Australia – Presentation to Year 10 English Camp, Jaffna College

Map (1)

Australia is the world’s largest island of 7.69 million square kilometers, and the world’s smallest
continent. The population is 24 million and growing all the time. Over 80 per cent of Australian people
live in cities and towns around the coastline edge of Australia. Australia’s largest island is Tasmania at
the very south of Australia. The island of Tasmania is about the same size as Sri Lanka.

The capital city of Australia is Canberra, where the Australian Parliament lives. Australia is a democracy,
with its own National Parliament and Prime Minister, and belongs to the British (Westminster) system of
government. Australia is the only continent that is governed by one single national government.

Australia has six states and two territories. Each Australian state has its own state level of government.

Weather (1)

Very few people live in the centre of Australia because this is mostly desert with hardly any rain. In fact,
Australia is one of the driest continents on earth. The north of Australia is quite tropical with monsoonal
rain – a bit like Sri Lanka’s climate – but further south, it gets cooler and cooler.

We live in Melbourne at the very south of Australia, where the average summer temperature is 25
degrees (though it can go up as high as 40+) and winter daytime temperatures are around 10 degrees to
16 degrees. It snows on some high mountains in Australia in winter, but the snow soon melts away
when springtime comes.

Animals and Birds of Australia

Australia has many animals, birds, fish and reptiles that live nowhere else in the world. Many tourists
come to Australia to see these unique animals. Most of the animals live in the country, not the big
cities.

(3) Cockatoo – about the same size as a chicken. There are thousands of these. Pest. Strong beak.
Damages houses and crops on farms.

(4) Crocodile – large and fierce. Lives in rivers in the north of Australia. No-one swims in these northern
rivers. Not allowed to kill them.

(5) Crocodile with tourist – the tourist is in a cage to protect him from the crocodile’s jaws. This is quite
a dangerous thing that tourists like to do.

(6) Dolphins – very intelligent creatures – tourist attraction

(7) Echidna – small very prickly animal, eats insects, lives in a hole in the ground

(8) Goanna –Australia lizard eats insects. If attacked, its tail drops off and wriggles so that its attacker –
like a dog – eats the tail and not the goanna
(9) Green Tree Frog – lives mostly in water and can climb trees – some people keep them as pets in an
aquarium

(10) Kangaroos – Australia’s most famous native animal – uses its long tail for balance.

(11) Kangaroo with baby in its pouch. The baby is called Joey.

(12) Koala – another famous Australian animal. Moves very slowly and sleeps a lot. Lives very high up in
gum trees. Only eats certain types of gum leaves. Carries its baby on its back.

(13) Little Penguins –a famous tourist attraction. They are only about 12 inches high. They live in
burrows near the sea, and go fishing every night to bring food home for their babies in the burrows.

(14) Platypus - a very unusual furry animal with a duck’s beak and webbed feet. Lives in rivers and
streams and makes a burrow (nest) in river banks. It also lays eggs.

(15) Possum - This is a bit like Sri Lanka’s palm squirrel except that possums are a nuisance – they eat
the fruit and leaves off people’s trees, and they make a big mess with their nests. They are protected –
you are not allowed to kill them.

(16) Shark – this is another famous Australian animal. They mostly eat fish but very occasionally they will
attack surfers and swimmers on Australian beaches. Australians do eat shark meat, called “flake”.

(17) Tasmanian Devil – only lives in Tasmania. Is as small as a dog but very very fierce and has a loud
growl like a person screaming. Stay away from these animals – they are fighters and they have a very
nasty bite.

(18) White Wallaby – Wallabies are like kangaroos but smaller. These white wallabies only live in one
place in the world – on a small island (Bruney Island) near Tasmania. These white ones are not afraid of
people – they are very pretty, very curious and tame and you can pat them.

(19) Looks like a small bear. It lives in the forest and on farmland. Eats grass.

People and History (pause between slides)

Australia is a country of migrants. The people of Australia have travelled to Australia from all parts the
world especially Europe and Asia. Many Sri Lankan people came to Australia to escape from the fighting
during the civil war.

(20, 21, 22) The very first Australians were the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, who lived in
Australia for a long, long time – about 40,000 years - before British white people came to Australia.
Most Aboriginal Australians now live in the big cities and towns like this Aboriginal family.

(23) Ken Wyatt is one of Australia’s Aboriginal politicians.

(24 The first white people came in sailing ships to Australia from England in 1788. This trip took them six
months. They were mainly soldiers and convicts (prisoners) from England. England had very over-
crowded prisons at this time and transported (sent) thousands of its criminals – men, women and
children - to Australia. Many had committed only very small crimes, like stealing a loaf of bread. The
convicts had a very hard life and were often badly treated and poorly fed. Many died in prison. Those
who survived and earned their freedom became good citizens, farmers and business people.

Pause in Slides

So – first there were the Aborigines, then the British came, then 100 years later on many thousands of
migrants from many different countries started coming when gold was discovered Australia in the
1850s. In Australia today, there are hundreds of different cultures, religions and languages, though
English is the main language spoken. Most Australians living today are descended from migrants.

Australia still welcomes migrants, but the present Australian government has a bad attitude towards
asylum seekers (refugees) who come to Australia without visas, and who come on small boats. But many
Australia disagree with their government about this (including us), and try to help refugees who flee to
Australia in boats from Asian countries to escape wars and poverty in their home country.

