1. Warm Up What can you tell about the physical geography of Australia by looking at this satellite picture?

2. TPO We will trace the diffusion of European culture, with a focus on Australia, using a textbook reading and produce a study guide. EQ What were some effects of colonization in Australia? RQ What do you know about Australia and Oceania? STAAR Q Which of these spatially diffused to Australia? Vocab AborigineAboriginalAssimilation Oceania Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific

3. Partially composed of some of the oldest rock on earth. Over millennia, the forces of erosion – both wind and water – have worn Australia’s landforms into low, rounded formations. Home of the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world, that affects Australia’s climate. – It interrupts the westward- flowing ocean currents in the mid-South Pacific, pushing warm water to the south and warming the south eastern coast.

4. Created, and still being created, by a variety of processes related to the movement of tectonic plates High islands, created by volcanic activity, exist in the Pacific, for example New Zealand or Easter Island. Atolls, or a low lying island or chain of islets, formed of coral reefs have also developed. These islands tend to only have a small range of environments and very limited supplies of fresh water because of their low elevation

5. The moderate water temperature of the central Pacific brings mild climates year-round to nearly all inhabited parts of the region. Much of Oceania is warm and humid all the time with the exception of the vast arid interior of Australia. The Great Dividing Range in Australia blocks movement of moist air into most of the continent, making two thirds of Australia arid. Also affected by El Nino.

6. Effects of Ocean Currents on Climate

7. Major Environmental Issue: Global Warming and Rising Sea Levels Melting glaciers and ice caps are a great concern to many islands that already barely rise above the waves. If sea levels rise the 4 inches per decade as predicted, many of the lowest-lying atolls will disappear within 50 years while others will be severely reduced in areas and become more vulnerable to cyclones.

8. History: Original Inhabitants Australia’s Aborigines have the world’s oldest continuous living culture. They migrated from Southeast Asia between 40,000 to 60,000 years ago.

9. Australian Aborigines Traditional Australian Aborigines lived a nomadic life as hunter-gatherers.

10. British Colonization In 1786 Great Britain decided to create a penal (prison) colony in Australia to help colonize the continent. Between 1787 and 1868, approximately 161,700 convicts (of whom 25,000 were women) were transported to Australia. Most people chose to stay after they served their sentences for petty crimes, such as theft. They were soon joined by volunteer immigrants who were attracted by the availability of expansive farm land.

11. The British Arrival When the British arrived, contact between their settlers and Aborigines led to the decimation (death) of many Aborigines through disease and murder. They also chose the most fertile regions, and made the Aborigines move to the Outback (desert regions). Most Aborigines who survived lived and worked in poverty.

12. Australian Gold Rush A gold rush brought many immigrants to Australia from Great Britain, Ireland, Europe, North America, and China. The population of the Colony of Victoria grew rapidly, from 76,000 in 1850 to 530,000 by 1859.

13. Assimilation of Aborigines Assimilation = when a minority group gives up its culture and adopts the majority group’s culture. Stolen Generation- From 1909 to 1969 the Australian government took about 100,000 mixed-raced children and gave them to white families to raise so they would assimilate.

14. Europeans brought new plants and animals when they first settled the continent. European rabbits are among the most destructive and were brought by early British settlers who enjoyed eating them. Many were released for hunting and since they have no natural predators, they were able to reproduce at rapid rates. They have consumed so much of the native vegetation, many indigenous animal species have starved. They have also become a major source of agricultural crop loss. A fence 2,021 miles long was constructed between 1901 and 1907 to keep out these rabbits and other agricultural pests. Major Environmental Issue: Invasive Species

15. Australia Today: Immigration Australia has about 23 million people. 4 out of 10 Australians are migrants or the first-generation children of migrants. 2.3% are aboriginal

16. How is the population of the indigenous people (Aborigines) different from that of the non- indigenous? What does this tell you about the quality of life for the Aborigines?

17. Aboriginal Land Loss When Europeans began to settle Australia in 1788, they chose the most fertile regions. The Aborigines tried to fight, but they were defeated.

18. Land Rights Act of 1976 Finally, in 1976 the Australian government gave Aboriginal people the right to claim land in the Northern Territory.

19. The giant outcropping, viewed in the last two slides, is known as Uluru by the Aborigines, and Ayer Rock by whites. It is an important site for both people. In 1985 Aborigines regained ownership of Uluru, but they let it be part of a national park. How does the current arrangement address the needs of all Australians?

20. Today there are still Australian Aboriginal people who live a traditional nomadic lifestyle. How do you think they have been able to keep their traditional ways for so long without assimilating into the new culture?