2022-2023 Language Assistant Cultural Presentation on Australia

1. Language Assistant
Cultural Presentation
Brett Fortescue
2022-23

2. Australian Location and History
 Australia is located in the southern hemisphere
 Sixth largest country in the world by area
 Population of almost 26 million
 Major cities include Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth
 Inhabited by Aboriginal Australians for approximately 65000 years
 European discovery in 1606 by the Dutch and claimed for Great Britain in 1770
and settled as a penal colony in 1788.
 Extensive European and Asian immigration since has resulted in Australia
having a multicultural population, customs, and food.

3. Size Comparison

4. Indigenous Australians
 First inhabitants of Australia travelled from South Eastern Asia
 Two Groups Aboriginal Australians and Torres Straight Islanders
 Hunter/gatherer culture with 250 distinct language groups
 Suffered since European settlement with loss of traditional lands, loss of
communities and still remain disadvantaged compared to the majority of
other Australians

5. Aboriginal Art and Culture

6. Geography and Climate
 Lies between 9 and 44 degrees South latitude and 112 to 154 degrees East
longitude.
 Has greatly varying climates from tropical in the north, desert in the interior,
and temperate in the South.
 Generally a very flat continent with the substantial mountain range running
along the south eastern coast.
 Great Barrier Reef runs along the northern Queensland coast for 2000km
 Often suffer from droughts, cyclones, floods, and fires in various areas

7. Climate Map

8. Wildlife
 Australia has been separated from other
continents for thousands of years and the unique
wildlife has evolved to the Australian climate
and the absence of large scale human
interference.
 Marsupials including kangaroos, possums,
wallabys, Koalas, Wombats
 Monotremes the platypus and echidna
 Birds including Emus and Kookaburras
 Snakes and spiders many amongthemost
venomous in the world

9. Wildlife

10. Sports
 Unique sport of Australian Rules Football (AFL)
 Summer televised sport include Cricket and
Tennis and winter sports including AFL and
Rugby
 Emphasis given to the Olympic and
Commonwealth Games

11. Perth (Western
Australia)
• The major city in Western Australia
• Population around 2 million people
• Founded in 1829 by Captain James Stirling
(administrative centre of the Swan River Colony)
• Sited on the Swan River
• Major Industries are Tourism, and Mining (several
multi-national companies have head odffices in
Perth BHP, Rio Tinto, South 32.
• Traditional Lands of the Noogar Whadjuk People
for approx. 45 000 years
• One of the most isolated Cities in the world
• Life style is very much based on an outside
activies due to favourable climate and proximity
to coast and other natural environments and low
population density.