General characteristics of AustraliaOficial name Australia

Surface 7.682.300 km²

Poblation 20.400.000 hab.

Nationalities92% descendant of European people, 7% Asiatic people, 1% aborigins

LanguageEnglish, aboriginal languages (also italian, greek y an others European and Asian languages)

Religion 75% christians, 1% musulims, 1% buddhist, 0,5% jews

Politics Federal Parlamentary Republic

State lider Queen Isabel II, represented by Michael Jeffery.

Money Australian Dollar (AU$)

Principal industries Minerals, petroleum, coal, gold, wool, cereals, beef, turism

Principal asociationsJapón, ASEAN ,Corea del Sur, China, Nueva Zelanda, Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea.

Capital• Canberra• 313.000 habitants• It’s situated in New

South Wales

Canberra

In 1746 A navigator called Abel Tasman. Tasman spotted an island south of the main continent and called it Tasmania

In reality, the first Englishman to spot the continent was an ex-pirate called William Dampier, who almost lost his boat on the reefs of Australia's West Coast

Only 100 years later in 1768, the intrepid Capitan James Cook found Australia again It was New Zealand, not Australia yet. Continuing his sail west, in 1770, he finally landed on Terras Australis, or Australia for the intimates. 

When Capitan Cook landed, he met an Aborigine with a kangaroo at his side. Cook asked the nameof the animal. The Aborigine answered: “Kangaroo”. In England, he told everybody that in Australia lives a big rat that natives called a kangaroo, which could jump very well. Many years later, some people told him that kangaroo in the local dialect means " I don't understand you".

Curiosity

By 1779, Americans were tired of receiving convicts, thieves, and other bad people from England. So they sent those criminals to Australia. By 1787, 750 convicts had entered Australian waters.. By 1868, more than 168,000 convicts arrived in Australia

Some of the explorers that goes to Australia left the coast to travel into the interior, but they didn't know how deserted was, so many of these expeditiners finished in tragedy with deaths and lost people, starving and thirsty under a 50 degree Celsius sun

By 1830, the transportation of convicts was suspended and substituted by free settlers. Much empty land was available to anyone who wished to work on it. These English farmers were very simple people, but determined to construct a new life in Australia. They worked really hard to achieve their goals and construct the Australia future

Nambung Nacional Park

1851 - Lots of Gold was found in New South Wales. Other Gold mines were discovered in many different towns and places. This attracted people from all over the world, mostly from China. 

1854 - The only battle ever fought on Australian soil occurred this year. Miners wanted to abolish mining taxes and faced Australian military. Chinese were attacked and killed for accepting less money for their workmanship. 

1880 - The first refrigerated ship allowing the exportation of Australia Sheep, Cattle and perishable products. Australia became one of the top exporting countries in the world

1901 - Australia officially became an independent federation from England.

1931 - Australia entered the great economic depression with one third of the population unemployed. The other 2/3 lived in semi-poor conditions. 

1914 - 1945 - Australia participated in both world wars. the Japanese attacked australia in the 2nd war. Big loss of human life in both wars. 

1948 - 1968 -. Changes to the measurement system introduced the Metric -decimal system and The Pound was changed into the Australian Dollar. 

1974 - Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas day flattening the city. Darwin was totally rebuilt in 3 years.

1991 - Recession hit Australia, with unemployment at its' highest since 1931. 

2003 - 2004 - Smallest unemployment rate in 20 years (5.6%). A Boom on the housing market raised prices by up to 80% in less than a year. Australia joined United States and England to attack Iraq.

1851 - Lots of Gold was found in New South Wales. Other Gold mines were discovered in many different towns and places. This attracted people from all over the world, mostly from China. 

1854 - The only battle ever fought on Australian soil occurred this year. Miners wanted to abolish mining taxes and faced Australian military. Chinese were attacked and killed for accepting less money for their workmanship. 

1880 - The first refrigerated ship allowing the exportation of Australia Sheep, Cattle and perishable products. Australia became one of the top exporting countries in the world

1901 - Australia officially became an independent federation from England.

