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Australia
Nickname: Land Down Under
Discovery: The first people were the Aborigines, who came more than 40,000
years ago. The earliest recorded visit by white people was in 1606 by Dutch
sailors. The island was called Terra Australis Incognita (Unknown Southern
Land).In 1770 the British sailor Captain James Cook landed on the east coast.
Britain soon began to send convicts to the new country. The convicts had to
work very hard, making roads, buildings and farms. In 1851 gold was found in
A.Thousands of people from different countries went looking for gold. The
population grew.
The land, the climate and the biggest cities: A. is the driest, hottest and flattest
inhabited continent in the world.Two-thirds of A., mostly in the centre and the
west, is desert. There are small hills and big dry salt lakes. Not many people live
there. The interior of A. is called the Outback (väheasustatud metsik sisemaa).
In the north, half the year is wet and half is dry. The only place where snow falls
in A. is in the south-east and Tasmania. The highest mountain, Mount
Kosciusko in the Great Dividing Range (Suur Veelahkmeahelik) near the eastern
coast is 2,228 m high.
Most of A.’s population lives in the south and east , where the summers are
warm and the winters are not too cold. A.’s longest river is here too – the
Murray- Darling, which is 2,700 km long.
Tasmania is cooler and wetter than the rest of A. With high mountains, thick
forests and some of the world’s oldest trees.
Sydney is the oldest and biggest city. Many people know the Sydney.Opera
House. The roof of this beautiful building looks like sails on Sydney Harbour.
Melbourne, the second biggest city, was once the capital of A. Brisbane,
Adelaide and Perth are all large modern cities.
Canberra – the capital, is the newest city of all. It is also different from the other
cities because it is a long way (120 km) from the sea. The name is an Aboriginal
word, meaning „meeting place“.
The Aborigines: When British people came to A. In 1788, they gave the name
Aborigines to the people they found there. They ate plants and fruits, caught
animals and fish and lived in houses made from branches and leaves. They
painted their bodies, sang, danced and made music. They had their own
language. Thousands of Aborigines died from fighting the British or from
diseases that they brought to A. White people took away their land and they had
to live in special places far away from other Australians. Their life was very
difficult. Nowadays the number of Aborigines has started to grow again, now
there are about 160,000 Aborigines in A. In some ways their life is better, some
of the land taken away from them , belongs to the Aborigines again.
Animals and birds: Extrordinary animals and birds live in A. Firstly there are
marsupials whose females have a pouch on their stomach for carrying their
babies in it:
1. There are 50 different species of kangaroos. The red kangaroo is the
biggest of them and is the Australian national animal, it appears on the
Australian coat of arms. There are also grey kangaroos, tree kangaroos, rat
kangaroos etc. Wallabies are smaller species.The word „kangaroo“ means
„I don’t know“. Its babies are called joeys. They have powerful hind legs
and large feet designed for leaping; a long muscular tail for keeping
balance and a small head. They move by hopping. They feed on grass and
roots and move about in mobs. They are shy and retiring by nature and in
normal ciecumstances present no threat to humans. The „kangaroo
crossing“ sign is to warn motorists to drive carefully and watch out for
kangaroos. The collision between a kangaroo and a car is capable of
killing the animal and damaging the car. Their meat is eaten. (kang banga
are kangaroo sausages).
2. Everyone loves sleepy, grey koalas. After six months in a pouch baby
koalas ride on their mother’s back.. They eat the leaves of eucalyptus trees
and drink almost nothing. The word koala means „no water“.
3. Another marsupial who lives in A. is a wombat. They look cute and
cuddly when small. But they may be agressive and attack when they are in
a bad mood. They have sharp teeth and claws. That’s why they are illegal
as pets in A.
In the seas and rivers you can find crocodiles.
The strangest animals of all are mammals that lay eggs like birds instead of
giving birth to live young. But they produce milk as mammals do, to feed their
young.
1. The echidna or spiny anteater is like a hedgehog. It eats ants, which it
catches with its long fast tongue.
2. The platypus has a wide bill like a duck’s and a wide flat tail. It swims
well.
There are more than 800 kinds of birds in A. The emu is the second largest bird
in the world. It cannot fly, it’s flightless, although it does have tiny wings hidden
under the feathers. It is able to travel great distances, it can run at 50 km an
hour. The kookaburra’s cry sounds like someone laughing. The purpose of it is
to mark their territory, to greet their mates after a period of absence. They hunt
mice, small mammals, large insects, lizards, small birds, snakes etc. The
budgerigar is a blue and yellow bird that people keep in their homes all over the
world (budgie in short).
Uluru (in Aboriginal language), Ayers Rock (in English)
It is an enormous rock in the middle of the desert. It is 3.6 km long and 348m
high, but there are another 2,100 m under the ground. Uluru is 600 million years
old and it is the largest rock of its kind in the world. Thousands of tourists come
each year to walk round it and look at it. The best time to see it is at the end of
the day, when its colour changes from yellow to gold, red and and then purple.
Uluru is a special place for Aborigines and it belongs to them.
The Great Barrier Reef (Suur Vallrahu) is the largest coral reef on Earth. It is
one of the natural wonders of the world. This warm , clear, shallow ocean
habitat is over !,000 miles long and is home to many animals and plants
including corals, sea anemones, sea stars, fish, sea slugs, giant clams, seaweed
etc.
Australia’s riches: A. is a rich country and life there is good. Where does its
money come from? Sheep, cattle, minerals, wheat, fruit and wine are some of
the answers. 20% of the world’s sheep live in A. and 25% of the world’s wool
comes from there. The meat from Australian cattle is sold to countries all over
the world. Oil, silver and other minerals have made millions of dollars for A.
Not everyone is happy about that because digging for minerals destroys the land.
A. also grows a lot of wheat, bananas, apples etc. And sells them to other
countries. And in recent years A. has been making a very good wine too.
Plants:The plantlife in A. is also colourful and rich. There are 700 different
species of acacias or wattle trees. The golden wattle is the Australian national
flower.. They have brightly-coloured blossoms. Some of them are small desert
bushes, some are tall trees. There are about 500 species of eucalyptuses which
Australians call gum trees. They are among the tallest trees in the world. The
word „eucalyptus“ means „well covered“. It describes the bud cap. The cap falls
off as the flower opens. Nearly all eucalypts are evergreen. Their leaves are
covered with oil glands. They have a habit of dropping entire branches off as
they grow. Eucalyptus forests are littered with dead branches. That’s why one
should never camp under an overhanging branch.
Sport is an important part of Australian culture. At an international level A. has
particularly strong teams in cricket, hockey, netball, rygby and performs well in
cycling and swimming. A. has hosted the 1956 and 2000 Summer Olympics and
several Commonwealth Games. Other major international events held regularly
in A. include the Australian Open tennis tournaments and the Formula One
Australian Grand Prix.