southern hemisphere night sky.

A distinctive Australia flora and fauna is reflected in the country’s coat-of-arms by the symbols of Australia’s endemic animals; kangaroo and emu and twig of wattle (a kind of acacia).

Australia officially adopted green and gold as its national colors in 1984.

The Australia national anthem was adopted in the 1970ties. It is used on the all official and ceremonial occasions. 

Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent (the world's smallest), the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Neighboring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast and New Zealand to the southeast.

Australia is the flattest continent, with the oldest and least fertile soils; desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land. The driest inhabited continent, only its south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate. The population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometer, is among the lowest in the world, although a large proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline.

Australia has several different climatic regions, from warm to subtropical and tropical. There are tropical forests in the north-east because the winds from the sea bring heavy rainfalls, especially in tropical summer. The climate in the west is very dry and more than half of Australia gets very little rain. In the south-west and east the winds bring rain in winter.[22]

The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. These factors induce rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical predominantly summer rainfall (monsoon) climate. Just under three quarters of Australia lies within a desert or semi-arid zone. The southwest corner of the state has a Mediterranean climate. Much of the southeast (including Tasmania) is temperate.

The continent of Australia is mostly a great plain with mountains in the east and south-east. The western part of the continent forms a plateau which occupies half of the continent. The Central Lowlands, a great part of which is very dry, lie between the Western Australian plateau and the Eastern Highlands. Through the eastern part of these Central Lowlands run Australia's greatest rivers, the Murray and the Darling. A number of short rivers flow from the Australian Alps and the Blue Mountains into the Pacific Ocean. [5]

 

Animal world of Australia

The tropical forests in the north and north-east are displaced by savanna or grassland. In the south-east and on the sides of the mountains there are forests of eucalyptus and other evergreen trees. There are two hot deserts in the central and western parts of the continent. There are many wild animals in Australia. Some of them, such as the kangaroo, the dingo, or wild dog, and the koala, are not found in any other country of the world. [9]

Australia has been called "the land of differences" and "the continent of contrasts". It certainly is both. There are many ways in which it is different from other countries.

The first things most people think of are the strange native animals. Early in the world's history Australia was separated from the other continents and her animals developed differently. Of these, the strangest of all are the water loving platypus and the echidna. The appearance of the platypus is so unusual that when the skin of one was first sent to England some scientists said that no such animal could possibly exist.

Australia is also the home of the kangaroos.

The koala is a tree-loving, comical-looking animal that lives on the leaves of eucalyptus trees. It will eat nothing more. It usually sleeps during the day.

The dingo, or wild dog, is the only killer among the native animals. You can meet dingoes in many parts of Australia, but most of them now live in mountains or hills. In some places they were a very great danger to sheep and many of them were killed for that reason.

The native birds of Australia are very interesting. The emu, for example, which, with the kangaroo, is represented on the Australian coat-of-arms, is the next-tallest bird in the world after the ostrich.

Up to about 250 millions of years ago the world had just one huge super-continent call Pangaea. Animals and plants were able to move and intermix with one another.

About 200 million years ago this super-continent broke up into two continents (Laurasia and Gondwana).

About 60 million years ago Gondwana broke up into what was to later become South America, Africa, Antarctica, India and Australia.

Since then Australia has been isolated from the rest of the world by vast oceans. The animals and plants which were originally here no longer had contact with animals from other parts of the world. They evolved separately. That is why they are so different. [12]

Native Australian animals

Australia has lots very unusual animals. About 95 percent of the mammals, 70 percent of the birds, 88 percent of the reptiles and 94 percent of the frogs are found nowhere else in the world.

Find out about them here:

• Antechinus

• Long-Nosed Bandicoot

• Bat

• Black Snake (Red-bellied)

• Cassowary

• Cockatoo

• Crocodile (Saltwater)

• Echidna

• Emu

• Frilled Lizard

• Kangaroo

• Koala

• Kookaburra

• Penguin (Fairy)

• Platypus

• Possums:

   o Bushtail

   o Feathertail Glider

   o Leadbeater's

   o Pygmy

   o Ringtail

   o Sugar Glider

• Tawny Frogmouth

• Wallaby

• Wombat

 

 

 

 

Chapter II   General Information about Australia

2.1 The System of government

The Commonwealth of Australia is a self-governing federal state and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Formally the head of the state is the King or Queen of England represented by the Governor-General. The Commonwealth of Australia consists of six states and two territories: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Federal Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The Capital Territory is the land around the Federal Capital, Canberra.

The states run such things as education, police, health, railway and roads; the Commonwealth looks after the army, posts and telegraph, relations with other countries.

Australia has a parliament in each state and the Federal, Parliament of the Commonwealth at Canberra. The Federal Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The federal government of the country is headed by the Prime Minister, usually the leader of the party which has the majority in the House of Representatives. The political parties represented in the parliament are the Australian Labor Party, the liberal Party of Australia and National Agrarian Party.

