Australia

Australia, officially known nowadays as the Commonwealth  of Australia is the largest Oceanian country with a total area surface of 7,692,024 km² and a density of 2.8 people/km². But its total population was estimated in 2016 at a rate of 24,052,500 inhabitants. The capital of the country is Canberra, and its largest and best-known city is Sydney. Its nominal GDP was in 2015, 1,241 trillion dollars. Australia's actual currency is the Australian dollar. Its time zone is (UTC+8 to +10.5). If you want to call a friend there you have to type the Australian calling code : +61. And if you ever have the chance to get there and drive, be carefull you'll have to drive on the left hand side. Australia has no official language, but its national language is English.

A trip of 3 weeks

Hi everyone!!! My name is Christina and I’ve created this blog for sharing with you my 3-weeks trip to Australia. I really love this country! I’ve always wanted to go there, in some ways it was one of my life goals, a dream that finally became true. And as I know how privileged I was to get there, I wanted to share with you my adventure. For those who have already been there, it’ll maybe bring some of your memories back, or just refresh them. And for the other ones who haven’t had the opportunity to get there yet, I hope I could at least share my experience with you !!!

The Plane & the landing

       My trip begun at the moment my feet went on the plane. A twenty hours flight for getting to Sydney’s airport. As I was so excited to get there, I think I really felt the time passing even if I slept during most of the travel. ZZZZZZZZZ

After the plane landed at Sydney-Kingsford-Smith airport,  I joined my new Australian family, and I discovered what was to be my new home for the next 3 weeks. 

Content of all the things I've seen and learned during this amazing trip :

• Some Australian history
• Fauna & Flora
• The Great Barrier Reef
• Beaches & Bushes
• Weather & Seasons
• The Sydney Harbour bridge
• The Sydney Opera House
• The Royal flying doctor service
• The wine industry
• A multicultural Australia : the indegenous ceremonies & cultural heritage
• The dreaming

Some Australian History

1. Discovery and colonisation  

British settlers arrival

When the European settlers first arrived in Australia they didn't discovered an empty island. In the contrary they found an inhabited Australia. Indeed, the Arboriginal Australians are believed to be the first inhabitants of the country, arriving from the Mainland by sea thousands of years ago, although no one new about this portion of land. The first one to discover it and to share there knowledge with the rest of the World was Willem Janszoon (1570-1630), a Dutch Navigator and colonial governor who served in the Netherlands East Indies during his life. He is the first European setller known to have see the coast of Australia during his voyage of 1605-1606. However, he never landed. After him many other explorers followed, but the best-known of them all is Lieutnant James Cook, a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain of the Royal Navy. He is the one the one, who in 1770, charted the Australian East coast, and claimed it under instruction of King George III of England on the 22nd of August 1770. He sailed to this island thanks to his ship: HM Barque Endeavour. He is also the one who renamed this region as "New South Wales".

Captain Cook

However, the first act of colonization was made by captain Atrhur Philip, with a first fleet of  11 ships and about 1,350 people arriving at Botany Bay between the 18th and the 20th of January 1788. But as the place could not suit for the settlement of the troups, they moved North to Port Jackson six days later, landing at Camp Cove. Now governor of New South Wales, he is the one who led the colonization of Australia and founded the British penal colony that later became Sydney. As this first fleet was under preparated for the such an extended task, the setllers soon run out of supplies. They survived by tryiing to develop farms, but also by trading food and other supplies with the local arboriginal clans.
In 1790, a second fleet arrived, providing the badly needed supplies to the first setllers. But with the foof and supplies, it also brought convicts, many of who were too ill or too dead for providing any help to the new colony. Indeed, this second fleet is known as the "Death Fleet", as 278 people (convicts and crew members) died during the voyage.

The first fleet & the British colony

The colonization wasn't at first supposed to be violent, as the settlers from the firt fleet needed arboriginal help. Both setllers and indegenous people cohexisted quite peacefully trading and helping each other. But as the second fleet arrived, the arborigenes realised that their land and ressources on which they depended and the order of their lifes were being too badly disrupted by the presence of the white setllers, the relations between explorers and arboriginals became hostile. A campaign of resistance against the English colonisers was undertook by different clans of natives between 1790 and 1810.

