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Biography

Australia (), officially the Commonwealth of Australia , is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent)|Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous list of islands of Australia|smaller islands in the Indian Ocean|Indian and Pacific Ocean s. It is the world's List of countries and outlying territories by total area|sixth-largest country by total area . Neighbouring countries include Indonesia , East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands , Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.

For at least 40,000 years before Europe an settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians ,.
who belonged to one or more of roughly Indigenous Australian languages|250 language groups .Michael Walsh. 'Overview of indigenous languages of Australia' in Suzane Romaine (ed) Language in Australia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) ISBN 0-521-33983-9 After discovery by Dutch Republic|Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five Responsible government|self-governing British Overseas Territories|Crown Colonies were established.

On 1 January 1901, the six colonies Federation of Australia|federated , forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democracy|liberal democratic political system which functions as a Federalism|federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy . The federation comprises States and territories of Australia|six states and several territories . The population of 22.9 million is heavily concentrated in the Eastern states of Australia|Eastern states and is highly Urbanization by country|urbanised .

A highly developed country , Australia is the List of countries by GDP (nominal)|world's 13th-largest economy and has the world's List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|fifth-highest per capita income . Australia's military expenditure is the List of countries by military expenditures|world's 13th-largest . With the List of countries by Human Development Index|second-highest human development index globally , Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom , and the protection of civil liberties and political rights. Australia is a member of the G20 , Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD , World Trade Organization|WTO , Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation|APEC , United Nations|UN , Commonwealth of Nations , ANZUS , and the Pacific Islands Forum .

Etymology

Pronounced in Australian English ,Australian pronunciations: Macquarie Dictionary|Macquarie Dictionary, Fourth Edition (2005). Melbourne, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. ISBN 1-876429-14-3 the name List of country name etymologies#A|Australia is derived from the Latin australis , meaning "southern". The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century. Aussie is a common colloquial term for "Australian". In neighbouring New Zealand the term "Aussie" is sometimes applied as a noun to the nation as well as its residents.Claire Harvey, 'Aussie farewell to life in "Kiwi"', http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm? c_id=1& objectid=10494046. Retrieved 29 December 2011.

Legends of Terra Australis|Terra Australis Incognita —an "unknown land of the South"—date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the continent. Following European discovery, names for the Australian landmass were often references to the famed Terra Australis .

The earliest recorded use of the word Australia in English was in 1625 in "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Sir Richard Hakluyt", published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus , a corruption of the original Spanish name "Tierra Austral del Espíritu Santo" (Southern Land of the Holy Spirit) for an island in Vanuatu .Purchas, vol. iv, pp. 1422–32, 1625. This appears to be variation of the original Spanish "Austrialia" . A copy at the Library of Congress can be read online . The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in History of Jakarta|Batavia ( Jakarta ) in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. Australia was later used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe , a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny , under the pen-name Jacques Sadeur.Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language , second edition, 1966. Referring to the entire South Pacific region, Alexander Dalrymple used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean in 1771. By the end of the 18th century, the name was being used to refer specifically to Australia, with the botanists George Shaw and James Edward Smith|Sir James Smith writing of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland (Australia)|New Holland " in their 1793 Zoology and Botany of New Holland , and James Wilson including it on a 1799 chart.

The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders , who pushed for it to be formally adopted as early as 1804. When preparing his manuscript and charts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis , he was persuaded by his patron, Joseph Banks|Sir Joseph Banks , to use the term Terra Australis as this was the name most familiar to the public. Flinders did so, but allowed himself the footnote: This is the only occurrence of the word Australia in that text; but in Appendix III, Robert Brown (botanist)|Robert Brown 's General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis , Brown makes use of the adjectival form Australian throughout,—the first known use of that form. Despite popular conception, the book was not instrumental in the adoption of the name: the name came gradually to be accepted over the following ten years.Estensen, p. 450

The first time that the name Australia appears to have been officially used was in a despatch to Lord Bathurst of 4 April 1817 in which Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledges the receipt of Capt. Flinders' charts of Australia. On 12 December 1817 Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted.Weekend Australian, 30–31 December 2000, p. 16 In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia .

The first map on which the word Australia occurs was published in St Petersburg in 1824. It is in Krusenstern's "Atlas de l'Océan Pacifique".

History

Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago, possibly with the migration of people by land bridge s and short sea-crossings from what is now South-East Asia . These first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. At the time of European settlement in the late 18th century, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherer s, with a complex oral tradition|oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime . The Torres Strait Islanders , ethnically Melanesia n, were originally horticulturalists and hunter-gatherers.

Following sporadic visits by fishermen from the Malay Archipelago , the first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent were attributed to the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon . He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula on an unknown date in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York, near the modern town of Weipa, Queensland|Weipa .Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 233. The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of "New Holland" during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier , an English explorer and privateer landed on the north-west coast of Australia in 1688 and again in 1699 on a return trip. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. Cook's discoveries prepared the way for establishment of a new penal colony . Captain Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet into Port Jackson on 26 January 1788.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 157, 254. This date became Australia's national day, Australia Day . (The British British overseas territories|Crown Colony of New South Wales was not formally promulgated until 7& nbsp;February 1788, but 26 January has entered the popular consciousness as the effective date of its foundation.) Van Diemen's Land , now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 464–65, 628–29. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1828.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 678.

Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria (Australia)|Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 464. The Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 470. South Australia was founded as a "free province"—it was never a penal colony.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 598. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted convicts in Australia|transported convicts .Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 679. Public Record office of Victoria; . A campaign by the settlers of New South Wales led to the end of convict transportation to that colony; the last convict ship arrived in 1848.

The indigenous population, estimated at 750,000 to 1,000,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly due to infectious disease. The " Stolen Generations " (removal of Aboriginal children from their families), which historians such as Henry Reynolds (historian)|Henry Reynolds have argued could be considered genocide, may have contributed to the decline in the Indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by conservative commentators such as former Prime Minister John Howard as exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 72–73. This debate is known within Australia as the History wars . The Federal government gained the power to make laws with respect to Aborigines following the Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals)|1967 referendum . Traditional ownership of land— Native title in Australia|aboriginal title —was not recognised until 1992, when the High Court of Australia|High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius ("land belonging to no one") before European occupation.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 5–7, 402.

A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 283–85. and the Eureka Rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience .Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp.227–29. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government , managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire .Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 556. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 138–39. defence, and international shipping.

On 1 January 1901 Federation of Australia|federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation, and voting.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 243–44. The Commonwealth of Australia was established and it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed in 1911 as the location for the future federal capital of Canberra. Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was constructed. The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the federal parliament in 1911. In 1914, Australia joined Britain in fighting World War I, with support from both the outgoing Commonwealth Liberal Party and the incoming Australian Labor Party .Stuart Macintyre, The Oxford History of Australia: vol 4 (1986), p. 142; C. Bean Ed. (1941). , First World War Official Histories, Eleventh Edition. Australians took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front (World War I)|Western Front . Of about 416,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded. Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli Campaign|Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action.Macintyre, 151–53 The Kokoda Track campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II .

Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the UK. Australia Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942|adopted it in 1942,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 609. but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II. The shock of the UK's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the Military history of Australia during World War II#Defence of Australia|threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 22–23. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US, under the ANZUS treaty.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 30. After World War II Australia encouraged immigration from Europe. Since the 1970s and following the abolition of the White Australia policy , immigration from Asia and elsewhere was also promoted.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 338–39, 681–82. As a result, Australia's demography, culture, and self-image were transformed.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 442–43. The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986 , ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and closing the option of judicial appeals to the Privy council|Privy Council in London. In a Australian republic referendum, 1999|1999 referendum , 55 per cent of Australian voters and a majority in every Australian state rejected a proposal to become a republic with a president appointed by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of the Australian Parliament. Since the election of the Gough Whitlam|Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus in foreign policy on ties with other Pacific Rim nations, while maintaining close ties with Australia's traditional allies and trading partners.

Government

Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a federalism|federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system of government with Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II at its apex as the Queen of Australia , a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realm s. The Queen resides in the United Kingdom, and she is represented by her viceroys in Australia (the Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors of the Australian states|Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the advice of her ministers. Supreme executive authority is vested by the Constitution of Australia in the sovereign, but the power to exercise it is conferred by the Constitution specifically to the Governor-General.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 287–88. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve power s outside a Prime Minister's request was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis|constitutional crisis of 1975 .

The federal government is Separation of powers in Australia|separated into three branches:

The legislature: the bicameral Parliament of Australia|Parliament , defined in section 1 of the constitution as comprising the Queen (represented by the Governor-General), the Australian Senate|Senate , and the Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives ;

The executive: the Federal Executive Council (Australia)|Federal Executive Council , in practice the Governor-General as advised by the Prime Minister and Ministers of State;

The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other Australian court hierarchy|federal courts , whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Council.

In the Senate (the upper house), there are 76 senators: twelve each from the states and two each from the mainland territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). The Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives (the lower house) has 150 members elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats", allocated to states on the basis of population, with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats. Elections for both chambers are normally held every three years, simultaneously; senators have overlapping six-year terms except for those from the territories, whose terms are not fixed but are tied to the electoral cycle for the lower house; thus only 40 of the 76 places in the Senate are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a double dissolution .

Australia's Australian electoral system|electoral system uses preferential voting for all lower house elections with the exception of Tasmania and the ACT, which, along with the Senate and most state upper houses, combine it with proportional representation in a system known as the single transferable vote . Compulsory voting|Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction, as is enrolment (with the exception of South Australia). The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms the government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. In cases where no party has majority support, the Governor-General has the power to appoint the Prime Minister, and if necessary dismiss one that has lost the confidence of Parliament.

There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party , and the Coalition (Australia)|Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party of Australia|National Party . Independent members and several minor parties have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.

