IMAGES OF AUSTRALIA (PAST AND PRESENT)
I'VE INCLUDED SOME IMAGES OF AUSTRALIA, PAST AND PRESENT. THIS PAGES MAY TAKE A WHILE TO LOAD, PLEASE BE PATIENT. FROM TIME TO TIME I SHALL ADD NEW IMAGES, SO PLEASE RETURN
THE AUSTRALIAN FLAG. THE UNION JACK IN THE CORNER OF THE FLAG REPRESENTS THE BRITISH BACKGROUND OF AUSTRALIA. THE FIVE STARS REPRESENT THE SOUTHERN CROSS, WHICH IN TURN IS A SYMBOL OF OUR GLOBAL POSITION IN THE WORLD. THE LARGE STAR IS THE FEDERATION STAR AND IS A SYMBOL OF ALL THE STATES COMING TOGETHER UNDER FEDERATION.
THE NATIONAL FLOWER OF AUSTRALIA THE WATTLE
THE AUSTRALIAN COAT OF ARMS. DESIGNED IN 1912. THE FEDERATION STAR IS ABOVE THE SHIELD. THE CHOICE OF THE EMU, KANGAROO AND WATTLE WAS DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE UNIQUE TO AUSTRALIA. IT WAS ORIGINALLY IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLOURS OF BLUE AND GOLD, HOWEVER AUSTRALIAN'S SOON BEGAN ADOPTING GREEN AND GOLD AS THEIR NATIONAL COLOURS AND WE CONTINUE TO BE SEEN IN THE GREEN AND GOLD, SYMBOLISING THE GREEN OF THE COUNTRYSIDE AND THE GOLD OF THE WATTLE.
CRADLE MOUNTAIN LODGE IN TASMANIA.
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF, QUEENSLAND
CAPTAIN JAMES COOK. IT WAS MAINLY DUE TO COOK'S REPORTS OF THE SOUTHERN LAND THAT THE DECISION WAS TAKEN TO COLONISE AUSTRALIA BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY.
Broken Hill  House
GALVANISED HOUSE IN BROKEN HILL, NSW EARLY 1900'S
A DUST STORM IN NORTH OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
THE DEPRESSION IN THE 30'S. IN 1932 UNEMPLOYMENT PEAKED AT 30%. THE AVERAGE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FROM 1930-34 IN AUSTRALIA WAS 23.4%, HIGHER THAN BRITAIN'S 19.2% AND USA'S 19%.
HOUSES IN THE PADDINGTON AREA OF SYDNEY, THESE FORMER SLUMS OF SYDNEY ARE NOW WELL SOUGHT AFTER PLACES TO LIVE.
FLOGGING YARD AT RICHMOND GAOL IN TASMANIA
SYDNEY (THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN IN 1992) THE CITY OF THE 2000 OLYMPICS GAMES.
BUSHLAND OUTSIDE OF ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA (MY HOME TOWN)
NEW PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA, OPENED BY QUEEN ELIZABETH II, MAY 9TH, 1988 (the old Parliament House is currently being used as a national portrait gallery)
THE INTERIOR OF NEW PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S CAPITAL CITY WITH THE LOVELY ADELAIDE OVAL IN THE FOREGROUND
BONDI BEACH, SYDNEY
SOME 300,000 NEW MIGRANTS TRAVELLED TO AUSTRALIA IN THE 1920'S, IT EASED THE BRITISH UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM AND INCREASED THE POPULATION OF AUSTRALIA
A SIDEWALK CAFE IN COLLINS STREET, MELBOURNE THE 60'S. SIDEWALK CAFES SPRUNG UP IN THE 1950'S IN AUSTRALIA, WITH THE ADVENT OF MIGRATION FROM EUROPE. THEY ARE A VERY POPULAR WAY TO SPEND YOUR DAY, AUSTRALIA IS BLESSED WITH PLENTY OF SUNSHINE
CHRISTMAS DAY, 1974 A CYCLONE DEVASTED THE CITY OF DARWIN(NORTHERN TERRITORY).
AN AD FROM 1949 ADVERTISING A FLIGHT TO LONDON WOULD ONLY TAKE 4 DAYS, NOW IT TAKES 24 HOURS.
THE HOLDEN CAR, MANUFACTURED IN AUSTRALIA AND STILL ONE OF OUR MOST POPULAR CARS. THIS AD IS FROM THE 1950'S. HOLDEN FIRST STARTED DESIGNING AND BUILDING CARS IN AUSTRALIA IN 1948. UNTIL THEN IT WAS ONLY POSSIBLE TO BUY A CAR IMPORTED AND ADAPTED FOR THE AUSTRALIAN MARKET.
