Under the guidance of their EFL Teacher Chris Katrinis

Australia is a vast and ancient land which broke away from Antarctica. Australia is a vast and ancient land which broke away from Antarctica. The first Aborigines came to Australia during the last Ice Age. The first Aborigines came to Australia during the last Ice Age.

On April , Captain James Cook and the crew of his ship, Endeavor, landed on Botany Bay. They were the first Europeans to set foot in Australia.

Australia has 6 states and 2 territories. Its capital city is Canberra. The biggest cities in Australia are : Sidney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide. Darwin, Perth and Hobart Australia is mostly populated along the south-eastern coast

Australia’s amazing history is that the British made it a penal colony ( a large prison ). As their jails were full, the British sent their convicts to Australia in the 18th century.

The “ Gold Rush is also a big part of Australia’s history. In 1851, gold was found near a town called Bathurst. That was the beginning of a race to find gold. In ,000 people came to Australia to work in the mines and in the years that followed many more came to find their luck. That is why today there are so many people of Italian, polish, French, Hungarian and Greek origin living in Australia.

The centre of Australia is called “ The Outback “. There are 3 deserts in Australia where many deadly animals, like snakes, spiders, crocodiles and dingoes, live.

The Great white Shark lives in the oceans surrounding Australia. Strange animals like kangaroos, wombats, koalas and platypuses also live in this big country.

Australia is well known for its Merino sheep which produces the highest quality wool in the world. It is also home to the longest natural Coral Reef in the world which is called “ The Great Barrier Reef ” on the eastern coast of Queensland.

Famous landmarks are : The Sydney Opera House and the Sydney harbour Bridge …

… Uluru Rock at Kakadou National Park …

… and the Old Melbourne Jail where the famous Bushranger Ned Kelly was hanged.

Today, there are 22 million people living on this big island between the Indian and Pacific oceans. The first Greeks arrived in Australia in 1829 from the island of Hydra. There are more than 250,000 people of Greek origin living in Melbourne, today.