Australiana

About Australia

AUSTRALIAN NATIVE PEOPLE - ABORIGINALS
Australia, a country and a continent, has always been a mysterious and exotic place to many people from around the world. It’s native custodians are Australian Aboriginals, who have been developing their culture, their many languages (about 500 in fact) and their relationship with the harsh natural surrounding for over 40 000 years.

Aboriginal Art and Culture Centre online
http://www.aboriginalart.com.au
This site is owned and operated by Australian Aboriginals from the Red Centre: Alice Springs region of Australia. Contains art gallery with traditional and contemporary art examples.

Didgeridoo and the role of music
http://www.aboriginalart.com.au/didgeridoo/
Didgeridoo is a traditional Aboriginal instrument, which you can view, hear and even learn to play with this site.

Aboriginal Dreaming stories (with videos and audios) - http://www.dreamtime.net.au/dreaming/storylist.htm
Storytelling is an integral part of life for Indigenous Australians. Dreaming stories tell about the origins of the world, people and nature and teach the rules of living.

Aboriginal Australia today:
http://www.ozshots.com/aboriginals/index_eng.html
This important website provides an honest account of the lives of Australian Aboriginals today, which is quite far from the common, romantic imagery presented on many other sites.

Australian Aboriginals:
http://lstation.monint.monash.edu.au/web/aboriginals.htm
(Pre-Intermediate, Reading: scanning for information)
A web-hunt activity designed to gather basic facts about Australian Abotriginals.

WHITE SETTLEMENT AND MIGRATION
White settlement and the subsequent waves of migration to Australia (gold rush, post-war, and refugees) has changed Australia’s ethnic make-up and resulted in a multi-racial and multi-ethnic society which performs strong economically and, considering its small population of 20 million people, rates high among the developed nations in the world.

A Migrant Experience
http://lstation.monint.monash.edu.au/web/migrantexp.htm
(Pre-Intermediate, Listening: for detail)
This is a listening activity based on an interview with a post-war Austrian migrant.

Migrants - where are they from?
http://lstation.monint.monash.edu.au/web/migrant_origins.htm
(Upper Intermediate, Reading/Vocabulary: interpreting data)
This page contains the Australian Government statistics on Australian migration from 1901-1996. The activity (useful for IELTS test preparation) requires of students to interpret this data in a graphic form.

Australia through migrant's eyes.
http://www.nceltr.mq.edu.au/writeaway/Contents.htm
interesting personal accounts

Gold Rush in Australia - Sovereign Hill
http://lstation.monint.monash.edu.au/web/sovereign.htm
(Pre-Intermediate, Reading: scanning for information)
This simple web-hunt activity is designed for pre-intermediate students wishing to find out more about the Gold Rush era in Victoria, Australia and prepare for a visit to an outdoor Museum in Sovereign Hill.

Women on the Goldfields
http://lstation.monint.monash.edu.au/web/women1.htm
(Intermediate: Reading: for facts, Speaking: an opinion, Writing: punctuation)
This activity engages students in analysing and comparing lives of men and women in the gold fields. It also suggests a punctuation activity with a web-processor based on the texts read.

FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS AUSTRALIANS

Ned Kelly 1
http://lstation.monint.monash.edu.au/web/nedkelly.htm
(Intermediate: Reading: for details, Writing: paraphrasing)
This activity draws students’ attention to the skill of paraphrasing through note-taking from reading. It is based on the real-life story of a famous Australian outlaw, Ned Kelly.

Ned Kelly 2
http://www.powerup.com.au/~ozesl/quiz7.html
Reading comprehension exercise (computer-checked)

Dame Edna
http://www.powerup.com.au/~ozesl/quiz8.html
Reading comprehension exercise (computer-checked)

BEACH CULTURE
Australians are well known for their love of sport, which sometimes borders with obsession. Their love for the beach, for example, is reflected in their world-class achievements in swimming and surfing. Their love for outdoor activities makes them good in cricket, tennis and grass hockey. They love their “footy” (Australian Rules Football) and their rugby.

The Aussie Cozzie
http://beach.prace.vic.edu.au/stories/togs.php
(Pre-Intermediate, Reading: picture story and online exercises)
“When Europeans first invaded Australia, the only people here who were good at swimming were the Aboriginal people...” This picture story is followed by interactive comprehension exercises.

Beach Safety signs
http://beach.prace.vic.edu.au/info/safety-signs.php
(Pre-Intermediate, Speaking: beach signs, Reading: safety rules and online exercises)
This elementary language exercises are designed to teach beach safety signs and rules to pre-intermediate ESL students.

Life Savers at Bondi Beach:
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~prace/beach/bondi.htm
(Intermediate, Reading: comprehension and online exercises)
” Bondi Beach is a very famous beach in Sydney. Bondi started the first surf lifesaving club in the world. Surf Life Saving Organisations now operate in 26 countries around the world”. This picture story is followed by a number of interactive exercises.

AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH
Australian English has its distinctive features: its unique slang and vocabulary, often incorporates Aboriginal languages, especially for naming places and natural phenomena. Shortening of words and diminutives is also quite popular and confuses other English speakers.

Australian English:
http://eleaston.com/aus-eng.html
This site is a collection of web resources about Australian English.

