The land down under
Minsk
State Linguistic University
land
down under
,
2011
Introduction
this paper I will tell some fun
facts about Australia, "The Land Down Under". Australia is the world’s
smallest continent but is also the sixth largest country in the world. If it is
summer here then it's winter there! Australia has some incredibly hot weather
and some of the world’s greatest animals and forests. The hottest temperature
actually reached 53.1C in 1889. If you want to go to Australia you should learn
some of their unusual lingo. Yes, they do speak English but they have their own
language for almost everything. Australia is referred to as "The Island
Continent".
Common
knowledge
Australia (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English>e?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English>),
officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern
Hemisphere <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Hemisphere> comprising
the mainland of the Australian continent
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(continent)>, the island of
Tasmania <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmania> and numerous smaller
islands <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Australia> in
the Indian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean> and Pacific Oceans
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean>. It is the world's
sixth-largest country by total area <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area>.
Neighboring countries include Indonesia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia>, East Timor
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor> and Papua New Guinea
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea> to the north, the Solomon
Islands <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands>, Vanuatu
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanuatu> and New Caledonia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Caledonia> to the northeast and New
Zealand <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand> to the southeast.at
least 40,000 years before European <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe>
settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous
Australians <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians>, who
belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australian_languages>. After
discovery by Dutch <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Republic>
explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain> in 1770 and
initially settled through penal transportation
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_transportation> to the colony of New
South Wales <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales> from 26
January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent
was explored and an additional five self-governing
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsible_government> Crown Colonies were
established.1 January 1901, the six colonies federated <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Australia>,
forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has
maintained a stable liberal democratic
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_democracy> political system which
functions as a federal <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism>
parliamentary democracy
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_democracy> and constitutional
monarchy <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_monarchy>. The
federation comprises six states and several territories
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_territories_of_Australia>. The
population of 22.6 million is heavily concentrated in the Eastern states
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_states_of_Australia> and is highly
urbanized <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country>.highly
developed country <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country>,
Australia is the world's thirteenth largest economy
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)> and has
the world's seventh-highest per capita income
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita>.
Australia's military expenditure is the world's twelfth largest
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures>.
With the second-highest human development index globally
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index>,
Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national
performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_freedom> and the protection of
civil liberties <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_liberties> and
political rights. Australia is a member of the G20
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G20>, OECD <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_for_Economic_Co-operation_and_Development>,
WTO <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization>, APEC
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia-Pacific_Economic_Cooperation>, UN
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations>, Commonwealth of Nations
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations>, ANZUS
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZUS>, and the Pacific Islands Forum
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islands_Forum>. [1][??st?・lj?, -li?] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English_phonology>
in Australian English <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English>,
the name Australia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_name_etymologies> is
derived from the Latin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin> australis,
meaning "southern". The country has been referred to colloquially as
Oz since the early 20th century. Aussie
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aussie> is a common colloquial term for
"Australian".of Terra Australis Incognita <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Australis>-an
"unknown land of the South"-date back to Roman times and were
commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented
knowledge of the continent. Following European discovery, names for the
Australian landmass were often references to the famed Terra Australis.flag of
Australia is a defaced <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defacement_(flag)>
Blue Ensign <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ensign>: a blue field with
the Union Flag <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Flag> in the canton
(upper hoist quarter), and a large white seven-pointed star known as the
Commonwealth Star <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Star> in the
lower hoist quarter. The fly
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_terminology> contains a representation
of the Southern Cross <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crux> constellation,
made up of five white stars - one small five-pointed star and four, larger,
seven-pointed stars.flag's original design was chosen in 1901 from entries in a
worldwide competition held following Federation
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Australia>. It was first
flown in Melbourne <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne> on 3
September 1901. A slightly different design was approved by King Edward VII
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VII_of_the_United_Kingdom>[1] in
1902. Over the next few years, the exact specifications of the flag
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag> were changed several times both
intentionally and as a result of confusion. The current specifications were formally
gazetted in 1934, and in 1954 the flag became recognized by, and legally
defined in, the Flags Act 1953
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_Act_1953>[2], as the "Australian
National Flag <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_flag>".[1]
Unusual Australian
Facts
. History
* Swimming - In 1838 it was declared
illegal to swim at public beaches during the day! This law was enforced until
1902.
* The secret ballot was first used
in Victoria and South Australia following the granting of responsible government.
Other states introduced secret ballots as follows: 1856 - Victoria & South
Australia 1858 - New South Wales & Tasmania 1859 - Queensland 1893 -
Western Australia. The secret ballot was referred to as 'kangaroo voting'.
World wide, secret voting is often referred to as the 'Australian ballot.
* Female vote - Australia was the
second country to give women the vote.
* In 1932, Francis De Groot[3], a
retired cavalry officer, managed to get himself selected as part of the honour
guard at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge[4]. When the ribbon was about
to be cut, he galloped forward on his horse and slashed the ribbon with his
sword, declaring the bridge open in the name of 'the decent citizens of New
South Wales'. The ribbon was then tied back together and the ceremony
continued. De Groot was carried off to a mental hospital, declared insane and
later fined for the replacement cost of one ribbon.
* Independence for WA- In April
1933, 68 per cent of West Australians voted in favour of seceding from the
Commonwealth of Australia. However, they needed permission from the British
Parliament before they could officially become a new country. Meanwhile,
Australia's Federal Parliament was arguing that Britain should not interfere in
Australian politics. The end result was that Britain never made a decision.
Consequently, Western Australian remained part of the Commonwealth.
* In 1954, Bob Hawke[6] was
immortalised by the Guinness Book of Records[5] for sculling 2.5 pints of beer
in 11 seconds. Bob later became the Prime Minister of Australia.
*Sir John Robertson[7], five times
premier of New South Wales, drank a pint of rum every morning for 35 years.
Later said: 'none of the men who have left footprints in this country have been
cold water men.'
