Australia

Advance Australia Fair

Australia's sons let us rejoice,

For we are young and free,

We've golden soil and wealth for toil,

Our home is girt by sea.

Our land abounds in nature's gifts

Of beauty rich and rare,

In hist'ry's page let ev'ry stage

Advance Australia Fair.

In joyful strains then let us sing

Advance Australia Fair.

Australian citizenship pledge

From this time forward, under god,

I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,

whose democratic beliefs I share,

whose rights and liberties I respect, and

whose laws I will uphold and obey.

Index

Aborigines

Aborigine history pre 1788

Aborigine history after 1788

Protection

Assimilation

Self - determination / Self - management

Walkabout by James Vance Marshall

Remembering Babylon by David Malouf

The white Australia

The discovery of Australia

The development of Australia

The Australian immigration policy

Australian politics

The Australian way of life - The Australian stereotype

Best Australian Short Stories

The children by John Morrison

On the train by Olga Masters

Neighbours by Tim Winton

Movie

Crocodile Dundee

Aborigines

Aborigine history pre 1788

The Aboriginal people lived in Australia for about 50 000 years.

Before 1788, when the whites came to Australia, Aborigines lived near rivers and the coast, especially in the south of Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, in the north of the Northern Territory and in the east of Queensland.

They got their food out of the ocean and the rivers, and were hunting, though they respected animals and nature.

Their land meant quite a lot to the Aboriginal people. The eldest man in each family, called dulma-da, was the protector of the whole families land, which was called nyarrawa, and he passed it on to his eldest son and if he had no sons to his brother or his eldest sister. The Aboriginal people believed that the spirits of their ancestors still lived in the land and it's features, so the dulma-da was also the protector of the ancestors spirits. During ceremonies the Aboriginal people had spiritual contact with their Dreaming ancestors. That's why taking away their land was like taking parts of themselves, their world and everything in it. It destroyed their ancestors.

The Aborigines had a high developed culture. Their religion was the dreaming, they did special dances, held ceremonies, had their own language and cohesiveness in groups. Aborigines had their own sports and social activities. Their judicial system was also high developed. If somebody didn't follow the rules he had to face consequences and punishments, which could go as far as death. Other Aborigines (or later on whites) were only allowed to stay with a group if they accepted their rules. The laws were not written down but passed on to the next generation through verbal music. The relationship between men and women was not unequal to the European one, they had girlfriends and boyfriends, and they could also get married.

Aborigines felt close to nature, they had certain places where Dreaming ancestors had stopped and created something, or held a ceremony. These places are called story places. There Aboriginal people had to behave in a special way, they had to be quietly and respectfully or they weren't supposed to look at various places. They drew pictures on stone, in caves and on wood, which told their stories.

The Aborigines believe that their ancestors have existed since time began and that they came directly out of the dreamtime. They believe that during the creation of the world their ancestors have moved across the land and have created everything on earth, the animals, the plants, the sun, the moon and the planets and the humans. They also believed that everything could transform into one of the other things and that everything was created from the same source and everything was created in their dreamtime.

As the world took shape and was filled with various different species the ancestors all transformed into one shape, like the sun, the sky, the clouds and all the creatures to live within all they created.

Aborigine history after 1788

In 1788 the first explorers arrived in Australia. It was a surprise for the Aboriginal population that people with white skin even existed, but they didn't bother at first. Then the white people started taking their land, and the Aborigines wanted to defend their families and tried to fight the whites. Some of them had to move further into Australians outback and to get used to living there, but the bigger part was murdered in intentional shootings and massacres in which whole families died out. One consequence of the explorers actions was that the Tasmanian Aborigines were completely wiped out. Another reason for the death of hundreds of Aborigines were diseases like small pox, the flu and other illnesses from Europe against which the Aborigines had no immunity.

Protection

The Aboriginal population decreased from 750 000 to 250 000 in less then 100 years, so the government thought that should be stopped and started to find new ways of being able to take the continent over. Missionaries set up missions and the government set up reserves to stop the Aborigines population from dying out.

