Australia!

[Cinderpelt]

So I'm doing my history graduation project on Australia. We could do it on any country we wanted, and I picked good old Aussie cause that's where me and my best friend Emily are going to move some day. (I live in the United States for those of you who don't know that.)

There's a lot of this I'm going to have to research myself (like how much it will cost for me to go there, travel arrangements, etc) but I was hoping you TamaTalkers from Australia could help me out with some of the other stuff.

Some stuff that would be great to hear about would be major tourist attractions in Australia, key phrases/slang that would important for a non-Aussie to know while navigating the country, facts about the government... typical family life, amount of schooling required, what a typical neighbor hood is like, extra curricular activities, local and national cultures, religions, etc.

I'm already going to talk about Sam Koster in my paper and include him as one of my "attractions," so don't worry. xD And I'm going to talk about the Sydney Opera House and the Great Coral Reef too I think.

So basically for those of you who live in Australia (and maybe those of you who don't, whatever), could you tell me everything interesting about Australia? I'd love to hear about it and maybe quote some of you guys in my essay.

Thanks!

 

[ParamoreLayla]

Hmm, well...I can't think of anything at the moment though I do live in Australia.

Typical school times for most primary schools is 8/9-3 o'clock. We don't have junior high either, after Year Six we go up to high school, which is Year 7.

You could always research some national parks and include them.

 

[x.P O K E R F A C E]

Fact: We DON'T run into our backyards, catch a kangaroo, bring it in, barbeque it and eat it.

One common misconception people have of Aussies.

Put that in. xD

 

[x.Cant//Knit.x]

I'm from Aussie!

Layla, in other parts of Australia, you actually go up to High School in Year Eight.

Like here in Adelaide we start High School in Year Eight (where I am right nooow!)

So, another major 'attraction' would be Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. Although it does attract tourists, its still mainly a part of Australia and the Aboriginal culture (everything should be explained in the Wiki article up there) It's actually pretty much the middle of the whole of Australia Oh how I wanna go there D:

Twelve years is usually the amount of schooling required. Although in some cases people drop out of school and all but that's nothing to worry about. We have two schooling systems; Primary and Secondary. Primary is years Reception (which is basically the ''get-to-know-the-school'' year for kids who've just finished kindergarten), to Year Six/Seven. High School starts in Year Six/Seven, again depending on where you live, and goes up until Year Twelve.

I'm not too sure about many Aussie phrases. Often those are only used around the country parts of Australia; for example, the term ''sheila'' can be used as another word for ''woman'', but you don't really see all that many people just walking around the streets calling every woman they see a sheila. Its generally an outback thing. Then of course there's the good ol' ''G'day Mate'' which like everybody knows about. If you're desperate to know more then Google is your friend

Neighborhoods vary. It depends on where you live really. There can be very posh suburbs, yet also suburbs where its generally not a very nice place to live (you know, gangs, graffiti, druggies, etc..) I live in a place where it's a mixture. Not the best place to live but atleast it's safe and close to all facilities and such.

I'm almost positive the main religion here is Christianity, but as Australia's multiculturalism increases, its variety of religions and cultures does too. You can't really go out anywhere without seeing someone who isn't Australian or doesn't have English as a second language. I have plenty of friends who aren't exactly Australian or Christian, but they still get along with everybody else and live the average Australian lifestyle

I'm not quite sure about politics and the Government, I don't follow all that stuff D: Again, there's a Wiki article on that right here.

Aaaah, hope I atleast covered the basics.

Good luck with your assignment, Katie! ~

 

[samtchi]

Yeah. The guys from Australia are usually the guys who are on at night in America because it's day for us.

And we don't go loving kangaroos like a god or something!

You should put down the Sydney Opera house, it's in New South Wales, near the East Coast of Australia.

 

[Cinderpelt]

Thanks a lot everyone, especially Ksenia! This helps a lot

 

[Penguins.]

I did a project on Australia last year too! Coincidence!

I had to focus on GRACEFELE.

government

religion

architecture

clothing

economy

food

entertainment

language

education

our 9? aspects if culture. Yeah. I'm too lazy to count.

I used the Queen as the figurehead.

Language: English, obviously.

Entertainment: Sydney Opera House (also architecture) and sports such as cricket.

Food: Vegemite. Aha. Which personally I can't stand.

There's more, but I can't think much. But yeah, the wiki on the country is GREAT.

