Introducing Australian Society and Culture Term Explanations

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1. Geography and Ecological Environment 1.1 Uluru Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, is probably the best known sandstone rock formation located in the Western Plateau of . Uluru is notable for appearing to change color at different times of the day and year, most notably glowing red at dawn and sunset. It is the second-largest monolith in the world and is a sacred part of Aboriginal creation mythology, or dreamtime. Uluru is considered one of the greatest wonders of the world and one of Australia’s most recognizable natural icons. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site. 1.2 The Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Australian mountain range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia’s most substantial mountain range and the fourth longest in the world. The Great Dividing Range separates rivers flowing to central Australia or the Murray-Darling Basin from those flowing to the Pacific Ocean or Bass Strait, and so it is one of the few areas of high land in Australia, which is otherwise dry, barren, flat, and sparsely populated. The range stretches more than 3500 kilometers from northeastern Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through New South Wales, then into Victoria. The sharp rise between the coastal lowlands and the eastern upland has affected Australia’s climate. 1.3 The Murray-Darling Basin The Murray-Darling Basin is formed by the Murray and Darling rivers, and it covers more than 14 percent of the mainland. Draining one seventh of the Australian landmass, the Murray-Darling Basin is currently the most important agricultural area of Australia. Most of the basin is flat, low-lying and far inland, and receives little rainfall. The many rivers it contains tend to be long and slow-flowing, and carry a volume of water that is large only by Australian standards. 1.4 Lake Eyre Lake Eyre is the largest salty lake in Australia, and it is the lowest point in Australia, at approximately 15m below sea level, and on the rare occasions that it fills, it is the largest lake in Australia. It is famous for being the saltiest lake in Australia. Lake Eyre lies on the border of and it protects an important desert wilderness. Some Australian animals drink the salty water without being harmed. 1.5 Golden wattles Golden wattles are Australian’s national flowers, and they serve as Australia’s floral emblem. It is a tree which flowers in late winter and spring, producing a mass of fragrant, fluffy, golden flowers. The Australian Coat of Arms includes a wreath of golden wattle. The green and gold colors used by Australian sporting teams are also inspired by the colors of wattles. 1.6 Kangaroo Kangaroos, as a well-known and widely welcomed national symbol of Australia, are probably the most renowned marsupial in the world. Kangaroos are endemic to the country of Australia. They have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping. Female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete post-natal development. The kangaroo is a national symbol of Australia: its emblem is used of the Australian Coat of Arms, on its currency, as well as by some Australian organizations. 1.7 Australian lungfish Australian lungfish is one of the only six extant lungfish species in the world. It is endemic to Australia. Like all primitive fishes, Australian lungfish has a lung, as well as gills. This makes the lungfish “living fossils” of great value in studying the biology of the earliest ancestors of land animals. It is of great significance as it provides the only opportunity to study the development and physiology of the aquatic predecessors of all land vertebrates, include ourselves.

