Australian culture

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Australian culture
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Australia is the only country in the world that covers an entire continent. It is one of the largest countries on Earth. Although it is rich in natural resources and has a lot of fertile land, more than one-third of Australia is desert.
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Most Australian cities and farms are located in the southwest and southeast, where the climate is more comfortable. There are dense rain forests in the northeast. The famous outback (remote rural areas) contains the country’s largest deserts, where there are scorching temperatures, little water, and almost no vegetation.
Running around the eastern and southeastern edge of Australia is the Great Dividing Range. This 2,300-mile stretch of mountain sends water down into Australia’s most important rivers and the Great Artesian Basin, the largest groundwater source in the world.
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People & Culture
Australia is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse nations. Nearly a quarter of the people who live in Australia were born in other countries. They come from the United Kingdom and other European countries, but also from China, Vietnam, North Africa, and the Middle East.
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Australia’s warm, sunny climate and abundance of open spaces gives the population a love of the outdoors. The people are also passionate about sports, including swimming, surfing, sailing, tennis, soccer, cricket, rugby, and their own invention, Australian rules football.
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Nature
Australia’s ecosystem is an unusual one because of its remote location. As a result, there are many animal species that occur here and nowhere else in the world, such as the platypus, kangaroo, and koala. Australia has 516 national parks to protect its unique plants and animals.
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One of Australia’s most amazing sites rises like an enormous whale’s back from a flat red-soil desert called the Red Center. This site is called Uluru, and it is a sacred natural formation at the heart of the country. Rising 1,100 feet (335 meters) tall, it is the largest rock in the world!
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Australia is home to many of the deadliest species of animals on the planet. There are 36 species of poisonous funnel-web spiders in eastern Australia. There are also 20 types of venomous snakes, including the taipan, which attacks without warning and bites repeatedly, killing its victim in minutes.
There are several types of rain forests in Australia. Tropical rain forests, mainly found in the northeast, are the richest in plant and animal species. Subtropical rain forests are found near the mid-eastern coast, and broadleaf rain forests grow in the southeast and on the island of Tasmania.
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Government
As a commonwealth of the United Kingdom, Australia’s head of state is the British monarch. Many Australians think the country should end its ties to Britain and become a republic. In a vote in 1999, Australians decided against separating from the UK, but the vote was close, and the debate continues.
Australia is an important exporter of agricultural goods like wool, wheat, beef, fruit, and wine. The country is also rich in minerals and metals and is the world’s fourth largest producer of gold.
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History
Aboriginal people arrived in Australia about 50,000 years ago. They may have traveled from Asia across land bridges that were exposed when sea levels were lower. The hardy Aborigines have learned to live in the harsh conditions of the outback.
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Dutch explorers first landed in Australia in 1606, and the British began to settle there in 1788. Many settlers were criminals sent to live in Australia as punishment. For a short time, the newcomers lived peacefully with the Aboriginal people. But soon, fighting broke out over who owned the land.
In 1851, gold was discovered in Australia. A rush to find riches brought thousands of new immigrants, and by 1859, six separate colonies existed. In 1901, these colonies joined to form a British commonwealth.
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“Aboriginal Australian languages”, including the large Pama–Nyungan family, “Papuan languages” of New Guinea and neighbouring islands, including the large Trans–New Guinea family, and “Tasmanian languages” are generic terms for the native languages of the continent other than those of Austronesian family. Predominant languages include English in Australia, Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea, and Indonesian (Malay) in Indonesian New Guinea. Immigration to Australia have brought overseas languages such as Italian, Greek, Arabic, Filipino, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Spanish, among others.
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Contact between Austronesian and Papuan resulted in several instances in mixed languages such as Maisin. Tok Pisin is an English creole language spoken in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country, with over 820 indigenous languages, representing 12% of the world’s total, but most have fewer than 1,000 speakers.
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Popular sports in Papua New Guinea include various codes of football (rugby league, rugby union, soccer, and Australian rules football), cricket, volleyball, softball, netball, and basketball.
