Australia

Where is it? Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere. It lies between the Pacific and Indian oceans. It is the sixth biggest country in the world. Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and other islands form the continent Australasia.

History People have lived in Australia for around 50,000 years. The first people to live there were Aborigines. Aborigines came to Australia by boat from islands like Indonesia. The Aborigines led simple lives, surviving by fishing, hunting and gathering. HISTORY

Aborigines Aborigines invented tools like the boomerang and spear but they did not farm. Their religion is called Dreaming which has a lot of stories about how spirits created the word. Aboriginal art can still be found on the continent painted on walls and cut in to rocks. Aborigines played music and sung many songs about Dreamtime. They also had some special instruments like the Didgeridoo. HISTORY

Discovering Australia In 1606 Australia was first found by a Dutchman, Willem Janszoon. Other ships and explorers also visited Australia but most thought it was too hot and desert-like and that crops could not be grown there. It was only when James Cook, a British sailor, landed on the East of Australia that fertile land was found. He called it New South Wales and claimed it for Britain. HISTORY

Convicts Britain needed a place to send its prisoners (people who had been sent to jail for theft and crime) because the jails in England were full. In 1788, Britain sent 11 ships to Australia and the first 1500 people arrived. Many more convicts were sent to Australia (160,000 between 1788 and 1868). They didn’t have much food at first but they soon learnt to farm and build towns such as Sydney. From 1840, convict transportation stopped. HISTORY

Gold Rushes Around 1851, people realised that there was a lot of gold to be discovered in Australia. People rushed to the continent in the hope of finding gold. By 1853 many poor people had suddenly become rich! HISTORY

Sydney Opera House Sydney Opera House is Australia’s most famous landmark. It is one of the world’s most unique buildings. In 1956, a competition was launched to design the opera house and Jorn Utzon won. It wasn’t formally opened until It has several performance spaces inside and hosts many musicals, dances and theatrical performances. LANDMARKS

Uluru Uluru or Ayers Rock is a huge rock near Alice Springs. It is a holy place for Australian Aborigines. They believe that Uluru and central Australia was formed by spirits at the beginning of time. For this reason, the rock is now protected as a World Heritage site. LANDMARKS

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo island is Australia’s third largest island. It is one of the word’s most beautiful environments where wildlife thrives. It has over 300 miles of coastline and is home to: kangaroos, koalas, sea lions and wallabies. Around a third of the island is national park and this means it is protected from future developments. LANDMARKS

Climate Australia experiences a variety of different weather. There are snowy mountains in Australia where it can be really cold and then in the north-west region it can be really hot. Like Britain, they have a Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Their Summer is from December to February which means that Christmas happens in the middle of Summer. They have wet and dry seasons. In the wet season, it is known as the monsoon and this lasts from November to March. It is hotter than the dry season which causes high levels of humidity. Australia can also flood during this time. During the dry season, between April and October the temperatures are usually lower, around 20 degrees. WEATHER

Climate There are 24 million people living in Australia. The majority of the population live in urban areas (cities or towns). In 1788 the population was around 350,000 so it has increased rapidly in 300 years. POPULATION