Arborigenes massacred by the setllers

Some Australian History

2. A penal colony and a colony for whites

When the first fleet finally landed on the 26th of January 1788, 751 convicts disembarked along with 252 marines and their family. It was the beginning of a British pennal colony. Two more convict fleets arrived in 1790 and in 1791. From 1788 to 1823, the colony of New South Wales was officially considered as a penal colony as the territory was declared suitable for this type of colony by Joseph Banks after his return from a journey to Australia in 1770. The convicts and criminals were taken there by ship in very bad conditions. Their voyage lasted about 8 months, 8 months in terrible hygene conditions and 8 months of mistreatment. Mistreatment was most effective on women as some were raped or beaten by officers. Once the convicts arrived in Australia, if they arrived (some of the criminals died during the travel), and if they weren't too sick, they had a hard life of work and labour as most of them were not in jail. The majority of the women convicts(representing about 20% of the criminals)and many other free working women were sent to the "female factories", which were mostly profit-making textile factories; while the men would work mostly as a new kind of slaves in rural labour. The system was even more unfair as they sent on the island a majority of criminals who committed only petty crimes, most of the time because they were too poor to afford any kind of food or clothes for them or for their children, so they woud steal an apple or a pair of shoes without knowing they'll be sent at the opposite side of the world. Indeed, at this time British conditions in England were not as flourishing as they used to be.

'We have to work from 14–18 hours a day, sometimes up to our knees in cold water, 'til we are ready to sink with fatigue... The inhuman driver struck one, John Smith, with a heavy thong.'

Eventually, the last shipment of convicts disembarked in 1868 marking the end of criminals' transportation to Australia. In sum, about 162,000 men and women convicts were transported to this big island thanks to 806 ships. It stopped as by the mid-1800s there were enough people to take on the work needed to be done inside the colonies.

                        Who were the convicts ?

In fact, about 70% of the convicts were English and Welsh, 24% were from Ireland, 5% from Scotland and the rest 1% from  the other British colonies belonging to the British Commonwealth. 

Some of them were soldiers sentenced for crimes such as mutiny, desertation or insubordination.

Australia's firs bushranger was called John Caesar, and sentenced at Maidstone Kent in 1785. He was born in the West Indies.

On January, 1st 1901, when the Constitution of Australia came into force, the different colonies became collectively states of the Commonwealth of Australia. At this time period, Britain was suffering of overpopulation. And after the six seperated British self-governing colonies of Australia agreed to unite and create the Australian Commonwealth, establishing a system of federalism in the country, new policies appeared such as policies of assimilation.

During this century, there was a lot of racial discrimination against the arborigenes. Settlers thought their European culture was better than the arboriginal ones, so they began destroying their culture by making the indegenese dress up and act as Europeans did. 

At the beginning of the 1970s they also started seperating indigenous families by kidnapping the children and leaving behind them lies told to hopeless parents. These kids are part of the Stolen Generation: children stolen from their parents on the basis of lies.

 

    Demonstration for the Stolen Generations

"Rabbit-Proof-Fence" by Doris PILKINGTON, the remarkable true story of three young girls who cross the harsh Australian desert on foot to return home escaping the settlements, part of the Stolen generation's destiny.

In addition to those policies, the settlers created in 1901, the White Australian Policy allowing the government to select the future inhabitants of Australia. Only white-skinned people and preferably, english-speaking man and women were accepted. 

After World War Two, as Britain was overpopulated, and Australia underpopulated, the British government instored the £10 Pom scheme. It allowed the British to settle to Australia for only 10 pounds. And yet the voyage to Australia looked more like a 5-weeks cruise in heaven than like a 8-months trap in hell.

A cruise to Australia

I've actually got all this informations during my trip to Australia by visting different museums and memorials such as the National Museum of Australia, the Immigration Museum, the Australian War Memorial, the Shrine of Remembrance, and the Australian National Maritime Museum and Captain Cook's ship.

Fauna & Flora

I love nature. And if you are a fan of plants and animals just like me, go to Australia and your best dreams will come true. I had the chance to participate to a trek and to discover the marvellous Australian flaura and fauna. But I also visited zoos, natural parks and other aquariums such as the Taronga zoo, the Australia zoo, Healsville sanctuary, and the Sea life Sydney Aquarium. And has I am always very lucky, I explored Daintree Rainforest and the Kakadu National Park. And Finally, I travelled on the Great Ocean Road.

