Post on 16-Dec-2015
AUSTRALIA
The Native People
Australia is the world’s smallest continent and largest island, a relatively young nation established in an ancient land.
Australia has a land area of 7,682,320 km and its coastline is 36,735 km long.
Aboriginal PeopleScientists believe that humans began to live on
Australia 42,000 and 48,000 years ago.
Today the native people are known as Australian Aborigines.
Australian Aboriginal Culture
The core of the Aboriginal tribal culture is music, dance, ceremonies and story-telling.
all these related to the land and nature in sacred ceremonies and rituals.
There is also a strong connection to Spirits of the Dreaming.
Aboriginal Culture The Dreamtime
Aboriginal dreamtime is the time of the Earth’s creation. In the beginning, the earth was formless and colorless.
Dreamtime stories tell about Spirits (animals and humans) who shaped land, created life and the social laws
The Dreamtime is central to the culture and society of the people, as everything was created during this sacred time.
2 concepts of time: The linear time of everyday life and the eternal time of the Dreaming.
The Dreamtime stories vary among the different Aboriginal tribes, but many common themes and characters can be found throughout the entire continent.
The Dreamtime mythology shaped their belief systems and their social systems.
Oral tradition
The Rainbow Serpent is a common myth among the tribes. It is the story of land-formation. When the ground was still soft, the giant snake moved across the land, making the rivers and mountains. It lives inside a big underground waterhole.
associated with the rainbows, rain, rivers, and deep waterholes
The snake reveals itself to the people as a rainbow, as it moves from one waterhole to another.
Sometimes the serpent blesses people and sometimes it brings death or suffering.
The Rainbow Serpent
It represents the snake-like path of rivers and the colors created when sunlight strikes water.
This creation story combines two important elements of life on Earth: water and light.
Songlines are paths across the land which mark the paths of the original Spirits during the Dreaming.
The paths are recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance, and painting.
A person can find his way across the land by singing the song, which tell the locations of landmarks, waterholes, and other natural phenomena.
A walkabout is a ritual in which a teenage boy journeys alone into the wilderness for a long period of time, following songlines and
performing rituals.
Walkabout
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is an instrument developed by the Australian natives at least 1,500 years ago.
Aboriginal Artwork
“dot painting”
Murujuga, aka Burrup Peninsula
An area of N.W. Australia which is known for having the world’s most ancient rock carvings.
Some could be over 30,000 years old.
Rock Carvings of Burrup Peninsula
These ancient rock carvings are very important to the cultural legacy of the Aborigines, but today many of these ancient rock carvings are in danger of being destroyed by
the gas company Woodside Petroleum.
The Aboriginal Myth ofCaptain Cook
Another common myth across Australia is about a white man who arrives bringing
gifts, but also great harm.
European Settlement
The Dutch were the first Europeans to record seeing Australia, but they did not settle.
More than 100 years later…
James Cook sailed to Australia and claimed it for Great Britain (1770 AD)
Capt. James Cook was a British explorer. He achieved the first European contact with the coast of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands (of US)
mapmaker
His ships were also the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Australian Aboriginals
Today the Aboriginal people only make up about 2.7% of Australia's population.
Foreign disease & fighting.
Before European settlement, there were over 600 spoken dialects, today there are less than 200.
Flag of Aborigines
The Stolen Generations and
Australian White Policy
Today, Australia is mostly populated with white people of European descent. Two
notable government policies increased the white population and decreased the
indigenous black population.
Australian White Policy (1901-1973)
The Australian White Policy (1901-1973)stopped all non-white immigration into the country, including Asians. (Though a select few Asians were allowed to enter Universities)
The Stolen Generations (1869-1969)
“The Stolen Generations” (1869-1969): Aboriginal children removed from their natural families by the Australian gov’t and church missions.
“Creamy” ： 混血Coppers - police
Movie suggestionMovie: Rabbit-Proof
Fence 孩子要回家 , about 3 girls who are stolen from their families and attempt to find their families.
The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of six states
and three territories.
I.the 6 states of Australia: Capital: Canberra
Western Australia — the largest state
South Australia
Queensland — the 2nd largest state
New South Wales — the most populous
Victoria — the 2nd most populous
Tasmania — the smallest state
II. 3 internal territories:
the Northern Territory
the Australian Capital Territory
the Jervis Bay Territory
Australian Penal Colony Great Britain made Australia into a penal colony
(a colony for criminal prisoners)
British criminals were sent to Australia
The National Flag
Australia’s Coat of arms
I. primary industryrural and mining sectors
--- Only 6% of Australia is cultivated for crops or used for intensive grazing.
---account for around 3/4 of total exports
---the leading position of Australian wool production
--- the world’s largest coal exporter
---the world’s major supplier of wheat, meat, sugar and cotton
II. secondary and tertiary industries
Manufacturing represents more than 1/4 of the Australia’s total exports
Food processing industry is the largest manufacturing sector
The largest sector of the Australian economy is the tertiary industries. It employs more than 70% of the workforce and its share of the gross domestic product is about 60%.