Webquest Amazing Australia

Webquest - Amazing Australia!

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1/ Geography and climate

3/ Aborigines

2/ Animals

4/ Tourism

Australia is an island country situated in the Southern hemisphere, between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and under the Equator. That is why Australia is nicknamed "The Land Down Under". Australia is an island, a country, and a continent (Oceania) at the same time. Australia is the sixth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, USA, China and Brazil, and also the driest (dry=sec) inhabited (=peuplé) continent of the world. The country is divided into six states: Southern Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales (south east of Australia), Queensland (north east), Victoria (the smallest state) and Tasmania (a small island). There are also two self-governing territories: Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory (a small land in New South Wales). Each state and territory has a capital city. Canberra is the capital city of the Australian Capital Territory and the capital city of Australia. Melbourne is the main city of Victoria. Hobart is the capital city of Tasmania, and Lauceston in on the north coast of it. Brisbane is in Queensland as well as Cairns. Sydney is between Canberra and Brisbane. Perth is in Western Australia. Darwin is in the north of the Northern Territory, and Alice Spring is right in the moddle of the country in the Northern Territory. Adelaïde is in South Australia. Because the country is in the Southern hemisphere, the seasons are different from France. So Australian people celebrate Christmas in summer!

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The Aborigines, or Aboriginals, are the native people of Australia. They were the first inhabitants. In the 1600s, some Dutch explorers reached (reach = atteindre) the continent. In 1644, they named the continent New Holland. in 1770, Captain James Cook, who was a British explorer and a cartographer, became the first British to discover Australia. He arrived in the southeast region and named it New South Wales. He thought it was a good place to start a colony. At that time, there were too many criminals in Great Britain's prisons. So the government decided to send prisoners to Australia to live there. In 1851, the discovery of gold attracted thousands of immigrants to Australia. Today, Australia is no longer a British colony. It became independent in 1901 and is now part of the British Commonwealth.

(from Isabelle Beaubreuil and Britannica Kids)

The Aborigines, or Aboriginals, are the native people of Australia. They have lived in Australia for more than 50,000 years. Their civilization is of the oldest living civilizations in the world. At the time the first British settlers arrived in 1788, there were about 600 different groups of Aboriginal peoples. Each group spoke their own language (there were about 200 languages). Scientists think that the Aboriginal peoples originally came from Asia. The lives and land of Aboriginal peoples changed dramatically when Europeans arrived in Australia more than 200 years ago. The first Europeans to land in Australia were Dutch sailors in the 1600s. They forced the Aboriginal peoples to change their way of life or to abandon their lands. Many Aboriginal peoples died defending their lands. Others died from diseases brought by the Europeans. Today, Aboriginal peoples represent about 4% of the population in Australia. Aboriginal peoples live in clans. Each clan has its own language, cultural practices, and traditional lands. They were traditionally hunters and nomadic people (=who did not live in one place). They used boomerangs to hunt and eat. Exchange and trade were essential parts of the Aboriginal society. They traded kangaroo skin, pearl shells for decorations, ochre for painting, and stone and timber for making axes and spears. Aboriginal peoples passed down knowledge through storytelling called "the Dreaming", or "Dreamtime". Aboriginal peoples believed that ancestor spirits created the world and life during the Dreamtime. Music was used for entertainment and relaxation. Aboriginal peoples invented the didjeridu (or didjeridoo), a wooden flute. They also used Dot painting to tell stories.

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