Use it! You can validify all with a quick google search, but really, who honestly edits articles?

 

[monkeez_cutiez]

Fact: We DON'T run into our backyards, catch a kangaroo, bring it in, barbeque it and eat it.One common misconception people have of Aussies.

Put that in. xD

Another fact, we don't have kangaroos hopping down the main streets of out cities!

I live in Perth so I will focus on Perth, but can give you tourist attractions from other states.

Sydney: Obviously the Harbor Bridge. That's a biggie

Now for Perth. King's Park is great, it's full to the brim with war memorials and massive playgrounds. It covers heaps of hectares, because it's massive!!!!! Another good attraction is The Gap and The Natural Bridge in Albany.

https://www.totaltravel.com.au/photos/frede...storm-large.jpg the gap.

that's the gap on a windy day and heres the fascinating part. standing on the lookout, it's about a 70 metre drop. On a gusty day, the spray comes all the way up to the lookout.

The Natural Bridge is literally a bridge made of rock. It just formed naturally over thousands of years. The Gap and The Natural Bridge are about 30 metres apart so you can see both in 10 minutes. I crossed the bridge and man its scary. The coastline that the gap and the natural bridge sit on used to be attached to Antarctica. Here's a pic of the natural bridge.

https://images.travelpod.com/users/feeling_...ural-bridge.jpg the natural bridge.

A man called Stephen Matthews was swept off of the bridge one night and the CheynesIII (Albany's old whale chaser) saved him as he was about to be swept into the gap. trust me, if you get swept in there, you will probably be killed. Look him up, you will get some good info.

I hope you can use that in your assignment! If you need more, I'm brimming with info so just PM me!

 

[SimTama]

Yeah, we don't speak like Steve Irwin, wear those cork hats, don't always live in the bush, it's not always hot and we don't ride kangaroos to school. There's some facts I can give you xD

 

[monkeez_cutiez]

yeah. King George Sound (again, in albany) was where the aussie ships left for gallipoli. its really beautiful down there

 

[) . s i d d l e . (]

Food: Vegemite. Aha. Which personally I can't stand.

Its not supposed to be smeared all over bread like some sort of chocolate XD

I think it tastes nice with butter on bread

Quick overview of Aus:

-6 states, 2 territories (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania.)

-Labor gov. (I think...)

-Our PM is Kevin Rudd who was elected in November 2007.

-Christianity is the main, but other religions are also common with Australia becoming more multicultural every year.

-Clothing - we don't wear cork hats and khaki shorts like Steve Irwin. We dress just like anyone else. But in the summer thongs (flip flops), singlets and board shorts are common.

-Best tourist attractions are Sydney Opera House, The Great Barrier Reef, Uluru (Ayers Rock), Bondi Beach. There are way more but I'm in kind of a hurry.

-Our flag has the Union Jack, the southern cross and a star called The Commonwealth Star.

-Main sports - rugby league, aussie rules (AFL), cricket, depending on which part of Australia you're in.

-We eat anything, seriously. There's no stereotypical Australian food.

-English is the main language.

-Primary school starts the year the child turns 6, and they stay in primary school until they graduate at the end of grade 7. They then move on to high school in grade 8, and graduate at the end of grade 12 (in Queensland anyway) There's also a prep thing, but I don't know enough about it.

Useless information:

-A learners driving licence can be obtained when someone is 16 and a half (I think...)

-We drive on the left side of the road.

-We don't ride kangaroos to school.

-Our national emblem has the emu and kangaroo on it. They are there because they are the only native animals that can't walk backwards.

-Our deputy PM is female, and two of the state ministers are female too.

-We are in the +8, +9 and +10 timezones.

-The majority of our population doesn't say 'mate' very often (alteast that's what I've found)

-Some of the nicknames we give people are silly. For example, a red head could be nicknamed 'Bluey' and a huge guy called 'Tiny'.

-I've heard someone say "sorry, I don't speak Australian,". There is no difference between our language and English.

-Australia is the biggest producer of wool. Not New Zealand, dispite the sheep jokes.

-Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia. Go there and you'll see bull statues every 100 metres on the main road.

-There's an average of three people per square kilometre, but that's only because the centre of the country is desert. The coastlines are packed.

 

[monkeez_cutiez]

Just Pm me Cinder if you need any info about stuff in the southern part of WA. There are heaps o fplaces I could give you some juicy info about.