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Schule > Erdkunde > Länder, Regionen und Kontinente > Australia: presentation about country, environment, political situation and aborigines

A u s t r a l i a

1. The Country

Australia is one of the biggest countries of the world, but also is Australia the smallest Continent of the world.
The coast line belongs to 25 760 kms. The difference between the East – West – Coast is 4.000 km and the difference between North – South belongs to 3.700 km.
The longest River in Australia is the Murray with a Distance of 2.600 km.
The Federal State of Australia include the following States:

- Western Australia Capital: Perth
- North Territorial Capital: Darwin
- Queensland Capital: Brisbane
- Tasmanien Capital: Hobart
- Victoria Capital: Melbourne
- New South Wales Capital: Sydney

2. Inhabitants

The capital of Australia is Canberra (285.000 inhabitants). The biggest city of Australia is Sydney with 3.430.600 inhabitants. In whole Australia are living 19.million people; 80% of the population live in the biggest cities, all of them are at the coast.
The population of the Aborigines belongs to 230.000. The Aborigines are living between the white people and in the Outback. The wildness and the deserts are called The Outback; more than the half of Australia is covered by deserts.

3. Geography

Australia is the only country occupying a whole continent. It has an area covering 7,682,300 km2 (2,966,136 square miles) and it is the sixth largest country of the world after Russia, Canada, China, the US and Brazil.
The coastline consisting of quiet bays, wonderful beaches with pounding surf, rocky outcrops and dramatic sheer cliffs is 36,735km (22,812 miles) long. Australia is bounded by the dark blue waters of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Arafura Sea to the north, lapped by the turquoise waves of the Indian Ocean to the west, and the mighty Southern Ocean to the south.
Australia owns one of the oldest ground and the flattest of all continents, the highest point, Mt Kosciuszko which has a hight of 2228m (7,310 feet) is in the Australian Alps between New South Wales and Victoria. The fertile coastal strip hides a dry and inhospitable centre, the Outback - a photographer's delight with its colours of flaming red, rich brown, pale yellow and orange interspersed by the bluish-green of low scrub and the linen-white trunks of ghost gum trees. This seemingly endless land is broken by saltlakes, starkly beautiful mountains like the MacDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs, Flinders Ranges in South Australia and the mysterious rock formations of Ayers Rock/Uluru, Mt Olga/Kata Tjuta, and Mt Augustus.

4. The political situation

The Australian flag contents the Union Jack, because in the past Australia was a part of the Commonwealth. Since 1901 was the correctical political name "Commonwealth of Australia”. This was the Year when Australia got a constitution. The Language which is spoken in Australia is English.
Also is the British Queen the represent ant of Australia.
Australia has a democratic system. There are 4 most important parties like
- Labour Party
- National Party of Australia
- Liberal Party of Australia
- Australian Democratic Party

There are the senate with 76 senators. Each state of Australia send 6 Senators to the Senate.
Also there is a House of Representatives. In this House are 147 political person, which were elected for 3 Years by the Australian population over 18 Years.
Prime minister is John Howard who was elected for 3 Years. He belongs to the Liberal Party of Australia.
In the last Days he became to a very famous man in the world because he said No to the fugees which were rescued by a Norwegian Containership in the pacific near Australia.
In the past Australia was also very important, too; Australia was one of the Founder of the United Nations in 1949.

5. Environment

Australia was a very rich country. There are a lot of mineral resource like
- Metal
- Bauxit
- Gold
- Uranium
- Coal
- Copper
- Zinc
- Nickel.

A lot of these Thinks are exported to the other countries of the world. Equally Australia export Meat, Cereals and Wool of the sheep. 160.000.000 sheep live in Australia.

6. Nature

On this continent exist more than 22.000 plants; 90% of this plantation are exist only in Australia.
300.000 animals belong to Australia; only 100.000 animals were discovered. There are

- 252 kinds of mammals
- 751 kinds of birds
- 748 kinds of reptiles
- 205 kinds of amphibious animals
- 200 kinds of fishes

Curious is, that the national Symbol were the emu and the kangaroo, because both animals can’t run backwards.

7. Sightseeing

Australia was the organizer of the Olympic summer Games in the Years 1956 in Melbourne and in 2000 in Sydney. The Olympic Flame in Sydney was set on Fire by the Aboriginal Cathie Freemann who is an very famous runner in Australia. This action was an excuse from the white Inhabitants to the Aborigines.
The most popular Sightseeing in Australia are the Sydney Opera House and Ayers Rock in the middle of Australia which is also a very important religion sign of the Aborigines.
Very interesting is The Royal Flying Doctor System. This System take care of people who are living in the outback. This System guarantee that everyone get a Doctor in the Outback.
They attend that everyone have the chance to come into the hospital when someone is ill.

8. Aboriginal Culture

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are one of the world's oldest civilisations.
Aborigines lived in isolation for thousands of years and having no written history only fragments of their rich culture remain. While the precise meanings of many art sites were lost when clans were either displaced or destroyed, it is probable that, like the land around them, certain sites had great religious significance and stories, beliefs, rituals and songs were connected to them. Aboriginal art has primarily social and religious functions. It tells of the Dreamtime when the "creation ancestors" travelled across the land, creating the seasons, forming the land and clashing with other creatures. It explains the laws which govern the ceremonies and day-to-day life of each family group (tribe). It is also a record of happenings such as the killing of an animal for food, the passing of a family group and in more recent times the arrival of the white man. Rock art in its many forms is still a living part of a spectacular array of art forms connected with religious and daily secular life. Ground sculpture, body painting, wood carving and bark painting are other art forms which are combined with rich oral traditions, elaborate songs and dance styles.

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