1931 - Australia entered the great economic depression with one third of the population unemployed. The other 2/3 lived in semi-poor conditions. 

1914 - 1945 - Australia participated in both world wars. the Japanese attacked australia in the 2nd war. Big loss of human life in both wars. 

1948 - 1968 -. Changes to the measurement system introduced the Metric -decimal system and The Pound was changed into the Australian Dollar. 

1974 - Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on Christmas day flattening the city. Darwin was totally rebuilt in 3 years.

1991 - Recession hit Australia, with unemployment at its' highest since 1931. 

2003 - 2004 - Smallest unemployment rate in 20 years (5.6%). A Boom on the housing market raised prices by up to 80% in less than a year. Australia joined United States and England to attack Iraq.

Aborigen total poblation

458,520Most significants regions

    New South Wales 134,888Queensland 125,910Western Australia  65,931North territory 56,875Victoria 27,846Meridional Australia 25,544Tasmania 17,384Territory of the australian capital 3,909Other territories 233

Language

There’re more than 100 aboruginal languages, australian english and australian aboriginal english

Religion

Beliefs based in the dream, and variated forms of christiany.

King Merriman, an aborigen lider of South Australia

www.bartelpc.com.au

Although there were over 250-300 spoken languages with 600 dialects at the start of European settlement

Aborigines today mostly speak English, with Aboriginal phrases being added to create Australian Aboriginal English.

They decorate their bodies with scars and paintings in religious ceremonies

Australian Aborigines were almost exterminated by the English colonizers. Today, they represent only 1% of the Australian population, roughly estimated at around 200,000 people. When Captain Cook arrived in 1770, there were about 300,000 of them.

They were literally massacred by the colonizers and expelled from their land, especially from productive land. They were pushed to the North of the country, where temperatures reach 50 degree Celsius. The Aborigines are extremely spiritual people and by 1770 they were so primitive that they didn't know what metal was. Most instruments and artifacts were made from wood, rock or bones. The boomerang itself was primarily a toy used to entertain the villagers, only later being used as a hunting and war device.

The soldiers used to visit Aboriginal villages offering gifts, while the real purpose of the visit was to contaminate the village water supply with arsenic. Whole communities including children, elderly, women and men were removed by arsenic poisoning. Rum, initially imported from England, was freely offered to Villagers. The introduction of rum made many villagers drunk for a whole week until death arrived from alcoholic comas. The English soldiers took advantage of this stage of alcoholism to create wars between friendly villages, leaving them to kill each other. It was a massacre

Later, the Aborigines were recruited to work on cattle farms. Payment was ridiculous low, compared to a white mans wage. To justify this act, the farmers made allegations that the Aborigines had no feelings with horses (which was true due to the fact that they were nomads and used to travel by foot). Secondly, the Aboriginals spiritual life style was totally connected with the environment. In reality, the Aborigines didn't understand why they had to raise horses and sheep when the sea and nature provided everything necessary for living. They were considered lazy and insolent. But, they worked for less than 2 pounds per week as payment, while the white man never worked for less than 9 pounds. Also, because of their dark skin, the Aborigines were able to work for long period of time under the hot sun, while the whites used to get sunburned very quickly

Australian Aboriginal tribe

In the first half of the twentieth century, Aboriginal children born in Australia during this time were separated from their families in most cases y forcible way This is known as the Stolen Generation

Until 1999 this separation was not convicted. Now, they have party conmemorating what happen: the National Sorry Day

Happily many things have changed for the better amongst Aborigines today, and many anti-discrimination laws have been reinforced. Racial discrimination is a very serious crime in Australia, and the government is giving extra support to indigenous communities. In reality, Aborigines in 2004 are receiving many more social benefits than any other community. Many Aboriginals are completely integrated into society, through music, art, politics, making their presence enhance the real Aust.

An important aboriginal reserve in Australia is Alice Springs