(25) Australian School System

Like in Sri Lanka, Australia has primary education (grades 1 – 6) then secondary education (levels 7 – 12).
There are government schools and private schools. After Year 12, successful students can go to
University, or Private Colleges, or Vocational Training. University education is expensive in Australia –
most students take out government loans that they must pay back when they finish their studies Most
Australian children go to school until they are 17 or 18 years old

(26) Australian School Library (27) School Classroom (28) Sitting exams (29) Surfing School (30)
Australian students from many nations (31) Australian teenagers

(33 – 38) Bushfires

Every summer, Australia has huge intense fires in its forests called bushfires, particularly on hot windy
days. The gum trees are full of oil in their leaves (eucalyptus oil) and this causes very hot and dangerous
flames that destroy huge areas of forest and farmland, houses and farm animals. Fire-fighters try to put
out these fires with water dropped from helicopters, and with trucks and hoses. Some bushfires keep
on burning for many weeks.

Cities in Australia

Most Australians live and have jobs in the big cities.

(39 – 42) Canberra (capital of Parliament)

(43) Darwin Australia’s closest city to Sri Lanka – today

944) Darwin – in 1974 was destroyed by a huge cyclone called Cyclone Tracey – our hottest city with a
monsoonal climate
(45) Melbourne – population of 4.5 million and growing fast.

(46) Melbourne fireworks on New Years Eve

(47) Melbourne Central Shopping Centre

(48) Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance – remembers Australians killed in wars

(49) Melbourne tram – runs on tracks in the middle of roads

(50) Sydney – population 4.9 million – largest city – fireworks on Sydney Harbour Bridge on Australia Day

(51) Famous Sydney Harbour with the bridge and the Opera House on Australia Day

Elwood – the place (suburb) where John and I live (pause in slide show)

I have chosen some pictures from near our house in Elwood. About 16,000 people live in Elwood.
Elwood is a small suburb within the larger City of Melbourne. Elwood is an older part of Melbourne.
Elwood is near the beach where lots of people go swimming and fishing in the summer. It has many
houses, flats, apartments, shopping centres, parks and gardens and schools. Elwood is near to some of
the big tourist attractions such as Luna Park.

(52) A street near our house

(53) The beach at Elwood on a hot day

(54) We can see Melbourne City from Elwood.

(55) This is what apartments look like in Elwood near our house.

(56) This is the pier near Elwood. (57) This is a cafe near our house. (58) This is the canal near our house.

(59 - 64 ) Elwood Secondary College

This is where our son Joel went to school, so I have put some pictures of Elwood College in to show you.

(66 – 67) Farming in Australia

Now that we have seen some pictures of the big cities, let’s look at some pictures of the rural (country)
areas of Australia.

Most of Australia is either desert or farming country. Australia has many huge sheep and cattle farms –
thousands of hectares - and also many agricultural crop farmers who grow sugar cane, wheat, rice,
barley, vegetables, fruit like apples and oranges, and grape-vines. Thousands of chickens are raised in
huge sheds called poultry farms.

(68) Cattle mustering

Holidays in Australia

Australia is very popular for tourists because there are so many beautiful things to see and do.

(74 – 78) Many people like camping in tents or in caravans or old vans. (78) Many travellers stay in
caravan parks.

(79 – 83) Some people like to travel to central Australia to visit the dry hot desert places such as Uluru.
Some go for a camel ride.

(83) Some like to go to the fun parks like Luna Park in Melbourne.

Others might visit zoos or go to the forest areas to see the Australian animals.

(84) In winter, many tourists visit the mountains to go skiing. It only snows in winter time, and in spring
time the snow soon melts.

(85) Driving in the snow is very slippery. Here a bus has slid off the road and is waiting for a tow truck to
come and get it back on the road. (86) Cars covered with snow (87) Holiday ski village

(88) Some tourists to north to places like Darwin where the weather is hot and they can swim in a wafe
pool.

(89) Some places in Australia are so remote and so far from a town that when people go to hospital they
go by plane – this is called the Flying Doctor.

Sport

Many Australians and tourists like to go to a Test Match, or a football game, or a tennis match. Australia
is called a sporting nation, and Australian athletes are very competitive in the Olympic Games.
Melbourne has the Grand Prix motor car race in Melbourne, One Day Cricket, and other big sporting
events. Women’s netball is the most popular sport in Australia.

(90 – 93) Australian Rules football. This is played with an oval shaped ball and is very popular.

(94) Hockey players

(95 – 96) Famous Melbourne Cricket Ground where the test matches are played

(97) Women’s netball

Surfing and Beaches

My mother lives in a surfing town called Torquay. It is very cold in Torquay in winter, but in summer it is
crowded with tourists coming to ride the waves and sit in the sunshine.

(98) Surfer at Bell’s Beach (99) Torquay where my mother lives (100) another Torquay beach (101) the
start of a race at a surf carnival (102) surf life saving patrol (103) Australians enjoying the beach (104)
Children on an Australian beach

(105, 106) Our Family

Here are two pictures of my family back in Australia. My son is Joel – he is 42 years old. His wife is
Rebecca, and their two teenage daughters (our grand-daughters) are Jessica aged 18 and Tessa aged 16.