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
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”
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 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.
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 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 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