Australian Slang:
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ozesl/quiz3.htmL
(Multiple choice quiz)
This is an online multiple-choice quiz based on Australian slang.

AUSTRALIAN ART
Australian art is often associated with the traditional art of Australian Aboriginals, but Australians can be proud of many other artists, especially in the area of cinematography and acting. Painters Boyd, Namatjira, McCubbin, Roberts, Streeton, Nolan, Drysdale and Dobellare are well loved for their depictions of Australian landscapes and Australian way of life in the last century. Singers Dame Melba and Dame Joan Sutherland put Australia on the operatic map of the world.

Web-arts Australia
http://www.web-arts.com.au/AART.html
List of Australian painters with images of their paintings.

CD Collector
http://www.cdcollector.com.au/
This site lists CDs of Australian composers, singers, bands and orchestras.

NATIVE PLANTS AND ANIMALS
When you think “Australia” you may think immediately of kangaroos and koalas. These marsupials (which grow their young in pouches) and many other species of fauna and flora have developed to fill specific niches of Australian nature. Most of the 140 species of marsupials in Australia are found nowhere else in the world. Isolation and a harsh environment have also resulted in unique Australian flora.

Australian Animals
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/Australia.shtml
This site provides pictures of Australian animals, with colour-in versions for younger learners.

Kookaburra song:
http://www.whatsthenumber.com/oz/unique/song9.htm
This is a children song about Kookaburra, called also “the laughing bird”. Lyrics and music provided.

Australian Flora
http://www.austemb.org/flora.htm
This site provides an overview of the most common native Australian flora.

Australian 12 Days of Xmas
http://walelia.users1.50megs.com/carol.html
This song is a re-make of the well-known Christmas song, replacing traditional words with those depicting Australian fauna and flora.

ESL Activities:
Dangerous Sea Creatures
http://beach.prace.vic.edu.au/info/danger.php
(Intermediate, Reading: comprehension and online exercises)
Australian seas are full of dangerous creatures. This site provides reading comprehension activities about these creatures.

Snakes Alive
http://pageturners.prace.vic.edu.au/snakes-alive/
(Elementary, Reading: Picture Story and comprehension exercises)
This picture story teaching about dangerous snakes in Australia is followed by online comprehension exercises.

AUSTRALIAN HOLIDAYS
Santa comes to Australia in the middle of the summer season. He sweats in his suit and does his best to re-create the Christmas spirit. " Then comes January when white Australians celebrate the landing of the first convict fleet in 1787. This date however is seen as a year of “white invasion” by Australian Aboriginals. Other public holidays in Australia include Queen’s Birthday and the ANZAC Day which is a day to remember those who died in wars.

Australian version of “Jingle Bells” for Xmas
http://users.tpg.com.au/sharenet/c/jinglebells.html
This site provides a full “translation” from Australian to English of the Australian version of the Jingle Bells song.

Australia Day Holiday
http://lstation.monint.monash.edu.au/web/AusDay.htm
(Intermediate: Reading: comprehension, Writing: a postcard)
This site is a web-hunt type activity based around the topic of Australia Day Holiday: its origins and the way it is being celebrated.

AUSTRALIAN FOOD
Australians love their food and experiment with it quite a lot. They love alfresco dining and in one street can find restaurants and eateries serving food from many different countries. However, there are few food items specifically Australian: vegemite spread, Lamington cakes, ANZAC Biscuits and Pavlova.
Vegemite is considered as much a part of Australia's heritage as kangaroos and the Holden cars. It is actually an Australian obsession and has become a unique and loved symbol of the Australian nation. A published paper called “Vegemite as a Marker of National Identity” by Paul Rozin & Michael Siegal is the best indication of vegemite’s importance to Australians.

Vegemite:
http://www.whatsthenumber.com/oz/unique/vegemite.htm
This site gives a brief history of Vegemite, information of its nutritional value and also lyrics and the tune to the advertising jingle on Vegemite, called “Happy Little Vegemites”

Australian Food and Drink
http://www.whatsthenumber.com/oz/unique/words1c.htm
This site provides a list of Australian slang words on food and drink.

AUSTRALIAN SONGS
Australian spirit, pride and mateship are reflected in many songs.
Australians are globetrotters and many take time off study or work to see the world, with Asia and Europe being most popular destinations. Feeling a bit isolated, they want to “see the world out there”. Through songs Australians can express their love for the country, its people and its nature. The song “I still call Australia home” is a beautiful tribute to this country and its people.

National Anthem “Advance Australia Fair” :
http://www.genesis.net.au/%7Eanthems/aaf.html

Aussie Songs for Kids
http://www.gigglepotz.com/f_songs8.htm

“I still call Australia home”
video: http://www.ausgirlschoir.com.au/highlights_qantas.htm
lyrics: http://www.whatsthenumber.com/oz/unique/song10.htm

Unofficial anthem “Waltzing Matilda” : http://members.optushome.com.au/renatachylinski/matilda/index.htm
(All about the song and its authors with numerous language activities)

AND MANY OTHER AUSTRALIAN LINKS

Australian Bureau of Statistics
National Archives of Australia
Just the facts Cultural, geographical and historical information about Australia
The toxic custard guide to Australia Lots of questions and answers about Australian culture
OZ ESL Online - a web page full of OZ stuff by Melinda Gleeson
Australian Education
Stop Press
Australia

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