Assimilation

Following the protection era was the assimilation era, which doesn't mean that the protection era ended, rather it can be seen as an extension. Assimilation means to integrate the Aboriginal people in the white society, to make them similar. Assimilation was an attempt by the non-Aboriginal authorities to integrate Aboriginal people into non-Aboriginal society.

The positive thing about the assimilation was that some Aboriginal people were able to gain a good education and a citizenship certificate.

The negative aspects were, that many children, especially 'mixed race' children were forcibly taken from their parents, because they didn't belong in either Aboriginal or white lifestyle. By the non- Aborigines a non- Aboriginal upbringing was more important than staying with their family.

About 100 000 children were taken away from their families without permission, they were put in institutions with horrible conditions and horrible people running them. There were no records kept from where these children came, so later they were unable to find their way back home. These 'stolen children' are called the 'lost generation' nowadays. Many of today's social problems involving Aboriginal people have been put down to this 'stolen children' regime, including a disproportionate amount of crime, problems with bringing up their own children for they haven't had a proper upbringing themselves, behaviour that doesn't display the benefits of love and over all a breakdown in the passing on of culture, which has traditionally been done from mouth to mouth.

Another point in the assimilation era was that the 'mixed race' or 'half castes' were not allowed to marry 'full blood' - Aborigines. They were 'given' to white Europeans to get Australia all white.

Self - determination / Self - Management

The Aboriginal people wanted to decide about their own future themselves and so the government let them do a self management from the year 1973 on. The Aborigines had the possibility to represent their own interests and to organise themselves.

Self-management was welcomed by the Aboriginal community though there were a few problems, especially in dealing with the government departments. The Aboriginal people had been totally controlled by missionaries until 1973, so they had no training to prepare them in management skills. The government still controlled funding and everything had to suit their guidelines and budgeting procedures. The Aboriginal people had to form their own organisation to represent their interests.

Walkabout

By James Vance Marshall

The book Walkabout, which is based on a true story, was first published in 1959 by Michael Joseph with the name 'The children'.

A walkabout is a test for Aboriginal boys. At the age of 13 or 14 they have to leave their tribes for about six to eight month to show that they are able to survive in the desert. Only the strongest boys survive and are able to get back to their families. When they come back they are men.

Plot

The story takes place in the Australian desert. Mary and Peter, two American children, are on their way to Adelaide to visit their uncle when their plane crashes. They are the only survivors of the crash and find themselves all alone in the Australian desert. The children decide to walk to Adelaide not knowing that the town was fourteen hundred miles away. After a time without food they meet an Aboriginal boy on his walkabout. He doesn't understand what they are doing in the middle of the desert, but he sees that they wouldn't survive without his help and takes them with him. Peter gets into contact with the bush boy easily and learns a lot about surviving in the Australian bush from him, but Mary has prejudices against him because he is black and naked, so in her eyes not civilised. The Aboriginal boy catches a cold from Peter and because he has a different immune system he can't protect himself from the fever. A few days later he gets too weak to move on and he wants to explain to Mary how to make his burial table, but she refuses to listen to him, still afraid of his nakedness. Peter stays at his side the whole day long and the bush boy shows him the way they have to go to be save. Meanwhile Mary thinks a lot about her relationship to the black boy and when Peter tells her that the boy was going to die, Mary changes her opinion and stays with him for his last few hours. After his death Peter and Mary bury their friend close to a billabong and move on in the direction the Aborigine had shown Peter. After a few days the children meet an Aboriginal family who describe the way to the next white men's village, where the children are finally saved.

Characters

Mary: She is a 13-year-old girl with long blond hair. When getting lost in the desert, Mary doesn't get in panic and tries to protect her little brother. She feels like having to be more for him than a sister and tries to behave like a grown-up. When meeting the Aborigine Mary is shocked by him being naked. She gets jealous when Peter and the boy become friends and feels left out because of being a girl. Mary's opinion towards the Aborigine changes just before he dies. She starts accepting that their culture is totally different and notices the she is not superior to the Aborigine at all.

Peter: He is an 8-year-old boy and gets into contact with the bush boy quite easily. Peter is impressed by his way of living and tries to imitate him. The little boy learns a lot about life in the desert and how to survive. In the beginning of the story Peter would do anything Mary told him, but in those days alone in the desert he notices that she is not always right and starts making his own decisions. In the end it's him leading Mary back to civilisation.