Within Australian political culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right and the Labor Party is considered centre-left . Queensland in particular, along with Western Australia and the Northern Territory, are regarded as comparatively Conservatism in Australia|conservative .George Megalogenis, "The Green and the Grey", Quarterly Essay , Vol. 40, 2010, p69. Available at: http://books.google.com.au/books? id=BHQzwqY1b90C& pg=PA121& dq=quarterly+essay+trivial+pursuit& hl=en& sa=X& ei=BLFqT8zAGYKaiAep6KTpBQ& ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q=quarterly%20essay%20trivial%20pursuit& f=false. Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory are regarded as comparatively Social liberalism|socially liberal . http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/poll-divides-the-nation-into-three-zones/story-fn59niix-1225908617129 New South Wales has often been regarded as a politically moderate bellwether state.George Megalogenis, "The Green and the Grey", Quarterly Essay , Vol. 40, 2010, p69. Available at: http://books.google.com.au/books? id=BHQzwqY1b90C& pg=PA121& dq=quarterly+essay+trivial+pursuit& hl=en& sa=X& ei=BLFqT8zAGYKaiAep6KTpBQ& ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage& q=quarterly%20essay%20trivial%20pursuit& f=false

Following a Australian Labor Party leadership election, 2010|partyroom leadership challenge , Julia Gillard became the first female Prime Minister in June 2010. The Australian federal election, 2010|most recent federal election was held on 21 August 2010 and resulted in the first hung parliament in over 50 years. Gillard was able to form a minority Labor government with the support of independents.

States and territories

Australia has six federated state|states — New South Wales , Queensland , South Australia , Tasmania , Victoria (Australia)|Victoria , and Western Australia —and two major mainland territories—the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In most respects these two territories function as states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only in areas that are set out in Section 51 of the Australian Constitution ; state parliaments retain all residual legislative powers, including those over schools, state police, the state judiciary, roads, public transport, and local government, since these do not fall under the provisions listed in Section 51.

Each state and major mainland territory has its own Parliaments of the Australian states and territories|parliament — unicameralism|unicameral in the Northern Territory, the ACT, and Queensland, and bicameral in the other states. The states are sovereign entities, although subject to certain powers of the Commonwealth as defined by the Constitution. The lower house s are known as the Legislative Assembly (the House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania); the upper house s are known as the Legislative Council . The head of government|head of the government in each state is the Premiers of the Australian states|Premier , and in each territory the Chief Minister . The Monarchy of Australia|Queen is represented in each state by a Governors of the Australian states|Governor ; and in the Northern Territory, the Administrator of the Northern Territory|Administrator . In the Commonwealth, the Queen's representative is the Governor-General of Australia|Governor-General .

The federal parliament directly administers the following territories:

Ashmore and Cartier Islands

Australian Antarctic Territory

Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Coral Sea Islands

Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Jervis Bay Territory , a naval base and sea port for the national capital in land that was formerly part of New South Wales

Norfolk Island is also technically an external territory; however, under the Norfolk Island Act 1979 it has been granted more autonomy and is governed locally by its own legislative assembly. The Queen is represented by an List of administrative heads of Norfolk Island|Administrator , currently Owen Walsh .

Foreign relations and military

Over recent decades, Foreign relations of Australia|Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS|ANZUS pact , and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum . In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia , and in 2011 attended the Sixth East Asia Summit in Indonesia. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations , in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation.

Australia has pursued the cause of international trade liberalisation . It led the formation of the Cairns Group and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation . Australia is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization , and has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the Australia& nbsp;– United States Free Trade Agreement and Closer Economic Relations with New Zealand, with another free trade agreement being negotiated with China —the Australia–China Free Trade Agreement —and Japan , South Korea in 2011, Australia–Chile Free Trade Agreement , Closer Economic Relations|ASEAN – Australia – New Zealand Free Trade Area , and the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership .

Along with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore, Australia is party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements , a regional defence agreement. A founding member country of the United Nations, Australia is strongly committed to multilateralism and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5& nbsp;billion for development assistance;Australian Government. (2005). as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that recommended in the UN Millennium Development Goals . Australia ranks seventh overall in the Center for Global Development 's 2008 Commitment to Development Index .Center for Global Development. , www.cgdev.org. Retrieved on 5 January 2008.

Australia's armed forces—the Australian Defence Force (ADF)—comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), in total numbering 80,561 personnel (including 55,068 regulars and 25,493 reservists). The titular role of Commander-in-Chief is vested in the Governor-General, who appoints a Chief of the Defence Force (Australia)|Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services on the advice of the government. Day-to-day force operations are under the command of the Chief, while broader administration and the formulation of defence policy is undertaken by the Minister for Defence (Australia)|Minister and Department of Defence (Australia)|Department of Defence .

In the 2010–11 budget, defence spending was A$25.7& nbsp;billion,Australian Department of Defence (2010) . Media release. Retrieved 28 June 2010. representing the List of countries by military expenditure|13th largest defence budget .Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (2011). . Australia has been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping, disaster relief and armed conflict; it Current Australian Defence Force deployments|currently has deployed approximately 3,330 defence force personnel in varying capacities to 12 international operations in areas including Operation Astute|East Timor , Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands|Solomon Islands and Operation Slipper|Afghanistan .Australian Department of Defence. . Retrieved 9 March 2009.

Geography and climate

Australia's landmass of is on the Indo-Australian Plate . Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is separated from Asia by the Arafura Sea|Arafura and Timor Sea|Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent "Most people recognize seven continents—Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia, from largest to smallest—although sometimes Europe and Asia are considered a single continent, Eurasia." and List of countries and outlying territories by total area|sixth largest country by total area , "Smallest continent and sixth largest country (in area) on Earth, lying between the Pacific and Indian oceans." Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the "island continent", "Being surrounded by ocean, Australia often is referred to as an island continent. As a continental landmass it is significantly larger than the many thousands of fringing islands ..." and is sometimes considered the List of islands by area|world's largest island . "Mainland Australia, with an area of 7.69 million square kilometres, is the Earth's largest island but smallest continent." Australia has of coastline (excluding all offshore islands), and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of . This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory. Excluding Macquarie Island , Australia lies between latitudes 9th parallel south|9° and 44th parallel south|44°S , and longitudes 112th meridian east|112° and 154th meridian east|154°E .