During those different activities I've learnt a lot of different things about Australia's environment. 

First, did you know that this country had the oldest land surface on earth ? And that while it is very rich in biodiversity, the soils and seas of the island are the most nutrient poor and unproductive in the World ? Indeed, Australia's land is mostly desertic (or semi-arid), and only 5% of its landmass is arable. This land requires a large volume of water that it does not always found. That is why Australian soils are highly dependant on vegetation cover for generating nutrients and for stability.

The island is home for more than 1 million species of plants and animals, many of which you will not find in the rest of the World. 85% of the flowering plants, 84% of the mammals, 45% of the birds and 89% of the inshore freshwater fishes are unique to Australia. The most common vegetation types have adapted very well to the arid conditions that the country offers; the Hummock grassland dominates Western, Southern and Northern parts of the country (23%), but in Eastern Australia, you might find more Eucalyptus woodlands than other plants. This gigantic peninsula counts more than 140 different species of marsupials and snakes, 378 species of mammals, 828 different types of birds, almost 300 species of lizards, and 2 different sorts of crocodiles.

Fauna & Flora

1. Flora

One of Australia's greatest treasures is its flora of a staggering of 24,000 different species of native plants already identified.

The Most Common species are : 

• The Acacia : with a genus of 1200 different existing species in the World from which 954 sorts found in Australia, it has large fluffy yellow and sweet-smelling flower heads. Growing mostly on the coast, at the mountain, or even in the dry inlands, it comes into flower in Spring (beginning of September). The Australian species are known as "wattles". Those "wattles" are the floral symbol of the country, and where although incorporated into the Australian coat of arms in 1912.

• The Grevillea : it's colorfull flowers do not only attract birds. They also fascinate Australian inhabitants  and other tourists, as they are the most popular and cultivated of Australian plants.

• The Melaleuca : with a genus of about 170 distinct species, and part of the Myrtle family, they are commonly known as "paperbacks" (under their tree form), "honey myrtles" or "tea trees" (under their smaller form). These plants are mainly used to produce tea tree oil for soaps and shampoos.

•  The Eremophila : with a genus of 214 different species, they are only found in Australia, and more specifically, in arid or semi-arid regions. They are often called "emu bushes" as the fleshy fruits they produce attracts many birs and animals (and as you have probably guessed, emus adore them). Anyways, be careful ! Some species are toxic.

• The Haemodoracea : with more than 100 sorts belonging to the family of herbing plants related to lilis, and with other kinds which you can typically find on kangaroo paws. These are small clumping plants with strappy leaves (about 1 metre high and 1 metre wide), which flowers have very little fragrance.

• The Eucalyptus : better known as "gum trees", Eucalyptus bushes are fully part of Australia's identity as they are an essential part of its culture, featuring art, music and literature. There are more than 700 species native to the island's land and only 12 come from outside the country. Growing almost everywhere, but absent from rainforests, they are a perfect shelter for birds and animals. In wet regions, those trees found refuge along streams or isolated ranges. They are very aromatic plants, commonly used for producing Eucalyptus oil. They used to be a vital source of timber and firewood.

Fauna & Flora

2. Fauna

A range of animals established succesfully its population in Australia as it was impossible to go in other parts of the world. Almost all Australians mammals are either marsupials (like kangaroos) or monotremes (animals that lay eggs). There are two types of monotremes in the World : the platipuses and the echidnas.

• The Platipuses: living mostly on the Eastern coast of Australia, from Tasmania to North Queensland, they are diving animals (capable to stay about 15 minutes underwater). They like digging their burrows into bank rivers.

• The Echidnas: already established all over Australia, they are sometimes called "spiny anteaters" as their diet consists mainly of termites. They use their spines as a mechanism of defence by rolling up themselves in some sort of spiny balls, or by digging underground so they'll expose only their spines.

• The Kangaroos: considered as Australia's largest marsupials. They can get to a speed of 60 km/hour, and they can jump more than 8 metres long and 3 meters high. They live only in groups of about 100 animals, but are more than 50,000 in Australia (or more than twice the number of inhabitants). Their diet consists mainly of grass, leaves and other plants. Their babies are called "Joeys".

