An Introduction to
Society and Culture of
Australia, New Zealand and Canada
澳新加社会文化
国家哲学社会科学项目
“英语专业基础阶段内容依托式教学改革
研究”项目组 编
1
Contents
Australia.............................................................................................................1
Unit 1 An Introduction to Australia’s Land and History.......................1
Text A The Geographical Features of Australia…………………………...2
Text B Australia’s Early History…………………………………………..5
Text C My Home in Victoria………………………...………….………..11
Text D Modern History of Australia……………………………………..11
Unit 2 Government and Political System in Australia .........................19
Text A Australia’s Government and Political System……………………20
Text B Kangaroo on the Australian Coat of Arms………………………25
Text C Australian Electoral System……………………………………..28
Unit 3 National Economy and Social Welfare System..........................39
Text A Economic Diversity in Australia………………………………...39
Text B Australia’s Welfare System……………….…………...……….42
Text C Medicare in Australia……………………………..….………...48
Unit 4 Education in Australia.................................................................55
Text A Education in Australia……………………………………………56
Text B Education System in China………………………………………61
Text C The Internationalization of Education in Australia………………66
Unit 5 Understanding Australian Character ........................................75
Text A The Australian Character…………………………………………75
Text B The Spirit of Australia…………………………………………...82.
Text C Australian Indigenous People: An Overview…………………….85
Unit 6 Cultural Life in Australia............................................................93
Text A Daily Life and Social Customs in Australia……………...………94
Text B Sports and Recreation……………………………………………97
Text C Arts in Australia…………………………………………………102
Canada ...........................................................................................................107
Unit 7 History and Political System.....................................................109
Text A Canada's Early History……………………..………………… ..110
Text B Canadian Government…………………………….…………….114
Text C Canadian Justice………………………………………………..120
Unit 8 Canadian National Economy ....................................................126
Text A Canadian Economic Sectors………………..……..…………….126
Text B The Influence of U.S. Economy……………………..………….134
Text C The Internationalization of Canadian Economy………..……….140
Unit 9 Racial Diversity in Canada .......................................................146
Text A People of Canada……………………………………………….146
Text B A Nation with Dual Identities…………………………………..154
Text C Cultural Diversity in Canada…………………………………...158
Unit 10 Education and Literature........................................................163
Text A Education in Canada…………………………..……..………….163
Text B Canadian Literature ………………………………….………... 166
Text C Schools in Canada………………………………….……….…..172
Text D Famous Canadian writers……………………….………………176
Unit 11 Sport and Holiday in Canada .................................................180
Text A Sports in Canada…………………………………..…………….180
Text B Canadian Holidays……………………………………………..184
Text C Spending Holidays in Canada………………….……………….190
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New Zealand ..................................................................................................196
Unit 12 History of New Zealand…………………………………...…197
Text A A Country with a British Past……………...……….…………..197
Text B The Contribution of Mori People………………….……………202
Text C The Modern Development of New Zealand………. ..…………208
Unit 13 People in New Zealand…………………………….….……..215
Text A Racial Diversity in New Zealand…………………..……….….215
Text B Cultural Diversity…………………………………..……….….219
Text C Indigenous People and Their Position in the Country………....228
Unit 14 Political System and Economy................................................234
Text A New Zealand's Political System ………………….…………….234
Text B National Economy………………………………….……..……239
Text C Environmental Protection in New Zealand……………….……245
Unit 15 Cultural Life and Sports in New Zealand…………………252
Text A Manners and Ways of Life in New Zealand………….………...252
Text B Sports in New Zealand…………………………………………257
Text C Festivals and Leisure activities in New Zealand………...……..264
Appendix 1: Key to Exercise……………………………………….………272
Appendix 2: Major References…………………………………………….287
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Australia
Unit 1
An Introduction to Australia’s Land and History
Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today,
it is already tomorrow in Australia.
—— Charles M. Schulz
Unit Goals
z To be familiar with the natural environment of Australia.
z To have a better understanding of the distinctive features of the land.
z To be familiar with the colonial time and the modern history of
Australia.
z To learn useful geographical and historical terms.
z To learn the useful words and expressions that describe Australia’s
land and history.
Before You Read
1. Which of the following countries did not used to be Britain’s
overseas colony?
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A.
B.
C.
D.
