AUSTRALIAN CULTURE - OLD TRADITIONS MIXED WITH A MULTIETHNIC GROUP

AUSTRAILIA WAS FORMALLY ADOPTED AND POPULACE  ADOPTEDAND POPULARIZED 1817 BY BRITISH GOVERNOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES

AS A BRITISH COLONY IT HAS DEVELOPED A COMPLEX NATIONAL CULTURE AND TERRITORY HAS NOT DEVELOPED INTO MAJOR SUBCULTURAL DIVERSITY.
A MORE PLURAL POLICY OF MULTI-CULTURALISM CAME TO PRONOUNCE OFFICIALLY THE  CELEBRATION OF A NATION

AUSTRALIA IS  A LARGE ISLAND IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE BETWEEN ANTARICA AND ASIA.  THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL VARIATION IS HIGHLY EVIDENT IN THE CULTURES  OF INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA.  IT HAS NOT BEEN AS STRONG A FACTOR IN EMIGRANT CULTURES. 

CANBERRA IS THE CAPITOL OF AUSTRALIA AND WAS BUILT IN 1909.  THEY PRIMARILY SPEAK ENGLISH BUT VARIOUS ABORIGINAL AND  OTHER IMMIGRANTS SPEAK OTHER LANGUAGES.  THERE WERE ABOUT 250 ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES STILL SPOKEN BY CHILDREN.   CREOLE DIALECTS MIX ABORIGINAL LANDFILL  WITH ENGLISH.  THERE ARE 12 COMMUNITY LANGUAGES  SPOKEN BY 6000 SPEAKERS.   THIS COURTYARD COURTYARD HAS ITALIAN, GREEK, CHINESE,  SERBO -CROATIAN, ARIBA, GERMAN, VIETNAMESE, SPAIN, AND FILIPINO AND OTHERS.

THEIR FLAG IS A SOUTHERN CROSS WITH THEIR NATIONAL ANIMAL THE KANGAROO IN A GOLDEN WATTLE TREE.  AUSTRALIA'S CHARACTER WAS PREDOMINANTLY  IMMIGRATION  AND RACE RELATIONS.  THE BUSH MYTHOLOGY HAS CONTINUED TO MIXCONTINUED TO INFLUENCE CONCEPTION OF THE RURAL PEOPLE.  BUT MOST MOST OF THE POPULATION IS URBAN.

AFTER BRITISH CAME HERE THE ABORIGINALS EXPERIENCED  DISEASE AND RACISM. THE ASSIMILATION OF PEOPLE HAD IMPACT ON CHILDREN OF MIXED DESCENT AND WERE BROUGHT TO AWHITE CEREMONY.  IRISH CATHOLICS CAME IN DURING MID 1900'S.  SINCE THEN AUSTRALIA HAS BECOME AN ANGLO FRAGMENTED SOCIETY.  THE AUSTRALIANS FEEL HEARTY AND SELF RELIANT.  THEY CONQUERED A BRUTAL LANDSCAPE.  AUSSIES ARE MOSTLY CHRISTIAN, EVEN THE ABORIGINES.

THE ASSIES CELEBRATE ANZAC DAY IN APRIL TO HONOR THOSE WHO DIED IN WAR.  THEY CELEBRATE THEIR NEW COLONY IN JANUARY WHEN THE NEW COLONY CAME TO BE BY THE ENGLISH.

BY AGE 18 A CHILD BECOMES AN ADULT.  THIS COUNTRY HAS HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF HOME OWNERSHIP.  AUSTRALIANS EAT SEAFOOD ABUNDANTLY.  BEEF, LAMB, AND FOOD FROM ALL CULTURES.  THEY EVEN HAVE GREEK  AND ITALIAN FOOD.      

AUSTRALIANS ARE FAMOUS FOR MEAT PIES.   THEY EAT FRUIT FOR DESERT WITH CREAM. AUSTRALIA HAS AN IMPORTANT FILM INDUSTRY AND IS THE SETTING FOR MANY FILMS.

MOST ABORIGINAL PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH AS THEIR FIRST LANGUAGE AND SOME SPEAK KREOLE.   THEY HAVE A LONG AND COMPLEX MYTHOLOGY PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATIONS AGO.  IT IS KNOWN AS DREAM TIME THIS REFERS TO A MYSTICAL TIME DURING WHICH THE ABORIGINES ESTEEM THEIR WORLD.  THEY DOMINATE THE CULTURAL LIFE OF THE PEOPLE. ONE OF MANY TALES IS ABOUT HOW THE SUN WAS MADE.  ABORIGINAL RELIGION IS CENTERED AROUND DREAMTIME.  THEY HAVE CERTAIN ANIMALS.  THEY HOLD RITUALS TO PLEASEAND INCREASE CERTAIN ANIMALS.

THEIR MARRIAGES WERE COMPLEX SOME WERE ARRANGED.  THE TIWI  SOMETIMES HAD PREARRANGED MARRIAGES.  THEY BELIEVED THE WOMEN GOT PREGNANT BY SPIRITS.  BOTH MEN AND WOMEN ORIGINALLY WORE NO CLOTHING.  TODAY OF COURSE THEY DRESS LIKE WE DO.  IN PREHISTORIC AND HISTORIC TIMES THE ABORIGINEES WERE HUNTERS AND GATHERERS WHO DID LITTLE FOOD PREP.

THEY DID NOT VALUE MATERIAL OBJECTS NOR DID THEY DEVELOP MANY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.  THE MEN USED A BULLROARER TO SCARE WOMEN AT MALE CEREMONIES.  THEIR  DANCES IMMITATE ANIMALS.  THEY HAVE DIFFICULTY PURSUING THEIR TRADITIONAL LIFESTYLE.

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