IN 1971 THE ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS MOVEMENT SET UP AN "ABORIGINAL EMBASSY" ON THE LAWNS OF PARLIAMENT HOUSE TO PUBLICISE THEIR CAUSE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD. UNTIL THIS DAY THIS ";ABORGINAL EMBASSY"  IS STILL PRESENT OUTSIDE THE LAWNS OF THE OLD PARLIAMENT HOUSE, RECENT GOVERNMENT MOVES TO REMOVE IT HAVE SO FAR MET WITH FAILURE.
IN 1966 AUSTRALIA BECAME INVOLVED WITH THE VIETNAM WAR, WITH THE CRY OF "ALL THE WAY WITH LBJ". THE AVERAGE AGE OF AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS WAS 19. MEN WERE CALLED UP TO FIGHT BY A LOTTERY SYSTEM WHICH CHOOSE A DAY, MONTH AND A YEAR AND ALL MEN BORN THAT DAY WERE CONSCRIPTED TO FIGHT IN VIETNAM. THIS "LOTTERY" WAS SHOWN ON TELEVISION. BY 1971 SUPPORT FOR THE AUSTRALIAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE WAR HAD CHANGED AND THE CALL FOR AUSTRALIA'S WITHDRAWAL GREW, THE SOLDIERS FIGHTING WERE AWARE THAT THE PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA DID NOT SUPPORT THEIR PRESENCE, EVEN TO THE POINT THAT SOME SOLDIERS WERE SPAT AT WHEN THEY DID RETURN HOME.
BERT HINKLER, MADE THE FIRST SOLO ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA FLIGHT.
IN DECEMBER 1977 AUSTRALIANS WERE SHOCKED TO HEAR OF THE DEATH OF THEIR PRIME MINISTER. SUNDAY 17TH DECEMBER, AT CHEVIOT BEACH NEAR PORTSEA IN VICTORIA PRIME MINISTER HAROLD HOLT WAS DROWNED WHILST SWIMMING ALONE, FRIENDS SITTING ON THE BEACH SAW HIM GET TAKEN BY A RIP AND THEN DISAPPEAR. FOR TWO DAYS POLICE SEARCHE, BUT NO TRACE OF HIM WAS EVER FOUND. AUSTRALIANS HAD TO ACCEPT THAT THEIR PRIME MINISTER WAS DEAD.
THE RIVER GORDON IN TASMANIA.
Clothes worn by convicts in Port Arthur, Tasmania. The uniform consisted of the caps, the vest and pants as well as a jacket(not shown). The choice of colour was to show that this convict was a continued offender, and as Port Arthur was a secondary place of punishment, most of the convicts there wore a uniform like this. In the "Modern" section of the gaol, the punishment there followed gaols such as Reading in the UK, and prisioners were completely isolated, and worn full face masks whenever they left their cells, they were not allowed to talk to anyone, except when an officer spoke to them. Exercise was completed in complete silence, eyes were to be diverted to the floor, they were never to look at anyone in the face. Even at Chapel service, the prisioners were kept apart, each prisioner had his own private standing area, where he would be unable to see any other person, except the chaplin attending the mass.
Between 1910 and 1970 Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes by both the government and church organisation.They are called "The Stolen Generation" Aboriginals, particularly half-castewere taken to be raised either by white families or in institutions for "their own good" The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission heard estimates of between 10 to 30 per cent of aboriginal children were removed over this 60 years. This policy, it was found in the Human Rights report of 1997 called "Bringing them Home" has "permanently scarred the lives of those taken and continues to affect later generations".
Platypus lay eggs from August to October, it is believed that the eggs are incubated between the mothers curled up tail and tummy. The length of the incubation is around 10days. Milk is secreted from two round patches of skin, in the middle of the belly, Platypus do not have nipples. Juvenile Platypus emerge from their burrows around February. It is believed that Platypus can breed from around 2 years of age and the oldest recorded age of a Platypus in 17 years old.
They feed on insects and their larvae, snails and mussels, yabbies and worms, and even the occasional frog.
They are still common in most of their historical range, but numbers have declined in the Murray River and in the metropolitan areas of Australia.(1)
( 1) Information on the Platypus comes from an article of Australia Nature, Spring 1995 called Playtpus Pursuits.
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