The Federal Parliament House is built on top of Capitol Hill. It was completed in 1988 and replaces the old parliament house which is located further down the hill. The building was designed to merge into the profile of the hill itself. A stainless steel flag mast 81 meters tall surmounts the building from which flutters the Australian flag (the flag is as big as a double decker bus).

It cost over 800 million dollars to build and is considered to be one of the most attractive parliament buildings anywhere in the world.

The Members Hall is at the very center of the Parliament complex between the House of Representatives and Senate chambers. It has a large skylight canopy through which can be seen the stainless steel flag mast and the Australian flag.

The House of Representatives Chamber can seat up to 240 Members of Parliament.

Currently there are approximately 148 members. They are popularly elected for three year terms. The numbers of members representing each state is proportional to their populations but there must be must be at least five members from each state.

The Senate Chamber can seat 120 Senators.

Currently there are 76 senators. They are popularly elected for 6 year terms. There are 12 senators from each state and two each from each territory.

There are three branches of government, known as the separation of powers:

The legislature: the Commonwealth Parliament, comprising the Queen, the Senate, and the House of Representatives; the Queen is represented by the Governor-General, who by convention acts on the advice of his or her Ministers.

The executive: the Federal Executive Council (the Governor-General as advised by the Executive Councilors); in practice, the councilors are the Prime Minister and Ministers of State.

The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts. Appeals from Australian courts to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom ceased when the Australia Act of 1986 was passed.

The bicameral Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members. Members of the lower house are elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats", allocated to states on the basis of population, with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats. In the Senate, each state is represented by twelve senators, and each of the mainland territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory) by two.

There are two major political groups that form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party, and the Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party. Independent members and several minor parties—including the Greens and the Australian Democrats—have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses. The Labor Party came to office with Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister following the November 2007 election. In June 2010, Julia Gillard became the first female Prime Minister after she defeated Rudd in a party room leadership challenge.

Every Australian parliament (federal, state, and territory) then had a Labor government until September 2008 when the Liberal Party formed a minority government in association with the National Party in Western Australia. From 2005 to 2008 (a result of the 2004 election), the governing coalition led by John Howard won control of the Senate—the first time in more than 20 years that a party (or a coalition) has done so while in government. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over, in each state and territory and at the federal level. Enrolment to vote is compulsory in all jurisdictions except South Australia.

Parliament House in Canberra was opened in 1988 replacing the provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.

 

 

 

 

2.2 Education in Australia

School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia. All children receive 11 years of compulsory education from the age of 6 to 16 (Year 1 to 10), before they can undertake two more years (Years 11 and 12), contributing to an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99%. A preparatory year prior to Year 1, although not compulsory, is almost universally undertaken. In the Programme for International Student Assessment, Australia regularly scores among the top five of thirty major developed countries (member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). Government grants have supported the establishment of Australia's 38 universities; all but one is public. There is a state-based system of vocational training, known as TAFE Institutes, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58% of Australians aged from 25 to 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications, and the tertiary graduation rate of 49% is the highest among OECD countries. The ratio of international to local students in tertiary education in Australia is the highest in the OECD countries.

Studying in Australia offers international students more than academic achievement and a globally recognized qualification. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience through which a student can develop independence, maturity, an understanding of other cultures, and the ability to see issues from different perspectives.

Study in Australia better prepares a student to work in today’s global marketplace.

This is why several foreign companies recruit directly from Australian universities and vocational institutes. Many international organizations and companies employ overseas students with Australian qualifications because their exposure to the outside world gives them greater independence and maturity. With international trade barriers disappearing, great opportunities exist for those with the skills, experience and knowledge to seize them.

In Australia, international students can gain this experience in a safe, friendly environment and at an affordable cost.

IDP Education Australia is Australia’s leading international education and development organization. IDP gives students unbiased, comprehensive information to help them choose the right course, the right institution and the right location for their individual professional and personal needs. IDP is an independent, not-for-profit organization that represents more than 1,000 Australian institutions including universities, TAFE and vocational education institutes, business and special studies colleges, English language colleges, and schools.

IDP has been helping international students for more than 30 years. It has some 70 offices globally with activities in 50 countries. Trained counselors provide support and advice to students in local languages.

There are universities in all major Australian cities and throughout regional areas of the country ranging in size from around 3,000 students to 50,000 students. About 20 percent of students enrolled in Australian universities are from overseas.

The Australian Government ensures the quality of Australian institutions and courses in a number of ways. Institutions must be accredited and courses offered to international students must be approved and listed on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS). Qualifications offered to students must fit the Australian Qualifications Framework.

National agencies, including the Australian University Quality Agency and the Australian National Training Authority, monitor Australian education institutions including their teaching, learning, administration and research.

Australian institutions develop the creative, analytical and lateral thinking skills of students, and encourage individuality. The Australian education system also encourages responsibility and maturity in students. Students take an active part in their own education and are expected to supplement classroom studies with independent study in libraries, at home and in teams with other students.