The Great Barrier Reef , the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over . Mount Augustus National Park|Mount Augustus , claimed to be the world's largest monolith, is located in Western Australia. At , Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Even taller are Mawson Peak (at ), on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands|Heard Island , and, in the Australian Antarctic Territory, Mount McClintock and Mount Menzies , at and respectively.
Australia's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with subtropical rain forests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east areas, and a dry desert in its centre. It is the flattest continent, with the oldest and least fertile soils; "Well, Australia has by far the world's least fertile soils". "Australia has the oldest, most highly weathered soils on the planet." Deserts of Australia|desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land. The driest inhabited continent, only its south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate . The List of countries and dependencies by population density|population density , 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, is among the lowest in the world, although a large proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline.

Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range that runs parallel to the coast of Queensland, New South Wales, and much of Victoria—although the name is not strictly accurate, as in parts the range consists of low hills and the highlands are typically no more than in height. The Eastern Australian temperate forests|coastal uplands and a Brigalow Belt|belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland. These include the Southeast Australia temperate savanna|western plains of New South Wales, and the Einasleigh Uplands , Barkly Tableland , and Mulga Lands of inland Queensland. The northern point of the east coast is the tropical rainforested Cape York Peninsula .

The landscapes of the northern part of the country—the Top End and the Gulf Country behind the Gulf of Carpentaria , with their tropical climate—consist of woodland , grassland , and desert. At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of Kimberley (Western Australia)|The Kimberley , and below that the Pilbara . South and inland of these lie more areas of grassland: the Ord Victoria Plain and the Western Australian Mulga shrublands . At the heart of the country are the Central Ranges xeric scrub|uplands of central Australia ; prominent features of the centre and south include the inland Simpson Desert|Simpson , Tirari-Sturt stony desert|Tirari and Sturt Stony , Gibson Desert|Gibson , Great Sandy-Tanami desert|Great Sandy, Tanami , and Great Victoria Desert|Great Victoria deserts, with the famous Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast.

The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation , which is correlated with periodic Drought in Australia|drought , and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclone s in northern Australia. These factors induce rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical predominantly summer rainfall (monsoon) climate. The Southwest corner of Western Australia|southwest corner of the country has a Mediterranean climate . Much of the southeast (including Tasmania) is temperate.

Environment

Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine climate|alpine heaths to tropical rainforest s, and is recognised as a megadiverse countries|megadiverse country . Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota (ecology)|biota is unique and diverse. About 85 per cent of flowering plants, 84 per cent of mammals, more than 45 per cent of List of birds of Australia|birds , and 89 per cent of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemism|endemic . Australia has the greatest number of reptiles of any country, with 755 species.

Forests of Australia|Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions, Acacia|wattles replace them in drier regions and deserts as the most dominant species. Among well-known fauna of Australia|Australian fauna are the monotreme s (the platypus and echidna ); a host of marsupial s, including the kangaroo , koala , and wombat , and birds such as the emu and the kookaburra . Australia is home to Animal attacks in Australia|many dangerous animals including some of the most venomous snakes in the world."Snake Bite", . The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 Common Era|BCE .Savolainen, P. et al. 2004. A detailed picture of the origin of the Australian dingo, obtained from the study of mitochondrial DNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 101:12387–12390 PMID. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna ; others have disappeared since European settlement, among them the thylacine .

Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and Invasive species in Australia|introduced plant and animal species. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is the legal framework for the protection of threatened species. Numerous Protected areas of Australia|protected areas have been created under the Biodiversity Action Plan|National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 65 wetland s are List of Ramsar sites in Australia|listed under the Ramsar Convention , and 16 natural World Heritage Site s have been established. Australia was ranked 51st of 163 countries in the world on the 2010 Environmental Performance Index .

Climate change in Australia|Climate change has become an increasing concern in Australia in recent years, and protection of the environment is a major political issue., Australian State of the Environment Committee, 2006., Australian National University . Retrieved on 8 January 2008. In 2007, the Rudd Government signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol . Nevertheless, Australia's List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita|carbon dioxide emissions per capita are among the highest in the world, lower than those of only a few other industrialised nations. Rainfall in Australia has slightly increased over the past century, both nationwide and for two quadrants of the nation, According to the Bureau of Meteorology 's 2011 Australian Climate Statement, Australia had lower than average temperatures in 2011 as a consequence of a La Nina weather pattern, however, "the country's 10-year average continues to demonstrate the rising trend in temperatures, with 2002-2011 likely to rank in the top two warmest 10-year periods on record for Australia, at 0.52 °C above the long-term average". Water restrictions in Australia|Water restrictions are frequently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages due to urban population increases and localised Drought in Australia|drought . Throughout much of the continent, Floods in Australia|major flooding regularly follows extended periods of Drought in Australia|drought , flushing out inland river systems, overflowing dams and inundating large inland flood plains, as occurred throughout Eastern Australia in 2010, 2011 and 2012 after the 2000s Australian drought .

