AUSTRALIA What comes to your mind about Australia

AUSTRALIA

What comes to your mind…. . ? (about Australia) An activity A city A building An animal A famous person A reptile A place/sight A musical instrument

What do you know about AUSTRALIA? (basic geographical facts) • • the smallest continent the sixth largest country situated on the southern hemisphere between the Indian Ocean in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east • (area: 7, 69 mil. square kilometres)

AUSTRALIA NAMES • the official name is the Commonwealth of Australia • the first name of the land was New Holland • nicknames are Oz, Down Under • Australians call it the “Lucky Country“

AUSTRALIA - what do you know? • Who is the head of state? A) Australian president B) Elizabeth II • What’s the currency? A) Australian dollar B) Australian pound • What is the largest city? A) Canberra B)Sydney • Which city isn’t located in Australia? Melbourne , Brisbane, Auckland, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin • What’s the official language? A) English B) Australian

POLITICAL SYSTEM • a federal state consisting of 6 states: Western Australia (Perth) Queensland (Brisbane) New South Wales (Sydney) Victoria (Melbourne) South Australia (Adelaide) Tasmania (Hobart) • 2 territories: Northern Territory (Darwin) Australian Capital Territory (Canberra)

Political system • federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy • the head of state – Queen Elizabeth II, Australian queen • represented by the Governor General (Sir Peter Cosgrove) • the head of government – prime minister (Scott Morrison)

Flag a dark blue field with: Ø a British Union Jack in the upper left corner Ø a large seven-pointed white star symbolizing its states and territories Ø five white stars representing the constellation of the Southern Cross

GEOGRAPHY - landscape • mostly flat, grasslands, bushes

GEOGRAPHY - landscape the Great Sandy Desert

GEOGRAPHY - landscape the Great Victoria Desert

GEOGRAPHY - landscape semi-deserts

GEOGRAPHY - landscape • mountain ranges situated along the eastern coast highest peak of the land: Mount Kosciuczko (2, 228 m - in the Snowy Mountains, part of the Australian Alps)

GEOGRAPHY - landscape wonderful coast and beaches

Bondi Beach • is one the most popular beaches in Australia • located near the City of Sydney

GREAT BARRIER REEF world´s longest coral reef (over 2300 km long)

AUSTRALIA – rivers and lakes • land is dry • major rivers: the Darling, the Murray in the south-west • lakes: Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens, Lake Mackenzie the River Darling

GEOGRAPHY - landscape lowest point: Lake Eyre (16 metres below the sea level)

The Outback • the vast, remote, dry interior of Australia • full of wildlife (red kangaroos and dingoes - hide in bushes to rest and keep cool during the heat of the day)

Royal Flying Doctor Service • one of the largest aeromedical organisations in the world • provides emergency and primary health care services for those living in the Outback • started in 1928 (as Aerial Medical Service)

School of the Air • correspondence schools for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia • originally the teachers communicated with the children via radio, now replaced by the Internet • started in 1951

• • CLIMATE varied tropical (north) – wet and hot continental (interieor) - hot and dry (desert) sub-tropical and temperate (the rest) – warm summers and mild winters

POPULATION of Australia • about 23, 8 million inhabitants • the density of populatin is very low, most of western and central parts are uninhabited • half of the population live in the south-east corner of the country between Sydney and Melbourne • 80% of the population is of British origin

ABORIGINES • original people of Australia (606, 000 today, 2, 7% of Australian population) • originally - hunters using their boomerangs for hunting animals • they were persecuted, frightened away from their land or killed

• drive on the left LIFESTYLE • favourite sports: windsurfing horse racing beach volleyball rugby tennis cricket water sports • love outdoor activities – barbecue • in isolated places children study at home and use a radio to talk to their teachers (School of the Air, the Outback) • if someone is ill the flying doctor will visit them by plane (Royal Flying Doctor Service)

AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH differs from British English in vocabulary matilda station jumbuck Pom sheep Briton farm sleeping bag use words made by shortening: Aussie footy barbie ta postie Oz Australian football barbecue thank you postman Australia

Natural wonders - ULURU

ULURU / AYERS ROCK • a huge red sandstone rock rising 348 metres above the desert floor, in central Australia, south-west from Alice Springs, 600 mil. years old • many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings • the surface is covered with a crust rich in iron and silicon and it changes colours from yellow to gold, red, purple during the day Uluru – an Aboriginal name Ayers Rock – an English name

WAVE ROCK (Western Australia) • part of Hyden Wildlife Park – nature reserve • rock in the shape of a perfect wave (14 m high)

DEVIL´S MARBLES (Northern Territory) • huge, mysterious-looking round stones • spiritual significance to the Aboriginies

AUSTRALIA - animals • famous for its animals • they are unique, they don´t live anywhere else in the world but in Australia • they are dangerous, poisonous, they can attack people and kill them

The Koala • a tree climbing marsupial • looking more like a children´s toy than a real animal • feeding on the eucalyptus leaves

Kangaroo • marsupial, female has a pouch for carrying its young • large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head

The Emu • a large flightless bird • it can run very well

The platypus • • • the world´s strangest animal has a bill and webbed feet like a duck it lays eggs like a hen its youngs suckle milk like mammals it lives in fresh water it´s a marsupial

The tasmanian devil • makes terrible noise

Wombat

Dingo – a wild dog Kiwi

Dangerous animals • • spiders snakes sharks crocodiles Black widow

The sheep • • not original animal, brought there by settlers Australia has ten times more sheep than people big sheep farms are called stations Australia is the greatest world´s producer of wool (25%)

THE SHEEP STATION

HISTORY of Australia • discovered by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1642 • the coast was explored by the British Captain James Cook • he landed in Botany Bay near Sydney in 1770 • 1 st British settlement – Port Jackson

HISTORY of Australia • the settlement of Australia started in 1788 with arrival of about 1, 000 colonists from Britain (about 750 of them were convict) => a British colony was founded (a penal colony) • gold discovered in the middle of 19 th century (it increased the number of immigrants from Europe) • in 1901 Commonwealth of Australia established (under a British dominion)