History, Culture and Info of the smallest continent AUSTRALIA History, Culture and Info of the smallest continent

Australia as a country Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It’s official name is the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia is the sixth biggest country in the world by landmass. 22 milion people live in Autralia. About 60% live in and around the mainland state capitals like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Australia’s capital city is Cannberra

Geography Australia, New Guinea, New Zeland and many other islands on the Australian tectonic plate are together calles Australasia. They form one of the world’s greater ecozone. When other Pacific islands are included, the term is Oceania.

Australia's landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometers is on the Indo-Australian plate. The continent of Australia, including the island of Tasmania, was separated from the other continents of the world many millions of years ago. Because of this, many animals and plants live in Australia that are not found anywhere else. These include animals like the kangaroo, the koala, the emu, the kookaburra, and the platypus.

People first arrived in Australia more than 50,000 years ago People first arrived in Australia more than 50,000 years ago. These native Australians are called the Australian Aborigines . For the history of Australia, see History of Australia. Most of the Australian colonies, having been settled from Britan, became mostly independent democratic states in the 1850s and all six combined as a federation on 1of the January 1901

Exploration Because Australia is such a very large land, it was easy to think that it might be able to hold a very large number of people. In the early days of the colony, a great number of explorers went out, searching for good land to settle on. When the settlers looked west from Sydney, they saw a range of mountains which they called the Blue Mountians. They were not very high and did not look very rugged but for many years no-one could find their way through them. In 1813 Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and a 17 year-old called William Charles Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains and found land on the other side which was good for farming. A road was built and the Governor Lachlan Macquarie founded the town of Bathurst on the other side, 100 miles from Sydney.

The Commonwealth of Australia Until 1901, Australia was not a nation, it was six separate colonies governed by Britain. They voted to join together to form one new country, called the Commonwealth of Australia, in 1901. Australia was still part of the British Empire, and for at first wanted only British or Europeans to come to Australia. But soon it had its own money, and its own Army and Navy.

Culture Australia was colonised by people from Britain but today people from all over the world live there. English in the main spoken language, and Christianity is the main religion though all religions are accepted and not everybody has a religion. Australia is multicultural, which means that all its people are helped to keep their different languages, religions and ways of life, while also learning English and joining in with other Australians.

Politics Australia is made up of six states and three mainland territories . Each of state and territory has its own Parliament and makes its own local laws. The Parliament of Australia sits in Canberra and makes laws for the whole country, also known as the Commonwealth or Federation. The Federal government is led by the Prime Minister of Australia, who is the member of Parliament chosen as leader. The current Prime Minister is Julia Gillard, who replaced Kevin Rudd, elected in June 2010. She is the leader of a political party called the Australian Labor Party. The other main party is the Liberal Party The leader of Australia is the Prime Minister, although the Governor-General represents the Queen of Australia, who is also the Queen of Great Britain, as head of state. The Governor-General, currently, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce, is chosen by the Prime Minister.

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Klaudia Duplicka klasa 3B czerwiec 2011