* Prime Minister Harold Holt went
for a swim at Cheviot Beach, near Portsea on 17th December 1967, and was never
seen again. The event has been referred to as 'the swim that needed no towel'.
* Until 1984, Australia's National
anthem was "God save the Queen/King."
* Cartoonists - A cartoon is a
drawing that makes a satirical, witty, or humorous point. On 17 July 1924, the
world's first society of cartoonists, the Black and White Artists' Society[8],
was formed in Sydney.
* Yowie sighting - In 1987, the
Alice Springs police station received a call from a frightened family. The
family had stopped for a cup of tea after a morning of rabbit hunting. Then a
huge ape like creature, two meters tall and covered in hair, leapt out of an
empty water tank and began walking towards them. The family fled to their truck
and the creature ran after them before disappearing into the bush. The man,
Frank Burns believed it was a man however the women, Phyllis Kenny, told the
press she could tell the difference between man and beast and this was
definitely a beast. The following day police searched the area and found a man,
203 centimetres tall weighing a estimated 127-159 kg (or about two Oprah
Winfreys) sitting naked by the roadside. The man was then taken to a local
mental hospital.
*Australia day - January 26,
Australia day, is the anniversary of ships arriving in Sydney carrying a load
of Convicts.
*Australia was the 3rd country,
after the US and Russia, to launch a satellite into orbit. It was for the
British, using a 'Blue Streak'[9] rocket
. Convicts
*A census taken in 1828 found that
half the population of NSW[10] were Convicts, and that former Convicts made up
nearly half of the free population.
*It is estimated that by the time
transportation ended in 1868, 40 per cent of Australia's English-speaking
population were convicts.
*In 2007, it was estimated that 22
per cent of living Australians had a convict ancestor.
*Convicts were not sent to Australia
for serious crimes. Serious crimes, such as murder, rape, or impersonating an Egyptian
were given the death sentence in England.
*Crimes punishable by transportation
included recommending that politicians get paid, starting a union, stealing
fish from a river or pond, embezzlement, receiving or buying stolen goods,
setting fire to underwood, petty theft, or being suspected of supporting Irish
terrorism.
* Alcohol- It has been reported that
the first European settlers in Australia drank more alcohol per head of
population than any other community in the history of mankind.
* Police force - Australia's first
police force was a band of 12 of the most well behaved Convicts.
* Mass moonings - In 1832, 300
female Convicts at the Cascade Female Factory[11] mooned the Governor of
Tasmania during a chapel service. It was said that in a "rare moment of
collusion with the Convict women, the ladies in the Governor's party could not
control their laughter.
. Natural Environment
*The Australian Lyre Bird[12] is the
world's best imitator; able to mimic the calls of 15 different species of birds
in their locality and string the calls into a melody. Also been known to mimic
the sound mobile phones.
*The echidna[13] is such a unique
animal that it is classified in a special class of mammals known as monotremes,
which it shares only with the platypus. The echidna lays eggs like a duck but
suckles its young in a pouch like a kangaroo. For no apparent reason, it may
decide to conserve energy by dropping its body temperature to 4 degrees and
remain at that temperature from 4 to 120 days. Lab experiments have shown that
the echidna is more intelligent that a cat and it has been seen using its
spikes, feet and beaks to climb up crevices like a mountaineer edging up a rock
chimney.
*Purple wallaby[14] - The
Purple-neck Rock Wallaby [Petrogale Purpureicollis], inhabits the Mt Isa region
in Northwest Queensland. The Wallaby secretes a dye that transforms its face
and neck into colours ranging from light pink to bright purple.
*The Fierce Snake[15] or Inland
Taipan has the most toxic venom of any snake. Maximum yield recorded (for one
bite) is 110mg. That would probably be enough to kill over 100 people or
250,000 mice.
*The Wombat[16] deposits square poos
on logs, rocks and even upright sticks that it uses to mark its territory.
*A 10kg Tasmanian Devil[17] is able
to exert the same biting pressure as a 40kg dog. It can also eat almost a third
of its body weight in a single feeding.
*Australia is the smallest,
flattest, and driest inhabited continent in the world. It is the only country
which is also a whole continent.
*Over 90% of Australia is dry, flat
and arid. Almost three-quarters of the land cannot support agriculture in any
form.
*A baby kangaroo at the time of its
birth measures 2 centimeters.
*Kangaroos[18] need very little
water to survive and are capable of going for months without drinking at all.
When they do need water, they dig 'wells' for themselves; frequently going as
deep as three or four feet. These 'kangaroo pits' are a common source of water
for other animals living in the kangaroo's environment.
*A kangaroo being chased by a dog
may jump into a dam. If the dog gives chase, the kangaroo may turn towards the
dog, then use its paws to push the dogs head underwater in order to drown it.
*Emus[19] and kangaroos cannot walk
backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
*A monotreme[20] is an animal that
lays eggs and suckles its young. The world's only monotremes are the platypus
and the echidna.
*The male platypus[21] has a
poisonous spine that can kill a dog and inflict immense pain on a human.
*When a specimen of the platypus was
first sent to England, it was believed the Australians had played a joke by
sewing the bill of a duck onto a rat.
*Box Jelly fish[22] - The box
jellyfish is considered the world's most venomous marine creature. The box
jellyfish has killed more people in Australia than stonefish[23], sharks and
crocodiles combined.
*The Sydney Funnelweb spider[24] is
considered the world's most deadly spider. It is the only spider that has
killed people in less than 2 hours. Its fangs are powerful enough to bite
through gloves and fingernails. The only animals without immunity to the
funnelweb's venom are humans and monkeys.
*Lung fish[25] - Queensland is home
to lung fish, a living fossil from the Triassic period[26] 350 million years
ago.