Aborigine: The bush boy is on his walkabout. When finding the helpless children he is quite surprised by them being white for he had never seen any white people before. He helps them by taking them with him. At first he doesn't understand why Mary stays away from him, but he cares for Peter anyway. When he gets ill he sees the Spirit of Death in Mary's eyes and knows that he was going to die. Trying to save the children he moves on for another two days, but finally he is too weak to walk on, so he tells Peter how to get over the hills where they could find food and water. He is afraid of dying because the Aborigines don't believe in life after death. At first he tries telling Mary how to bury him but soon he understands that she doesn't want to talk to him. The boy is happy when she finally decides to look after him until he died.

Interpretation

In the book one of the problems, which appeared when whites came to Australia is shown. The Aboriginal boy has to die because his immune system couldn't fight the fever. That happened to a lot of Aborigines after the whites came.

The book also tells a lot about the Aboriginal culture and their way to survive in the Australian outback. Things like the walkabout, the Spirit of Death and the burial platform, which should save the dead bodies from the evil spirits coming out of the earth, are very important to the Aborigines.

There are also some Aboriginal words are also mentioned in the story, like arkooloola, larana and kurura.

The book shows how children from two cultures start communicating and getting to know each other. At first the culture clash is quite shocking for the white children as well as for the Aboriginal boy, but after getting to know each other better, they notice that it's worth learning more about the other culture and that both cultures are worth existing.

For the older white girl it's harder to accept the fact, that the Aboriginal also has his right to exist and that he's not just uncivilised. I think that's because of her age. On one side it's the age of protesting against everyone and everything who wants to tell her what to do, on the other hand she has already been influenced by all sorts of prejudices and can't help believing them. She is shocked to see a naked boy because she has never been in this situation and she resist the feeling that this just isn't right.

Her brother acts totally different. On the one hand he is a boy, who, like most boys of his age, is easily impressed by older boys. On the other hand he notices pretty soon, that his sister, who always seemed to know everything, is as lost as him in this totally new surrounding and so he feels saver with the black boy telling him what to do. He also isn't that influenced by any sorts of prejudices because he is much younger and so not as much in contact with older ones than his sister. He accepts knowing less than others because he is used to be told what to do so he stars communicating with the Aborigine quite fast.

The Aborigine hasn't ever seen or been in touch with white people, so he is prejudice-free. He doesn't know what to do with the two helpless children, but he notices that they couldn't survive without his help. The two kids act quite strange, at least it seems so to him and he can't imagine where they come from. He just sees that they need help and so tries to do everything he can for them, even when he notices he was going to die, he made sure they would find their way back home.

The Aborigine lives like he was used to live. He eats whatever he can find: fish, plants, insects and roots. He is able to find water in the desert, he believes in the spirits and in the land being part of him. The Aboriginal boy follows the traditions and customs of his people and is shocked when he notices, that he won't be buried on a burial platform and that the evil spirits will be able to take him away when he died. He would have been even more scared if he had known that he was going to be buried under the earth and that it was even easier for the evil spirits to reach down there. Mary and Peter couldn't have known that and so nobody can make them responsible for their actions. That's just another aspect of the culture clash.

Remembering Babylon

By David Malouf

Plot

In the beginning of the book, three children find a white man, who looks like an Aborigine. They take him to their village and the settlers become very interested in the stranger, who can only remember a few words of English and acts in a strange kind of way. After they find out that his name is Gemmy and that he was thrown off a ship and found by an Aboriginal tribe. He had followed them everywhere, learned their language and became a member of the tribe. Gemmy's former life is written down and he stays at the McIvors place, the place where the children who had found him lived. He hangs around with the children feeling saver and understood by them. His relationship to the white community is complicated for he is considered a 'parody of a white man' by some of them. Gemmy has to face hate and self-loathing. Gemmy is also seen as an opportunity to learn all about the blacks, the so called enemies of the settlers, but he gives false information in order to protect his people. Some of the settlers are afraid of the half-white man and he is suspected of having had visits from his old friends. Some time later Gemmy is really visited by the aborigines and the meeting is witnessed. Gemmy's new family, the McIvors start noticing a distance growing between them and their neighbours, but they start realising the effect Gemmy and the nature have had on them. The other settlers start to attack the McIvors and Gemmy feels like being the reason for the troubles the McIvors have to go through. Finally Gemmy is even close to being killed, but Jock McIvor arrives just in time to save him. Gemmy thinks about his belonging to nature and not to the white community. Gemmy starts helping Mrs. Huchence caring for her bees and is given a room in her house outside the settlement. Finally Gemmy disappears after wanting to have the papers concerning his life back, which he doesn't get.

