HISTORY
The Origin of The Sun Gnowee,the Sun was once a woman, who lived upon the earth when it was dark all the time and people had to walk about with the aid of bark torches. One day she left her little boy asleep while she went out to dig roots for food.Yams were scarce and Gnowee reached the end of the earth and continuing her wanderings , passed under it. Not knowing wher she was,as it was dark, she could not find her littlr boy anywhere. So she went into the sky carrying her great bark torch and still wanders across it and then travels under the earth looking for him.
THE DREAMTIME
Most people wonder about the mysteries of life. Such as how did it all begin,where did the animals come from? The Aboriginal people were given their anwsers in the Dreamtime stories,which were passed down and added to from generation to generation.All Aboriginals believed in a Supreme Being, who was know by different names in different areas. The Rainbow Serpant legends are perhaps the most well-known stories and he is named as the cause of many of Australias landscape like rivers, mountains etc.Aboriginal people were the first Australians.Aboriginal history is Australian history.The history of mankind on the Australian continent did not commence when Captain Cook landed on the eastern coast , but 40 000 years before when the ancient predecessors of the Aboriginal people began their sea voyages south. It is believed that they have traveled from Asia along transitory land bridges created by the rising and ebbing seas of the Ice Age. WE BELONG TO THE GROUND IT IS OUR POWER AND WE MUST STAY CLOSE TO IT OR MAYBE WE WILL GET LOST
The first Australians
There were people in Australia long before Europeans ‘discovered’ the continent in the 1600s. The ‘Aborigines’ arrived there about 12,000 years before from Southeast Asia.
They lived by collecting food hunting with spears and boomerangs.They didn’t have metal or pottery, but they had very rich forms of art,painting, song, poetry and mythology. There were over 500 different languages and tribes, with complex systems of trade. The lives of the Aborigines stayed almost the same for thousands of years until the Europeans came to live in Australia in 1778.
Aborigines continue to live in Australia but their culture is under threat. In 1770, there were about 300,000 Aborigines. Now there are about 120,000.
Australia’s indigenous peoples
White Australians and the international community have grouped Australia’s indigenous peoples under the term Aborigines since the British invaded in 1788. At the recent insistence of these indigenous groups, we are coming to recognize many separate surviving indigenous cultures and lament the loss of others by deliberate or accidental genocide since invasion. Today these surviving cultures include highly urbanized Koorie communities in Sydney and Melbourne, semi-nomadic groups such as the Pitjantjatjaras and Warlpiris living a relatively traditional lifestyle in the central and western deserts, and the seafaring Merriam and Tiwi peoples of the small islands north of the mainland. If there is any thread linking these groups, it is the cultural revival experienced over the last twenty years. Under the banner of national political movements, all of these groups have renewed their commitment to organizing their social world according to extensive kin networks, to re-establishing close religious and legal relationships to the land, and to maintaining and revitalizing their cultures and languages.
AUSTRALIA TODAY
Today,Australia is a modern, industrial country, independent from Britain. In total, about eighteen million people live there. It is the world’s biggest producer of wool and an important producer of wheet, meat, sugar and fruit. The biggest city is Sydney, where about four million people live. The capital, Camberra, is much smaller, with a population of about 285,000.
The Make Up of Australia’s Population
The rich mosaic of people who make up the Australian nation have joined the original inhabitants, the Aborigines and Torres Islanders, with their 50,000 years of culture to form a nation of more than 18 million people. Australia was one of the main migration destinations of the second half of the 20th century: since 1945, immigration has almost doubled the Australian population. This influx has permanently altered the Australian character, and has contributed to the multicultural society of modern Australia. Less than 15 per cent of Australians live in rural areas. The vast majority lives in the ten largest cities, and the bulk of the population is in the southeastern corner. Australians enjoy sports, relaxing outdoors, and cultural events. Australia is recognised as one of the most successful nations in building a tolerant, inclusive and culturally diverse society. Australia’s multicultural policy rests on three principles: the right to cultural identity, the value of social justice and the interest in economic efficiency. The 1996 census found more than four million people, or 23 percent of the Australian population, were born overseas.
Where today’s Australian were born% Australia 76,7 Britain and Ireland 6.6 Continental Europe 6.4 Asia 5.0 Oceania 2.1 Middle East and North Africa 1.2 Other parts of the world 2.0
Government
The Australian Government took possession of 2 357km2 of land from NewSouth Wales (NSW) in 1911 to form the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)
as the site for the Australian national capital. That capital, Canberra, lies between Sydney, 307km north-east, and Melbourne 655km south-west. The majority of the population live and work in Canberra.
A second territory, at Jervis Bay, was acquired from NSW in 1915. This transfer was in accordance with the Seat of Government Acceptance Act 1908 which stated that the seat of government (ACT) should have access to the sea. The Jervis Bay territory was to be that access.