Migration
* Mungo man - In 1974, scientists
discovered the Mungo man - a primate who was ritually buried 40-60,000 years
ago with his hands covering his penis. ANU's John Curtin School of Medical
Research found that the skeleton's genetic material contained a small section
of mitochondrial DNA. It was analysed and compared to the genetic material from
nearly 3,500 people; including Neanderthals, Asians, ancient Aborigines, and
present-day Aborigines. It was found that Mungo Man's DNA lacked a gene that
was common to all the other samples. Consequently, unlike every other known
person on the planet, or unearthed skeleton, Mungo man can not be traced to
humans that left Africa any time in the last 200,000 years.
*Robust - The first humans travelled
across the sea from Indonesia about 70,000 years ago. These people are called
'Robust' by archaeologists because of their heavy-boned physique.
*Gracile - 50, 000 years ago, the
more slender 'Gracile' people; the ancestors of Australian Aborigines, arrived
in Australia. At the time of their settlement/invasion, the Gracile were the
most technologically advanced people in the world.
*Tasmanian Aborigine - The Tasmanian
Aborigine was of a different race to those on the mainland with features more
similar to Africans. No full bloods live today.
*Convicts of African descent -
Convicts comprised many different racial groups and many of these minority
racial groups were very prominent in colonial society. Australia's first
bushranger was a Convict of African descent. Another African Convict was
arguably Sydney's first eccentrics as he walked around in a top hat and tails.
*Gold Rush[27] - During the Gold
rush of the 1850's, Australia received massive waves of migration from China,
America, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England. An
Italian migrant named 'Raefello Carboni' subsequently led the Eureka Rebellion.
*People: 92% Caucasian descent, 7%
Asian descent, 1% Aboriginal descent.
*Post World War II - From 1945
through 1996, nearly 5.5 million immigrants settled in Australia.
*Four out of 10 Australians are
migrants or the first-generation children of migrants.
Sport
*Happy birthday anthem - In 1977,
Alan Jones scored a surprise victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. Initially
officials were going to play the Austrian anthem but then realized that
Australia and Austria were not the same country. Unfortunately, they didn't
have the Australian anthem so instead a local drunk played "Happy Birthday
to You" on a trumpet.
*Don Bradman[28] - Don Bradman
averaged 99.94 during his career. The next highest average in the entire
history of the game is around 60.
*Australian Football was invented by
Sydney Tom Wills and Henry Harrison - both were born in Sydney. Tom played the
Aboriginal game of Mangrook as a child and it is believed the native game
inspired the rules he initially proposed. The game then took hold in Victoria,
and was largely rejected by Sydney.
*America's cup - In 1983, the yacht
"Australia II" ended the Americans 132 year dominance of the
America's cup
*4 X 100 meters - The American 4 X
100 meters freestyle relay team had never been defeated until the 2000 Olympics
when they were beaten by the Australians.
*Duncan Armstrong - At the 1988
Seoul Olympics, underdog Ducan Armstrong upstaged the great American Matt
Biondi to win the 200m freestyle. (Australians like to beat Americans.) The win
was made extra enjoyable when American's accused Armstrong of
"surfing" the wave created by Biondi. Only thing more enjoyable that
seeing Americans defeated, is them bitter as well.
*Sydney Olympics - The Sydney
Olympics were labeled the 'best ever games' by IOC[29] president Juan
Samaranch. What makes this a particularly sweet accolade for Australians is
that they followed the Atlanta Olympics - staged by Americans.
*A Sydney Australian football match
was once stopped after fans smuggled a pig into the stadium, wrote the name of
a big-boned player on the pig's side and then released it onto the ground.
*Dawn Fraser - Dawn Fraser is the
only athlete to ever win gold in the same event at three consecutive Olympics.
At the 1964 Olympics, Dawn Fraser marched in the opening ceremony and wore a
custom made swimsuit. For these breaches of protocol, the Australian Swimming
Federation banned her from competition for ten years.
*Jeff Thompson once bowled a ball
that was calculated to be at least 160 kms per hour which makes him the fastest
bowler of all time. He is reported to have said that the sound of the bowl
hitting the batsmen skull was music to his ears.
*Cazaly - When charging from their
trenches, Diggers would yell "Up their Cazaly" in tribute to the
ruckmen Roy Cazaly. "Up there Cazaly" was later made into a song that
reached number one on the charts.
*Susie Maroney is a swimmer who from
time to time feels inclined to swim long distances - such as Cuba to Florida.
*The day of the Melbourne Cup[30] (a
horse race!) is a public holiday in Melbourne.
Cities and States
*Sydney - Australia's first and
largest city. Also known as Sin City. Wanted to be Capital of Australia but its
convict stigma counted against it.
*Melbourne - Wanted to be the
Capital of Australia on the basis that it was the home to the Australian
establishment and was not founded by Convicts. (Founded by John Batman; son of
a Convict)
*Canberra - Because Sydney and
Melbourne kept bickering over which city should be the capital of Australia, it
was decided that neither of them would be capital and instead, a new capital
would be built in the middle of them both.
*Hobart - Australia's second oldest
city. The too-frequent visits by French explorers concerned the British
authorities and in 1803 it was decided that a colony should be established on
the island to secure British territorial claims. Convicts were then sent.
*Newcastle - Newcastle's coal
deposits were discovered by a party hunting escaped Convicts. Sydney's
difficult Convicts were then sent to Newcastle to mine the coal. Known as an
egalitarian city where miners and winemakers share a beer or a fine drop.
*Adelaide - Claim to fame is that it
is a City that has lots of Churches. Adelaide is the Capital of the only
Australian state never to have received Convicts.
*Perth - The last Australian state
to receive Convicts. It has been said most of them now work in parliament or
business.
*Brisbane - In 1824, a southern
state governor sent a party of difficult Convicts to found a new settlement in
Queensland. These days, southern state children send their difficult parents to
Queensland to retire. Also a Mecca for Southern State teenagers who upon
finishing school, head north for a week of booze and debauchery.
