Australia

What do you know about Australia?

Watch the video and explore one of the most interesting countries of the English speaking world.

Can you find Asutralia on the world map?

Look at the pictures and name some things connected to Australia.

Before you find out more about Australia, try to do the quiz to see what you already know.

GENERAL FACTS

the world’s smallest continent
the world’s largest “island”
the hottest, driest and flattest continent
divided into 6 states and 2 territories
geographical position - Down Under
Latin Terra Australis – „southern land”
population: cca. 26 million people
capital: Canberra
largest cities: Sydney and Melbourne
Outback – the driest and uninhabited area
The Bush – undeveloped forest area
currency: Australian dollar
national day: 26th January

The flag of Australia has a blue background with the United Kingdom flag (Union Jack) in the left corner and a large white seven-pointed star (the Commonwealth Star – six points representing the six states of Australia and one representing the territories). The flag has also a representation of the Southern Cross constellation (used by countries on the southern hemisphere because there you can see this constellation).

The Aboriginal flag has 3 colours:

black – represents the Aboriginal people of Australia

yellow circle – represents the Sun, the giver of life and protector

red – represents the red earth, the red ochre used in ceremonies and Aboriginal people's spiritual relation to the land

THE NATIVE PEOPLE - ABORIGINES

The native people in Australia are the Aborigines. Some people think the Aborigines were the first people in the world. They came from north by boat and they were nomads. They travelled around the Australian continent to find food and water and they hunted with boomerangs, but they always tried to live in harmony with the land. They believed that, once in the past, powerful spirits created the land and the people. This time of creation is called the Dreamtime. In their songs, dances, paintings and legends, Aborigines told stories about the Dreamtime. They used a didgeridoo, their traditional music instrument, to play songs.

When white settlers arrived, they took away the land from the Aborigines and destroyed their way of life. Today, less than 1% of Australians are Aborigines. Whites have been living in Australia since the 18th century. Abel Tasman was one of the first Dutch sailors to explore Australia. James Cook claimed Australia for Great Britain in 1770 and in 1787 the English government sent the first settlers to Australia. Most of them were convicts. They started the first colony on the “new” continent. It was called Sydney. Today, Australia has immigrants from all over the world.

AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE - AUSSIES

Australians are very friendly people. They love sport. Surfing, swimming, sailing, tennis, golf, horse riding and other sports are very popular, but the national sport is cricket. Bird-watching is another popular activity. Australians love to spend time on beaches. They are perfect places for Christmas parties. Why? Because Christmas is summertime in Australia. Australians are also hard-working people. Many of them work on farms. Did you know that there are about 150 million sheep in Australia? Australia exports more wool than any other country in the world. Most of the world’s pullovers are made of Australian wool. Australia has also the Flying doctor service, which provides emergency medical and primary health care services to anyone who lives, works or travels in rural and remote Australia. School of the air is another organisation in Australia in which school classes and lessons were conducted via radio from 1951 until 2009, after which most schools switched to wireless internet technologies. Australia is also world famous for their lamington biscuits and the cake Pavlova, as well for their boots label UGG.