2. The Aborigines and Australian History 2.1 The Mabo Case The Mabo Case was a landmark decision recognizing native title in Australia for the first time. The High Court rejected the doctrine of terra nullius, declaring the previous legal concept of the doctrine to be invalid, in favor of the common law doctrine of aboriginal title. This decision recognized that the indigenous population had a pre-existing system of law, which would remain in force under the new sovereign except where specifically modified. 2.2 The Australian Aboriginal Flag The Australian Aborigines have their own flag which was originally designed as a protest flag for the land rights movement of . The flag has become a symbol of the Aboriginal people of Australia. The flag depicts a yellow disc on a horizontally divided field of black and red. The black color symbolizes the Aboriginal people of Australia, and the red color symbolizes the red earth and a spiritual relation the land, whereas the yellow color represents the Sun, which the Aborigines view as the protector and the giver of life. 2.3 The Stolen Generation The Stolen Generation, also known as Stolen Children, is a term used to describe the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals occurred in the period between approximately 1869 and 1969. These children are removed from their families by the government in an attempt to “resocialize” them, to improve the integration of Aboriginal people into modern society. 2.4 The National “Sorry Day” The Nation Sorry Day, also known as The National Day of Healing, was held in 1998, a day when all Australians could express their sorrow and regret for the whole tragic episode and to the Stolen Generation, and embrace the beginning of a new understanding. The recent increase in Aboriginal population reflects improved living conditions and a broad and inclusive definition and Aboriginal identity on the part of the Government. 2.5 The Dreamtime The Indigenous Australians had their own religious traditions founded in their concept of the Dreamtime. Indigenous Australians have a complex oral tradition and spiritual values based upon reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. It is a belief that every person “exists” eternally in the Dreaming. The eternal aspect of this belief is that life continues before and after death. In Australian Aboriginal mythology, the Dreamtime tells the story of things that happened, how the universe came to be, how human beings were created and how the Creator intended for humans to function within the cosmos. 2.6 James Cook James Cook, also known as Captain Cook, is a British naval office, as well as an explorer, navigator and cartographer. He is a member of the Royal Society. He is known for his three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia which he named New South Wales, the European contact with the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. 2.7 Matthew Flinders Matthew Flinders was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers in the 18th and 19th century. He and George Bass circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of the name Australia for the continent. The proved that New Holland, New South Wales and Botany Bay were not separate islands, but parts of a single continent. He was the explorer who completed the draft of the Australia coastline. 2.8 The First Fleet In 1787, Captain Arthur Phillip was appointed governor of New South Wales. He led the First Fleet to set off for Botany Bay to establish a penal settlement in Australia. The First Fleet of 11 ships carrying about 1500 people, have of them convicts, arrived in Harbor in 26 January 1788, and it is on this day every year that Australia Day is celebrated. In this way the word “convicts” became the major theme and the beginning of early Australian history. 2.9 A Penal Colony Penal Colonies are the convict settlement in Australia established for those convicts banished from Britain. At first, those convicts were sent to Australia in order to isolate them from the western society. However, they brought the tools from the more developed western world as well as their western lifestyle. They contributed a lot in the initial development of Australia. 2.10 Sheep Industry The economy in the Australian convict settlements was mainly the sheep industry. Because of Englishman John MacArthur’s import of flocks of merino sheep and his effort on wool industry, Australia’s sheep industry was beginning to expand. And from then on, with the help of British and its natural advantages, the sheep industry grew explosively. Australia’s sheep took most of the British market. Now, the sheep industry is an indispensable part to Australia’s economics. Australia has become the most important wool export country in the world and sometimes we call it “the country riding on the sheep’s back”. 2.11 The Gold Rush The Australian Gold Rush started in 1851, and it attracted a flood of immigration and laid the basis for Australia’s self-sustaining economic growth. The Gold Rush was highly significant to Australia’s political and economic development. With the Australian Gold Rush came the construction of the first railways and telegraph lines, multiculturalism and racism and Australia’s national identity. The “mateship” developed between diggers on the goldfields is still integral to how Australians perceive themselves as Australians. 2.12 Henry Parkes Henry Parkes was a statesman and politician who is considered “the Father of the Federation” by the Australian people. He was the earliest advocate of a Federal Council of the colonies of Australia. He was five times the Premier of New South Wales and devoted a lifetime in the forefront of the Federation movement. In 1891, his speech “One People, One Flag, One Destiny” affected thousands of federalists. 2.13 AIF AIF stands for “Australian Imperial Force”. The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II. It was first formed in the year of 1914. Its first members sailed for the war, following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany. The two AIFs are distinguished by referring the WWI contingent as the first AIF, and the WWII contingent as the second AIF. 2.14 Gallipoli Gallipoli is the place where Australian and New Zealand forces landed during the World War I. the Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace. The Gallipoli campaign took place from 1915 to 1916 during the World War I, and was a typical campaign in the time of World War I. The campaign was the first major battle undertaken by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). Though ANZAC was defeated, this battle is often considered to mark the birth of national consciousness in both Australia and New Zealand. 2.15 Anzac Day Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honor members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) during the First World War. Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the WWI. 2.16 John Joseph Curtin John Joseph Curtin was an Australian politician and the 14th Prime of Australian, and he led Australia when the Australian mainland came under direct military threat during the Japanese advance in the World War II. He is widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest Prime Ministers. He called up his nation to fight against Japan, and he took several crucial decisions in the war. 2.17 Sir Robert Menzies was an Australian politician and the 12th Prime Minister of Australia. Serving a collective total of over 18 years, he was Australia’s long-serving Prime Minister. He founded the Liberal Party of Australia. Through his career, Menzies held strong belief in the Monarchy and in traditional ties with Britain. Menzies is regarded highly in Prime Ministerial opinion polls and is very highly regarded in Australian society for his tenure as Prime Minister. 2.18 Australian Post-war Boom After 1945 Australia entered a boom period. Hundreds of refugees and migrants arrived in Australia to embrace their new lives. The numbers of Australians employed in the manufacturing industry had grown steadily. The period after WWII was distinguished by a boom of prosperity and full employment, rising living standards, large scale migration, and continued dependence on agriculture. Socially, the old Anglo-Celtic character and values were losing their hold. Women were entering the workforce, university and tertiary education were becoming available, and television, modern communications and international travels were also contributing to a growing cosmopolitan awareness.

