Chapter 31Australia

Sydney Opera House

Country Profile

• Population: 22,506,617• Gov’t: Parliamentary Democracy• Capital: Canberra• Time Difference: +15• Language: English (Aussie),

Aboriginal, Mandarin

Aussie Slang• Hello = G’day• Goodbye = Hooroo• Great! = Bonza • Gum = Chewie• Bathroom = Dunny or Leu • Friend = Mate• Good for you = G’donya• McDonald’s = Maccas

History and Culture

Aborigines – Australia’s indigenous

(first people)

•Came from Southeast Asia

•40,000 years ago

•Hunted with spears, nets, and boomerangs (curved throwing sticks).

European Settlers

• 1769 – Captain James Cook claims it for Britain.

• 1788 –British prison colony (Sydney).

• By 1830’s – 60,000 prisoners

• Farmersraise sheep

• 1851 – gold discovered

• Many settlers forced Aborigines off their land.

• Aborigines died of European diseases .

• In Tasmania = no aborigines

Tasmanian devil

NOT!

The REAL Tasmanian Devil!

Tasmanian devils are meat-eating marsupials that live only on the island of Tasmania, off Australia's southern coast.

Landform Regions• Great Dividing Range

Mt. Kosciusko (7, 310 ft) is the highest elevation on the continent “The Australian Alps”

•Sacred site of aborigines (Dreamtime)

Ayers Rock(Uluru)

LAKE HILLIER

Natural Environments of AustraliaWater Resources

• Darling and Murray River • Artesian wells—water naturally flows

to surface

Natural Environments of AustraliaClimates

• OUTBACK– 2/3 of the continent is

arid & semiarid• Avg temp 85 +℉

Australia

• Strange biome--isolation• Marsupials mammals with pouches

Kangaroo Koala Wallaby

Australia is home to most of the world's marsupials, or pouched mammals. Perhaps the most famous is the kangaroo. A mother kangaroo carries her baby, called a joey, in her pouch.

A baby koala spends the first seven months of its life in its mother's pouch, then climbs out and clings to her back.

The platypus is an egg-laying mammal. It has webbed feet for swimming and a flat, broad bill like a duck's. The bill is covered with soft leathery skin, which has sensitive nerves that help the animal locate food.

Water ResourcesGreat Barrier Reef

• 2,500 km = 1.600 miles• Largest living thing in the world

Great Barrier Reef

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbNeIn3vVKM

AustraliaHistory & Culture

• Shaped as a British Colony, Australia still has one of the world’s oldest continuing cultures.

• Aborigines lived nomadic lifestyle– Hunted with spears, nets, and boomerangs.

Didgeridoo

Australia History and Culture

• Became independent in 1901

Surprisingly, many Australians fought alongside the British in BOTH World Wars!

Australia Today • Importing and Exporting

–Mainly trade with U.S. and Asia• Mining, Agriculture, and Tourism are

key to Australia’s economy• Issues and Challenges: Protecting

aboriginal culture, protecting the environment, introduction to exotic species.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCgKd7oghLI

New ZealandNorth Island

• Forests• Volcanoes• Geysers• Hot Springs Hills• Mts

New ZealandNorth Island

Ngauruhoe, New Zealand

New Zealand: South Island

• Mountains• Glaciers• Lakes• Plains

Southern Alps

New ZealandBiome

• 30% Forest• Animals:

–Kiwis–Moas–Bats

New ZealandBiome

Kiwi

Moa

New ZealandBiome

New ZealandNatural Resources

Hydroelectricity= power generated from water

Fertile Soil = Good for agriculture (farming)

New ZealandHistory and Culture• Maori- indigenous people of New Zealand• Colonized by Britain • Maori Wars 1845-1872 (Maori lost

European disease)– Independent in 1907

New ZealandMaori Culture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BoNmpvkavo&feature=related

New ZealandPeople• Language: Maori, English• Settlement: Auckland, Wellington,

Christchurch• Jobs: tourism, farming (sheep)• Food: lamb, sweet potatoes,

pavlova, tea

New ZealandEconomy and Issues

• Farming, manufacturing, tourism– Exports: wool, meat, fish, dairy, kiwi

• small country = hard to develop economy of scale

• Relies on exports– Australia, U.S.A, Japan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh-0knDpn5g&NR=1&feature=endscreen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PfsA3FbQws