Economy

Australia has a market economy with high GDP per capita and a low rate of poverty. The Australian dollar is the currency for the nation, including Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Islands|Pacific Island states of Kiribati , Nauru , and Tuvalu . After the 2006 merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange is now the ninth largest in the world.

Ranked third in the Index of Economic Freedom (2010), Australia is the List of countries by GDP (nominal)|world's thirteenth largest economy and has the List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|fifth highest per capita GDP (nominal) at $66,984. The country was ranked second in the United Nations 2011 Human Development Index and first in Legatum Institute|Legatum 's 2008 Legatum Prosperity Index|Prosperity Index . All of Australia's major cities fare well in global comparative livability surveys; Melbourne reached first place on The Economist 's 2011 World's Most Livable Cities list, followed by Sydney, Perth, and Adelaide in sixth, eighth, and ninth place respectively. Total government debt in Australia is about $190 billion - 20% of GDP in 2010. Australia has among the highest house prices and some of the highest household debt levels in the world.

An emphasis on exporting commodities rather than manufactured goods has underpinned a significant increase in Australia's terms of trade since the start of the 21st century, due to rising commodity prices. Australia's balance of payments|Australia has a balance of payments that is more than 7 per cent of GDP negative, and has had persistently large current account deficits for more than 50 years. Australia has grown at an average annual rate of 3.6 per cent for over 15 years, in comparison to the OECD annual average of 2.5 per cent. There are differing opinions based on evidence as to whether or not Australia had been one of the few OECD nations to avoid experiencing a recession during the Late-2000s recession|late 2000s global financial downturn . Six of Australia's major trading partners had been in recession which in turn affected Australia, and economic growth was hampered significantly over recent years.

The Bob Hawke|Hawke Government Floating exchange rate|floated the Australian dollar in 1983 and partially deregulated the financial system. The Howard Government followed with a WorkChoices|partial deregulation of the labour market and the further privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications in Australia|telecommunications industry. The indirect tax system was substantially changed in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10 per cent Goods and Services Tax (Australia)|Goods and Services Tax (GST). In Taxation in Australia|Australia's tax system , personal and company Income tax in Australia|income tax are the main sources of government revenue.

In July 2011, there were 11,450,500& nbsp;people employed, with an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent.Australian Bureau of Statistics. 6202.0 – Labour Force, Australia, Jul 2011 Youth unemployment (15–24) rose from 8.7 per cent to 9.7 per cent over 2008–2009. Over the past decade, inflation has typically been 2–3 per cent and the base interest rate 5–6 per cent. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, accounts for about 70 per cent of GDP. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, particularly wheat and wool, minerals such as iron-ore and gold, and energy in the forms of liquified natural gas and coal. Although Agriculture in Australia|agriculture and natural resources account for only 3 per cent and 5 per cent of GDP respectively, they contribute substantially to export performance. Australia's largest export markets are Japan, China , the US, South Korea, and New Zealand.Australian Bureau of Statistics. . Australia is the world's fourth largest exporter of wine, in an industry contributing $5.5 billion per annum to the nation's economy.

Demography

For almost two centuries the majority of settlers, and later immigrants, came from the British Isles. As a result the people of Australia are mainly a mixture of British and Irish ethnic origin. In the 2006 Australian census, the most commonly nominated ancestry was Australian (37.13 per cent),The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that most who list "Australian" as their ancestry are part of the Anglo-Celtic Australian|Anglo-Celtic group. followed by English Australian|English (32 per cent), Irish Australian|Irish (9 per cent), Scottish Australian|Scottish (8 per cent), Italian Australian|Italian (4 per cent), German Australian|German (4 per cent), Chinese Australian|Chinese (3 per cent), and Greek Australian|Greek (2 per cent).

Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I, much of the increase from Immigration to Australia|immigration . Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9& nbsp;million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants, meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born in another country. Most immigrants are skilled, but the immigration quota includes categories for family members and refugee s. By 2050, Australia's population is currently projected to reach around 42 million."". News.com.au. 17 April 2010

In 2005, 24% of Australians were born elsewhere; the five largest immigrant groups were those from the Anglo-Celtic Australian|United Kingdom , New Zealand, Italy, Vietnamese Australian|Vietnam , and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism . In 2005–06, more than 131,000& nbsp;people emigrated to Australia, mainly from Asia and Oceania . The migration target for 2010–11 is 168,700, compared to 67,900 in 1998–99."". Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

The Indigenous population—mainland Indigenous Australians|Aborigines and Torres Strait Islands|Torres Strait Islanders —was counted at 410,003 (2.2 per cent of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from 115,953 in the 1976 census. A large number of Indigenous people are not identified in the Census due to undercount and cases where their Indigenous status is not recorded on the form; after adjusting for these factors, the ABS estimated the true figure for 2001 to be around 460,140 (2.4 per cent of the total population).

Indigenous Australians experience higher than average rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education, and life expectancies for males and females that are 11–17 years lower than those of non-indigenous Australians. Some remote Indigenous communities have been described as having " failed state "-like conditions.

In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2004, the Population pyramid|average age of the civilian population was 38.8 years.Parliament of Australia, Parliamentary Library (2005). . A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03)Parliament of Australia, Senate (2005). . live outside their home country.

