Terrain

Australia is the only nation to occupy an entire continent – albeit the smallest of the seven continents. Surrounded by the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, it is also an island. This island/continent lies southeast of the Asian landmass, bordered on the north by the Timor Sea, beyond which lie the islands of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia – the closest neighbours. To the east, the Coral Sea separates Australia from the island chain called the Solomon Islands, and the Tasman Sea separates it from New Zealand. On the west lies the Indian Ocean. The sixth largest country on Earth, Australia extends approximately 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from east to west, and 1,875 miles (3,000 km) from north to south. The highest point is Mount Kosciusko, at 7,310 feet (2,228 m); the lowest point is Lake Eyre, at 39 feet (12 m) below sea level. From east to west, Australia has four main geographical regions. The eastern lowland plan stretches from Cape York Peninsula in the north to the city of Melbourne in the south. Much of this area is forested. A few miles off the northern shore is the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world, which runs 1,200 miles (1,900 km) along the coast. On the southern part of the plain are the cities of Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne – and Hobart in Tasmania. The Eastern Highlands is a ridge of hills and mountains that separate the lowlands from the interior. It includes the tropical mountain hinterland of Queensland, the hills of New England, the Blue Mountains, the Australian Alps in New South Wales and Victoria, and the mountains that dominate most of Tasmania. West of the highlands lie the central plains. This is a region of dry depressions, or basins, the largest of which, the Great of Carpentaria in the north to the mouth of the Murray River in the South-the largest inland drainage system in the world. The Western Plateau covers the western part of the continent with rocky ridges and plains, and large, forbidding deserts (the Great Sandy, the Gibson, the Great Victoria, and the Tanami). In the north, jungle and swamps cover Arnhem Land on the shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria. In the south, the Nullarbor (meaning “no trees”) Plain borders the Great Australian Bight.

Climate

Remember that Australia lies in the Southern Hemisphere, with seasons that are opposite those in the north – July is the middle of winter and January the peak of summer. Most of Australia is warm and dry, the southern part being the most comfortable, with temperatures in Melbourne averaging 48ºF (9ºC) in its July winter to 68ºF (20ºC) in January. Adelaide is similar, Perth a little warmer. Temperatures in Darwin average 77ºF (25ºC) in July and 86ºF (30ºC) in January. The interior of Australia often reaches 100ºF (38ºC) and can go as high as 115ºF (46ºC). The largest city, Sydney has a subtropical climate, warm to hot and wet in summer, up to 95ºF (35ºC) and mild, dry winters, up to 77ºF (25ºC). Canberra’s temperatures average 68ºF (20ºC) in January and 42ºF (6ºC) in July. Northern Australia (beyond the Tropic of Capricorn) is subject to an extreme tropical wet/dry weather pattern. What this mean is that from November to April there are torrential downpours, monsoonal storms, and high humidity in the city of Darwin and the northern cities and towns of Queensland. The extremes in climate from torrential rain to disastrous drought, and the ever-present threat of bushfires, along with the isolation of the continent for fifty million years, have combined to promote the country’s rich and diverse native fauna and flora. Kangaroos of various sizes and colours, wallabies, and other oddities, such as the kookaburra, koala, platypus, echidna, galahs , and many of the brightly naturally nowhere else in the world.


Australia ’s Aborigines

It should be noted that Australia’s Aboriginal peoples were not a single group of people. They were made up of at least six hundred widely scattered language groups. Some groups shared some beliefs, customs, and technological and cultural practices -the result of trade, intermarriage, and complex family connections - but there were also great differences between the groups. Even today, the Aboriginal population refers to itself as made up of many “peoples”, or “nations”, and it is common to talk about the Aboriginal Peoples of Australia when referring to them historically.

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“Fair Dinkum ”

Australia is an ethnic melting pot- but it wasn’t always that way. Beliefs like being “Fair Dinkum ” (being honest, up-front, a person who keeps to his of her word) go back to the pioneering days. That is not to say that the phrase is inappropriate today, because immigrants were quick to pick it up. The fact is that those immigrant converts to what epitomized the Australian way of life (or what Australians like to think is peculiar to their way of life) seemed to take it up with a new intensity. No more “fair dinkum Aussies” exist than those who left the post war awfulness of Europe for sunnier shores.


“Cultural Cringe” and “Tall Poppies”

You might have heard of these two Aussie characteristics. You should ignore them, or be prepared to seem very dated. There was a time when Australians thought that anything American, British, or European must be better than its Australian counterpart. Probably this was the case, many years ago. This self-depreciation gave birth to a kind of social embarrassment, or so-called “cultural cringe”. At about the time of Melbourne Olympics in 1956, when visitors exclaimed how well the games worked, how well Australia did, how interesting the museums and art galleries were, and how much they enjoyed the theatre, Australians began to see themselves as having caught up, culturally. Unfortunately, this perceived success in the arts, as well as in moviemaking, in pop music, and, above all, in sport, resulted in overconfidence, evident in some Australians, particularly when overseas. Maybe a bit of “cringe” was not such a bad thing.

In days long gone by, many Australians liked to think of themselves as Little Aussie Battlers – working-class people struggling against upper-class bosses. However, when one of those battlers “made it” by achieving success, fame, or money, he became “one of them Tall Poppies” – and Tall poppies needed to be cut down to size. Today, however, it is fine, even admirable, to achieve success, provided that you do not forget your mates or your beginnings.

Humour

It is an article of faith in Australia that all visitors must be able to take a joke. Learn to laugh at yourself, your country, and so on – and if you really want to be social hit, tell jokes against yourself, your country, and the way you speak.
Nothing is sacred. There is almost nothing that cannot be laughed at. Particularly good things to poke fun at are religion and religious hierarchy, politics and politicians, Australians (provided you are Australian – Australian humour is often very self-depreciating), Poms (British people – even weak jokes will do), and all sacred cows. The important things of life are taken very lightly. Sport, however, is taken very seriously!

The Australian humorist best-known internationally is probably Barry Humphries, who has the distinction of convincing most Americans that the distinction of convincing most Americans that she is Dame Edna Everidge – for real.

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The above extract is kindly provided by Culture Smart! the essential guide to customs & culture. The 168-page guide retails at £6.95 + P&P and is available directly from Kuperard, the publishers of Culture Smart! guides.

CultureSmart!Consulting in conjunction with Cactus Language Training creates tailor-made seminars and consultancy programs to meet a wide range of corporate, public sector, and individual needs. Find out more at www.cactuslanguagetraining.com.

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