Articles on Australia: Australia Listeni/əˈstreɪljə, ɒ-, -iə/,[10][11] officially the Commonwealth of Australia,[12] is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. For at least 40,000 years[13] before the first British settlement in the late 18th century,[14][15] Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians,[16] who spoke languages grouped into roughly 250 language groups.[17][18] After the European discovery of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australias eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy comprising six states and several territories. The population of 23.6 million[5] is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated in the eastern states and on the coast.[19] Australia is a developed country and one of the wealthiest in the world, with the worlds 12th-largest economy. In 2012 Australia had the worlds fifth-highest per capita income,[20] Australias military expenditure is the worlds 13th-largest. With the second-highest human development index globally, Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.[21] Australia is a member of the United Nations, G20, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the Pacific Islands Forum. Although Australia has no official language, English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language.[2] Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon,[266] and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.[267] General Australian serves as the standard dialect. According to the 2011 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 81% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (1.7%), Italian (1.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese (1.3%), Greek (1.3%), and Vietnamese (1.2%);[247] a considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. A 2010–2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic, followed by Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese, and Hindi.[268][269] Between 250 and 300 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact, of which only around 20 are in use today.[270] Many of these are exclusively spoken by older people; only 18 Indigenous languages are still spoken by all age groups.[271][contradiction] At the time of the 2006 census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home.[272] Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 5,500 deaf people. Australia has no state religion; Section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the federal government from making any law to establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion.[274] In the 2011 census, 61.1% of Australians were counted as Christian, including 25.3% as Roman Catholic and 17.1% as Anglican; 22.3% of the population reported having no religion; 7.2% identify with non-Christian religions, the largest of these being Buddhism (2.5%), followed by Islam (2.2%), Hinduism (1.3%) and Judaism (0.5%). The remaining 9.4% of the population did not provide an adequate answer.[247] Before European settlement, the animist beliefs of Australias indigenous people had been practised for many thousands of years. Mainland Aboriginal Australians, spirituality is known as the Dreamtime and it places a heavy emphasis on belonging to the land. The collection of stories that it contains shaped Aboriginal law and customs. Aboriginal art, story and dance continue to draw on these spiritual traditions. The spirituality and customs of Torres Strait Islanders, who inhabit the islands between Australia and New Guinea, reflected their Melanesian origins and dependence on the sea. The 1996 Australian census counted more than 7000 respondents as followers of a traditional Aboriginal religion.[275] St Marys Catholic Cathedral, Sydney, built to a design by William Wardell. About a quarter of Australians are Roman Catholic. Since the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships in 1788, Christianity has grown to be the major religion practised in Australia. Christian churches have played an integral role in the development of education, health and welfare services in Australia. For much of Australian history the Church of England (now known as the Anglican Church of Australia) was the largest religious affiliation. However, multicultural immigration has contributed to a decline in its relative position, and the Roman Catholic Church has benefitted from recent immigration to become the largest group. Similarly, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism have all grown in Australia over the past half-century.[276] A survey by the Bertelsmann Foundation found that Australia is one of the least religious nations in the western world, coming in 17th out of 21 [countries] surveyed and that Nearly three out of four Australians say they are either not at all religious or that religion does not play a central role in their lives.[277] While weekly attendance at church services in 2001 was about 1.5 million[278] (about 7.8% of the population),[279] a survey of 1,718 Australians by the Christian Research Association at the end of 2009 suggested that the number of people attending religious services per month in Australia dropped from 23% in 1993 to 16% in 2009, and while 60% of 15 to 29-year-old respondents in 1993 identified with Christian denominations, 33% did in 2009
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 12:43:24 +0000
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