Language

Although Australia has no official language, English language|English is so entrenched that it has become the de facto national language. "English has no de jure status but it is so entrenched as the common language that it is de facto the official language as well as the national language." Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon. General Australian serves as the standard dialect. Spelling is similar to that of British English with a number of exceptions. According to the 2006 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 79 per cent of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Italian (1.6 per cent), Greek (1.3 per cent) and Cantonese (1.2 per cent); a considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. A 2010–2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found that the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic, followed by Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese, and Hindi. Agence France-Presse / Jiji Press , "Arabic Australia's second language", Japan Times , 16 April 2011, p. 4.

Between 200 and 300 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact, of which only about 70 have survived. Many of these are exclusively spoken by older people; only 18 Indigenous languages are still spoken by all age groups. At the time of the 2006 Census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12 per cent of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan , which is the main language of about 5,500 deaf people.

Religion

Australia has no state religion , and section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the Federal Government of Australia|federal government from making any law to establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion. In the 2006 census, 64 per cent of Australians were counted as Christian , including 26 per cent as Roman Catholicism in Australia|Roman Catholic and 19 per cent as Anglican Communion|Anglican . About 19 per cent of the population stated " Irreligion in Australia|no religion " (which includes secular humanism|humanism , atheism , agnosticism and rationalism ), which was the fastest-growing group from 2001 to 2006, and a further 12 per cent did not answer (the question is optional) or did not give a response adequate for interpretation. The largest non-Christian religion in Australia is Buddhism (2.1 per cent), followed by Islam (1.7 per cent), Hinduism (0.8 per cent) and Judaism (0.5 per cent). Overall, fewer than 6 per cent of Australians identify with non-Christian religions. (See subsection titled "Religion").

Prior to European settlement in Australia, the animist beliefs of Australia's indigenous people had been practised for millennia. In the case of mainland Aboriginal Australians , their spirituality is known as Dreamtime (mythology)|The Dreamtime and it places a heavy emphasis on belonging to the land. The collection of stories that it contains shaped Aboriginal law and customs. Aboriginal art , story and dance continue to draw on these spiritual traditions. In the case of the Torres Strait Islanders who inhabit the islands between Australia and New Guinea, spirituality and customs reflected their Melanesian origins and dependence on the sea. The 1996 Australian census counted more than 7000 respondents as followers of a traditional Aboriginal religion.

Since the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships in 1788, Christianity has grown to be the major religion. Consequently, the Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter are public holidays, the skylines of Australian cities and towns are marked by church and cathedral spires, and the Christian churches have played an integral role in the development of education, health and welfare services in Australia. The Catholic education system operates as the largest non-government educator, accounting for about 21% of all secondary enrolments at the close of the 2000s (decade), with Catholic Health Australia similarly being the largest non-government provider. Christian welfare organisations also play a prominent role within national life, with organisations like the Salvation Army , St Vincent de Paul Society and Anglicare enjoying widespread support. Such contributions are recognised on Australia's currency, with the presence of Christian pastors like Aboriginal writer David Unaipon ($50); founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service , John Flynn (minister)|John Flynn ($20); and Catherine Helen Spence ($5) who was Australia's first female candidate for political office. Other significant Australian religious figures have included St. Mary McKillop , who became the first Australian to be recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 2010 and Churches of Christ in Australia|Church of Christ pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls , who, like Martin Luther King in the United States, led a movement against racial inequality in Australia and was also the first indigenous Australian to be appointed as a State Governor.

For much of Australian history the Church of England (now known as the Anglican Church of Australia ) was the largest religious affiliation, however multicultural immigration has contributed to a decline in its relative position, with the Roman Catholicism in Australia|Roman Catholic Church benefiting from the opening of post-war Australia to multicultural immigration and becoming the largest group. Similarly, Islam in Australia|Islam , Buddhism in Australia|Buddhism , Hinduism in Australia|Hinduism and History of the Jews in Australia|Judaism have all been expanding in the post war decades. Weekly attendance at church services in 2001 was about 1.5 million, National Church Life Survey, Media release, 28 February 2004. (about 7.8 per cent of the population).Australian population in 2001 was 19,358,000, according to Encyclopædia Britannica 's Book of the Year 2002, World Data, p548.

An international survey, made by the private, not-for profit Germany|German think-tank, the Bertelsmann Foundation , found that "Australia is one of the least religious nations in the western world, coming in 17th out of 21 surveyed" and that "Nearly three out of four Australians say they are either not at all religious or that religion does not play a central role in their lives." – mentioned in the last two sentences of article A survey of 1,718 Australians by the Christian Research Association at the end of 2009 suggested that the number of people attending religious services per month in Australia has dropped from 23 per cent in 1993 to 16 per cent in 2009, and while 60 per cent of 15 to 29-year-old respondents in 1993 identified with Christian denominations, 33 per cent did in 2009.

Education

School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia. Education is the responsibility of the individual states and territories so the rules vary between states, but in general children are required to attend school from the age of about 5 up until about 16. In at least some states (eg, WA) children aged 16–17 are required to either attend school or participate in vocational training, such as an apprenticeship .

Australia has an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99 per cent. In the Programme for International Student Assessment , Australia regularly scores among the top five of thirty major developed countries (member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ). Catholic education in Australia|Catholic education accounts for the largest non-government sector.

