A video of pictures, videos and stories about Australia ; )

1. Australia By FarnazFanaian www.startariot.com.au . Created 18 March 2010 For Sitting Bull College, North Dakota, U.S

2. 22 million English speaking Largest city is Sydney (4.3m) Capital is Canberra, Canberra means ‘meeting place’

3. Australia has 6 states and 2 major mainland territories

4. Aboriginals walked into Australia from Indonesia, around 60 000 years ago. Captain Cook discovered the East Coast of Australia in 1770 and claimed New South Wales as a British Colony.

5. On 1 January 1901 the six colonies became a federation and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. The name Australia is derived from the Latin word australis, meaning "southern".

6. 23.1% of Australians were born overseas (2001). Indigenous population is 410,003 (2.2%). One third of Australia’s land is desert. Apart from Antarctica, Australia is the world’s driest continent. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of: Coal, Wool, Lead.

7. Australian Food

8. Famous Hollywood Actors

9. World’s Deadliest Animals Box jelly fish, Salt Water Crocodile, Brown Snake, Great White Shark and Redback Spider

10. Bikkie : biscuit Bodgy : of inferior quality Chewie : chewing gum Fair dinkum : true, genuine G'Day : hello! Joey : baby kangaroo Stoked : very pleased Tall poppies : successful people

11. Australian Celebrations Christmas is celebrated as a picnic on the beach. Australia Day, on January 26, marks the landing of the First Fleet of Convicts in Botany Bay. Anzac Day, on April 26, honours the soldiers who died in World War I and II.

12. Aboriginal Dreamtime According to Aboriginal belief, all life as it is known today can be tracked to the Dreamtime or the era of Creation. During this time, their Great Spirit Ancestors undertook many journeys that criss-crossed Australia in a maze of tracks, which established the natural formations of the Australian landscape as it is seen today.

13. Aboriginal Culture Around 250 Aboriginal languages have been found. Famous instrument is a didgeridoo. Dance to communicate to their ancestors. Dances present how animals move, like hopping kangaroos and crawling turtles Plants are turned into bush medicine.

14. Assimilation From the early 1900s until around 1984, Aboriginal children who were though to be of both Aboriginal and white descent, were removed from their families. The “half-castes” were raised in foster homes and Christian boarding schools. They are known as the “Stolen Generations”. On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Aboriginal people of Australia.

15. Department of Immigration and Citizenship “Many Australians live close to the beach and the sea. On hot days, they may wear little clothing on the beach and surrounds. This does not mean that people who dress to go to the beach or swimming have low moral standards. It means that this is what we accept on and near beaches.” “Most Australians blow their noses into a handkerchief or tissues, not onto the footpath.”

16. Australian humour: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Good News Week with famous comedian, Paul McDermott. 1:40 – 4:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb6iVgWD0IM

17. February 7th marks the date where bush fires killed a total of 173 people in Victoria, 2009. The fires are Australia’s worst national disaster since the Federation. Black Saturday Bushfires erupted in areas to the north and east of the state capital of Melbourne, temperatures soared as high as 118 degrees Fahrenheit, fanned by winds as strong as 78 miles an hour. The fires gutted more than 2,000 homes. Firefighters said they saw flames rising as high as 197 feet.

19. Arson

20. Lightning

22. Thirsty Koala Survives Bushfire Up to 1:40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkXSMZBdTLU&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=B3D49B5C05D0FE0E

23. Born 16 February 1973 in Mackay, Queensland. Cathy Freeman Australian sprinter who became the Olympic champion for 400m in the 2000 Sydney games

24. She was the first ever Aboriginal Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and one of the youngest, at 16 years old. When she won at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, with a time of 49.11 seconds, she was so relieved that she dropped to her knees on the track after completing the race.

25. After the race, Freeman took a victory lap, carrying first the Aboriginal flag, then the Aboriginal and and Australian flags together. This was despite the fact that unofficial flags are banned at the Olympic Games and the Aboriginal flag, while recognized as official in Australia, is not a national flag, nor recognized by the International Olympic Committee.

26. Freeman has mentioned, in her book and documentary, how her upbringing and faith as a Bahá'í, plus early experiences with racism, have influenced her.

27. Sydney

28. Thank You!