*Tasmania - The island state is one
of the world's major suppliers of licit opiate products. The government
maintains strict controls over areas of opium poppy cultivation and output of
poppy straw concentrate; major consumer of cocaine and amphetamines.
*Long fence - The 'dingo fence' in
Australia is the longest fence in the world, and is about twice as long as the
Great Wall of China.
Language
australia fact flag
history
*Waltzing Matilda - 'Waltzing Matilda'
the title of Australia's most famous song, is German for 'carrying a backpack'.
*Bludger - Australians refer to lazy
people as 'bludgers'. The word is derived from 'bludgeoner' which is a
prostitute's standover man.
*Larrikin - A larrikin is a comical,
roguish individual who is prone to rowdy and unruly behaviour. The term was
coined from an Irish policeman in a Melbourne court, claiming the prisoner was
"larkin about".
*POME - Australians refer to English
people as Poms or Pome. This is an acronym for Prisoners of Mother England. May
have originally been an abbreviation for pomegranate which is Convict rhyming
slang for immigrant.
*The name Australia comes from the
Latin Terra Australis Incognito which means the Unknown Southern Land.
*Seppo - Australians may refer to
Americans as 'Seppos'. This is an abbreviation for 'Septic Tank' which is
rhyming slang for 'Yank'.
*Drongo - Australians may refer to
fools, idiots and hopeless cases as Drongos. Drongo was a 1920's racehorse that
showed promise but never won anything in 37 starts. In the 1940s, the term was
applied to recruits of the Australian airforce.
*Digger - Australian servicemen are
referred to as Diggers. This term comes from miners on the Australian
goldfields of the 1800's.
*Kangaroo - The name for the
Australian marsupial Kangaroo came about when some of the first white settlers
saw this strange animal hopping along and they asked the Aborigines what it was
called. They replied with 'Kanguru', which in the native language meant 'I
don't know' .
*Moomba - The city of Melbourne has
a cultural festival using the Aboriginal word Moomba. It seems the festival's
initial organizers asked the local Aborigines to suggest a name, and were told
that moomba means 'lets get together and have fun.' The grateful organizers
subsequently used the name.hindsight, the organizers really should have been
suspicious that 'lets get together and have fun' could be expressed in two
syllables. In reality, 'moom' means 'bum', 'buttocks', or 'anus', while the
suffix 'ba' means 'in', 'at' or 'on'. So moomba actually means 'in the bum.'
Mysteries
*Stolen baby - On August 17, 1980,
Lindy Chamberlain, the wife of a Church minister, told authorities that a dingo
took her baby Azaria from their campsite near Uluru. Curiously, the Australian
public was more inclined to place faith in the character of a wild dog rather
than in a minister's wife and as a consequence, Lindy was convicted of murder.
Some years later, her conviction was quashed yet still, some Australians are
adamant that the dingo was innocent.
*Dropbears - Dropbears are an evil
species of koala that fall from trees and attack humans. The evil strain of
koala don't actually exist. The story was created to fool Americans.
*Yowies- Like the Nth American big
foot, the yowie emits a vile odour and screams offensively. Numerous sightings
of Yowies have turned out to be escaped mental patients or hermits in jungle
attire.
*Lost Prime Minister - In 1967,
Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia went for a swim at the beach and
was never seen again. Theories about his disappearance include kidnapping by a
Russian submarine, eaten by a shark or being carried away by the tide.
*Bunyips - Bunyips haunt rivers,
swamps, creeks and billabongs. Their main goal in life is to cause nocturnal
terror by eating people or animals in their vicinity. They are renowned for
their terrifying bellowing cries in the night and have been known to frighten
Aborigines to the point where they would not approach any water source where a
Bunyip might be waiting to devour them. Some scientists believe the Bunyip was
a real animal, the diprotodon, extinct for some 20,000 years.
*Megafauna - 20-30 thousand years
ago, Australia was home to Megafauna; giant species of marsupials including a
wombat the size of a rhino, meat eating kangaroos, kangaroos three meat tall
and lizards 7 meters long. It is not known exactly what happened to them. One
theory is that were hunted to extinction by Aborigines or that the Aborigines
use of fire destroyed their habitat. Another theory is their habitat was
destroyed by the progressive drying of Australia.
*The Bradshaws - The Australian Kimberley
is home to a mysterious form of rock art known as the Bradshaws. The art is
dispersed in around 100 000 sites spread over 50 000 sq. km. Although the art's
pigment can't be dated, a fossilised wasp nest covering one of the paintings
has been dated at 17,000 + years old. This makes the art at least four times
older than the pyramids.Bradshaws depict people with straight hair and poney
tails. One painting even depicts a boat, with a rudder, and 29 people on board.
Unlike other Aboriginal art, it is not known what purpose the Bradshaw
paintings served. Graham Walsh, the foremost expert on them, has suggested that
they might be a form of iconography(picture writing) painted by a now extinct
Asiastic race.
*Marree man - In 1998, a huge
engraving of a Aboriginal warrior appeared in the Australian outback. It was
4km long, held a throwing stick, was bearded and had a penis which was
estimated to be 200m in length. The markings appeared to have been made by a
tractor pulling some sort of plough which created furrows 10m wide in the
difficult terrain. To this day, the artist is a mystery.
*Phar lap - Phar Lap was Australia's
greatest race horse winning 37 of his 51 starts. After handicappers saddled him
with enough weight to stop a train, his owner took him overseas to race in
America. He easily won his first race but then died in mysterious
circumstances.
* Mungo man - In 1974, scientists
discovered the Mungo man - a primate who was ritually buried 40-60,000 years
ago with his hands covering his penis. ANU's John Curtin School of Medical
Research found that the skeleton's genetic material contained a small section
of mitochondrial DNA. It was analysed and compared to the genetic material from
nearly 3,500 people; including Neanderthals, Asians, ancient Aborigines, and
present-day Aborigines. It was found that Mungo Man's DNA lacked a gene that
was common to all the other samples. Consequently, unlike every other known
person on the planet, or unearthed skeleton, Mungo man can not be traced to
humans that left Africa any time in the last 200,000 years.Man's unique DNA has
been used to challenge the 'out of Africa' theory of human evolution.