Australia has 37 government-funded universities and two private universities, as well as a number of other specialist institutions that provide approved courses at the higher education level. The University of Sydney is Australia's oldest university, having been founded in 1850, followed by the University of Melbourne three years later. Other notable universities include those of the Group of Eight (Australian universities)|Group of Eight leading tertiary institutions, including the University of Adelaide (which boasts an association with five Nobel Laureates ), the Australian National University located in the national capital of Canberra, Monash University and the University of New South Wales .

The OECD places Australia among the most expensive nations to attend university. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/44/35/37376068.pdf There is a state-based system of vocational training, known as Technical and further education|TAFE , and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58 per cent of Australians aged from 25 to 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications, and the tertiary graduation rate of 49 per cent is the highest among OECD countries. The ratio of international to local students in tertiary education in Australia is the highest in the OECD countries. by OECD: Percentage of foreign students in tertiary education.

Health

Life expectancy in Australia in 2006 was 78.7 years for males and 83.5 years for females. Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, while cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease. The National Tobacco Campaign. Retrieved 17 October 2007. Australia has one of the Obesity in Australia|highest proportions of overweight citizens among Developed country|developed nations .

Total expenditure on health (including private sector spending) is around 9.8 per cent of GDP. Australia introduced universal health care in 1975. Known as Medicare (Australia)|Medicare it is now nominally funded by an income tax surcharge known as the Medicare levy , currently set at 1.5 per cent. The states manage hospitals and attached outpatient services, while the Commonwealth funds the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (reducing the costs of medicines) and general practice.

Culture

Since 1788, the basis of Australian culture has been strongly influenced by Anglo-Celtic Western culture .Jupp, pp. 796–802.Teo and White, pp. 118–20. Distinctive cultural features have also arisen from Australia's natural environment and Indigenous cultures.Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 98–99.Teo and White, pp. 125–27. Since the mid-20th century, Culture of the United States|American popular culture has strongly influenced Australia, particularly through television and cinema.Teo and White, pp. 121–23. Other cultural influences come from neighbouring Asian countries, and through large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking nations.Jupp, pp. 808–12, 74–77.

Arts

Visual arts of Australia|Australian visual arts are thought to have begun with the cave painting|cave and bark painting s of its Indigenous peoples. The traditions of Indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally, through ceremony and the telling of Dreamtime stories. From the time of European settlement, a theme in Visual arts of Australia|Australian art has been the natural landscape, seen for example in the works of Albert Namatjira ,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 452. Arthur Streeton and others associated with the Heidelberg School , and Arthur Boyd .Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 85.

The country's landscape remains a source of inspiration for Australian modernist artists; it has been depicted in acclaimed works by the likes of Sidney Nolan ,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 469–70. Fred Williams ,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 686–87. Sydney Long ,Smith and Smith, pp. 97–103. and Clifton Pugh .Smith and Smith, pp. 323–28, 407–08. Australian artists influenced by modern American and European art include cubist Grace Crowley ,Smith and Smith, pp. 208–12. surrealist James Gleeson ,Smith and Smith, pp. 226–233. and pop art ist Martin Sharp .Smith and Smith, pp. 397–403. Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the only art movement of international significance to emerge from AustraliaMichael Pickering, "Sand, seed, hair and paint", in Johnson 2007, p. 1. and "the last great art movement of the 20th century"; its exponents have included Emily Kngwarreye .McCulloch et al. , p. 88.Terry Smith, 'Kngwarreye Woman, Abstract Painter', in Emily Kngwarreye& nbsp;– Paintings , p. 24. Art critic Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes has written several influential books about Australian history and art, and was described as the "world's most famous art critic" by The New York Times . The National Gallery of Australia and state galleries maintain Australian and overseas collections.Germaine, pp. 756–58, 796–97, 809–10, 814–15, 819–20, 826–27, 829–30. Australia has one of the world's highest attendances of art galleries and museums per head of population—far more than Britain or America.Ron Radford, Director of the National Gallery of Australia , quoted in

Many of Australia's performing arts companies receive funding through the federal government's Australia Council for the Arts|Australia Council . There is a symphony orchestra in each state, and a national opera company, Opera Australia , well-known for its famous soprano Joan Sutherland . At the turn of the 19th to 20th century, Nellie Melba was one of the world's leading opera singers. Ballet and dance are represented by The Australian Ballet and various state companies. Each state has a publicly funded theatre company.

Australian literature has also been influenced by the landscape; the works of writers such as Banjo Paterson , Henry Lawson , and Dorothea Mackellar captured the experience of the Australian The Bush|bush .Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 381–82, 393–94, 404, 496–497. The character of the nation's colonial past, as represented in early literature, is popular with modern Australians. In 1973, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature ,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 683. the first Australian to have achieved this. Australian winners of the Man Booker Prize have included Peter Carey (novelist)|Peter Carey and Thomas Keneally ; David Williamson , David Malouf , and J. M. Coetzee , who recently became an Australian citizen, are also renowned writers,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, p. 394. and Les Murray (poet)|Les Murray is regarded as "one of the leading poets of his generation".

