Introduction & Background

40,000+ years ago the First Australians arrived from Southeast Asia. They have the longest continuous culture of any humans. Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. In 1770 Capt. James Cook took possession of the east coast in the name of Great Britain (the rest was claimed as British territory in 1829).

In recent decades, Australia has become an internationally competitive, advanced market economy due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s and its location in one of the fastest-growing regions of the world economy.

Long-term concerns include an aging population, pressure on infrastructure, and environmental issues such as floods, droughts, and bushfires. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth, making it particularly vulnerable to the challenges of climate change. Australia is home to 10% of the world's biodiversity, and a great number of its flora and fauna exist nowhere else in the world.

Beach culture is part of the Australian identity, it is as important to Australian's as Makan is to Malaysians. Australians spend a lot of time at the coast and it is very important as a source of leisure and revenue.

Task 2 - Climate Graphs

Task 3 - Current conditions

1. Watch this YouTube clip to remind you of the relationship between wind and waves.

2. Check the current weather in Bondi again, pay close attention to the wind direction.

3. Open the Virtual Fieldwork - Coasts map (left)

4. Predict which of the eight beaches will have the largest waves and which will have the smallest. Record your answer here.

5. Click on the surfer icon at each beach - use the link to check to see which location actually had the smallest and largest waves.

6. There is a large amount of other data available via these links. Including

   • Wind Speed

   • Wind direction

   • Wave Height

   • Swell Height

   • Swell Period

Record the current value of these variables for each location on a google sheet (you can make a copy of this sheet if it helps!)