Australia produced by Florian Marginean
0. General view p. 1
1. Geography, climate and politics p. 2-3
2. Aborigine p. 4-5
3. Wild life p. 6-7
4. History p. 8
5. Sights p. 9-12
5.1 Canberra
Lake Burley Griffin
5.1.3 The Telstra Tower
5.1.4 The War Memorial
5.1.5 The Government House
5.1.6 The Parliament House
5.1.7 The Old Parliament House
5.2 Sydney
5.2.1 Harbour Bridge
5.2.2 Bondi Beach
5.2.3 The Rocks
5.2.4 Opera House
5.2.5 Sydney Tower
5.3 Ayers Rock / Urulu
5.4 Great Barrier Reef
1. Geography, climate and politics
The government of Australia is formed by members of a free-chosen parliament with two chambers, the House of Representatives (150 members) and the Senate (76 members). The majority party in the House of Representatives forms the government and appoints secretaries and ministers, they can select members of both chambers.
The legislature period lasts only 3 years, from the 1st meeting of the new parliament. But a Prime minister is able to ask the General Governor to hold new elections, either before the legislature period is ending.
The Australians have the elect the members of the House of Representatives by name with numbers. The average poll is about 96%, which is very high compared to other countries, especially the USA which has an average poll of max. 60%.
Queen Elisabeth II is the head of Australia. She appoints the General Governor in suggestion with the elected government. Peter Hollingworth is the Australian General Governor since 2001. On the 10th November 2001 Johan Howard was elected to be the Prime Minister of Australia.
The national holiday is on the 26th January, it is called Australia Day. This date was selected because Captain Arthur Phillip landed with 736 prisoners on the coast of Sydney. They settled there and he named the settlement "Lord Sydney" after an English politician which had the responsibility of the transport. This day also means shame of the invasion for the Aborigines. So this national holiday separates the native inhabitants and the "settlers".
The Aborigines are
the native people of Australia. They have been living there for over 50.000
years and have their own culture of celebrations, painting, weapons and music.
In 1770 300 thousand Aborigines lived in 500 separate tribes. In this time
James Cook claimed Australia to a colony of Great Britain. But the settlers and
the native Australians didn't like each other. The settlers who were better
armed killed the native Australians and many tribes died out. But they get
other problems that were alcoholism and for the native Australian unknown
illness.
The Aborigines didn't have any civil rights at the beginning, they weren't allowed to vote or to own land. The settlers also could do to them what they wanted.
Only after 1967 the native Australian people became civil rights from the white Australian government.
In the 1990s many natives and half-caste lived in their reservations or on the edge of the big cities like Melbourne or Sydney. But they had many problems with unemployment, poverty and alcoholism!
Now the government wants to start programmes to assimilate the Aborigines into the civil population. But the Aborigines protest against the assimilation. They want to be accepted in their own culture and own way of live. They want to keep their traditions.
The Aborigines have their own music. It consists of several sounds and rhythms of didgeridoos, drums, sound sticks and other rhythmic instruments joining their singing.
They believe in the "Dreamtime". That means that in this time their ancestors went over the whole world and made all mountains, valleys, rivers, trees and animals. So the Aborigines have great respect to the whole nature. And that is the reason why they cannot understand the culture of the white man.
Large areas of this land are uncivilized and empty. That means that nobody lives in some parts of this land.
The most koalas were born after 35 days, were ca. 2cm tall and have ca. 0,5kg weight. After a koala was born, it climbs into the mother's bag. There it is for 4 months and drinks the mother's milk. After some time the little koala crawls out of the bag and climbs onto the mother's back. There it is for 2 months, except it returns to the bag sometimes. Later it is on the mother's back for a year. Being on the mother's back it gets a eucalyptus pulp from his mother that wants her baby to get used to eucalyptus which they eat when they are full-grown. With the age of 4 they are full-grown.
The first people came from Indonesia to Australia 60.000 years ago. Not before 1606 something important happened. Then the Dutchman William Jansz, who was the first European on Australian ground, arrived at the west-coast of Cape York. Australia was called "New Holland" now. In 1642 Abel Tasman, who was a Dutchman, too, discovered another island beside Australia. It was called Tasmania. One year later he sailed around Australia, but he didn't want to settle there. The discoverers thought, it was a hostile and barren area. Engaged by the English King George III the sailor Captain Cook took possession of the eastern part of Australia.
English prisoners settled there in 1788, but in 1793 the first voluntary settlers came to Australia. Matthew Flinders was the first man who made a map form the Australian coast in 1801 until 1803. In the years from 1803 until 1836 more and more housing estates developed. The name Australia was mentioned for the first time in 1814. A popular happening was the discovery of gold in New South Wales in 1851. Seven years later Australia had a population of one million people, whose number was rising in the following years. Nowadays there live 19 million people. John McDuall was the first man who went from the south to the north of Australia. The way he covered is called "Stuart Highway" today. On the 1st January 1901 the "Commonwealth of Australia" was founded.
In the 1st World War fought against Germany. 350.000 Aussies took part, 60.000 of them died and 170.000 were wounded.
Having a war alliance in the 2nd World War with Great Britain Australia was attacked by Japan. After this war the "UNO" was founded.
The population grew within 20 years from 7.5 to 11 million inhabitants, because new immigration-waves came to Australia since 1945. Since 1951 the "School of Air" was opened for children living in the outback. "School of Air" means that they are given lessons by radio. In 1967 the Aborigines got the Civil Rights. Australia Dollars are the new currency since 1966. The "Land Rights Act" gave back the Aborigines' land in 1977. Eight years later Ayers Rock was a donation to the Aborigines, too. Celebrating the settlement of 200 years the Expo was in Brisbane in 1988. Three years later 256.00 Aborigines were registered in a census. In 2000 the Olympic summer games took place in Sydney. Canberra, the capital of Australia, was partly destroyed by a forest fire.
5.1.3 The Telstra Tower
The most people
visit the tower for the view. It's a spectacular view, day and night. The
Telstra Tower is the compass of the city. The tower rises 195 metres above the
summit of Black Mountain, providing 360 degree views of Canberra and the
countryside around it. The tower is more than a landmark and viewing
gallery, however. It has a functional role in providing state-of-the-art
telecommunications facilities for Canberra. In the lower level of the Tower's
entrance foyer, the exhibition 'Making Connections' traces the
history of Australian telecommunications from the earliest days into the 21st
century.
5.1.4 The War Memorial
The War Memorial is a building with a large collection of pictures and documentations about the war. It is international recognized. The building represents a lot of stories about Australians at war, in armed conflicts. More than 102.000 people died in the war.
It is a location for many formal events, such as the presentation of the Order of Australia Awards.
The "Rocks" is one of the most visited parts of Sydney. It is often described as "Sydney's outdoor museum", because the "Rocks" is the oldest area of Sydney. There are cafes, restaurants and interesting tourist shops.
The Sydney Tower is 305 metres high and its Sydney's tallest building. The Sydney Tower was officially opened on September 27th, 1981. Whatever it has been called before, the tower is now the officially called Sydney Tower.
The Great Barrier
Reef is located in the Coral Sea 15-160 km west of Australia. It is made up of
smaller islands, reefs and shoals of coral. The Great Barrier Reef reaches
southeast for over 2,000 km. There are more than 350 species of coral there,
some of which have existed for millions of years. Between the Australian coast
and the main reef is the Lagoon. The Lagoon is shallow and has many islands,
some of which are the peaks of ancient mountains that have submerged over
millions of years.
