Der Kanadische Föderalismus und Aboriginal People (German Edition)
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There is a lively debate about the pros and cons of Australia Day. Some Australians wish to change the date of Australia Day in order to advance the process of reconciliation, while the Australia Day National Committee appeals to all Australians to celebrate Australia Day and reflect on the Australian history. In the following years, Sydney immigrants, especially convicts or their descendants, commemorated the colony's beginning with formal dinners to celebrate their land.
The first official celebrations were held in In the early 19th century, sporting events such as horse races and regattas were incorporated into Australia's national day. In the beginning, Australian colonies like Victoria or Queensland had their own Foundation Day anniversaries. However, January 26 gradually became a national celebration from onwards, when representatives from each state went to Sydney to celebrate the th anniversary.
The media reaction to the celebration of the 26 January was mixed. For example, the "Advertiser" pointed out that "New South Wales, though 'senior', was not 'the parent colony' of all the others, which had their own 'local memories and historic dates'. That day was not 'in any sense', it insisted, 'the anniversary of a common birthday' because 'the idea of Australia' was too closely linked to 'the unpleasing circumstances of its early occupation'.
Across Australia the celebrations usually centred on sports like cricket matches, yacht and horse races , picnics, and fireworks at night. By the white population of the Australian continent had increased extensively, while the number of Aboriginals declined from at least Foundation Day commemorates the beginning of colonisation of the Australian continent and was celebrated by Australian natives, native-born children of the immigrants, only.
On January 1st, , the six formerly separated colonies of Australia4 formed a federation and under the Constitution of Australia they became states of the Commonwealth of Australia. The colonies chose to be self-governing within the British Empire. A small white population of almost four million in a large continent far from Britain, Australians depended on the Royal Navy" ibid. At first, the city of Melbourne became the interim federal capital. However, because of a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne, Canberra was selected as the nation's capital in In , the Australian Native's Association, which was formed in as a society to provide medical and funeral benefits to Australian natives5, started "a campaign to have 26 January celebrated throughout Australia as Australia Day on a Monday, making a long weekend" ibid.
One year later, the Victorian government agreed and the remaining states followed by Since , Australia Day is generally celebrated on the actual day, January 26th. If the day falls on a weekend, the public holiday takes place the following Monday. The celebrations of the bicentennial were centred in Sydney. The highlight was the historic re-enactment of the First Fleet's arrival in Sydney Harbour, a year after its departure from Portsmouth.
The tall ship 'Young Endeavour' was presented by Britain. About two million people watched the extraordinary spectacle. Australia Day is the biggest nationwide public holiday celebrated in Australia. Festivities include various official events such as concerts, fireworks and parades.
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People often dress up in the colours of the Australian flag: They spend their holiday attending local events like regattas, community barbecues or musical events, or watching cricket or tennis games. Some people go to museums to learn about Australia's history or visit the capital city Canberra. The award usually goes to scientists, sportsmen, politicians, environmentalists or human rights activists. Dodson, Australia's first Aboriginal social justice commissioner, "has spent his career tirelessly campaigning for Indigenous people to improve their lives through reconciliation, understanding and education" ABC News Online: Dodson named Australian of the Year.
The professor, along with many others, voiced concerns about the date of Australia Day and explained that he had to seriously consider before he decided to accept the nomination for the award. To many indigenous Australians, in fact most indigenous Australians, it really reflects the day in which our world came crashing down" Maslen.
For many Indigenous Australians, Australia's national day represents the date they were conquered and their lands occupied. The beginning of European settlement separated Indigenous Australians from their land and laid the foundations for generations of social, economic and health disadvantages.
When in Captain James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia it was one of the regions heaviest populated by Aboriginals. The British settlers "took the view that Indigenous Australians were nomads with no concept of land ownership, who could be driven off land wanted for farming or grazing and who would be just as happy somewhere else" "History of Indigenous Australians". However, most indigenous communities were semi-nomadic, "moving in a regular cycle over a defined territory, following seasonal food sources and returning to the same places at the same time each year" ibid.
In addition, those communities had a deep spiritual and cultural connection to the land. Leaving the traditional areas meant the loss of cultural and spiritual practices, which were necessary to the cohesion and well-being of the community. Communications - Intercultural Communication. Australia is the flattest and driest continent. The highest mountain, Mount Kosciusko, is only 2,m high. Australia is so flat because there was no episode of mountain building and the land has been eroded by wind and weather through millions of years. You can divide Australia into three parts: These rocks are the oldest we know.