Eccentrics
*Rosaleen Norton - Rosaleen was born
in 1917. She lived outside the realm of respectable society; flouting all moral
and social conventions. Her published book of illustrations was declared
obscene by the censors and banned in 1952.known as the Kings Cross Witch, she
was hounded by the media who seized on her alleged satanic rituals, sex orgies
and drug-taking. When asked whether she ever considered leading an ordinary
life, she exclaimed: "Oh God no, I couldn't stand it! I'd go mad or sane.
I don't know which."
*William James Chidley - William was
born in 1860 and came to prominence due to his unconventional theories on sex,
diet and clothing. Donned in a Spartan tunic, he preached living a 'natural'
life of nudity and a diet comprising only fruit and nuts.suffered constant
persecution by the authorities, was committed to various asylums and jailed.
Ironically, he was regarded as a pervert for mentioning sex when he was
something of a puritan in his teachings and lifestyle. However the public
became fond of him and subsequently petitioned parliamentarians and the media
to get him released.
*Billy Blue - Billy was a Convict of
African decent. He was quite a character due to his respectable attire of top
hat and discarded military uniform.colourful was his personality that his
frequent law infringements were looked upon with a 'benevolent ' air by police.
*Tim the Yowie man - Tim began his
career as a mild mannered economist but during a bushwalking expedition, his
life changed after coming face to face with a Yowie. (Australian
bigfoot)realized his calling and gave up the figures to investigate those
mysterious occurrences that others were too afraid to openly discuss. Tim named
his genre "cryptonaturalism" and to this day, he remains the genre's
only occupant.
Economy and lifestyle
*Homicide - Australia was founded by
Convicts. Its homicide rate is 1.8 per 100,000 population. The United States
was founded by religious zealots. It's homicide rate is 6.3 per 100,000. Almost
400% greater than Australia.
*The ocker - 10 percent of Australians
satisfy the definition of an 'ocker' . This 10 percent of the population
consume 80 percent of the beer drunk in Australia.
*Gun toting- On average, American
soldiers fired seven times as many bullets as Australian soldiers during the
Vietnam war.
*Newspaper readership - Per capita,
Australians read more newspapers than any other nation.
*Urban dwellers - Australia is one
of the world's most urbanised countries, with about 70 per cent of the
population living in the 10 largest cities.
*Gambling - Per Capita, Australians
spend more money on gambling than any other nation.
*With less than 1 percent of the
world's population, Australia has more than 20 percent of its poker machines.
*Australia's expenditure on arts
products ranks among the highest in developed countries.
*The average world population
density is 117 people per square mile, that of the United States 76 and that of
Macao is 69,000. Australia's is only 6.
*Employment of Australians - 80%
service sector 14% manufacturing 5% rural.
*2.3 percent of Australia's GDP[31]
is derived from agriculture.
*15 percent of Australia's GDP is
derived from mining.
*.02 percent of the Australian land
mass is used by mines. More land is occupied by pubs.
*Rabbits - For each person in
Australia there are two sheep and over 16 rabbits, the latter introduced in
1859 by one enterprising man who brought 24 wild rabbits from England in an
effort to remind him of home.
*Bicentenary - At the highpoint of
the Bicentenary in 1988, 51% of Australians couldn't see any good reason for
celebrating.
*Cannabis arrests- In 1999, 46,000
Australians were arrested for possession or use of Cannabis.
*Cannabis use - It is estimated that
50% of Australians aged 14-19 are active users of Cannabis.
*Cannabis industry - The sale of
illegal cannabis industry constitutes 1 percent of Australia's GDP and is twice
the size of the Australian wine industry.
Australian humour
"The country itself is the
ultimate joke; the wave you body-surf into shore after a day at the beach could
contain a shark or a rip-tide and, when you get back, your house could have
been burnt to the ground in a bush fire. That's where the whole 'no worries'
thing comes from." Mark Little- actor and critics of the Australian sense
of humourfirst coined, the term 'Larrikin' referred to street criminals and was
uttered in same breath as rapscallions, hooligans, and scallywags. In
contemporary times, it is applied to anyone with an Australian sense of humour.
Larrikin humour tends to be good natured, self-depreciating, and quite subtle.
Black
comforting someone who is dying of
cancer, it probably isn't tactful to joke about how much one is enjoying a
mini-series. Yet such black humour is one of the most notable aspects of
Australian comedy. For example, when a serial killer kidnapped backpackers and
buried their bodies in the Belangalo State Forest[32], a hardware shop in Moss
Vale (near the forest) began selling souvenir shovels with the letters 'B.S.F'
engraved upon them. Similarly, when seven bodies where discovered decomposing
in barrels of acid in the country town of Snowtown, the town's stores began
selling souvenir coffee mugs with captions such as "come to Snowtown,
you'll have a barrel of a time."1967 Prime Minister Harold Holt went for a
swim at a Portsea beach and was never seen again. As a mark of 'respect',
construction soon began on the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Pool.
Psychologists have offered two different explanations for the origins of black
humour. The first is 'incongruity theory.' Incongruence is caused when someone
experiences conflicting motivations after being presented with disparate ideas.
For example, if someone wants to like Australians but also believes one should
respect the dead, they will have conflicting motivations about the Snowtown
souvenir mugs. This attitude incongruence may cause one of the attitudes to
'give'. For example, they may decide they don't like Australians anymore or
decide they don't care about disrespecting the dead. If attitude change is not
a desirable outcome, the person may just laugh and then move on. second theory
is a 'catharsis release'. Freudian psychologists believe that humour allows
people to release tension associated with difficult experiences. This helps
them address those issues that they can not openly discuss. For example in the
Convict era, Convict etiquette demanded suffering in silence whilst the law
considered complaints as insolence and punished it with flogging. As both
Convict etiquette and the law prevented the Convicts from discussing their
emotional distress, they were forced to make jokes to deal with their emotional
turmoil.same kinds of needs are still expressed today. When Australian comic
Bill Leak found out that his mate had lost his right-big toe in an accident,
Leak had confused emotions. Although he could have sent flowers and a get well
card, instead he sent a thong with big toe attached in the appropriate position
and a note: 'Glue here.'
