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Cheap Hotels in Australia
Hotels in Australia
Australia is the sixth largest country in the world, and also the smallest continent. Indigenous Australians have inhabited the country for almost 40,000 years. It was the British in 1770 that claimed Australia as part of the British Empire, and officially settled as a penal colony of New South Wales. Eventually with growth and exploration of the new country five self-governing states were born during the 19th century. The name Australia comes from the Latin australis meaning southern.
Brief History of Australia
The first human habitants of Australia are thought to have been living there between 42,000 years ago and 48,000 years ago. The original habitants arrived by land bridges and short sea crossings from what today is south East Asia. The first sightseeing of the Australian land was from a Dutch navigator called Willem Jansz in 1606. The Dutch however made no attempt to settle on this new land, it was Cook in 1770 who sailed the East coast and mapped and claimed the coast of New South Wales for Britain. The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with an establishment at port Jackson by a captain Arthur Phillip on the 26th January 1788. This date is now Australia's national day.
At the time of the arrival of the Europeans it is estimated that there was about 350,00 indigenous people on the land. This number was to decrease rapidly over the next 150 years due to infectious decease's brought by Europeans, forced migration, removal of children and other colonial government policies. Some Australians historians today argue that what took place could be considered constitute genocide. Between 1855 and 1890 the colonies of Australia gained responsibility for governing there own state while still remaining part of the British Empire.
After years of planning consultation, and voting it was decided that Australia would be part of the commonwealth and a Dominion of the British Empire.
The commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy and has a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth the 11 is the queen of Australia this role is distinct from that as her position of Queen of England.
States and Territories
Australia is made up of six states, two major mainland territories, as well as other minor territories. The state of Australia are New south Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia.
The two major mainland territories are the Northern territory and the Australian capital territory.
Each of the states has its own legislature, then there is the Lower House known as the legislative assembly. Each of the states has its head that is known as premiers or chief ministers. A governor represents the Queen in each state
Australia's Demographics
Most of Australia's 20 million populations are descended from 19th –20th century immigrants from whom the majority is from Britain. English is the official language and is spoken and written in a distinctive variety known as Australian English.
When the last census was carried out in 2001 it was found that English is spoken in the home of 80% of the population.
Australia Embassy
For your convenience we have listed Australian embassys below. Embassys can provide you with information regarding visas and other important travel information.