2. What can you infer from the following facts about Australia?
a. Around 24% of Australia's residents were born overseas.
b. Around 6% of Australians work in tourism.
c. Australia's main natural hazards are cyclones (hurricanes), drought
and forest fires. The biggest killer of all has been heat waves.
d. One third of Australia's land is desert.
e. Australia is the word's smallest continent and the world's sixth
largest country.
f. Australia is the world's largest iron ore exporter and largest producer
of bauxite and alumina.
3. What would you like to know most about Australia?
Start to Read
Text A: The Geographical Features of Australia
Australia is an independent English-speaking nation in Oceania
located between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. With a
coastline of 30,000 kilometers and a land area of 7,686,850 square
kilometers, it is the largest island and the smallest continent and the
sixth largest country in the world. It is slightly smaller than the United
States and 31.5 times bigger than the United Kingdom.
Sparsely populated Australia is the only country on the planet
which occupies an entire continent. Most of the 18 million Australians
live near the coast and about 40% of the country live in Sydney (3.7
million) and Melbourne (3.2 million).Australia's biggest attraction is
its natural beauty. The landscape varies from endless sunbaked
horizons to dense tropical rainforest to chilly southern beaches.
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Scattered along the coasts, its cities blend a European enthusiasm for
art and food with a laid-back love of sport and the outdoors.
1. Western Australia
The western Australia consists of the Western Plateau, which
rises to mountain heights and falls to lower elevations. The Western
Plateau region is generally flat, though broken by various mountain
ranges. The plateau consists of the Gibson Desert, the Great Sandy
Desert, the Great Victoria Desert, and the Nullarbor Plain.
2. Eastern Highlands
The Eastern Highlands, or Great Dividing Range, lies near the
eastern coast of Australia, separating the relatively narrow eastern
coastal plain from the rest of the continent. Australia’s highest point is
Mount Kosciusko, which is 7310 feet above sea level in the part of the
highlands known as the Australian Alps. The Eastern Highlands have
the greatest relief, the most rainfall, the most abundant and varied flora
and fauna, and the densest human settlement. Animals that are unique
to the continent include:
The platypus: often described as the world’s most unusual animal
because it is a small web-footed, egg-laying mammal with a bill like a
duck and can stay under water for as long as 14 minutes.
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The kangaroo: a macropod (large footed) which is sometimes as much
as two meters in height. It sits upright on its extremely powerful back
legs and moves by jumping. It is also a marsupial.
The koala: another marsupial but one which looks like a small, woolly,
grey and white bear. It lives mainly in the branches of trees, especially
the eucalyptus whose leaves comprise the koala’s main diet.
The wombat: a squat, round, bear-like, burrowing marsupial, about
one meter in length, with short legs, small ears and eyes and a thick,
coarse fur of brown or grey.
Off the eastern coast of Australia is the world's largest coral reef
complex, the Great Barrier Reef, which goes along the coast for nearly
1200 miles and is separated from the mainland by 25 to 150 miles of
shallow and sheltered water.
3. Central Lowlands
Between the Eastern Highlands and the Western Plateau lie the
Central Lowlands, which is a broad, flat interior basin that stretches
from the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north to Spencer Gulf in the south.
It occupies about one third of the continent. The central lowlands are
made up of the Great Artesian Basin and Australia's largest river
systems, Murray-Darling Basin and Lake Eyre Basin.
4. States in Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of six states. Five are
on the mainland—New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South
Australia, and Western Australia. The sixth is the island state of
Tasmania. There are also two territories on the mainland. In the north
is the large Northern Territory. In the southeast is the small Australian
Capital Territory (ACT), which includes Canberra, the federal capital.
In addition to these states and territories, there are seven overseas
territories under the administration of the Federation of Australia:
Northfolk Island, the Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, the uninhabited
Ashmore and Cartier Islands Territory, the Territory of Heard and
McDonald Islands, Coral Sea Islands Territory, and the Australian
Antarctic Territory.
State
Abbreviation
Capital
New South
NSW
Sydney
Wales
Queensland
QLD
Brisbane
South Australia
SA
Adelaide
Tasmania
TAS
Hobart
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Victoria
VIC
Melbourne
Western
WA
Perth
Australia
5. Climate
In general, the climate of Australia is warm and dry, conducive to
outdoor activities. Winters are mild and summers warm to hot.
Seasons are the reverse of those in the Northern Hemisphere.
By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid – 40% of
the landmass is covered by sand dunes. Only the south-east and
south-west corners have moderately fertile soil.
