AUSTRALIA

What comes to your mind…..?(about Australia)

A cityA building

A reptile

An animal

An activity

A place/sight A musical instrument

A famous person

What do you know about AUSTRALIA?(basic geographical facts)

• the smallest continent• the largest island• the sixth largest country• situated on the southern hemisphere• between the Indian Ocean in the west and the

Pacific Ocean in the east

AUSTRALIANAMES

• 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

• capital – Canberra

• currency – Australian dollar

• area: 7,690,000 square kilometres

• population: 22,8 million inhabitants

• largest cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane,

Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin

• language – English

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 – British monarch (Queen Elizabeth II)

• represented by the Governor General (Quentin Bryce)

• the head of government – prime minister (Julia Gillard)

Flaga dark blue field with: a British Union Jack in the upper left corner a large seven-pointed white star symbolizing its states

and territories five white stars representing the constellation of the

Southern Cross

AUSTRALIAN ENGLISHdiffers from British English in vocabulary

matilda sheepstation BritonJumbuck farmPom sleeping bag

Aussie footy barbie ta postie Oz

Australianfootballbarbecuethank youpostmanAustralia

use words made by shortening:

GEOGRAPHY - landscape• mostly flat, grasslands, bushes

GEOGRAPHY - landscape

the Great Sandy Desert

GEOGRAPHY - landscapethe Great Victoria Desert

GEOGRAPHY - landscapesemi-deserts

GEOGRAPHY - landscape

• mountain ranges situated along the eastern coast

highest peak: Mount Kosciuczko (2,228m, in the Australian Alps)

GEOGRAPHY - landscapewonderful coast and beaches

lowest point: Lake Eyre (16 metres bellow the sea level)

GEOGRAPHY - landscape

AUSTRALIA – rivers and lakes

• land is dry• major rivers: the Darling, the Murray in the

south-west• lakes: Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens

the River Darling

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

• 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

HYDEN AND WAVE ROCK

rock in the shape of a perfect wave

GREAT BARRIER REEFworld´s longest coral reef

DEVIL´S MARBLES

huge, mysterious-looking round stones

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

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, 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

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

Kangaroo• marsupial, female has a pouch for carrying its young• large, powerful hinf legs, large feet adapted for leaping,

a long muscular tail for balance,and a small head

The tasmanian devil• makes terrible noise

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

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 as many sheep as 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

HISTORY of Australia• the settlement of Australia started in 1788 with

arrival of about 1,000 colonists from Britain (750 of them were convict) => a British colony was founded (a convict colony)

• gold discovered in the middle of 19th century (it increased the number of immigrants from Europe)

• in 1901 Australia became a British dominion

POPULATION of Australia• 22 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 (517,000 today)• originally - hunters using their boomerangs for

hunting animals• they were persecuted, frightened away from

their land or killed

LIFESTYLE• drive on the left

• favourite sports: windsurfing rugby water sportshorse racing tennisbeach volleyball cricket

• love outdoor activities – barbecue

• in isolated places children study at home and use a radio to talk to their teachers

• if someone is ill the flying doctor will visit them by plane