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Why Australia
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About Australia
Modern Australia was founded with the influx of European settlers just over two hundred years ago, but the Aborigines inhabited the island continent for tens of thousands of years before that.
They numbered a few hundred thousand before the European influx. But two centuries of discrimination and expropriation followed, and at one point the indigenous population fell as low as 60,000. Australia’s politicians at first looked to Europe and the US in foreign policy, but in the past 20 years or so they have made their near neighbors a priority.
History
Australia has been colonized for above 42,000 years by aboriginal Australians, following the periodic visits of fishermen from Europe and the discovery of Dutch voyagers in 1606. Later in 1770, the eastern part of Australia was claimed by the British who transported convicts to New South Wales in 1788. Many of the first settlers were thus British convicts. Free settlers arrived in increasing numbers, particularly after the discovery of gold in the mid-19th century.
In the 19th century, another five colonies were explored. On 1 January 1901, Australia was formed with the federation of 6 colonies. Since then it has maintained a constant liberal democratic political system. Canberra is the capital city located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT )and the population is approx. 21,511,788 as in March 2009. Among them, 60% has concentrated in and around the state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. Today, 99% of the population is of European or Asian descent.
Economy
Australia has a prosperous and mixed economy in the western style with a per capita GDP in excess of many urbanized countries like the UK, Germany, and France. It is ranked third in the United Nations in 2007 and sixth in The Economist in 2005. By the end of March 2008, the GDP per capita of Australia was about $ 824.9 Billion (CIA World Factbook). The inflation rate was 4.7% per annum and 4.5% of the unemployment rate in 2008. The service sector constitutes 69% of GDP, whereas agriculture and natural resources constitute 3% and 5% of GDP respectively. These statistical facts advocate that there is excellent scope for career formation in every sector.
Climate
Australian climate varies widely based on the region, which was significantly influenced by ocean currents. The largest part of Australia was the outback, which is desert or semi-dry. The southern region has a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil and the northern region has a tropical climate, which was partly rainforests, grasslands, and deserts. A large population lives within the south-eastern coastline in a temperate atmosphere. All a whole, people from any country can have a pleasant atmosphere in Australia.
Culture
Australia’s culture was greatly derived from the European lineage, but there are some distinctive Australian characteristics grown from the atmosphere, aboriginal culture, and influence of its neighborhood. For the past 50 years, the culture of Australia was strongly influenced by American popular culture, especially movies and television. Literature, movies, opera, music, dance, painting, theater, and crafts are the dynamism and creative arts of Australia, which have achieved global appreciation. Most of the immigrants are from Asian and European countries
Food
The traditional cuisine of Australia was rooted in European gastronomy, which was bought from the early settlers. It usually consists of pies, roasted cuts of meat, grilled steak and chops, and a few other cuisines of meat accompanied with vegetables. With the emphasis on multiculturalism, many other cuisines have influenced the Australian food culture. They include Mediterranean and Asian foods formerly brought up by the settlers. In recent times, Australians consume a lot of take-away food.
The common breakfast in Australia includes cereals, toast, fruits, and fried bacon, egg, mushroom, baked beans, and sausages. Tea, coffee, flavored milk, or juice is the drink with breakfast. The common choices in dinner are roast meat and vegetables, pasta, pizza, casseroles, barbecue meat, vegetables and salads, soup, stir-fries. Try some good Australian food so as to enjoy the pleasure of dining in Australian style.
Multiculturalism
The people in Australia came from over 100 different countries around the world with their own cultures, ethics, and languages. They formed different cultural groups that made Australia a multicultural nation, which was adopted in 1970. As there are different cultural groups, the Australian government implemented the cultural policy in the country to control society and its ethics. There is multicultural national literature in Australia. There are 26.4% of Catholics, 20.5% of Anglicans, 20.5% of other Christians, 1.9% of Buddhists, 1.5% of Muslims, 1.2% of other religions, 12.7%, of unspecified religions in Australia. This has resulted in students from different countries with different cultures choosing Australia for their higher education.
Job Market
The prediction of job opportunities for international students in Australia is associated with the comprehensive visa requirements. In Australia, there is good scope for various professions including doctors, teachers, accountants, plumbers, nurses, carpenters, dentists, and IT managers. You can get the complete information on the applications of visas migration on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship website. There are good opportunities for the graduates who secure permanent residence in Australia. You can get further details about graduate destinations on Graduate Careers Australia.
Tourism
Tourism is a large sector of the economy in Australia, which was merged as a crucial industry. For the years 2002, 2003, 2004 Australia has produced the world’s 10th biggest revenue from tourism. Every year about 4 billion tourists visit Australia and Australians themselves are the big domestic travelers. Australia combines an abundance of landscapes. These comprise deserts in the interior, hills, mountains, tropical rain forests, and densely populated coastal strips with long beaches. Distinct from other continents, Australia has a wide variety of unique plants and animal life. Find more–Australian Tourism
Facts
– Full name: Commonwealth of Australia
– Population: 21.5 million (UN, 2009)
– Capital: Canberra
– Largest city: Sydney
– Area: 7.7 million sq km (2.9 million sq miles)
– Major language: English
– Major religion: Christianity
– Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 84 years (women) (UN)
– Monetary unit: 1 Australian dollar = 100 cents
– Main exports: Ores and metals; wool, food, fuels, transport machinery, and equipment
– GNI per capita: US $32,220 (World Bank, 2006)
– Internet domain: .au
– International dialing code: +61
Australia has trade exports of coal, iron ore, non-monetary gold, crude petroleum, and bovine meat to China, Japan, South Korea, which has amounted to $ 178.9 Billion in 2008. It imports passenger motor vehicles, computers, medicaments, and telecommunication equipment from China, the US, Japan, Singapore, and Germany, which has amounted to $ 187.2 Billion.
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