Angel_Girl
01-27-2007, 22:29
AUSTRALIA INFO
Australia is the world`s greatest island. It is also the world`s smallest continent.
Australia is about the same size az the USA (without Alaska and Hawaii), but only about 18 million people live there.
For millions of years, the continent of Australia was isolated from the rest of the world. So its plants and animals developed differently. Kangaroos, koala bears - even budgies - are examples of this.
Australia is the home of 150 million sheep. So it`s no surprise that Australia exports more wool than any other country in the world.
The first inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, came from the north by raft or boat. This was perhaps about 60,000 year ago - or even earlier.
Today in Australia only about one in a hundred people is an Aborigine.
The first European settlement in Australia was for convicts. This prisons in Britain had become so crowded that the government sent ships full of convicts to start a colony on the "new" continent. They arrived in 1788.
After Atheens and Thessalonica, Melbourne is the third largest "Greek" city in the world.
Most immigrants to Australia today come from Asia. A lot of them are from Vietnam.
Most Australians live in the big cities on the south east and east coasts. Only about one in seven people lives in the country.
Australians call their country Oz, and themselves - Aussies.
Sydney is the biggest city in Australia, with about 4 million inhabitants. The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are famous worldwide.
Aussies love surfing. Most of them live in the cities round the coast, so the kids learn to surf quite early. The waves "surfies" ride on can be ten to twenty feet high.
The longest fence in the world is the dingo fence. It was built to keep out dingoes. They kill thousands of sheep every year. Bushmen started building the dog fence about 100 years ago.
Some Australian animals look really cute - like coala bears and kangoroos. But there are some pretty nasty ones, too - sharks and saltwater crocodiles, for example.
Australia is the world`s greatest island. It is also the world`s smallest continent.
Australia is about the same size az the USA (without Alaska and Hawaii), but only about 18 million people live there.
For millions of years, the continent of Australia was isolated from the rest of the world. So its plants and animals developed differently. Kangaroos, koala bears - even budgies - are examples of this.
Australia is the home of 150 million sheep. So it`s no surprise that Australia exports more wool than any other country in the world.
The first inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, came from the north by raft or boat. This was perhaps about 60,000 year ago - or even earlier.
Today in Australia only about one in a hundred people is an Aborigine.
The first European settlement in Australia was for convicts. This prisons in Britain had become so crowded that the government sent ships full of convicts to start a colony on the "new" continent. They arrived in 1788.
After Atheens and Thessalonica, Melbourne is the third largest "Greek" city in the world.
Most immigrants to Australia today come from Asia. A lot of them are from Vietnam.
Most Australians live in the big cities on the south east and east coasts. Only about one in seven people lives in the country.
Australians call their country Oz, and themselves - Aussies.
Sydney is the biggest city in Australia, with about 4 million inhabitants. The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are famous worldwide.
Aussies love surfing. Most of them live in the cities round the coast, so the kids learn to surf quite early. The waves "surfies" ride on can be ten to twenty feet high.
The longest fence in the world is the dingo fence. It was built to keep out dingoes. They kill thousands of sheep every year. Bushmen started building the dog fence about 100 years ago.
Some Australian animals look really cute - like coala bears and kangoroos. But there are some pretty nasty ones, too - sharks and saltwater crocodiles, for example.