Geography Report - Australia

Over the next few weeks, we will be researching some different countries. As an exemplar, we researched Australia and answered the questions Mum has given us to help us find the important information out about the country we are looking at.  We did the research together and read the information and then answered the questions in our own words. Mum typed it just for this one. This report is a combined one between Lilly and I. 

Australia is knows as the largest island. It is known as somewhere hot and full of deadly creatures. 

Australia is between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

Australia is 7692024 km2 and 23 130 000 people live there. English is the main language spoken 76 % of people speak English as their first language. Other languages include Mandarin- 1.6% Italian - 1.4%, Arabic- 1.3 %, Cantonese-1.2%  and Greek 1.2 %.

Australia is governed by a Federal Monarchy. This means that the  federation of states with a single monarch ( Queen Elizabeth) is the over all head of the federation but they have no real power over the country. The government who runs the country is based on a parliamentary system. This means that every person over 18 votes for a party to rule the government. 

Australia has a blue flag. It has three elements, the Union Jack, the Commonwealth Star and the Southern Cross. The Union Jack represents the history of British settlement. The Commonwealth Star represents each of the states and territories in Australia.   The Southern Cross represents the stars which helped ships to navigate to Australia. It is on the Eureka flag which represents freedom and democracy. 

Australia's national currently is the Australian dollar. It comes in 5, 10, 20 , 50  and 100 dollar notes cents and in 5, 10, 20 , 50, 1 and 2 dollar coins. Some of the pictures on the notes are Queen Elizabeth, Dame Nelly Melba who was a opera singer, Banjo Patterson who was a famous poet, aboriginal inventor and writer David Unaipon and the founder of the  royal  flying doctor service, Rev John Flynn. 

The symbol of Australia is the kangaroo. Each state has a symbol and it is on the National Coat of  Arms there are the kangaroo and the emu. They were chosen as the national animals as they are the only animals who cannot go backwards. This is important symbol for Australia to keep everyone focused on going forward.

A common thing for people in Australia to eat is vegemite. Vegemite is a salty spread that you put on bread or toast. I don't like vegemite.

Other typical Australia dishes are Lamingtons ( A cake bite that has chocolate and coconut around it) meat pies, meringues  and pavlova ( a whipped egg white dessert with fruit and cream) ANZAC Bikkies ( an oat biscuit), Tim Tams ( a biscuit dipped in chocolate) Fantales ( a chewy caramel sweet covered in chocolate) sausage rolls and roast lamb.

In Australia they celebrate different things like, Easter where people go camping, Christmas where people eat prawns and go to the beach, Australia Day where people have a BBQ and eat lamingtons, ANZAC day where people either march in a parade or watch the parade to commemorate the wars and the soldiers who fought in them. ANZAC day is a very important day for the Mitchell family and is a big day for us.

Most people in Australia have a house with a backyard.

Australia was first settled by Europeans in 1788 where convicts were sent to live. The Goldrush happened in 1851. The Eureka Stockade 1854 where miners rebelled and fought for their rights. Australia became a nation in 1901. 

Some of the famous people who are from Australia include Sir Don Bradman, Hugh Jackman, Steve Irwin and Cathy Freeman, Burke and Wills.

Steve Irwin was a wild animal conservationist and fought for the the preservation of wildlife. 

Burke and Wills were a pair of explorers who set off to discover the centre of Australia in 1860 but sadly they died. 

If you were going to be a tourist in Australia the things you should see are Australia Zoo, Ayres Rock, Sydney Opera House, The Great Barrier Reef, The Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Stockmans Hall of Fame in Longreach and The Min Min lights in Boulia.