• The Emus: more than 6 feet tall and weighting about 60 kg, they are the second largest birds of the entire World. You can find them all over Australia (except from rainforests), as they eat mostly grass, leaves, fruits and insects. They can reach a speed of 60 km/hour. Their babies are called "Chicks".

• The Wombats: the World's largest burrowing herbivorous mammals. They live only on the East coast, from Tasmania to Southern Queensland. They are nocturnal animals, living 80% of their time underground, in their long and complex burrows waiting for the temperature to get cooler. Their babies are also calles "Joeys"

• The Tasmanian Devils : the World's largest carnivorous marsupials. As the name indicates it, they are from Tasmania. As the wombats, they are nocturnal animals that come out only for food. They are great scavengers, and while feeding, they'll eat everything(bones and fur). They are solitary animals.

• The Koalas : these tree-dwelling marsupials can be found in the mainland of Eastern Australia. Their paws consist on rough pads and long claws to help them climb up the trees, as their diet is based mainly on Eucalyptus leaves. They are quite lazy animals because they sleep and rest about 20 hours per day. Their main source of water is the dew and rain they collect from the leaves they eat. Their babies are called "Cubs".

Fauna & Flora

3. Other animals native from Australia :

• Marsupials: the bilby; the wallaby; the phascogale; the possum; the wallaroo; the glider; the bandicoot; the pademelon; the bettong; and the quoll. 

From left to right and up to down : the possum,  the bilby,  the quoll,  the glider, the bandicoot, and the wallaroo.
In the center : the Wallaby.

• Mammals: the flying foxes;the mastiff bat; the little broad nosed bat; and the melomys.

Top : MAMMALS (from left to right) the melomy, the bat, the flying fox.
Bottom : BIRDS (from up to down and left to right)  the Lorikeet, the Tawny Frogmouth Owl, the Kookaburra, the King Parrot, the Wedge-tailed Eagle, and the Cockatoo.

• Birds: the Lorrikeet; the Kookaburra; the King Parrot; the Galah; the Cockatoo; the Crimson Rosella; the Wedge-tailed Eagle; the Magpie; the Willie Wagtail and the Tawny Frogmouth Owl.

• Reptiles: the frilled necked lizard; the lace monitor; the bearded dragon; the gecko; the eastern water dragon; the goanna; the australian coral snake; the carpet python; the death adder; the eastern brown snake; and the red bellied black snake.

From left to right & up to down :  the Eastern Water Dragon, the Australian Coral snake, the Bearded Dragon, the Goanna, the Carpet Python, the Red Bellied Black snake.
In the center : the Gecko.

• Sheep: Australia is the second country in the World whith the highest number of sheep (99.3 million sheep ≠ 23-24 million inhabitants). 

Fauna & Flora

4. Zoos

Europeans have been fascinated by the strange Australian Fauna and Flora since its discovery. But the first zoo wasn't established until 1862. It was Melbourne zoo. 

Nowadays, Australia has a wealth of public and private zoos. Some of them emphasize a lot their breeding programs for saving the endangered species. 

"Zootober" or the "Zoo Month" takes place each year, during the month of October. This festival provides a lot of opportunities for zoos to promote their parcs and their animals.

Fauna & Flora

5. The coat of arms :

As you can see, Australia's Fauna & Flora are very important for its inhabitants. Their coat of arms is mainly made of it : the kangaroo and the Emu represent the FAUNA, while the "Wattle" (or Acacia) represent the FLAURA.

Also, the Australian scientists reviewed the mammal species of their country into 3 categories : the "good", including species such as kangaroos or koalas; the "bad", with invasive animals such as rabbits, cats, or foxes; and the "ugly", which includes species such as bats or rodents.

The Great Barrier Reef

During my stay in Australia, I also had the time to do some scuba-diving at the Great Barrier Reef.

This reef is about 2,300km long; with an surface area of 344,400km²; and with an average depth of 35 metres (even if it can go down to 2,000m). It consists of more than 3,000 reefs and is also the only living organic structure that can be seen from the Earth's orbit. Scientist think it has been created 18 million years ago. It is located in the Coral See, off the coast of Queensland. The Great Barrier Reef is considered as one of the wonders of the natural world : it's the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. In 1981 the area was declared a World Heritage zone and was added, later on, to the National Heritage List, in 2007. The World Heritage Area hosts many habitats and native environments where animals and plants naturally live.

