Australia

The name “Australia” is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning “Southern”. Legends of an “unknown land of the south” (terra australis incognita) date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, but were not based on any actual knowledge of the continent. The first records of European mariners sailing into ‘Australian’ waters occurs around 1606, and includes their observations of the land known as Terra Australis Incognita (unknown southern land). Australia is the smallest continent, but the sixth largest country in the world. It’s only slightly smaller than the contiguous (близкий) 48 United States.

Modern Australian population is about 21 million people, much less than the number of kangaroos. The kangaroo is Australia’s largest marsupial. Kangaroos travel by hopping on their long hind legs, using their tail for balance. They can reach speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour and can jump distances of eight metres and heights of around three metres. They thrive (процветать, бурно расти) wherever a regular water source is available. The introduction of European farming methods has established regular water supplies and allowed the kangaroo population to grow dramatically. It is estimated that there are around 50 million kangaroos in Australia.

The history of Australia records that the first settlers were Aboriginals from Southeast Asia who arrived about 40,000 years ago. Boomerangs are primarily associated with Australian Aboriginals, but other forms are found amongst peoples of North East Africa, America and in India. The oldest boomerang found so far was discovered in a cave in Poland and is believed to be about 20,000 years old. Nowadays boomerangs are made in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. They can range from the traditional v-shape to ones shaped like the rest of the letters of the alphabet. At least one boomerang maker has made a collection of boomerangs shaped like every letter from A – Z. Some are in the shape of animals or people or just weird looking.

Before Europeans there had been 500 to 600 distinct groups of Aboriginals, which spoke about 200 different dialects. Many groups were wiped out, and about 50 of the dialects are now extinct as well. In more recent years, the Australian Government gave back to the Aborigines a small degree of their autonomy and in 1992 it was decreed that the Aborigines have the right to own property.

The first European ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was captained by Dutchman, Willem Janszoon. For about a century the land was called “New Holland”. The first territorial claim was made in 1770, by Captain James Cook, who took possession in the name of the British Empire. In 1901, the English colonies united and became federated as the States of the Commonwealth of Australia. The government is democratic, has an elected Prime Minister, and recognizes the British Monarch as sovereign. The Monarch is represented by a Governor General who is appointed upon recommendation of the Prime Minister. Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita general product slightly lower than that of the UK, but higher than those of Germany, and France. The country was ranked third in the United Nations’ 2007 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index.

Canberra is Australia’s capital city. With a population of approximately 320,000 and situated in the Australian Capital Territory, Canberra is roughly half way between the two largest cities Melbourne and Sydney. The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation’s capital in 1908 as a compromise between age-old rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirely purpose-built, planned city. Following an international contest for the city’s design, a design by the Chicago architects was selected and construction commenced (начинать) in 1913. The city’s design was heavily influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title “bush capital”.

Sydney Opera House must be one of the most recognizable images of the modern world – together with the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building – and one of the most photographed. Not only is it ecognizable, it has come to represent ‘Australia’. The Opera House is situated on Bennelong Point, which reaches out into the harbour. It consists of a lot of buildings shaped as sails. The skyline of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the blue water of the harbour and the Sydney Opera House, viewed from a ferry or from the air, is dramatic and unforgettable. Ironic, perhaps, that this Australian icon – the Opera House was designed by renowned Danish architect – Jorn Utzon. In the late 1950s the New South Wales Government established an appeal fund to finance the construction of the Sydney Opera House, and conducted a competition for its design. Utzon’s design was chosen. The irony was that his design was beyond the capabilities of engineering of the time. Utzon spent a couple of years reworking the design and in 1961 he had solved the problem of how to build the distinguishing feature – the ‘sails’ of the roof. But in 1966 the arguments about cost and the interior design reached crisis point and Jorn Utzon resigned (отказываться) from the project. The building was eventually completed by others in 1973.