Honest
is quite a common feature of
Australian humour. In response to stories that distort reality or cloud
perceptions, Australians often tell a joke that is funny in its truthfulness.
For example, after noting that the media always has the tact to portray a
murder victim as quiet and nice, and generally liked by the neighbours, Natalie
Tran[33] wished that the media could run an honest story that portrayed the
woman as disliked by her neighbours and was generally disliked. In the
simulation, the neighbours sunk the boot into the victim with statements like
"At the end of the day, I'm nice to people and I'm alive."Tran wishes
the media story on the murdered neighbour didn't always portray her as quiet
and nice.
Natalie wants truth in
advertising
character of Chopper Reid[34] on the
Ronnie Burns Half Hour is another one whose humour is derived from honesty. In
Chopper’s case, the humour comes from attacks on political correctness that
compels people to act in ways that are contrary to how they think of feel.
Rather than conform, Chopper is honest enough to state how he thinks and feels.
This results in him criticising the art world, lactose intolerant kids and men
who go by the name of Stefan.sensitive or compassionate- Chopper Reid tells
people to harden the fuck up
humour is often upside down. The
joke almost seems to be that the label is the opposite to what it should be.
For instance, Australians take delight in dubbing a tall man
"Shorty", a silent one "Rowdy" a bald man
"Curly", and a redhead is "Blue". A bastard may mean a good
bloke. Likewise, larrikin, wog, and mongrel may all be used as terms of
endearment.
Belittling
the wowser[35]
humour is used to strengthen
friendships, it is also used to demean those who are too serious. Anyone who
promotes a sense of moral decency inevitably invites ridicule. In 1832, the
Governor of Tasmania prepared to deliver a moral speech to the female Convicts
at the Cascade Female Factory[36]. When he approached the elevated dais,
"the three hundred women turned right around and at one impulse pulled up
their clothes showing their naked posteriors which they simultaneously smacked
with their hands making a loud and not very musical noise..... In a rare moment
of collusion with the Convict women, the ladies in the Governor's party could
not control their laughter."contemporary times, wowsers are demeaned in
the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gra. Assimilationalist Pauline Hanson and
moral crusader Fred Nile are featured in floats that question their sexuality
or mock their overly serious expressions. As for the crowd, they are
continuingly mooned so as to cut down any onlookers that possess a high command
of morality.lawyer by the name of O'Sullivan even lionized mooning in an
attempt to get his aboriginal client, James Albert Ernest Togo, off the hook
for baring his buttocks at a policeman. O'Sullivan argued that " mooning
was accepted Australian behaviour and should be seen as a national icon."
The police prosecutor, Michael Purcell, asked in response "whether bare
buttocks should replace the emu and kangaroo on Australia's coat of
arms."the Sydney Olympics, Roy and H.G unveiled the lewd and rude Fatso
the Fat arsed wombat as the mascot of their show, The Dream. Fatso was posed in
a perpetual moon and comic animations depicted him waddling across the TV
screen leaving little nuggets as a reminder of his grace.
Aimed at
themselves
Australian's humour is often
self-depreciating. For example, a cerebral palsy sufferer by the name of Steady
Eddy turned his disability into an asset by making a comic routine about it. In
his quest for love, he recounted that upon seeing a beautiful girl, he often
wished: " if only she had a limp..."from being directed at oneself,
humour may also be directed towards ones racial group. For example, Australians
of Greek extraction occasionally reminisce about their upbringing; fondly
recalling their mothers teaching them how to put on their underwear - yellow at
the front and brown at the back, or how their fathers gave them gold chains so
they would know where to stop shaving.depreciation is also common on a national
level. During the opening of the Sydney Olympics, an obviously drunk Governor
General pronounced "Sa-sa-Sydney" and then knocked over the
microphone. It was a shameful performance that would have had most countries
scared that they world would think they are being led by a socially inept
buffoon!! Oddly, most Australians just found it funny, and even speculated that
if he got sacked for being pissed on the job, he may have a career as a rap
singer to fall back on. Eddy - Cerebral palsy comedian
Aimed at
friends
paradoxically, to make a joke at a mate's
expense is to signal a sense of comfort in the strength of the friendship. On
the goldfields in the 1850's, to blow up a mate's dunny was considered
hilarious whilst 'mongrel', 'galah' and 'bastard' were terms of endearment.an
international level, despite being shafted at Gallipoli[37], Australians
probably get on better with Pomes than any other nationality. At the very
least, Poms[38] have helped Australians out by taking the likes of Our Kylie
and Germain Greer off their hands. Curiously, the level of piss-taking between
the two countries is also extremely high. Poms have been known to define an
Australian as someone "who reads comic books without moving their
lips". They have also stated an Australian gentlemen is "someone who
offers to light his girlfriend's farts."Australian retort is often a
little different. Rather than rattle off a one liner, Australians tend to
personalise an English stereotype by applying it directly to the individual
standing in front of them. For example, upon meeting a Pom at Bondi Beach, an
Australian might say he saw him earlier and knew he was English judging by the
way he was trying to surf white-water, by his resemblance to a tomato or the
abundance of flies surrounding him. In a bar, an Australian may welcome an Englishmen
with a handshake and a warm 'g'day mate' only to then introduce him to other
patrons with make a public announcement that there Pom is in the house and
wallets should be kept under guard. In front of his new friend, he may then
inform the barman that he requires another drink as "he is as dry as a
pommy towel" in reference to the aversion Poms have to bathing.also have a
reasonable relationship with the Kiwis and accordingly, have the insults to
boot. They may speculate that there so many Kiwis are living in Sydney so they
can go up Blue Mountains[39] way where the abundance of cliffs has the sheep
backing up harder. They may even speak fondly of Kiwi produce, citing the lamb
is especially tender due to loving New Zealand farmers.the English, the Kiwis
like to make jokes about the lack of Australian intelligence. In 2004, it
seemed that both the jokes about the Kiwi's love of sheep and Australian's lack
of intelligence indeed had an element of truth in them. To compensate it for
taking for 52,000 Australian sheep, Australia paid Eritrea, an African country,
$A1 million ($NZ1.16 million) in addition with 3000 tones of feed. In Kiwi
eyes, the deal made Australians look quite stupid, and the Kiwis let their
thoughts be known. In Australian eyes; however, the Kiwis were just upset about
a potential love boat being sent in the wrong direction, and were letting their
emotions be known.with nations such as America aren't quite as strong and
perhaps it is no co-incidence that such countries are less inclined to either
take or give the piss. For example, simple attempts at hilarity involving
George Bush's inability to eat a pretzel, let alone lead his country,
invariably raise the ire of Americans who rush to their president's defence.