    1. The Habitat

The reef is scattered with beautiful islands and idyllic coral which make up the various reefs and cays, and which are at the basis of the great variety of sea and animal life of the Barrier. 

The Great Barrier Reef area abounds with wildlife, including jellyfishes and green turtles, varieties of dolphins and whales, more than 1500 species of fishes, 4000 types of molluscs and more than 200 species of birds. This living organic structure also contains about 30 shipwrecks.

    2. Tourism

More than two million people visit the reef each year generating more than 2 billion of Australian dollars, making tourism a major earner for the north-eastern Australian economy. Tourists are carried to the reef system by more than 500 commercial vessels, and tourism is permitted through nearly the entire Park.

Most of the Reef is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and various parts of it are protected. For example, fishing is restricted in some areas and particular animals like whales, dolphins, green turtles are protected.

     3. Pollution

Human activity in the Reef areas has led to increased pollutants and the reef has suffered damage. Protecting the Reef is the responsibility of the Marine Park Authority. In 2003, the previous Australian Government in partnership with other industries developed the Reef Water Quality Protection Reef Plan as a combined effort to protect the Reef.

Different degrees of protection are provided for different habitats in the World Heritage Area. One of the main aims of the Reef Plan is to maintain biodiversity within the larger ecosystem of the Reef as well as within different habitats to help sustain the biodiversity of species and population levels.

If we keep going on this track, the Great Barrier Reef, known for its colourful corals and marine animals, will be totaly destroyed !!!

Beaches & Bushes

How can we go to Australia without going at the beach. I love swimming, and especially in the sea. But there are a lot of other interesting activities that you can do at the sea : sailing, snorkelling, scuba-diving, boating, kayaking, canoeing, jet skying, fly boarding, paddle boarding, wakeboarding, kitesurfing, surfing, etc...

Australia's coast has exactly 10,685 beaches.

The most famous beaches are : Avalon Beach, Bondi Beach and the Ninety Miles Beach.

But in the inland, there is no more beaches, only bushes formed of forests or dry areas that inspired their art to the arboriginals. The native also like tu hunt into tohse bushes. 

But be careful about bush fires as they are very dangerous in Australia because they catch up very fast and expand even faster. The bush fires mostly appear in the dry regions.

So take as an example the indigenou fire management and avoid fire bushes !

Weather & Seasons

Seasons

If you ever go to Australia, remember, the seasons are reversed:

• Summer is from December to February (our Winter).
• Autumn takes place from March to May (our Spring).
• Winter is from June to August (our Summer).
• Spring takes place from September to November (our Autumn).

This means that the Australian Christmas takes place in summer. And it also means that the long end of year break for students is in Winter; that's why it is commonly known the 'Christmas holidays'.

Temperature & Climate 

Australia is a continent that experiences a big variety of climates due to its size. The temperature can range from below zero in the Snowy Mountains to extreme heat in the Kimberley region.

In the southern capital cities the average temperatures are : in Summer - between 16 (minimum) and 26 (maximum) Celsius degrees; and in Winter - between 6 (minimum) and 14 (maximum) degrees. In the sub-tropic and tropical cities, the average minimum temperatures are between 16 and 23 Celsius degrees; and the average maximums are between 25 and 32 degrees.

Extreme weather

The tropics are affected a lot by the extremes of cyclones in the wet season; and the inland deserts can remain fully dry for years while rain can produce floods. The wettest months in the southern capitals are from May to July.

There are also regular winter snowfalls in the mountain ranges. The snow season in the heights of south-eastern Australia is from June to September.

    1. Cyclones

Cyclones are a tropical weather phenomenon. They are usually encountered in Australia between November and April, and they mostly take place in the north of the country. 

About 6 cyclones happen in Australia every year. By far the most famous cyclone in Australia is Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin in the Northern Territory on 1974's Christmas Eve. 49 people died and over 80% of the city of was destroyed. But in 1899, Cyclone Mahina killed over 400 people when it destroyed an entire pearl-fishing fleet at Bathurst Bay, in Queensland.

    2. Drought

Desert conditions are different from drought. A drought is an unusually long period of time when there is not enough water for people to use in the way they normally would.

There have been many serious droughts in Australia in the last 200 years. The 1895–1903 drought lasted eight years

The 1963–68 drought caused a forty per cent reduction in wheat crops across Australia.