Australia

THE LAND DOWN UNDER

Collin Glaser
Mr. Cavanaugh
June 4, 2012

OUTLINE
I. Introduction

II. HISTORY
A. The Creation of Australia
B. Australias Struggles and Victories
III. ECONOMY
A. Australias resources and livestock raising
B. Australias Services
IV. GOVERNMENT
A.
THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
B. AUSTRALIAS FLAGS

V. Conclusion

Australia is the largest island nation and the smallest

continent. From the native Aboriginal tribes to the great
explorers, the land down under has thousands of years of
history. Australia has such a wide variety of jobs and
resources; it has a very strong economy. Australias
democracy is still running strong. The land down under is a
world full of jobs, government, and history.

Many European explorers discovered Australia. William

Jansz was a Dutch explorer. In 1606, he was the first
European to set foot on Australia. He landed in what is now
Cape York Peninsula. In 1623, a Dutch seaman sailed to
Australia on a ship called The Arnhem. He named the
southern land, Arnhem Land. This name still stands as one
of Australias many nicknames. Janszoon Tasman landed in
an island of the coast off which is now the state of Victoria
in 1642. He named this island Van Diemens Land. This
name was later changed to Tasmania. In 1770, Captain
James Cook was on a secret mission for Great Britains Royal
Navy when he landed on Australias east coast. Along with
him was a botanist or plant scientist named Sir Joseph Bank.
He was so shocked by the plant-life of the bay they landed
in they named it Botany Bay. Cook continued to explore
Australias east coast. He claimed all of eastern Australia for
King George III. He named this land New South Wales. In
1783, America had fought its way to independence in a
revolution. At this time Englands prisons were overfilling. In
1787, Captain Arthur Philip filled 11 ships with 730 convicts
and sailed to New South Wales. In 1788, they landed in
Botany Bay. They explored up the coast and on January 26,
1788 they started the first Australian settlement named
Sydney. January 26th is now known as Australia day. The
convicts who did there time in Australia were given land to
farm. Others escaped into the Outback and started rival
gangs. The most dangerous prisoners were kept in Van
Diemens Land. In 1824, people explored overland and
started the settlement of Melbourne. Robert Burke and
William Wills were the first people to travel from Australias
northern tip to its southern. In 1830, explorers started the
settlement of Adelaide at the mouth of the Murray River. All
these new explorations led to new settlers. Australias
population grew more rapidly every year. Between 18301911, Australia broke up into six colonies, later to become
states. These colonies were named New South Wales,
Victoria, West Australia, South Australia, The Northern
Territory, and Queensland.

Australia had many victories and struggles in there

time. By the early 1850s the population of Australia tripled
going from 400,000 to 1,100,000,000. In 1856, Van
Diemens Land was changed to Tasmania and joined the
colonies. As all these settlers came in they pushed the
native Aboriginal tribes back. Settlers claimed land that the
Aboriginals lived on. Aborigines that fought back were shot
and killed. Over 1,000 Aboriginals were killed in these
deadly clashes. Many others were wiped out by European
disease. Aboriginals still inhabit the country today, but now
they have the same rights has Europeans. In 1851, gold was
discovered in all 6 states. Many people came to try and find
jobs or get rich by finding gold. Again, Australias population
grew. The population was so big that Australias government
set up a White Australia policy. This stated that only people
with European ancestry could immigrate to Australia. This
policy was excluded in 1973. Australia joined England in
World War I and World War II. Australia became independent
from Great Britain in 1901. Australia still has a very good
relationship with England. From the 1980s to the 1990s
Australia suffered a huge Economic recession. Many
companies went out of business and millions of workers
were laid off.
Australia has a wide variety of resources and
livestock. In 1788, sheep came to Australia. Australias
sheep are bred for wool and meat. Because of this, Australia
is the worlds top exporter of wool, mutton, and lamb. The
Australian cattle stations produce half of the worlds beef.
Australias farming activities take up 60% of Australias total
land area. Australias mining resources include gold, iron
ore, nickel, lead, bauxite copper, silver, coal and zinc.
Victoria is Australias major gas and oil producing state.
Most of Victorias oil comes from oilrigs offshore. Victoria
and New South Wales make up most of Australias factories.
These states make chemicals, motor vehicles, household
appliances and various other items.