Unfortunately, a situation of mirth may then descend into fisticuffs.
Breaking the
rules
the colonial era, the ability to
make a policeman laugh may have been the difference between the gallows and
freedom. A notable exponent of such comedy was a convict of African extraction
by the name of Billy Blue. Billy wore a discarded military uniform, a top hat
and and possessed a repertoire of jokes that flowed like fine wine. So well did
he endear himself to the authorities, they 'believed' his claims that rather
they be an alcohol smuggler, he kept finding liquor floating in Sydney harbour
and had been stopped before he had a chance to report it to the
authorities.Gordon, another convict of African extraction, faced court
expecting to receive a death sentence. When he appeared in the dock, Daniel was
wild and incoherent in a performance that smacked of a praise-the-lord pastor
crossed with a black and white minstrel. Everyone from other convicts to the
court clerk thought he was acting. Fortunately, the usually skeptical judge
deemed him mentally unfit for trial. When his condition failed to improve, the
case was called off. Daniel eventually died 32 years later, aged
81.full-figured cricket player Shane Warne was found guilty of using a banned
diuretic, he pleaded that he was just trying to lose weight to look good for
the cameras. He even threw in a few fat jokes, for example that he was tired of
being teased about having "more chins than a Chinese phonebook."
Instead of being given the standard two year suspension, Shane was only banned
for one year. Perhaps this indicates that his jokes were given a bare pass
mark.Hogan - Australian OlympicsAustralians are a cynical bunch. Unfortunately,
they are faced with a dilemma as if they express there criticism they may be
called a whingeing pom, an elitist wanker or even worse, a wowser.clever
Australians resolve this quandary by disguising their criticisms as jokes. Tony
Martin expressed his distaste for the commentators of a commercial television
station by saying:
"Channel nine's pissing me off
at the moment, is it just me or does anyone else hate the cricket as much as I
do? Because I'm sorry, but when I turn on the TV and it's just like 12 blokes
in white clothes, standing in a field..like all day and Tony Greg says
"Well it just doesn't get much more exciting that this." I beg to
differ, I'm sorry, I just do..Max Walker was hosting the AFL last year and
somebody said to him, "Grand final Max, what d'ya reckon?" "Well
I tell ya what, Grand final, it's a pretty big day for football." Well
thanks for that Max. Cheque's in the mail. Very nicely done.", convicted
criminal Chopper Reid put in his two cents on police brutality:
"The tough approach at least
produced tougher crooks, not like today. When the police questioned via the use
of fist, boot and baton it produced a tough, hard breed of stand up
criminal".
Australian
animal jokes
is a land full of strange things
animals that many people around the world have difficulty believing are true.
For example, for most people around the world, it is bizarre to think an animal
such as a kangaroo could exist. Not other country has animals that have a
pouch, give birth to babies less than an inch long and hop around on two legs.
Likewise, no other country has animals like the platypus, which lay eggs,
suckle young, have a mouth like a duck and fur like a rat. In fact, when a
platypus specimen was first sent to England, the English thought Australians
had played a joke on them by sewing the mouth of a duck to a rat.the world has
become accustomed to the unbelievable being possible in Australia, Australians
have exploited the world’s belief by arguing that very ridiculous things occur
in Australia. Americans have been told than kids ride in the pouch of a
kangaroo to school. Europeans have been told that Australia is populated by
dropbears, an evil species of territorial kolas that drop from trees to claw
and bit at the neck. To ward off the danger, they should wear a bicycle helmet
when walking in the bush. Some foreigners have even been fooled into thinking
that in Australia there is a Hoop snake that takes its tail in its mouth and
then goes bowling merrily along.
Inaccurate
stereotypes
often make jokes about the
inaccuracy of stereotypes. Many of examples could be seen in the movie
Crocodile Dundee[40]. In the movie, wealthy
reporter Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski) hears about the heroic tale of survival
of Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) and flies to the outback to verify his story. As
they travel to the outback, Mick uses good
natured dishonesty to win her charms. Mick
secretly uses a razor to shave, but when he hears her coming, he pulls out a
huge knife and pretends to shave with it. He looks at his mate's watch then
pretends he can tell the time by looking at the sky.night,
the two are visited by one of Mick's Aboriginal mates, Neville Bell, on his way
to a corroboree. Sue tries to take the man's picture, but Neville says:
"You can't take my
picture"responds:
"You are afraid it will take
away your spirit"answers:
"No. You got lens cap on."then
wanders off into the bush. Sue asks Mick how his finds his way in the dark.
Mick says: "telepathy." Then there is the sound of the black fella
walking into a tree, and an anguished cry:
"I hate the bush."
