The Culture of Australia

THE CULTURE OF AUSTRALIA IS PRIMARILY A WESTERN CULTURE, TO SOME EXTENT DERIVED FROM
BRITAIN BUT ALSO INFLUENCED BY THE UNIQUE GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIA, THE CULTURAL INPUT
OF ABORIGINAL, TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER AND OTHER AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE. THE BRITISH
COLONIZATION OF AUSTRALIA BEGAN IN 1788, AND WAVES OF MULTI-ETHNIC MIGRATION FOLLOWED.
EVIDENCE OF A SIGNIFICANT ANGLO-CELTIC HERITAGE INCLUDES THE PREDOMINANCE OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE, THE EXISTENCE OF A DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT DRAWING UPON
THE BRITISH TRADITIONS OF WESTMINSTER GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENTARIANISM AND
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY, AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONALIST AND FEDERALIST TRADITIONS,
CHRISTIANITY AS THE DOMINANT RELIGION, AND THE POPULARITY OF SPORTS ORIGINATING IN (OR
INFLUENCED BY) THE BRITISH ISLES. AUSTRALIAN CULTURE HAS DIVERGED SIGNIFICANTLY SINCE
BRITISH SETTLEMENT.

ABORIGINAL PEOPLE ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE ARRIVED AS EARLY AS 60,000 YEARS AGO, AND
EVIDENCE OF ABORIGINAL ART IN AUSTRALIA DATES BACK AT LEAST 30,000 YEARS.[1] SEVERAL
STATES AND TERRITORIES HAD THEIR ORIGINS AS PENAL COLONIES, WITH THE FIRST BRITISH
CONVICTS ARRIVING AT SYDNEY COVE IN 1788. STORIES OF OUTLAWS LIKE THE BUSHRANGER NED
KELLY HAVE ENDURED IN AUSTRALIAN MUSIC, CINEMA AND LITERATURE. THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD
RUSHES FROM THE 1850S BROUGHT WEALTH AS WELL AS NEW SOCIAL TENSIONS TO AUSTRALIA,
INCLUDING THE MINERS' EUREKA STOCKADE REBELLION. THE COLONIES ESTABLISHED ELECTED
PARLIAMENTS AND RIGHTS FOR WORKERS AND WOMEN BEFORE MOST OTHER WESTERN NATIONS.[2]
Federation in 1901 because due to a growing sense of national identity that had developed over the latter half of the 19th century, as seen in the
works of the Heidelberg School painters and writers like Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson and Dorothea Mackellar. The World Wars profoundly
altered Australia's sense of identity, with World War I introducing the ANZAC legend, and World War II seeing a reorientation from Britain to the
United States as the nation's foremost major ally. After the second war, 6.5 million migrants from 200 nations brought immense new diversity.
Over time, the diverse food, lifestyle and cultural practices of immigrants have been absorbed into mainstream Australian culture
Modern Australian cuisine
Modern Australian cuisine, also known as Mod Oz or contemporary Australian cuisine, is the fusion cuisine characteristic to Australia .
History
Australian cuisine is derived from the tastes of immigrant settlers to Australia and the produce they have introduced to the continent,
combined with the produce indigenous to Australia. The British colonial period established a strong base of interest in Anglo-Celtic style
recipes and methods. After World War II, subsequent waves of multicultural immigration, with a majority drawn from Asia and the
Mediterranean region, and the strong, sophisticated food cultures these ethnic communities have brought with them influenced the
development of Australian cuisine.

Arguably the first Modern Australian restaurant was Sydney's Bayswater Brasserie (est. 1982), which offered Mediterranean dishes with
Asian and Middle Eastern influences and "showed Sydney [...] that food can be adventurous without being expensive".[1] The term itself
was first used in print in the 1993 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide,[1][2] which placed 34 restaurants under this
heading, and was quickly adopted to describe the burgeoning food scene in Sydney in the 1990s.[3] Leading exponents of the style include
Tetsuya Wakuda , Neil Perry and Peter Gilmore.[4]

As of 2014, the term is considered somewhat dated, with many restaurants preferring to call their style "contemporary Australian cuisine"
instead
Chinese restaurants in Australia
At the beginning of the 21st century, Chinese restaurants have been present in a significant majority of Australian cities and towns
for over fifty years, and in many places for over one hundred and fifty years.[1]
They emerged as commercial enterprises on the Victorian gold fields in 1854.
History
Chinese food began to be established in Australia during the middle of the 19th century by Chinese indentured labourers on
outback stations, many found work there as cooks and also in country pubs.[1]
Chinese migration to Australia massively increased with the gold rushes during the 1850s, and some of these migrants opened
food stores providing hot meals to Chinese gold diggers. European gold diggers also sometimes used these stores.[1] They were
referred to as "cookhouses",[1] or as "cookshops", and were often associated with other Chinese businesses.[2]
One third of all cooks in Australia were Chinese by 1890.[1][3]
While Chinese migration to Australia essentially stopped from 1901 with the White Australia policy, chefs were granted
exemptions and from 1934 Chinese traders with established businesses were able to bring non relative workers in from China.
Family members were brought in under different names, were not trained cooks, and they had to learn on the job. Chinese
restaurants were established in many country towns and all cities by the 1970s.