3. Politics and Economics 3.1 The Australian Constitution The Australian Constitution became effective in 1901, and it was based on British parliamentary traditions. The essence of the Constitution was “one people, one flag, one destiny”. The head of state is the British sovereign, and the head of the government is the Australian Prime Minister, who is responsible to the Australian Parliament. Australian Constitution is made up of three powers: parliament, executive and judicature. 3.2 The Governor-General The Governor-General is the formal head of the executive branch of the government. He is the representative of the Queen in Australia. However, as the British Monarch has no real power in Australia, the Governor-General acts only on the advice of the Executive Council, which is made up of himself and the . The Cabinet of Australia is appointed by the Governor-General. This is a conventional part of the government. 3.3 Referendum Referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, or simply a specific government policy. Referenda are a form of directory ideally favoring the majority. Voting in a referendum is compulsory, in the same way that it is compulsory to vote in an Australian general election. 3.4 The The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is a social democratic political party in Australia, and is the oldest of the political parties in Australia, having been founded in 1891. The ALP was founded as a federal party prior to the first sitting of the Australian Parliament in 1901, but is descended from Labor parties founded in the various Australian colonies by the emerging labor movement in Australia. It represents the interests of the worker, advocates a broad program of moderate socialization. 3.5 The Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is one of the two major Australian political parties. The LPA is generally an advocated of economic liberalism. The party was quite interventionist in its economic policy and maintained Australia’s high tariff levels. In federal politics, the Liberal Party of Australia is in since losing the 2007 federal election, having held power since the 1996 election. 3.6 The “Bridgehead Economy” The “Bridgehead Economy” is the beginning in the creation of a private economy to support the penal settlement. It refers to the earliest decades of British occupation when the colony was essentially a penal institution. The colony barely survived its first years and was largely neglected for much of the following quarter-century while the British government was preoccupied with the war with France. An important beginning was nevertheless made in the creation of a private economy to support the penal regime. 3.7 Australian Protective Economy In the 1930s, Australia suffered the Great Depression. The Depression led to a protective economy which relied more on manufacturing. Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states, through methods such as imposing tariffs on imported goods. Import restrictions implements by the of that time resulted in increased profits to the manufacturing industry. 3.8 The Australian Banking System The Australian baking system consists of the Reserve Bank of Australia and 33 commercial banks. Four major commercial banks are the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Westpac Banking Corporation and the National Australian Bank Ltd. Banks in Australia were divided into two distinct categories, known as saving banks and trading banks. Saving banks paid virtually no interest to their depositors and their lending activities were restricted to providing mortgages.

4. Education and Globalization of Australia’s Higher Education 4.1 The VET System One part of modern Australian higher education is called VET, which stands for Vocational Education and Training. VET is offered by institutions, private training provides and industry in vocational education and training. The VET system provides individual with the skills required in a modern economy and delivers competency-based training, which is career-oriented and practical. Training is delivered by both public provides and private providers.

4.2 The Group of Eight The Group of Eight (Go8) is a group of eight Australian tertiary institutions in Australia. These eight universities receive over seventy percent of national competitive research grants and conduct over sixty percent of all Australian university research. The Go8 universities excel in giving their students world-class training and they are usually the first choice of the majority of high-qualified Australian school graduates and international students. The Go8 consists of the following universities: The Australia National University, The University of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Queensland, , New South Wales, and the Monash University.

5. Mass Media and Film Industry 5.1 The Australian The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia on Monday to Saturday each week since 1964. On weekends it is called The Weekend Australian. The Australian is the biggest-selling national newspaper of Australia. The newspaper devotes attention to information technology and mining industries. The Australian has run many articles critical of science and politics of climate change. 5.2 The Australian Financial Review The Australian Financial Review is the leading business newspaper in Australia which is published every day from Monday through Saturday. It is firstly started as a weekly newspaper. Since the 1970s The Australian Financial Review has been associated with economic driving a consistent editorial line favoring small government, deregulation, privatization, lower taxes and trade liberalization. 5.3 ABC ABC stands for The Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is Australia’s national public broadcaster. The corporation provides television, radio, online and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional Australia, as well as overseas through the Australia Network and Radio Australia. The ABC is a state-owned corporation. Within Australia, ABC receives the bulk of funding for television and shows first-run comedy, drama, documentaries and news and current affairs. 5.4 SBS SBS stands for Special Broadcasting Service. It is a non-commercial multilingual radio and multicultural television service. It is one of two government-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television networks. The stated purpose of SBS is to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia’s multicultural society. SBS Radio broadcasts in 68 languages in all Australian states. Its news and current affairs aim to have a higher concentration on international affairs. SBS has been one of the most progressive networks with regard to digital broadcasting.

