History UsefulNotes / Australia

*** UsefulNotes/AustralianNewWave

* UsefulNotes/AustralianMedia
** AustralianCulture

[[AC:The Australian national anthem]][[note]]No, it's ''not'' "Down Under" by Music/MenAtWork.[[/note]]

* UnitConfusion (Australia switched from Imperial to Metric in the 1960s rapidly and it worked fairly well - only the older Australians will still use Imperial, and only for estimates. Inches and feet still tend to be used for peoples' heights, somewhat interchangeably with metric, because it's easier to say "five foot seven" than "one-hundred and seventy centimetres" or "one point seven metres". While most people know roughly what a foot and an inch are, nobody uses miles except metaphorically.

[[AC:The Australian national anthem]]

->First adopted in 1901 and finalized in 1954, the Australian flag is based on the "blue ensign", bearing the Union Jack at the canton, signifying ties with Britain. Directly below it is the white Commonwealth Star, whose seven points allude to the original six states -- New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia -- and any future territory (Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, as of present). At the fly side is a rendition of Crux Australis, one of the most notable constellations visible on Australia, whose four main stars are seven-pointed, while the smaller fifth star is five-pointed.

* Australia has an extremely low population density. For comparison, another similarly prosperous nation of similar population size is The Netherlands - which has 150 times the population density. You can drive across The Netherlands faster than you can FLY across Australia. Connecting this widely distributed population is expensive.

** UsefulNotes/AustralianAborigines

Note that, contrary to stereotypes, very few Australians live in the outback, likely due to the continent's hot desert climate.[[note]]Look at the map to the right and compare the number of cities on the coasts with the number in the middle of the continent.[[/note]] There are several cities, some of which are considered the least environmentally polluted, and most liveable on Earth. Australia's southeast coast (between Sydney in New South Wales, and Adelaide in South Australia) is the most densely populated area of the country. The Indigenous population of Australia, of approximately 727,000 as of last census, is concentrated in the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. However, there are still smaller active Indigenous communities and groups in every state and territory.

*** Australians do not directly elect the Prime Minister; rather, Australians vote for a Member of Parliament (MP) in their area. The political party that elects the most MPs is then asked by the Governor-General to form the government. The leader and deputy leader of this political party then becomes the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister respectively.

* Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
** Monarch: Charles III

** UsefulNotes/PrimeMinistersOfAustralia

** Monarch: Elizabeth II

Note that, contrary to stereotypes, very few Australians live in the outback, likely due to the continent's hot desert climate.[[note]]Look at the map above and compare the number of cities on the coasts with the number in the middle of the continent.[[/note]] There are several cities, some of which are considered the least environmentally polluted, and most liveable on Earth. Australia's southeast coast (between Sydney in New South Wales, and Adelaide in South Australia) is the most densely populated area of the country. The Indigenous population of Australia, of approximately 727,000 as of last census, is concentrated in the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. However, there are still smaller active Indigenous communities and groups in every state and territory.

** Prime Minister: Scott Morrison
** Deputy Prime Minister: Barnaby Joyce