As the wind is mostly from the east and all the mountain ranges
run from south to north, the east wind can not bring rain to the western
plains. Rainfall is highly variable, with frequent droughts lasting
several seasons. Occasionally a dust storm will blanket a region or
even several states and there are reports of the occasional large tornado.
Rising levels of salinity and desertification in some areas is ravaging
the landscape.
Australia is temperate, most of the country receiving more than
3,000 hours of sunshine a year. In summer (December to March) the
average temperature is 84°F (29°C). The hottest region is the northern
two-thirds of the continent, which experiences humid and wet
conditions in summer. Winter (June to August) averages 56°F (13°C)
for the country as a whole, with warm days and mild nights in the
northern areas, becoming cool and showery in the south (although
there are still plenty of sunny days).
Text B Australia’s Early History
1. Early Settlers
The first human habitation of
Australia is estimated to have
occurred between 42,000 and 48,000
years ago. These first Australians
were possibly the ancestors of the
current Indigenous Australians; they
may have arrived via land bridges
and short sea-crossings from
present-day South-East Asia. They
lived in 3 main regions of Australia: the northern coast, the southeast
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and Tasmania. The first Australians were wandering hunters and
food-gatherers, living in extended family groups formed into tribes.
2. The Colonial Time
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland
was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, who sighted the
coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the
Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of
what they called New Holland, but they made no attempt at settlement.
In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of
Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great
Britain.
The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the
establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip
in 1788. Under the command of Capital Arthur, the first group of
English people left England for Australia. This group included 736
convicts. So, the first period of the colonization of Australia, lasting
from 1788 to 1830s, was based largely on the “unfree” labor of the
convicts.
The discovery of gold, beginning in 1851 first at Bathurst in New
South Wales and then in the newly formed colony of Victoria,
transformed Australia economically, politically and demographically.
The goldrushes occurred hard
on the heels of a major
worldwide
economic
depression. As a result, about
two per cent of the
population of Britain and
Ireland emigrated to NSW
and Victoria during the 1850s.
There were also large
numbers of continental Europeans, North Americans and Chinese.
Within a few years these new settlers outnumbered the convicts, and
they began to demand trial by jury, representative government, a free
press and the other symbols of liberty and democracy.
Contrary to popular myth, there was little opposition to these
demands from the colonial governors or the Colonial Office in London,
although there was some from the squatters. New South Wales had
already had a partly elected Legislative Council since 1825. In 1855
New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania (as Van
6
Diemen's Land was renamed) were granted full responsible
government, with bicameral parliaments in which the lower houses
were fully elected. The upper houses (Legislative Councils) remained
dominated by government appointees and representatives of the
squatters, worried that the radical democrats might try to seize their
vast sheep-runs. Their fears were partly justified, with the Selection
Acts of the 1860s, in particular the Robertson Land Acts of 1861,
beginning the slow breakup of the squattocracy in Australia's more
settled areas.
3. The push for federation
The 1890s depression (the most severe Australia had ever faced)
made the inefficiencies of the six colonies seem ever more ridiculous,
and, particularly in border areas, a push for an Australian Federation
began. Other motives for Federation were the need for a common
immigration policy (Queensland was busy importing indentured
workers from New Caledonia, known as Kanakas, to work in the sugar
industry: both the unions and the other colonies strongly opposed this),
and fear of the other European powers, France and Germany, who
were expanding into the region. British military leaders such as
Horatio Kitchener urged Australia to create a national army and navy:
this obviously required a federal government. It was also no
coincidence that in the 1890s for the first time the majority of
Australians, the children of the gold rush immigrants, were
Australian-born.
The New South Wales Premier, Sir Henry Parkes, was the initial
leader of the federation movement, but the other colonies tended to see
it as a plot for New South Wales dominance, and an initial attempt to
approve a federal constitution in 1891 failed. The cause was then taken
up the Australian Natives Association and younger politicians such as
Alfred Deakin and Edmund Barton. Following a federalist convention
in Corowa in 1893, the colonies agreed to hold elections for a Federal
Convention, which met in various cities in 1897 and 1898. A draft
Constitution, largely written by the Queensland judge Sir Samuel
Griffith was approved, and was put to referendums in the colonies in
1899 and 1900. New South Wales voters rejected the draft because it
gave too much power to the smaller colonies, but eventually a
compromise was reached.