6. Multiculturalism 6.1 The White Policy The term White Australia Policy comprises various historical policies that intentionally restricted non-white immigration to Australia. The White Australian Policy, based on the hybrid, Darwinian and eugenic theories, was officially adopted by the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The Australian government issued the Immigration Restriction Act, which was made to stop non-British migrants from entering and settling in Australia. This was mainly achieved through a Dictation Test in a European language. Racial purity became the main concern for this policy. The White Policy was officially abolished in 1973. 6.2 The Dictation Test In 1901, the Immigration Restriction Act was passed, in which the notorious Dictation Test was adopted. The test was a method which enabled immigration officials to exclude individuals on the basis of race without explicitly saying so. The test would be no less than 50 words long, and the passage chosen could often be very different, so that even if the test was given in English, a person was likely to fail. It stipulated that a person who failed to write out the passage would be prohibited from entering Australia. 6.3 The Poll-Tax The Australian government imposed a poll-tax on those immigrants from non-European countries. Resentment flared up against those non-European communities particularly because of their different customs and traditions. Anti-Chinese leagues were established. Victoria was the first to pass legislation to try and restrict Chinese and other non-European immigration through the introduction of a specific poll-tax. This was successively followed by New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. 6.4 The Policy of Assimilation The Policy of Assimilation was implemented at the beginning of the 20th century. It was founded on the belief that white culture was progressive and superior while the Australian indigenous culture was inferior. The implement the policy, indigenous children were taken away from their parents to be put into the protected reserves, whose purpose was to obliterate the culture of Dreamtime and replace it with an Anglo-Celtic Christian culture. The impact of the policy is devastating on the indigenous people and their culture. 6.5 A New Agenda for Multicultural Australia In 1999, a New Agenda for Multicultural Australia was produced. For multicultural Australia to continue to flourish for the good of all Australians, multicultural policies and programs should be built on the foundation of our democratic system, using the following principles: civil duty, culture respect, social equality and productive diversity. This agenda is viewed as an official statement of the Australian government’s multicultural policy. 6.6 National Harmony Day The National Harmony Day was set up by the Australian government on March 21st, 1999 and it is celebrated annually on this day. The key message of Harmony Day is “Everyone Belongs”. It’s about community participation, inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Australia continues each year to celebrate its success as a diverse society, united as one family by over a hundred nations from different places of the world. 6.7 Low-key The Australians does not want to appear too good at what he or she does, lest this in some way offend or put down other people around him or her. This kind of self-presentation is called the “low-key” style. Low-key has to do with pretending that you’re a lot less that what others think you are. If you are to get on with Australians, hide you intelligence, or at least actively play it down. 6.8 Tall-Poppy Syndrome Tall-poppy syndrome is a pejorative term used to describe a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticized because their talents or achievements elevate them above. Today the tall poppy is usually someone who is very successful in their field. Australia has developed what we call the Tall Poppy Syndrome. This is the action of eagerly pulling down the more successful people in our society should they show the slightest imperfection.

7. Literature 7.1 Henry Lawson Henry Lawson is one of the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period. He is often called Australia’s “greatest writer”. Much of Lawson’s work was set in the Australian bush, or was about bush life. The Drover’s Wife by Henry Lawson with its “heartbreaking depiction of bleakness and loneliness” is regarded as one of his finest short stories. Bushlife, mateship and capitalist development were the three features in Lawson’s short stories. 7.2 A. B. Paterson A. B. Paterson is a famous Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas. Paterson’s more notable poems are Waltzing Mathilda, The Man from Snowy River, and Clancy of the Overflow. His national novels conveyed a desire for equality and freedom, resentment towards their mother country, and the longing for independence. 7.3 The Bulletin The Bulletin was a discontinued magazine, and Australia’s oldest and best-known weekly news magazine. It was first published in 1880. The Bulletin was influential in Australian culture and politics until World War I, the period when it was identified with the “Bulletin School” of Australian literature. The contributions made by The Bulletin began the history of Australian nationalist literature. In the period of nationalism, The Bulletin played a vital role in advocating the Australian independence. 7.4 Patrick White Patrick White was an Australian author who was widely regarded as a major English-language novelist of the 20th century. His fiction freely employs shifting narrative vantage points and a stream of consciousness technique. In 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, “for an epic and psychological narrative art, which has introduced a new continent into literature”. His main works include The Eye of the Storm. 7.5 The Eye of the Storm The Eye of the Storm is a novel by the Australian novelist and 1973 Nobel Prize winner, Patrick White. It tells the story of Elizabeth Hunter, the powerful matriarch of her family, who maintains a destructive iron grip on those who come to farewell her in her final moments upon her deathbed. It is regarded as one of White’s best novels, and it is named as the book that confirmed White’s designation as a Literature Laureate.

REFERENCES [1] 张华. 澳大利亚社会与文化. 北京大学出版社. 2011. [2] Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/.