Australia has many services. Australia uses train

services for transporting people, minerals, and other goods.
Running from Sydney on the east coast to Petron on the
west, the Indian Pacific railway takes 65 hours to transport
goods from one side of Australia to the other. Australia also
uses planes for services. Quantas flies all over Australia to
places almost impossible to get to. They do this to transport
and deliver medical supplies. Communication is also
important to Australia. The most widely read newspapers
are the Herald Sun and the Daily Telegraph. The
government also funds an Australian broadcasting
corporation, which broadcasts over 550 radio stations.
Australia has a really strong government. Australias
government is a democracy. The government of Australia is
similar to the governments of America and Great Britain. It
is divided into federal and state governments. The balance
of power is even. The Legislative, Judicial, and Executive
make up the 3 branches of government. The prime minister
runs Australias executive branch. He is selected in a
general election. Members of one party win the majority of
the seats in the House of Representatives. The leader of the
winning party becomes the new prime minister. The
countrys legislative or law making body is the national
parliament. Its upper house is the senate and its lower
house is the House of Representatives. When selecting the
members of the legislative branch, voters elect 12 senators
from each state and 2 members from each territory with a
total of 76 members. 148 members of the House of
Representatives are elected from each district according to
the population. Australias judicial branch is Australias high
court. The courts interpret and apply law. Australian law is
based on centurys old British common law.
Australias official flag has a union jack. This is to show
that Australia has a very close relationship to England. The
flag has 6 stars. There are 5 stars to the right that form the

southern constellation that is mainly visible from Australia.

These stars form the 5 states. The big star below the union
jack stands for the Northern Territory. Australia has another
flag. The Aboriginals have a flag of their own, it is not official
but is very popular among Australians. It has 2 stripes One
is brown which represents the color of aboriginal skin. The
other stripe is red to represent the earth and soil of
Australia. In the middle is a giant golden disk representing
the sun.
Australia is a well-developed country. Australia has a history of
discovery. It is filled with a variety of resources. Australia has a strong,
3 branch democracy. Many people have been attracted to come and
live in the land down under.

AUSTRALIAS OFFICAL FLAG

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http://www.olstars.com/images/flags/Big/au.gif

ABORIGINAL FLAG

http://jameswaites.ilatech.org/wpcontent/uploads/2009/07/australian_aboriginal_flagsvg1.png

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STEVE IRWIN

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http://onmuteoff.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/steveirwin1.jpg

INTERVEIW
(Email response from my moms cousin Simon Newberry
who lives in Australia.)
1. What state do you live in? (Queensland, new south
wales, victoria, etc.)
I live in Victoria in the capital city of Melbourne

2. Do you think Australia's economy is strong?

At the moment it is strong but that is only because Western
Australia (the state in the west) is doing so well with mining,
in the other states like mine there are still people losing
their jobs.
3. Do you know anyone with aboriginal ancestry?
There aren't many aboriginals in my state but I have met
some when I've been to other parts of the country. I did
once go for a night out with Kathy Freeman who is a famous
Australian aboriginal runner that won a gold medal in the
2000 Olympic games
4. What is the most common animal you see daily?
Spiders!
5. Who is Australia's prime minister?
Julia Guillard - she is ginger like baby edie and speaks
funny. I don't think she will be prime minister for very long
6. What is it like to have the opposite season from
the rest of the family?
It's strange when we look at them on Skype in their thick coats and
we are all in shorts.
7. Do you live near the in the city or rural areas?
I live very close to the city in a small house. It only takes
me 10min on the train to get to work. However we did buy
a big house last week so there is room for all of you to come
and stay when you come and visit Australia.

8. Have you ever seen the outback?

I have been to the outback and walked up Ayres rock (which
to the aboriginals is called Ularu) in the middle of Australia.
Everything is very dry dusty and the soil is red. From
Australia I caught the train and it took 2 days to get there.
9. What is the climate like?
Australia is so big that some parts dont have a winter.
Victoria is in the south so we are lucky and have hot
summers to go to the beach and ski resorts to go skiing in
winter.
10. Have you ever seen the Sydney opera house?
I've seen it and actually last year did some work on it - we
helped them work out how many shops and what type of
shops they should put into the bottom of the opera house.

REFERENCE PAGE
Heinrichs, Ann. Australia: Enchantment of the world.
New york: Childrens press, 1998.

Web. May 28, 2012< http://www.jameswaites.ilatech.org/wpcontent/uploads/2009/07/australian_aboriginal_flagsvg1.png

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Web. May 28, 2012 < http://www.
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Web. May 28, 2012 < http://
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MAP OF AUSTRALIA

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