Characters

Gemmy: He had lived with an Aboriginal tribe and has learned to live with nature since he was small. Wanting to find out more about his past he contacts the settlers, who don't really understand him. Gemmy starts to remember a few facts about his past and tries to built up a relationship to his new people. Noticing the hatred he doesn't feel at home and starts missing the aborigines, he wants to return to the wilderness.

Interpretation

The book shows how people react to the unknown. At first they are interested to find out something about the stranger visiting them, but when having an opinion, they don't want to chance it and become afraid of the new way of living and acting. Its hard for the settlers to accept that their way doesn't have to be the only right way to handle things.

Most settlers were afraid of the Aborigines. They have been told about the Aboriginal people having killed unprepared settlers and burned down their homes. That was one reason, why the white settlers had so much prejudices against this people and wanted to get rid of everything which could have affected their normal life. They also were scared of the Aborigines because they didn't know much about their lifestyle and a lot of quite influencing whites spread rumours about Aborigines eating humans and sacrificing babies. The scared settlers were too afraid to find out about the Aboriginal customs themselves and so believed everything they were told.

When Gemmy turns up in the settler's village they all find him childish and uneducated. They think they know a lot more about everything and they feel superior. When they notice all the differences in his behaviour they are unwilling to accept these. They are so full of prejudices, that they don't even want to learn more about the Aboriginal culture, and so tease and scare Gemmy long enough to get rid of him as well as the thought of one of their own 'tribe' being a friend of the enemy.

The White Australia

The discovery of Australia

The first 'official' explorer was Captain Willem Jansz from The Netherlands. He arrived in Queensland in 1606. In the next few years other Captains from The Netherlands arrived in Australia and they called the new continent New Holland. In these days no-one had an idea, that the new found continent was that huge, and so no-one was interested in it.

In 1642 Abel Tasman arrived in Tasmania, but he didn't know that it was just an island and so he called it Van Diemen's Land. He also saw New Zealand and thought it was the western coast of the new continent.

To prove Abel Tasman's assumption the British James Cook went to Australia. He found the eastern coast and went past Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. On April, 29 James Cook arrived at the Botany Bay, not far from today's Sydney.

Sir Joseph Banks had the idea of sending British prisoners to the new continent, and so the first fleet left England to arrive at the Botany Bay in Australia on January, 18. Captain Arthur Phillip didn't want to stay at Botany Bay, so he shipped to Port Jackson where Sydney was founded on January, 26, today's national holiday.

The first years were really hard. The European plants the whites had taken with them didn't grow and a lot of people starved.

Under governor Lachlan Macquarie the economic and social situation got better. He told Gregory Blaxland, William Charles Wentworth and William Lawson to find a way through the Blue Mountains, to gain new arable land. They are one of the first men exploring Australia.

In 1802/03 Matthew Flinders met the French Nicolas Baudin on the south coast. That's why the British started to populate Australia in 1827, to prevent the continent from becoming French.

Between 1825 and 1890 Van Diemen's Land, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia became independent colonies. In 1901 the Australian colonies united to the Commonwealth of Australia.

Australia became an economical strong land. In the middle of the 19. Century a gold rush started because of the Victorian goldmines and Melbourne became bigger than Sydney (today Sydney is the biggest city of Australia).

The development of Australia

When the Commonwealth of Australia was founded there was a problem with choosing the capital city. Both Sydney and Melbourne thought they should become the most important Australian city. In the end Canberra, which is exactly in between the two cities was selected.

