Also known

as ”Down
Under”
 Fast facts
Australia is the sixth biggest country in the
world.

The country has about 20 million

inhabitants
 Climate
Australia is in the southern hemisphere.

That means that they have summer when

we have winter in Europe.

So they celebrate Christmas in the middle

of the summer.
The Australian Map
Australia is
surrounded by the
Pacific and Indian
Oceans.
Australia has seven
territories.
The biggest cities are
Sydney and
Melbourne.
 History
Australia was unknown
until the 1770’s.
The British explorer
James Cook found the
island in 1770.
Captain Cook called the
island ”New South
Wales”.
Poor people and
criminals were sent to the
island to keep out of
trouble and out of Britain.
 More history

The first people to move to New South Wales was called ”the First
Fleet”.
They came in1788.
They started to build Sydney.
Australia got it’s present name in the 1820’s.
Australia still has the British Queen as Head of State.
 Cities - Canberra

Australia’s capital city is Canberra.

About 345 000 people live here.

Canberra became the capital city because Sydney and

Melbourne couldn’t agree on anything.
The Parliament
moved to the city in
1927.

About half of the

population have
Government jobs.
There are no other
industries in
Canberra.
 Melbourne

Melbourne is the second biggest city.

It has about 3,8 million inhabitants.

It is a multi-cultural city
with many immigrants
from Greece, Vietnam
and China.

Because of all the

immigrants Melbourne
has some of the best
restaurants in the world.
 Sydney
It is the biggest city with about 4,4 million people.
It is also the oldest city.
Many street names are the same as in London; Oxford
Street, Bayswater Road and King’s Cross Road.
Like many other modern cities Sydney is a city with
many sky scrapers.
 The Opera House
The Opera House was
opened by Queen
Elizabeth in 1973.

It is designed by the
Danish architect Jørn
Utzon.

The tiled roof is made

with tile from the Swedish
company Höganäs.
 Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Harbour Bridge opened in 1932 and is 503 metres

long.

It has 8 carriageways, two railway tracks, a bike path,

and a path for pedestrians.
 The Flag

The flag is dark blue with the British Union Flag

(Union Jack) in the upper left corner.

The British flag symbolizes Australia’s historic

links with the UK and the Queen.
There is also a large 7-pointed star under the
Union Flag.

This star symbolizes Australia’s six states and

the Northern Territory.
There are five stars on the right side of the
Australian flag which represent the Southern
Cross.

The Southern Cross is a star picture.

Aborigines
The native population of
Australia is called the
Aborigines.

They have lived in

Australia for thousands of
years.

Many English words

come from their
language, for example:
koala, kangaroo,
boomerang, and
didgeridoo.
 Aborigines - continue
Most Aboroignes died
when the whites came.

They were either killed

or died in diseases they
got from the whites.

Now there are about

270 000 aborigines in
Australia.
 Australian Schools
Children start shool when they are 5 or 6
years old.

They go to school for 10 or 11 years.

About 25% of the schools are private

schools. Most of them are catholic.
Since many people
live out in the bush
many children are
taught through the
radio.
Sports
Australians like many
different water sports.

Some examples are

surfing, kitesurfing
and windsurfing.
 More Sports
Many Australians also
like teamsports.
Cricket, Australian
football and Rugby
are some examples.
 Animals
There are many
animals in Australia.

One of them is the

kangaroo.

The most common

are Grey and Red
kangaroos.
The red kangaroos are
the biggest ones.

A male can be 2 metres

and weigh 90 kilos.

The grey kangaroos are

a little smaller.

The red kangaroos can

hop as fast as 70 km/h.
Koala
Koalas spend their lives
eating eucalyptus leaves
and sleeping in trees.

Koalas can sleep twenty

hours a day.

Koalas rarely drink any

water. They get most of
the water from all the
leaves.

The word koala comes

from an Aborigine word
meaning “no drink”.
 Dingo
The dingo is a wild dog.

The dingo fence is the

longest fence in the world.

It is 5,531 kilometres long.

It is called “the dingo

fence” because it is
supposed to keep out
dingoes from the sheep
farms.

It was built in the 1880’s.

 Dangerous animals

Some of the most dangerous animals in the world live in

Australia.

There are sharks, crocodiles and ants.

There are also many dangerous snakes and spiders.

The Sea Wasp is the
most dangerous
jellyfish in the world.
More dangerous animals
Here you see a
Bluebottle, a Red
back spider and
a Stingy ray.
 Free time

Australia has more beaches than any other

country – there are about 7000 of them.

The first life-saving club in the world was

founded on Bondi Beach in Sydney in 1906.
Great Barrier Reef
It is the world’s
largest coral
reef.

It stretches over
2000 kilometres
and consists of
900 islands and
3000 coral reefs.
A dangerous threat to the Great Barrier Reef -
and to many other tropical reefs – is global
warming.

When temperature rises and the water remains

too warm too long, the corals die.