The first people in Australia were the aborigines. Ayers Rock is one of their sacred places. It’s a huge rock in the desert. Ayers Rock is very beautiful, and changes colour during the day as the sun moves round it.

The Great Barrier Reef is 18 million years old. It is made of living coral and consists of more than 600 small islands and thousands of individual reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is the only living thing on Earth which you can see from space.

The kangaroo is one of Australia’s national animals. Some of them are two metres tall and can jump nine metres. Australia has two of the most poisonous spiders in the world – the black widow and the Sydney funnel web. All children learn first aid for spider bites at school.

A few examples of Australian English: G’day Hello A tinnie a can of beer A Pom someone from Britain A barbie a barbecue This arvo this afternoon A station a farm