In the First World War Australia and New Zealand formed the 'Australian and New Zealand Army Corps', the ANZAC and fought for the British. In 1915 they tried to fight the Turkish position near Gallipolli, but they weren't able to win and a lot of solders didn't return to their families.

Australia became more and more independent, economically and politically, but still the Queen was the political leader.

In the Second World War America helped Australia fighting the Japanese. That was when the 'British way of life' was mixed with the 'American way of life'.

When England joined the EU the European market became less important and the Australians started exporting their wool and steaks to the Asian market.

In 1988 there was a huge 200-year celebration. While the whites were celebrating the Aborigines were protesting and made the people think about the things the British explorers did to their ancestors.

In 1956 the Olympic games were organised in Melbourne. In 2000 Sydney was the Olympic city.

The Australian immigration policy

Around 1920 was the first period of high migration because of the First World War in Europe. A lot of Europeans especially from Britain migrated to Australia.

Then around 1930 the immigration tended to be very low because of the Great Depression people couldn't afford to migrate.

After the Second World War thousands of Europeans left their home country to go to Australia. The 'Assisted Passage Scheme' was formed, which helped migrants to come to Australia as long as they worked for at least two years.

Around 1990 was a time of a high unemployment rate, so the number of permitted new settlers was reduced.

In the beginning of the 60's there were some racial problems between the Australians and the Asian population. A lot of Australians wanted to stop the immigration to Australia, but economically that was impossible.

There are only 18 million people on the whole continent. About 73% are British and Irish, 5,5% are Asian, 3,8% are German and Italian, 2% are Greek and about 1,5% are from the Netherlands,

Nowadays it is quite hard to immigrate to Australia. The immigration policy depends on the labour market, only people with a good education in for Australia useful jobs, people who spend a lot of money in Australia and people who create jobs for Australians are allowed to immigrate to Australia.

Australian politics

In Australia there are three levels. The federal lead by the prime minister, the state headed by the premier and the local the major leading it.

To make a law, there first has to be a bill. That goes to the lower house, the House Of Representation, then it is passed on to the upper house, the Senate, then it finally becomes a law.

Three major political Parties dominate Australian politics. The oldest is the ALP(Australian Labor Party) and the Liberal and National Parties often form a coalition to oppose the ALP. The Australian Democrats, Greens and Independents sometimes have influence by holding the balance of power in the Senate. When the numbers of ALP and the Coalition Senators are almost evenly matched, the votes of these smaller Parties and Independents is crucial to the passage of legislation.

The minor parties often represent specific interests and their lobbying is a major part of the Australian political process. Currently only the Australian Democrats and the Greens are represented in parliament but when the numbers of ALP and the Coalition Senators are almost evenly matched, the votes of these smaller Parties and the Independents is crucial to the passage of legislation.

The queen of England is still the head of Australia, followed by the Prime Minister. In 1999 there have been votes if Australia should become independent but the majority of the Australians voted for the queen wanting to hold up the old tradition.

The Australian way of life - The Australian stereotype

The Australians life according to the principle 'no worries'. That's their way of solving problems. The Australians just love the beach for the outback doesn't seem to be to interesting as long as you are not interested in nature. The 'Aussies' are known for their barbecues. 

Their motto 'no worries' can also be seen in their language. The Australians use words like barby, tinny, footy and veggies instead of barbecue, tin, football - 'Aussie' rules and vegetables.

Another quite typical thing for 'Aussies' is vegemite, every Australian likes it on toast with butter, but no-one coming from a foreign county can even smell it.

A typical thing for most Australians is that they are sportive or at least interested in 'footy', rugby or cricket. Also horseracing is important. The most important horserace of the year is the Melbourne cup on the first Tuesday of November. In Victoria the day of the Melbourne cup is even an official holiday.

Best Australian Short Stories

The children

By John Morrison

The short story 'The children' by John Morrison was written in 1972.

In the beginning a journalist visits a man, who just packs his truck. The journalist wants to ask a few questions, but at first the man is unfriendly and tries to get away without answering any questions. The journalist doesn't want to give up and involves the man in a conversation.

