Transcript AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

AUSTRALIA AND
NEW ZEALAND
AUSTRALIA







Smallest continent
Largest island
Original inhabitants-Oboriginal people lived on
the continent 40-60,000 yr ago
First european settlement by British 1788
World’s driest inhabited continent
Vast areas are arid or semi-desert and virtually
uninhabited
One of the most urbanized countries in world
with 70% of population living in 10 cities
FACTS







Standard of living is high by world stand.
Flag of Australia is only flag to fly over a whole continent
Flag represents the historical link with UK
Flag has large star with 6 points for each of the states
and one star for the territories and the small stars form
the Southern Cross which is a prominent feature of sky
National anthem-revised version of Advance Australia
Fair
Motto-Advance Australia
National day –January 26 (date of European settlement)
AUSTRALIA









One of oldest land masses
Flattest of continents
After Anartica lowest precipitation
Small population in relation to size
About size of U.S. minus Alaska
Only country occupy a whole continent
Almost twice the size of India&Pakistan 2x
Off E coast Great Barrier Reef 207,000 km
marine ecosystem rare marine life
Average elevation less 300m/world mean 700m
Clear skies low rainfall most of continent
 Mid summer(jan) 29c-17c n-s
 Mid winter(july) 25c-9c n-s
 Summer is Dec-Feb
 Autumn Mar-may
 Winter is june-august
 Spring is Sept to Nov
 Population 17 million

Most people live SE corner
 Most of rest of continent too rugged or arid
for people to live in
 Multicultural society with 25% foreign born
 Most work 35-40 hrs per week/5 days
 Most have 4 weeks paid vacation, sick
leave with about 10 days paid holidays

Most retire at 60 or 65
 Women life expectancy of 79/men 73
 Most marry in late 20’s and have 2.1 chd.
 Most couples own or are buying homes
 Most households have ref, c tv’s, telep,1+c
 Immigration began w/transportation of
convicts from England in 1788
 Large numbers of students from abroad

HISTORY








Original people, the Aborigines hunter/gathers moving with seasons
and taking only possessions for hunting, collecting and preparing
food
European settlements brought conflict of cultures-taking land of
Aboriginal people, destruction of A. culture and social disintegration
A. pop. Decreased because of clashes and diseases they lacked
imunity
Some animals introduced caused food sources to be destroyed
First english visitor was William Dampier 1688
1770 Capt. James Cook of British navy claimed possession for e.
part of continent and named it “Possession Island”
Gold discovered in 1851
Federation of six former colonies as states “The Commonwealth of
Australia – Janurary 1, 1901
STATES AND TERRITORIES







6 STATES: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland,
South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania
3 INTERNAL TERRITORIES: The Northern Territory, The
Australian Capital Territory and The Jervis Bay Territory
7 EXTERNAL TERRITORIES
W. Australia enormous mineral wealth makes up ¼ of
nations income exports
W. Australia is largest state
Tasmania is the smallest state
National capital is Canberra
GOVERNMENT









A. Political institutions and practices follow Western democratic
tradition
A. federation has a 3 tier systme of gov.
1.the A. parliament (the
legislature) and Government which responsible for all matters of
national interest
2.six state governments and their
legislatures, complementing activities NG 3.About 900 local gov.
bodies cities, towns
A. is independent but retains constitutional links with Britian
Queen Elizabeth ll is formally Queen of Australia
Federal houses of Parliament HoRep. And Senate
House divided among states on pop. Basis
Senate has 12 senators from ea. State and 2 ea. From territories
Prime minister elected by party that has most MP’s
Many political parties with largest are Liberal Party, National Party,
A. Labor Party & A. Democrats
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS







Relationships with Britain, Europe and U.S. forged by history
Growing awareness of importance of politically, economically,
strategically significant countries of Asia and S. Pacific nations have
led A. to intensify it’s friendly and cooperative relations with them.
Japan is A. larges trading partner
Relations with China have been marked diplomatic links est. 1972
China is a significant market for A.
A. technical cooperation program with China is designed to help
China’s development
A. has very close relationship with New Zealand across all areas of
political, economic and social activities
THE ECONOMY





The complexion of A. economy has changed in less than 50 yrs.
From one which relied heavily on primary production to a mature,
divers one in which nearly of production is in the service sector
2/3’s
Although the rural and mining sectors account for a small part of A.
production, they account for ¾’s of total exports
A. leads world in wool production and a major supplier of iron ore,
gold, bauxite and alumina
Exports that leads world are alumina, wool, beef and veal, coal,
mineral sands and refined lead
A. has a dynamic economy with political stability, abundant natural
resources, a skilled workforce, steady pop. Growth and substantial
domestic and foreign capital investment
EDUCATION AND HEALTH
Schooling is compulsory between the ages
of 6-15 (Tasmania 6-16)
 Health care is both private and public but
predominantly private
 Fight against AIDS, Australia has
concentrated it’s efforts on education

NEW ZEALAND






Located in SW Pacific Ocean NZ is a large, long group
of islands with two main land masses seperated by Cook
Strait and many smaller islands.
Nearest large neighbor is Australia some 2000 km away
Similar in size to Japan or the British Isles
The North Island has a spectacular cluster of four active
volcanoes
The South Island has the southern alps, a massive
mountain chain which runs almost the full length of the
island and is an outstanding scenic beauty
NZ seasons are like Australia’s which are the opposite of
China and US because they are “down under” the
equator





NZ long isolation from other land masses has allowed
the many florra and fauna to be only found here as well
as many insects like spiders and snails. There are no
snakes.
Before the Europeans came there were no animals on
the Islands
Population has grown steadly over the past 150years
reaching some 3.59 million in 1994
Many Chinese and Indian people have lived in NZ for
generations and almost every country in the world is
represented
Religion is a matter of choice with Christianity the most
widely professed
First country to give women the right to
vote in 1893
 Standard of living is relatively high when
measured by education, health, infant
mortality, life expectancy and price stability
 Life is comparable to that of Australia,
Canada, Japan, Sweden, UK and US
 Form of Government is similar to
Australia’s
