AUSTRALIAAUSTRALIACultural Background

StatisticsStatistics AustraliaAustralia UKUK USAUSA

Population Population (July 2005)(July 2005)

20,090,437 20,090,437 60,441,457 60,441,457 295,734,134 295,734,134

Land Mass Land Mass (square KM’s)(square KM’s)

7,686,8507,686,850 244,820244,820 9,629,0919,629,091

Population density Population density (people per square (people per square

mile)mile)

55 244244 2929

ClimateClimate Tropical to Tropical to temperatetemperate

TemperateTemperate Tropical to Tropical to arcticarctic

Geography

Write a list of 5 famous Australian sports performers from 5 different sports.

Write a list of 5 things that you most associate with Australian culture.

Fill in the cities and geographical features on your map

From Sydney to Perth is 2500 miles (about the same as from London to Toronto

This takes 6 hours by air and 2 ½ days by car

What effect could this have on sport in Australia?

A large percentage of Australia is uninhabitable and the bulk of the population in centred around Darwin,

Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart and Perth.

The First Settlers

In 1788 around 1000 men and women landed by ship at Port Jackson (now Sydney). The majority of these people were convicted criminals.

• Australia gained independence from the UK in 1901.

• Unlike the USA, Australia has maintained its links with the former ‘motherland’ and throughout the country there is evidence of colonial roots.

• For example, the education and judicial systems, sporting ethos and traditions are very similar to those found in the UK today.

This is reflected in the sports they play

Although it is part of the commonwealth and has elected to retain the monarch of England as the chief of state, Australia has a federal parliament based in the capital city Canberra.

The government in Australia is DECENTRALISED

Central government (Canberra)

Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Teritorry

Local government in each state

• From 1945 to the mid 1960’s, the Australian government sponsored emigration from the UK

• This explains in part why 95% of the population is white and principally of British decent, making the Anglo-Celts the dominant societal group.

• Now 22% of the population has European origins and the principal groups include

Italians, Croats, Greeks, Maltese, Germans and Dutch. European settlers brought

soccer to AustraliaMark Viduka – From Croatian decent.

Indigenous Peoples

• Aborigines are the indigenous people of Australia and Tasmania.

• Before European settlement in the late 18th Century there were 350,000 divided into 500 groups.

• In 1920 this was reduced to about 60,000 due to persecution and ‘terra nullius’

• Now the Aboriginal population is around 427,000

• Over 150 nationalities can be found now. There are many ties with the Asian-Pacific region (Tonga, Fiji, Somoa)

• These people were originally transferred forcibly to work as cheap labour. These islanders were instrumental in the development of swimming and surfing in Australia

• Alick Wickham, a native of the Soloman Islands, revolutionised swimming and is credited with the invention of the crawl stroke.•The representation of Melanesian and Polynesian players in Rugby remains up to the present day.

Ideologies

The ideologies of Australia focus on a capitalist, democratic, westernised model.

A strong egalitarian (equal) ethos is present and pluralism is valued in society.

Australia is renown for being obsessed with sport. This is helped by the fact that climatic conditions allow outdoor activities to take place all year round.

All sports are played but some are focused in particular states.

Victoria

NSW & Queensland

South Australia