One can find out, that there has been a big fire in the village where the man is from, and that the man was sent to save the villagers children out of the school, for he was the only one with a good working truck. On his way to the school, he notices that his house with his wife and his children was on fire and after having a look at the school he could see, that it isn't even close to the fires. The man chose to drive to his home first to get his family, but on his way back to the school, he realises that it was already on fire and that it was far too late to save the other villagers kids.

The man repeats constantly that no-one else would have reacted different in his situation, which is probably true.

In the end it is said that the man's family is leaving their home town being watched by the hard and bitter faces of the villagers.

When reading the story and knowing that it takes place in Australia, or is at least written by an Australian writer, one could relate the fire to the Australian bush fires which happen every year. Those bush fires are very dangerous because of the temperature, the wind and the dry vegetation. The fire-fighters have a hard job to get the bush fires under control.

On the train

By Olga Masters

In the short story 'On the train' a mother and her two little girls leave their home, one doesn't know exactly why. At first the mother can't really decide in which direction to go, but once decided, she hurries down the street without thinking about her little children who can hardly follow her. They reach a train-station and the mother buys three tickets, still not noticing her girls. The passengers look at the small family noticing the children don't wear warm enough clothes and want the mother to notice their disapproval about the way she treats her kids.

They get on a train, the mother not helping her small daughter getting up the stairs. When trying to find a seat the mother chooses a single one and lets the two girls sit together on the other side. A female passenger who sits opposite of the two girls takes a closer look at their mother, noticing the she is a very beautiful woman compared to the girls and tries to find out more about them through trying to talk to the children.

Finally the mother and her kids are getting off the train, and while passing the woman the mother bends down telling her that she was going to kill her children.

This particular story could happen in every country. You never get to know anything about the reasons why the woman is leaving her home or why she wants to kill her children. She could be mentally ill, or she just couldn't cope with being left by her husband, it could be anything.

Neighbours

By Tim Winton

Neighbours by Tim Winton is a very short story about a young couple moving into a new neighbourhood. They notice that their new home was full of European migrants and don't feel quite at home in the beginning, always having to listen to the loud conversations of their next door neighbours, a Macedonian family and the hammering of their other next door neighbour, a Polish widower. At first they only see the strange and sometimes disgusting customs of their new neighbourhood.

After getting used to their new surrounding the young couple starts liking their neighbours and notice that they aren't that bad at all.

When the woman becomes pregnant the neighbours immediately find out about it and start giving the young couples presents and good tips. The couple isn't used to that friendliness and is really surprised when the whole neighbourhood celebrates the arrival of the new baby.

I chose this short story thinking about the many immigrants living in Australia and their living together peacefully.

The story shows how many people from different countries can live peacefully together, although they have a different lifestyle. There are a lot of migrants in Australia who moved there because of various reasons, like war, the Great Depression, political reasons and just because they started loving the country.

Movie

Crocodile Dundee

The movie 'Crocodile Dundee' was released in 1986 and became the most famous Australian movie in the United States. The two main characters are played by Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski.

The character of Crocodile Dundee is based on a real man called Rodney William Ansell who was killed in a gunbattle with the Australian police after having shot Sgt. Glen Huitson.

In the movie the female American reporter Sue Charleston hears about an Australian crocodile hunter, who managed to get to survive one week in the Australian desert after a crocodile has bitten parts of his foot off. She wants to meet him to write a story about him and spends a few days in the Australian wilderness with him. Coming back into the civilisation Sue takes him with her back to New York.

Sue shows Michael J. Crocodile Dundee the city and he tries to fit in and manages to be liked where ever he goes. The only ones hating him are the 'bad guys' and Sues jealous boyfriend Richard, who keeps trying to embarrass Mick, but without luck.

After Richard has made a proposal to Sue Mick wants to leave the city, not knowing that she has refused to marry Richard. Finally there is a happy end and the two main characters fall in love.

After the movie was released there was a big Australian boom. A lot of tourists went to Australia to see the Australian outback and to get in touch with an Australian bushman.

Crocodile Dundee is a good example to show the Australian archetype. He is sun tanned, always wears an Australian akubra, clothes made of leather and a necklace with crocodile teeth. Also his language and his way of seeing things is typical Australian. He uses words like 'mate' and 'tada' and always acts natural and easy.