Discussions between Australian and British representatives led to
adoption by the British Government of an Act to constitute the
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Commonwealth of Australia late in 1900. The Colonial Secretary,
Joseph Chamberlain, nearly derailed the whole process by insisting
that British courts retain their jurisdiction over Australia. The
Australians eventually reluctantly agreed to this. Queen Victoria of the
United Kingdom gave her royal assent to the Commonwealth of
Australia Constitution Act 1900 (Imp) on 9 July creating the
Commonwealth and thus uniting the separate colonies on the continent
under one federal government. The Act came into effect on 1 January
1901.
After You Read
Knowledge Focus
1. Answer the following questions:
(1) What are the unique features of the Australian continent?
(2) What do you know about the Great Dividing Range?
(3) Is Australia a pleasant place to live in in terms of weather
condition?
(4) What is convict transportation? How did it affect the development
of the colonies?
(5) What impact does migration have on the country?
(6) What pushes Australia to form a federation?
2. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false
(F):
(1) The continent of Australia is the largest island in the world. ___
(2) Australia is a sparsely populated country and most of the 18 million
Australians live in big cities like Sydney. ___
(3) Australia’s highest point is in Western Plateau. ___
(4) Most of Australia’s unique plants and animals are imported from
other continents. ___
(5) The Great Artesian Basin and Australia's largest river systems,
Murray-Darling Basin and Lake Eyre Basin are in Central
lowlands. ___
(6) Australia has 2 territories: the Northern Territory and the Southern
Territory. ___
(7) Australia has a very typical tropical climate. ___
(8) The European settlement in Australia started in 1788 in Sydney.
___
(9) The first English settlers in Australia were 736 convicts. ___
(10)Migrants have radically transformed various aspects of Australia's
8
society. ___
3. Fill in the blanks with the right information:
(1) Australia is an independent English-speaking nation in ______,
located between the ______ and the ______.
(2) In terms of its size, Australia is the largest ______ and the smallest
______ in the world.
(3) The Eastern Highlands, or ______ , lie near the eastern coast of
Australia.
(4) The two most striking geological features of the Australian
continent are ______ and _______.
(5) The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of six states, and they
are ____________________________.
(6) The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have
occurred between______ and ______ years ago.
(7) In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the ______Australia,
which he named ______ and claimed for Great Britain.
(8) ______, bringing the first convicts to Australia, arrived in 1788.
(9) The ______ against mining license fees in 1854 was an early
expression of civil disobedience.
(10) On ______, the Commonwealth of Australia came into being.
Language Focus
1. Fill in the blanks with the proper forms of the following words
or expressions from the text:
flora and fauna
marsupial
fertile claim instigate
rebellion inaugurate war-ravaged ally
monarch
(1) An animal which carries its babies in a pocket of skin on its body is
called ______.
(2) They ______ themselves to the other western states after the war.
(3) Australia’s distinctive ______ evolved through its long period as an
island continent.
(4) The policy was facing a ______ by right-wing members of the
party.
(5) Britain is a constitutional ______.
(6) China is making itself a strong country out of a ______ land.
(7) We are deeply impressed by his ______ imagination.
(8) Doctors ______ to have discovered a cure for the disease.
(9) Eight months after Hoover’s ______ came the Wall Street Crash.
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(10) Without evidence it would be impossible to ______ an official
investigation.
2. Gap filling: Use words or phrases from the texts to fill in the
following blanks.
By far the largest part of Australia is desert or ______ – 40% of
the ______ is covered by sand dunes. Only the south-east and
south-west corners have a ______ climate and ______ fertile soil. The
northern part of the country has a ______climate: part is tropical
______, part ______, and part desert.
The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the
______ of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip in
1788. Under the ______ of Capital Arthur, the first group of English
people left England for Australia. This group included 736 ______. So,
the first period of the ______ of Australia, lasting from 1788 to 1830s,
was based largely on the “unfree”______of the convicts.
3. Fill in each blank with a suitable preposition or adverb that
collocates with the neighboring words.
1) About 82% of American homes have a videocassette recorder,
which is capable______ recording and playing back TV shows or
movies.
2) The boy was swimming in a direction contrary______ the current.
3) Substances consist ______ small particles called molecules.
4) ______ the eastern coast of Australia is the world's largest coral reef
complex, the Great Barrier Reef.
5) The letter she received was an attempt ______ black mail.
Comprehensive Work
Group discussion: The following is a map of Australia. Decide with
your partner the city/capital each letter represents, and also fill the 6
states and 2 territories correctly in the blanks of the map.