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Other Olympic sports are also gaining popularity, such as boxing and weightlifting. Rugby league is the most popular sport in Papua New Guinea (especially in the highlands), which also unofficially holds the title as the national sport. The most popular sport in Australia is cricket, the most popular sport among Australian women is netball, while Australian rules football is the most popular sport in terms of spectatorship and television ratings. Australia has hosted two Summer Olympic Games: Melbourne 1956 and Sydney 2000. Australia has also hosted five editions of the Commonwealth Games In 2006 Australia joined the Asian Football Confederation and qualified for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups as an Asian entrant.
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Australian cuisine is the food and cooking practices of Australia and its inhabitants. Australia has absorbed culinary contributions and adaptations from various cultures around the world, including British, European, Asian and Middle Eastern.
Indigenous Australians have occupied Australia for some 65,000 years, during which they developed a unique hunter-gatherer diet, known as bush tucker, drawn from regional Australian plants and animals.
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Australia became a collection of British colonies from 1788 to 1900, during which time culinary tastes were strongly influenced by British and Irish migrants, with agricultural products such as beef cattle, sheep and wheat becoming staples in the local diet. The Australian gold rushes introduced more varied immigrants and cuisines, mainly Chinese, whilst post-war immigration programs led to a large-scale diversification of local food, mainly due to the influence of migrants from the Mediterranean, East Asia and South Asia.
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Australian cuisine in the 21st century reflects the influence of globalisation, with many fast-food restaurants and international trends becoming influential. Organic and biodynamic foods have also become widely available alongside a revival of interest in bush tucker. Australia exports many agricultural products, including cattle, sheep, poultry, milk, vegetables, fruit, nuts, wheat, barley and canola. Australia also produces wine, beer and soft drinks.
While fast food chains are abundant, Australia’s metropolitan areas have restaurants that offer both local and international foods. Restaurants which include contemporary adaptations, interpretations or fusions of exotic influences are frequently termed Modern Australian.
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25 April is the national day of commemoration of Australia and New Zealand for victims of war and for recognition of the role of their armed forces. It marks the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces became known as ANZACs. Anzac Day is a commemoration of the anniversary of the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli, Turkey on 25 April in 1915. When Great Britain declared war against Germany for its invasion of Belgium in 1914, Australia and New Zealand, as Dominions within the British Empire, regarded themselves automatically also at war.
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At dawn on 25 April 1915, the first of approximately 70,000 soldiers from the Allies landed at Gallipoli. The objective was to drive through to Istanbul, take Turkey out of the war and to provide supplies to Russia in its fight against Germany. Out of these 70,000 soldiers, more than 20,000 were Australian and New Zealand soldiers. What had been planned as a bold stroke became a stalemate after the invading troops failed to reach their objective on the first day.
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After both sides had suffered heavy casualties, the Allied forces were evacuated. It is estimated that 8,700 Australian and 2,700 New Zealanders were killed. One year later, in 1916, the first anniversary of the landing was observed in Australia, New Zealand and England and by troops in Egypt. That year, 25 April was officially named ‘Anzac Day’ by the Acting Australian Prime Minister, George Pearce.
Today we speak of an ‘Anzac tradition’, meaning the ideals of courage, endurance and mateship that are still relevant to this day.
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Verbal
Direct Communication: In Australia, one’s status or position in a conversation is not easily distinguishable by their appearance. Therefore, communication is more direct and functionally-purposed to convey one’s message with clarity. Criticism can be delivered vaguely in order to remain polite and avoid conflict, but an Australian’s intention and meaning is usually apparent through their precise word choice. They tend to speak very honestly, yet with reasonable sensitivity.
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Accent: Most Australians have the unique ability to swap quite easily from a strong Aussie accent to speech that sounds more refined. For example, foreigners may be surprised to hear Australians talk to them in quite polished, well-pronounced speech, but fall into using a strong ocker accent around other Australians or when drinking.
