1829 Britain was merged into Western Australia as a exile. For a long time, Australia was a British exile. 185 1 year, gold mines were discovered in Bethesda, New South Wales, and Balalle, Victoria, and free migration began to increase violently. 1868, the last British prisoners were sent to Western Australia. By the end of 19, Australia had six British colonies.
Port Arthur in Tasmania was the largest prisoner transfer station in Australia at that time.
190 1 June 65438+1 October1year, Australia's colonial areas were reorganized into states, forming the Commonwealth of Australia, becoming the Commonwealth or dominion of the British Empire, and being listed as a constitutional monarchy country. According to its federal law, the British monarch is the head of state, that is, the "Australian monarch". From 19 14 to 19 18, Australia participated in World War I, the main battlefield of the European continent, so it was also one of the victors. 1927, the first Australian federal conference was held in the temporary parliament building in Canberra, and Australia moved towards political independence. 193 1 year, Australia gained independence in domestic and foreign affairs and became an independent country of the British Association. 1933, Western Australia voted for independence from Britain, but the Federal Parliament rejected it. From 65438 to 0956, the Olympic Games held in Melbourne was the first summer Olympic Games held in Australia, and also the first Olympic Games held in southern hemisphere countries and Commonwealth countries other than Britain. 1967, parliament abolished the legal discrimination against aborigines by referendum, which was the first change after whites moved to Australia.
1986, Queen Elizabeth II went to Australia to sign the Australian Relations Act, which stipulated that the Supreme Court of Australia had the power of final adjudication, and British laws were no longer valid for Australia. Australia officially left Britain and became an independent country. 1999, Australia held a referendum to decide whether to replace the existing constitutional monarchy with a republic, and directly run for the presidency as the head of state, but it was rejected. From June 5438 to February 2007, Kevin Rudd, the leader of the Labor Party, came to power and announced that a similar referendum would be held to change the current system and directly elect the president [7]. In March 2008, under the witness of many aboriginal representatives, members of Congress and social leaders, Kevin Rudd apologized to the aborigines three times in the Federal Parliament, and solemnly apologized to the aborigines on behalf of the government for the stolen generation and policies that damaged the aborigines' culture [8].
Australia's political system is federal, with a federal parliament, six state parliaments and two representative parliaments. The head of state is the Queen of England and the Governor-General of Australia, who handles government affairs on the advice of the Executive Council. Nominally, cabinet administration must be approved by the governor to have legal effect, but the prime minister of the federal government and his cabinet actually have most state power.
Elections in Australia are basically a responsible voting system. /kloc-citizens aged 0/8 must vote, otherwise they will be fined according to the number of days of delayed voting. Indigenous people are free to choose whether to register and vote.
Parliament has a ruling party and an opposition party, and the main political parties are the Australian Liberal Party, the Australian National Party and the Australian Labor Party. From June 5438 to February 2007, Kevin Rudd, the leader of the Labor Party, defeated Howard, the former prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party, and won the general election. The voice in favor of complete independence from the Commonwealth comes from two small parties-the Australian Green Party and the Australian Democratic Party.
The most common language in Australia is Australian English, followed by Italian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Greek, Arabic and Vietnamese. English has become the most common language in Australia since the arrival of the first generation of British immigrants. Some aborigines still use their mother tongue, but most young Australian aborigines have been assimilated and more and more can only use English. Australian English, with strong local characteristics, has become a unique dialect in English. The first generation of immigrants from Latin American countries also brought their mother tongues, such as Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese. The second generation usually speaks their mother tongue and English.
Australia is a secular country, and the number of people who go to church regularly has a downward trend. However, about 3/4 people consider themselves Christians, mainly Catholics or Anglicans. In recent years, the religion with the largest increase in the number of followers is Buddhism, with an increase of 73%. [49]
Affected by its geographical location, Australia is easily misunderstood as a cultural desert. However, the current mainstream culture in Australia began to rise in the 1960s, and all kinds of arts, literature, music and movies are in line with the mainstream culture in the world. Indigenous culture has also assimilated the mainstream white culture and formed its own Australian culture in some fields.