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Read More
Text C: My Home in Victoria
Willaura is a town in the Western District. The Western District
is the main sheep and wheat-growing region of the state of Victoria.
My parents owned the Willaura Hotel and as a child it was the place I
called home. The main street was very wide even though in those days
there were not as many cars as there are today. Nearly everyone and
everything traveled by train, including the sheep.
Willaura boomed in the late 1880’s; its record grain yields and
proximity to the Mafeking goldfields made the railway station one of
Victoria’s busiest. The Hotel was straight across the road from the
railway station and was the focal point of the community. Everyone
met there including the town councilors, the fire brigade and the local
football team. The hotel’s dining room was always full. The tables
were set with starched white table linen and polished silver service.
Mealtimes meant sitting down to a full three-course meal.
Although Willaura was a small town, the Western district was
vast. Thousands of people lived and worded on the large sheep and
wheat properties surrounding the town. But the Western District
periodically has a low rainfall and droughts are a significant feature of
the area. Everyone dreaded the dry spells. The sheep, mad for water,
were shot not shorn. Golden fields of ripening wheat turned to dust.
And worst of all the dry spells created a high fire risk.
Questions:
1. What are the two major industries of the Western District?
2. Why is the Willaura Hotel important to the local people?
3. What is the significant feature of the area and how does this change
in weather affect people’s lives?
Text D Modern History of Australia
The impact of war
The First World War had a devastating effect on Australia. In
1914 the male population of Australia was less than 3 million, yet
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almost 400 000 of them volunteered to fight in the war. An estimated
60 000 died and tens of thousands were wounded. The period between
the two world wars was marked by instability. Social and economic
divisions widened during the Depression years when many Australian
financial institutions failed. During the Second World War, Australian
forces made a significant contribution to the Allied victory in Europe,
Asia and the Pacific. The generation that fought in the war and
survived came out of it with a sense of pride in Australia’s capabilities.
Post-war prosperity
After 1945 Australia entered a boom period. Hundreds of
thousands of refugees and migrants arrived in Australia in the
immediate post-war period, many of them young people eager to
embrace their new lives with energy and vigor. The number of
Australians employed in the manufacturing industry had grown
steadily since the beginning of the century. Many women who had
taken over factory work while men were away at war were able to
continue working in peacetime.
The economy developed strongly in the 1950s with major
nation-building projects such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a
hydro-electric power scheme located in Australia’s south-east
mountain region. Suburban Australia also prospered. The rate of home
ownership rose dramatically from barely 40 per cent in 1947 to more
than 70 per cent by the 1960s.
Other developments included the expansion of government social
security programs and the arrival of television. Melbourne hosted the
Olympic Games of 1956, shining the international spotlight on
Australia. (In 2000, the Olympic Games came to Australia a second
time, hosted by Sydney.
A changing society
The 1960s was a period of change for Australia. The ethnic
diversity produced by post-war immigration, the United Kingdom’s
increasing focus on Europe, and the Vietnam War (to which Australia
sent troops) all contributed to an atmosphere of political, economic
and social change.
In 1967 the Australian people voted overwhelmingly in a national
referendum to give the federal government the power to pass
legislation on behalf of Indigenous Australians and to include
Indigenous Australians in future censuses. The referendum result was
the culmination of a strong campaign by both Indigenous and
12
non-Indigenous Australians. It was widely seen as a strong affirmation
of the Australian people’s wish to see their government take direct
action to improve the living conditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples.
The long post-war domination of national politics by the coalition
of the Liberal and Country (now National) parties ended in 1972, when
the Australian Labor Party was elected. The next three years saw
major changes in Australia’s social and economic policy agenda and
extensive reforms in health,
education, foreign affairs,
social security and industrial
relations. In 1975, however, the
Governor-General dismissed
Government,
the
Labor
sparking a constitutional crisis.
In the subsequent general
election, the Labor Party suffered a major defeat and the
Liberal–National Coalition ruled until 1983.
The Hawke–Keating Labor governments were in office from 1983
till 1996. They introduced a number of economic reforms, such as
deregulating the banking system and floating the Australian dollar. In
1996 a Coalition Government led by John Howard won the general
election and was re-elected in 1998, 2001 and 2004. The
Liberal–National Coalition Government enacted several reforms,
including changes in the taxation and industrial relations systems. In
2007 the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd was elected with an agenda
to reform Australia’s industrial relations system, climate change
policies, and health and education sectors.
