Australia
Flag of Australia
blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and a large seven-pointed star in the lower hoist-side quadrant known as the Commonwealth or Federation Star, representing the federation of the colonies of Australia in 1901; the star depicts one point for each of the six original states and one representing all of Australia’s internal and external territories; on the fly half is a representation of the Southern Cross constellation in white with one small, five-pointed star and four larger, seven-pointed stars
Creative Industries Australia at Europa Regina
Population:
26,461,166 (2023 est.)
25,466,459 (2020)
23,470,145 (2018)
Capital: Canberra
Internet country code: .au
Government:
Official website: australia.gov.au
Official Tourism Agency: tourism.australia.com
Etymology: the name Australia derives from the Latin “australis” meaning “southern”; the Australian landmass was long referred to as “Terra Australis” or the Southern Land
Commonwealth of Australia
Prehistoric settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia at least 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession of the east coast in the name of Great Britain (all of Australia was claimed as British territory in 1829 with the creation of the colony of Western Australia). Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the Allied effort in World Wars I and II.
In recent decades, Australia has become an internationally competitive, advanced market economy due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s and its location in one of the fastest growing regions of the world economy. Long-term concerns include an aging population, pressure on infrastructure, and environmental issues such as floods, droughts, and bushfires. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth, making it particularly vulnerable to the challenges of climate change. Australia is home to 10 per cent of the world’s biodiversity, and a great number of its flora and fauna exist nowhere else in the world.
Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern in Conversation about Gender Equality
Dec 21, 2020 – A conversation between Jacinda Ardern and Helen Clark about gender equality, recorded by UN Women National Committee Aotearoa New Zealand.
How a catastrophic global pandemic has given Australia a new lens on New Zealand
By Laura Tingle
It has taken a dynamic, young female Prime Minister in Wellington to pique Australia’s recent interest in New Zealand. (AAP: David Rowland)
Nov 28, 2020 – Much of the recent looking has been driven by a fascination with Ardern, particularly admiration for her empathetic leadership in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, the White Island volcano eruption and the pandemic.
> abc.net.au/what-australia-can-learn-from-new-zealand
Australia’s trade clash with China is a lesson in what Beijing’s power really means
Nov 21, 2020 – The view from Beijing is that we are a white Western country, clinging to a world of Western dominance that China does not believe in.
> abc.net.au/australia-trade-clash-beijing-lesson-in-china-power