Media

The Cinema of Australia|Australian cinema industry began with the 1906 release of The Story of the Kelly Gang , which is regarded as being the world's first feature length|feature-length film; but both Australian feature film production and the distribution of British-made features declined dramatically after World War I as American studios and distributors monopolised the industry, and by the 1930s around 95 per cent of the feature films screened in Australia were produced in Hollywood . By the late 1950s feature film production in Australia had effectively ceased and there were no all-Australian feature films made in the decade between 1959 and 1969.

Thanks to initiatives by the John Gorton|Gorton and Gough Whitlam|Whitlam federal governments, the Australian New Wave|New Wave of Australian cinema of the 1970s brought provocative and successful films, some exploring the nation's colonial past, such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Breaker Morant (film)|Breaker Morant ,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 252–53. while the so-called " Ocker " genre produced several highly successful urban-based comedy features including The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and Alvin Purple . Later hits included Mad Max and Gallipoli (1981 film)|Gallipoli . More recent successes included Shine (film)|Shine and Rabbit-Proof Fence (film)|Rabbit-Proof Fence . Notable Australian actors include Judith Anderson , Errol Flynn , Nicole Kidman , Hugh Jackman , Heath Ledger , Geoffrey Rush , and Cate Blanchett —current joint director of the Sydney Theatre Company .

Australia has two public broadcasters (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the multicultural Special Broadcasting Service ), three commercial television networks, several pay-TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Each major city has at least one daily newspaper, and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review . In 2010, Reporters Without Borders placed Australia 18th on a list of 178 countries ranked by freedom of the press|press freedom , behind New Zealand (8th) but ahead of the United Kingdom (19th) and United States (20th). This relatively low ranking is primarily because of the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia;Barr, Trevor. "", australianpolitics.com. Retrieved on 2 January 2008. most print media are under the control of News Corporation and Fairfax Media .

Cuisine

The food of Indigenous Australians was largely influenced by the area in which they lived. Most tribal groups subsisted on a simple hunter-gatherer diet , hunting native game and fish and collecting native plants and fruit. The general term for native Australian flora and Australian fauna|fauna used as a source of food is bush tucker . The First Fleet|first settlers introduced British cuisine|British food to the continent which much of what is now considered typical Australian food is based on the Sunday roast has become an enduring tradition for many Australians. Since the beginning of the 20th century, food in Australia has increasingly been influenced by immigrants to the nation, particularly from Southern European and Culture of Asia|Asian cultures . Australian wine is produced in 60 distinct production areas totaling approximately 160,000 hectares, mainly in the southern, cooler parts of the country. The wine regions in each of these states produce different wine varieties and styles that take advantage of local climates and soil types. The predominant varieties are Syrah|Shiraz , Cabernet Sauvignon , Chardonnay , Merlot , Sémillon , Pinot noir , Riesling , and Sauvignon blanc .T. Stevenson ''"The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia"'' Dorling Kindersley 2005 ISBN 0-7566-1324-8 In 1995, an Australian red wine, Penfolds Grange , won the Wine Spectator award for Wine of the Year, the first time a wine from outside France or California achieved this distinction.

Sport

Around 24 per cent Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities in Australia. Australia has strong international teams in Cricket in Australia|cricket , field hockey , Netball Australia|netball , Rugby League in Australia|rugby league , and Rugby Union in Australia|rugby union , having been Olympic or world champions at least twice in each sport in the last 25 years for both men and women where applicable. Australia is also powerful in track cycling, rowing (sport)|rowing , and swimming, having consistently been in the top-five medal-winners at Olympic or World Championship level since 2000. Swimming is the strongest of these sports; Australia is the second-most prolific medal winner in the sport in Olympic history.

Some of Australia's most internationally well-known and successful sportspeople are swimmers Dawn Fraser , Murray Rose , Shane Gould , and Ian Thorpe ; sprinters Shirley Strickland , Betty Cuthbert , and Cathy Freeman ; tennis players Rod Laver , Roy Emerson , Ken Rosewall , Evonne Goolagong , and Margaret Court ; cricketers Donald Bradman and Shane Warne ; three-time Formula One world champion Jack Brabham ; five-time motorcycle grand prix world champion Mick Doohan ; golfers Greg Norman and Karrie Webb ; cyclist Hubert Opperman , prodigious billiards player Walter Lindrum . and basketball player Andrew Bogut . Nationally, other popular sports include Australian rules football , horse racing, squash, surfing, soccer, and motor racing. The annual Melbourne Cup horse race and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race|Sydney to Hobart yacht race attract intense interest.

Australia has participated in every summer Olympics of the modern era, and every Commonwealth Games . Australia hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney,Davison, Hirst and Macintyre, pp. 479–480. and has ranked among the top six medal-takers since 2000. Australia has also hosted the 1938 British Empire Games|1938 , 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games|1962 , 1982 Commonwealth Games|1982 , 2006 Commonwealth Games and will host the 2018 Commonwealth Games . Other major international events held in Australia include the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam (tennis)|grand slam tournament, international cricket matches, and the Australian Grand Prix|Australian Formula One Grand Prix . Sydney hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup and the annual Australia–New Zealand Bledisloe Cup is keenly watched. The highest-rating television programs include sports telecasts such as the summer Olympics, FIFA World Cup, Rugby League State of Origin , and the grand final s of the National Rugby League and Australian Football League ."Australian Film Commission. What are Australians Watching? " . Skiing in Australia began in the 1860s and snow sports take place in the Australian Alps and parts of Tasmania .

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