Questions:
1. What are the impacts the two world wars have on Australia?
2. Australia witnessed a rapid growth after WWII in all aspects of its
society. Can you use examples from the above text to illustrate
those changes and developments?
3. Why was the 1960s a period of change for Australia?
Proper Names
ANZUS Treaty《美澳纽安全条约》
Australian Alps 澳大利亚山脉
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) 澳大利亚首都直辖区，澳大利亚
13
行政区名。
Cape York Peninsula 约克角半岛
Great Artesian Basin 大自流盆地
Great Barrier Reef大堡礁
Gibson Desert 吉布森沙漠
Great Dividing Range 大分水岭
Great Sandy Desert 大沙沙漠
Great Victoria Desert 维多利亚大沙漠
Koala 树袋熊
Lake Eyre 埃尔湖
Mount Kosciusko 科修斯科山
Murray-Darling 墨累达令流域
Northern Territory 澳北区，澳大利亚行政区名。
Platypus 鸭嘴兽
Tasmania 塔斯马尼亚岛
Wombat 毛鼻袋熊
Notes
1. James Cook ： He was an English explorer, navigator and
cartographer. Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to
making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved
the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and
the Hawaiian Islands as well as the first recorded circumnavigation of
New Zealand.
2. Great Dividing Range：It is also known as the Eastern Highlands.
It is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the 4th longest in
the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km (2,175 mi) from
Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire
length of the eastern coastline through New South Wales, then into
Victoria and turning west, before finally fading into the central plain at
the Grampians in western Victoria.
Sharp rises between the coastal lowlands and the eastern uplands
has affected Australia's climate, mainly due to orographic precipitation,
and these areas of highest relief have revealed an impressive gorge
country.
3. Great Barrier Reef：The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef
system in the world, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900
islands stretching for 2,600 kilometers (1,600 mi) over an area of
approximately 344,400 square kilometers (133,000 sq mi). The reef is
14
located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast
Australia.
The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the
world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef
structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms,
known as coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef supports a wide
diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.
CNN has labeled it one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The
Queensland National Trust has named it a state icon of Queensland.
A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as
overfishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures to the reef and
its ecosystem include water quality from runoff, climate change
accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic outbreaks of the
crown-of-thorns starfish.
For Fun
Movie to see
An Introduction:
Australia is a 2008 Australian epic
romance film directed by Baz
Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman
and Hugh Jackman. The screenplay was
written by Luhrmann and screenwriter
Stuart Beattie, with Ronald Harwood.
The film is a character story, set
between 1939 and 1942 against a
dramatized backdrop of events across
Northern Australia at the time, such as
the bombing of Darwin during World
War II. Production took place in Sydney,
Darwin, Kununurra, and Bowen.
Work to read
“A Natural History of Australia” by Tim M. Berra.
The book is written by Tim M. Berra, the respected naturalist.
The natural history of Australia is described in a light and accessible
style. The writer attempts in the early chapters to describe the geologic
15
history of this now arid continent and later relates it to the animals and
plants found in Australia.
Websites to visit
http://www.aboriginalculture.com.au/
This website introduces the lives and cultures of Australian
aboriginal people in a comprehensive and thorough way.
Songs to enjoy
“Song of Australia”
The Song of Australia was the result of a competition sponsored
by the Gawler Institute in 1859 to celebrate its second anniversary.
Song of Australia
There is a land where summer skies
Are gleaming with a thousand dyes,
Blending in witching harmonies, in harmonies;
And grassy knoll, and forest height,
Are flushing in the rosy light,
And all above in azure bright Australia!
There is a land where honey flows,
Where laughing corn luxuriant grows,
Land of the myrtle and the rose,
On hill and plain the clust'ring vine,
Is gushing out with purple wine,
And cups are quaffed to thee and thine Australia!
There is a land where treasures shine
Deep in the dark unfathomed mine,
For worshippers at Mammon's shrine,
Where gold lies hid, and rubies gleam,
And fabled wealth no more doth seem
The idle fancy of a dream Australia!
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There is a land where homesteads peep
From sunny plain and woodland steep,
And love and joy bright vigils keep,
Where the glad voice of childish glee
Is mingling with the melody
For nature's hidden minstrelsy Australia!
There is a land where, floating free,
From mountain top to girdling sea,
A proud flag waves exultingly,
And freedom's sons the banner bear,
No shackled slave can breathe the air,
Fairest of Britain's daughters fair Australia!
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