Its full name is Commonwealth of Australia . Australia is the only continent except Antarctica that is all south of the equator . Its name is ´´´southland´´. Since it is south of equator, its seasons are just the opposite of ours . Sometimes Australia is called the island continent . Two hundred years ago there were no white people in Australia . The only inhabitants were dark-skinned people who were still living in a Stone Age . Their only weapons were stone knives, simple spears, and boomerangs . For food they hunted and fished and gathered wild fruits and nuts . Dutch sailors stopped at several places on the northern and western coasts in the 1600s . They brought back word that the land was ´´ of very little use ´´ . There is a great desert in Australia, and comes down to the sea on the western and southern coasts . William Dampier was the first Englishman to reach Australia . But Captain James Cook´s explorations of the southeast coast in 1770 were more important
Fauna and flora Historically, 46 species of native mammals are known to have been living in the Uluru region; according to recent surveys there are currently 21. The park has a very rich reptile fauna,about 73 species have been recorded. Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park flora represents a large portion of plants found in Central Australia. There are several rare and endangered species in the park. Trees such as the Mulga and Cenralian Bloodwood are used to make tools such as spearheads, boomerangs and bowls. The red sap of the bloodwood is used as a disinfectant and an inhalant for coughs and colds. Climate and seasons The park receives an average rainfall of 307.7 mm per year, and average temperatures are 37.8 °C in the summer and 4.7 °C in the winter. Temperature extremes in the park have been recorded at 45 °C during the summer and -5 °C during winter nights. Local Aboriginal people recognise five seasons: 1. Piriyakutu (August/September) - Animals breed and
It is mostly temperate, but one third of the continent is tropical, and there are large desert areas. The two largest cities are Sydney and Melbourne. The capital of Australia is Canberra. It is a small city and was built in the early 1900s. History. Two hundred years ago there were no white people in Australia. The only inhabitants were dark-skinned people who were still living in a Stone Age. Their only weapons were stone knives and boomerangs. But their tribes had very well-worked- out customs. A few aborigines still live in the emptier part of the continent. In 1770, the British explorer Captain Cook raised the British flag. Cook found there a pleasant climate and beautiful forests. The British initially used Australia as a gigantic prison camp for convicts from Britain. Then other people from Britain began to settle there as well. The Aborigines were cruelly suppressed, and it is only recently that white Australians have
Most of the natural lakes are dry for months or years at a time. Lake Eyre is the largest lake in Australia and is the lowest point in Australia. It's about 15m below sea level. The biggest deserts are The Great Sandy Desert and The Victoria Desert. History Two hundred years ago there were no white people in Australia. The only inhabitants were dark-skinned people who were still living in Stone Age. Their only weapons were stone knives, simple spears and boomerangs. They raised no crops and had no herds of tame animals. For food they hunted and fished and gathered wild fruits and nuts. But their tribes had very wellworked-out customs. A few aborigines still live in the emptier part of the continent and follow the thousand-of-years-old customs of their ancestors. Dutch sailors stopped at several places on the northen and western coasts in the 1600s. They brought back word that the land was '' of very little use ''.
equatorial. The northern shores are very hot, cause being close to the equator and the northern part gets plenty of rain. The western coast is dry and barren. In most parts of Autralia rainfall is very low. History Two hundred years ago, there were no white men in Australia, except the dark-skinned native Australians, called the Aborigines. Their only weapons were stone knives, simple spears and boomerangs. They raised no crops and had no herds. For food, they hunted and fished and gathered wild fruits and nuts. But their had very well-worked-out customs. A few Aborigines still live in the emptier part of the continent and follow the thousands-of-years-old customs of their ancestors. th The discovery of Australia goes back to the 17 century
dominion status in the British Empire in 1907 and granted autonomy by Britain in 1931, independence was formally proclaimed 1947. Today the Maori population is increasing faster than the pekaha, and Maori culture has had a major impact on New Zealand's society. The word "aboriginal" means "the first" or "the earliest known". The Aborigines reached Australia more than 40 000 years ago. They are dark-skinned people who probably came from Asia. They were hunter-gatherers, using spears and boomerangs for hunting. Before the first white settlers came, there were around 300 000 aborigines in about 250 tribal groups. Each group had its own territory, traditions, beliefs and even language. The Aboriginal religion is based on dreaming, they believe in Dreamtime. They say that at the beginning of time the world was a shapeless mass of nothing, waiting to be transformed into that what we see today. Aborigines believe that they are constantly
It has summer while we have winter and the other way round. Sometimes Australia is called the island continent. There is a good reason why. It is an island. The Inhabitants Two hundred years ago there were no white people in Australia. The only inhabitants were dark-skinned people who were still living in a Stone Age. Their only weapons were stone knives, simple spears and boomerangs. They raised no crops and had no herds of tame animals. For food they hunted and fished and gathered wild fruits and nuts. But their tribes had wery well-worked-out customs. A few aborigines still live in the emptier part of the continent and follow the thousands-of-years-old customs of their ancestors. The Discovery of Australia Duch sailors stopped at several places on the northern and western coasts in the 1600s.
History Sixty million years ago Australia and its nearby islands were separated from the rest of the world by a great upheaval. They were cut off from Asia by the ocean. Almost no animals and few people visited Australia before the English colonists. The first people in Australia were the Aborigines. They came there more than 50,000 years ago. They were the only inhabitants. They were living in the Stone Age. Their only weapons were simple spears and boomerangs. They raised no crops and had no heards of tame animals. For food the hunted, fished and gathered wild fruit and nuts. Their tribes had very well worked out customs. Chinese sailors visited Australia 2,500 years ago. Australia remained unknown for Europeans until 400 years ago and no European settled there until 1788. Long before the seventeenth century, people though there was land in the southern ocean, but nobody had seen it
At a corroboree Aborigines interact with the Dreamtime through dance, music and costume. Many ceremonies act out events from the Dreamtime. Many of the ceremonies are sacred and people from outside a community are not permitted to participate or watch. The Australian Aborigines used a limited variety of implements to make musical sounds. The didgeridoo (wind instrument a bit like trumpet) is probably the best known, but others included rattles, clapping sticks and two boomerangs clapped together. However they do not appear to have used drums, flutes and whistles. The melodies, tunes, harmonies and rhythms of Aboriginal music included traditional ceremonial songs that were handed down from generation to generation. It was very important in Aboriginal thinking, to replicate the songs that had been first played and sung by the ancestors in the Dreamtime. When the traditional music and songs were used, living men considered themselves to be in the Dreamtime
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