Australian mainstream culture originates from British culture. Before 1940s, it was far away from the European and American continents and was extremely isolated in culture. After World War II, with the rise of the United States and the growth of a new generation of immigrants after 1960, it brought a multicultural upsurge to Australia, making Australia gradually become one of the exporters of mainstream culture in the world. Australia has also achieved great success in film, literature, pop music and art, and many world-class masters have made contributions to world culture and art.
However, since 1980, many new Australian generations have advocated American culture, mainly Hollywood movies, while the original British culture has been regarded as traditional culture and gradually banned.
1973, the Australian government established the Literature Committee of the Arts Council, and literature began to flourish, making some achievements in the world, while local literary creation also attracted international attention. For example, life imprisonment written by Marcus Clark in 1874. /kloc-In the late 20th century, Australian jungle poets broke away from British traditional culture in order to seek more Australian belonging. Since the 1960s, novels have become more and more important in world literature, and so has Australia. The outstanding Australian literary works in this period include Kunaldo, Capricorn and Poor Guy, My Hometown.
Patrick white is one of the masters of Australian literature. 1973 won the Nobel Prize in Literature for Eye of the Storm, the first Australian to win this honor. Tim winton, Peter Carey and Bryce Courtney from Western Australia are masters of Australian literature. Their main works are Cloud Street, Passengers, Dust Music, Oscar and Lucinda, The True Story of Kelly Gang, One Man's Strength and April Fool's Day.
Thomas Kenneley is one of the greatest contemporary Australian writers who have contributed to the world literary world. He used to be a priest, and his main works include Lark and Hero, Hymn of Jimmy the Blacksmith, Schindler's Ark and so on. Most of his works have been made into movies, including the famous Schindler's List directed by Hollywood Steven Allan Spielberg (1993). Other famous Australian writers include Murray Bell, David Malov and Colin mccullough.
Australia's painting and architectural styles are quite different from those of other continents. In the1850s, many Australian painters abandoned the original creative idea of the European School of Painting, because it could not fully present the special style of Australian landscape. The representative painters of this period are Saint Jill and tom roberts. In the1920s and191930s, the Australian art field maintained a stubborn and conservative style, with few revolutions in Impressionism and Cubism. Social realism painters, led by Neuer counihan and Josie Bergner, described the miserable life of new immigrants and the working class and became one of the representatives of Australian artists in the1950s. Other famous Australian artists include Albert Namatgira, sidney nolan, Donald Flanders and Russell Dries.
Today, Australian art is recognized as one of the most dynamic countries in the world, rich and unique. Famous contemporary designers such as Ken Donne and Brett whiteley have pushed Australian art to the world and gained international status. Rolf Harris, an Australian contemporary artist who is used to wearing berets, is a representative figure. In 2005, Queen Elizabeth II personally selected him as a portrait for the 80th birthday celebration. [50]
The gold rush in Australia began in A.D. 1840, and the architectural style of Australia tends to be gorgeous and elegant. Australia basically attaches importance to heritage protection. Today's important buildings, such as Queen Victoria Mansion in Sydney, National Gallery of Canberra, victorian arts centre in Melbourne and Sydney Opera House (designed by Danish architect Utzon and completed by Australian architect Peter Hall) were all built in 1893. Canberra, the capital, is a planned man-made city with peace and harmony in all directions. At that time, it was regarded as an architect's "training ground".
Residential buildings in Australian cities are usually small buildings with gardens, each of which covers an area of about 1/4 acres, which is larger than many western European countries and slightly smaller than the United States. Some buildings retain the characteristics of the original building materials, such as exposing bricks and trees, which has the feeling of reclamation era. Australia's climate is suitable for fully introducing architectural styles from California, Mediterranean and tropical Asia. The Australian construction industry attaches great importance to energy conservation and environmental protection, and the law strictly stipulates the standards of many building materials.
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