The underlying message behind the
jokes is that stereotypes of Australians are not always accurate, but that
Australians like to have fun with them anyway.Dundee
- Making humour out of inaccurate stereotypes
Conclusion
is a marvelous place with its own
culture, customs and traditions, with various nature and landscape. There you
can find deserts, mountains and sunny beaches. It seems refreshingly free of
class prejudice. Sometimes people there are rough and straightforward, but they
take you for what you are, and are less concerned with how you speak, what job
you do, where you went to school etc. I enjoy meeting people from many walks of
life and treating each other as equals. I would like to visit Australia one day
and to make sure myself that stereotypes about Australians don’t work.
Glossary
1. King Edward VII (король
Эдуа́рд
VII) - (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 - 6 May 1910) was King of the United
Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901
until his death in 1910. He was the first British monarch of the House of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was renamed the House of Windsor by his son,
George V.
. Flags Act (Закон
«О
флаге»)
- is an act of the Parliament of Australia which defines the official Flag of
Australia. Queen Elizabeth II gave Royal Assent on 14 February 1954 after
opening the Commonwealth Parliament during her 1954 Royal Tour. It was the
first of the few Commonwealth Statutes enacted by the reigning Monarch.
. Francis De Groot (Френсис Де
Грооте) - (24 October 1888 - 1 April 1969) holds a notorious place in
Australian history for his high-profile upstaging of New South Wales Premier
Jack Lang at the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932.
. Sydney Harbour Bridge
(Харбор-Бридж (Сидней))- is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour
that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney
central business district (CBD) and the North Shore.
. Guinness Book of Records (книга
рекордов
Гиннеса)
- is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world
records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world.
. Bob Hawke («Боб» Хоук) -
(born 9 December 1929) was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983
to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Prime Minister.
. Sir John Robertson (Джон
Робертсон)
- (15 October 1816 - 8 May 1891) was an Australian politician and Premier of
New South Wales on five occasions.
. The Black and White Artists’
Society - Australian professional cartoonists' organisation and was established
on 17 July 1924
. Blue Streak (быстро
движущийся предмет)- was a British medium range ballistic missile (MRBM)
designed in 1955.
. NSW (Новый Южный Уэльс) - New
South Wales is a state of Australia, located in the east of the country. It is
bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and
west respectively.
. Cascades Female Factory was
an Australian prison in South Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The site comprises
five yards, cemetery and outbuildings and is contained within a rectangular
city block.
. Australian Lyre Bird
(Лирохвосты) - is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds,
that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae.
. Echidna (ехидна)
- also known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the
monotreme order of egg-laying mammals.
. Purple wallaby
(кенгуру-валлаби)- was first classified in 1924 by Albert Sherbourne Le Souef,
then director of the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, who noted a strange
purple colouration around the neck as well as skull differences separating it
from other rock-wallaby species.
. The Fierce Snake (Тайпан или
Жестокая змея)- is native to Australia and is regarded as the most venomous
land snake in the world based on LD50 values in mice.
. The Wombats (Вомбаты) - are
Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately
1 metre (39 in) in length with a short, stubby tail.
. Tasmanian Devil (Тасманийский
дьявол)- is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, now found in the
wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania.
. Kangaroos (кенгуру)-
is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning 'large foot').
. Emus (страус
Эму)-
is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus
Dromaius.
. Monotreme (Однопроходные)-
are mammals that lay eggs (Prototheria) instead of giving birth to live young
like marsupials (Metatheria) and placental mammals (Eutheria).
. Platypus (утконос)
- is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania.
. Box Jelly fish (Кубомедузы)-
are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their cube-shaped medusae.
. Stonefish (Бородавчатка)- is
a genus of fish of the family Synanceiidae whose members are venomous,
dangerous, and even fatal to humans.
. Sydney Funnelweb spiders (лейкопаутинный
паук) - are venomous spiders of the family Hexathelidae
. Lung fish (Двоякодышащие) -
are freshwater fish belonging to the Subclass Dipnoi.
. Triassic period (Триасовый
период)- is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya
(million years ago).
. Gold Rush (золотая
лихорадка)-
is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic
discovery of gold.
. Don Bradman (Дональд
Брэдмен)
- (27 August 1908 - 25 February 2001), often referred to as "The
Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest
batsman of all time.
. IOC (Международный
олимпийский комитет)- The International Olympic Committee is an international
corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on
23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president.
. The Melbourne Cup is
Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race.
. GDP (ВВП)-
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and
services produced within a country in a given period.
. Belangalo State Forest is a
planted forest in the Australian state of New South Wales; its total area is
about 3800 hectares.
. Natalie Tran (Натали
Тран)-
(born 24 July 1986) is a video blogger on YouTube from Sydney, Australia, using
the nickname communitychannel.
. Chopper Reid (born 17
November 1954) is an Australian ex-criminal, who wrote a series of
semi-autobiographical and fictional crime novels.
. Wowser (строгий пуританин)-
was originally a slang expression, most commonly heard in Australian and New
Zealand English.
. Cascade Female Factory was an
Australian prison in South Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The site comprises five
yards, cemetery and outbuildings and is contained within a rectangular city
block.
. The Gallipoli (Галли́польский
полуостров)- is located in Turkish Thrace (or East Thrace), the European part
of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the
east.
. Pomes - Australians refer to
English people as Poms or Pome. This is an acronym for Prisoners of Mother
England.
. Blue Mountains (Голубые
горы)- is a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia. It borders on
Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting approximately 50 kilometres
west of the state capital.
. Crocodile Dundee (Данди по
прозвищу «Крокодил»)- is a 1986 Australian comedy film set in the Australian
Outback and in New York City.
Sources
1. <http://ru.wikipedia.org>
.
<http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107296.html>
. <http://australia-ru.com/>
.
<http://funfacter.hubpages.com/hub/Fun-Facts-About-Australia>
.
<http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/fun-facts-about-australia.html>
. <http://wanttoknowit.com/interesting-facts-about-australia/>
.
http://www.about-australia.com/facts/