Slang: Australians speak with slang spattered throughout their speech. The relevance or understandings of certain slang words varies between age groups and areas, but Australians frequently shorten any words that seem overly complicated by using diminutives. Sometimes these are spontaneous inventions that are not commonly known, but many are commonplace (e.g. “arvo” – afternoon, “uni” – university).
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Self-Deprecation: Australians are quite self-deprecating in conversation in an effort to come across as humble, honest and relaxed about themselves. Feel free to join in with the jokes by criticising yourself in a similar manner. That being said, avoid finding jokes too funny, adamantly agreeing to their self-deprecating comments, as this can become insulting.
Humour: Humour is used in much Australian communication, so expect some light-hearted joking in most conversations. Jokes about situational circumstances are often used to lighten moods or approach difficult topics in an indirect way. Australian sarcasm can be very dry, witty and direct. It is sometimes difficult for foreigners to detect when people are kidding as Australians do not always break from a joke to clarify.
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Swearing: Swearing is more common in Australia than in many other cultures. Television programmes are less censored and mainstream society is largely desensitised to words that foreigners may find vulgar. It is normal to hear an Australian swear at some point during a conversation. Doing so yourself is unlikely to hurt your chances with them – the informality of it can actually make them feel more comfortable around you.
Silence: Australians sometimes grow uncomfortable when social chat is punctuated with long periods of pause or silence and will therefore try to fill the gap with conversation.
Yeah/Nah: When responding to a basic question (such as “How are you?”), Australians sometimes give multiple answers with immediately conflicting meanings. If this happens, take the last word they answered with as what they mean. For example, “Yeah, nah” means “no”, “Nah, yeah” means “yes” and “Yeah, nah, good” means “good”.
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Non-Verbal
Eye Contact: Eye contact should be maintained directly as it translates sincerity, trustworthiness and approachability. However, it is important to break eye contact intermittently as holding it for prolonged periods can make Australians feel uncomfortable. When talking to a group, be sure to make equal eye contact with all people present. Conversely, Aboriginal Australians are more likely to divert their eyes during communication. Direct eye contact can be interpreted as disrespectful or confrontational in Indigenous cultures, especially when it is made to someone older than one’s self. This may also apply to Australian residents from cultures in which direct eye contact is similarly perceived.
Personal Space: Australians usually keep about an arm’s length distance between one another when talking, and sometimes a little extra between men and women depending on how well they know each other.
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Physical Contact: People tend not to touch one another much during communication unless they are close friends. Touching someone on the shoulder or arm to emphasise a point is generally acceptable, but can otherwise be seen as a sexual advance. Women tend to be more physically affectionate with one another than men.
Pointing: Australians point with their index finger, however it is considered rude to point directly at someone. Instead, they should be indicated to verbally.
Obscene Gestures: Raising one’s middle finger or making the ‘V’ sign with one’s palm facing oneself is considered very rude in Australia.
Beckoning: Australians beckon people by waving them over with their palm facing up.
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On Australia Day they celebrate all the things they love about Australia: land, sense of fair go, lifestyle, democracy, the freedoms we enjoy but particularly their people.
Australia Day is about acknowledging the contribution every Australian makes to their contemporary and dynamic nation. From their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have been here for more than 65,000 years, to those who have lived here for generations, to those who have come from all corners of the globe to call their country home.
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The 26 January is an important date in Australia’s history that has evolved over time. Starting as a celebration for emancipated convicts, today it is a day to acknowledge past wrongs and show respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ survival, resilience and enduring culture.
It is also a day we pay respect to the stories, histories and contributions of the Australians who lived, worked and fought for the values and freedoms we often take for granted.
And it is a day we celebrate the diversity of this nation’s people with our various cultures, traditions and belief systems.
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Australia Day continues to be hugely popular, with 3 in 4 Australians believing it has a bigger meaning beyond being just a day off.
More than half of all Australians participate in Australia Day attending events organised by State Governments, local councils, community groups or getting together with family and friends.  In addition, over 16,000 new Australians become citizens on Australia Day.
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