Many mineral deposits are found there. Because there is so little rain, many people chose to live where most of the rain is, on the coast. In the 17th century Australia was discoverd by European ships.
Because british prisons were full, and the new colony needed lots of people. At Gold was found and diggers from all over the world rushed to Australia. These gold rushes meant the development of wealthy towns and cities. Many of the Aborigines were killed, and the remaining were forced to adapt to the British way of life. They were forced to work as helping hands and servants at farms owned by whites or to move to the cities to work in industrial factories. Australia was isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years, which means that many plants and animals have evolved in isolation.
Many of them can be found only in Australia. You can find so many different animals and plants because there is desert and rainforest, flat land and high mountains. Tere are some different climates and because of this, there are so many different plants and animals.
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But there is another reason for many different species in fauna and flora - in Australia there are so few people that they don't disturb nature very much. There are over 12, different plant species and most of the trees are hardwoods like oak, which means that they have hard wood and are growing very slowly. Australia is known by its marsupials, like the kangaroo, the koala and the Tasmanian devil. There are over species of birds and some of them are flightless, like the emu Vogelstrauss. Some species are becoming extinct because of hunting or changing climates.
Australian people are protesting against destruction of the rainforest and other environmental pollution. Most, if not all, Australians are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. Just one in a hundred people are Aborigines. For the first years, nearly all immigrants were British or Irish. Even people who had never seen England and whose parents came from the UK spoke of Britain as their home. Between and the population of Australia more than doubled. Melbourne, for example, is the biggest Greek city after Athens.
Every time new immigrants brought other cultures, religions or ways of cooking, they were added to the Australian way of life. Australians think of themselves as strong, silent, but friendly people. For them it is very important to help each other and to have good friendships with other Australian people.
That is because they think of themselves as stockmen and farmers and they have to help each other in the bush, batting the fires and other dangers.
However, the reality is more complicated. Most Australians live in cities and there is no typical Australian. There is a Vietnamese chef, a Greek builder or a German doctor, as much as a stockman from a cattle station in Queensland.
So actually there is no real Australian and it's a bit the same as in Austria. People from outside the border come to live there and soon feel endemic. The Aboriginals came to Australia from the north at least 40, years ago. Different groups spread slowly over the country. When the first Europeans settled in Australia there were about , Aboriginals. But the whites thought that these people were little more than animals and pushed them off their traditionel lands to make way for farms.
Living on reservations or near the towns which had been built, many of them became alcoholics, or died from new diseases:. They were not given full rights until Today some of the , Aborigionals live the modern Australian way of life, while others live in the traditional way, mainly in the north and west of the country.
Many are caught between two cultures, not knowing where they belong. In the early 20th century, the white Australian population started to become more aware of the Aborigines' situation. Special reservations were established where the aboriginal tribes could live like they had done before the British invasion.
However, these reservations were often too small. There were also only a few of them so that only a small percentage of the Aborigines had a chance to live there. Therefore, the Aborigines continued to live under poor conditions and they continued to fade in numbers.
In , there were only about 35 thousand Aborigines left in Australia. The government is trying to make their living standards better but most of them still belong to the poorest group in society. Their unemployment rate is more than six times the national average, and the average wage for Aborigines is half the average national wage. Most of the Australian are Christians. They celebrate Christ and Easter, but in December it is summertime in Australia, so many people go swimming on Christ day. But they also celebrate other days, like in Melbourne.
Facts about Australia. Land and people
The Melbourne Cup, a famous horse race, is celebrated as well. There is also a day of called Anzac day, when they remember their first lost battle in Turkey. They like to celebrate. Australians start going to school at the age of six. The following six years they are in primary school, which is run by the state or in a private school which is almost always run by a church.
The schoolday is from 9. After primary school there is secondary school which takes another six years.
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School is mandatory until the age of fifteen. Most children leave school at this age. For students who live far outside a city, there is an institution called School on the Air. This school is conducted over the two-way radios. But it is a fast, exciting and expensive city with many beaches and much sun. Sydney got his name from Lord Sydney, who was British Home Secretary when the city was founded in