AU - Australia's Culture (Lesson)

Australia's Culture

Introduction 

Australia's population is made up of many cultures from around the world. The people of the major cultural group in Australia are descendants of Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Europe. About 90% of Australia's population is of European decent. In recent years, the population of native groups has continued to climb. As a result, Australia's population and culture is beginning to change.

 

Population

Population map of Australia based on the 1921 Census More than 85% of Australia's population resides in cities. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide are Australia's largest populated cities. Only a small percentage of people live in rural areas called the bush.

Although this is an old population map, you can see where most of the people in Australia live. The population has significantly grown. However, people reside in the same regions of the country today.

There are many different ethnic groups that make-up Australia's population. The largest group of people are descendants of Great Britain. This culture group consists of approximately 36.5% of the population. The Aborigines or native Australians account for 35% of the population. Other cultures that make-up the rest of Australia's population include Germans, Indians, Greeks, Scottish, Italians, Chinese and Dutch.

 

Religion

There are many different religions practiced by Australians. Australia does not have an official state religion. However, most Australians consider themselves Christians. Christianity accounts for approximately 61% of the population. Of the 61%, the two largest groups are Roman Catholic and Anglican (Church of England). Approximately 22.5% of Australian's do not observe a religion. Some of the smaller religious groups include non-Christian religions which account for 7.2% of the population and include those that are Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, and Jewish. You can see exact percentages in the chart below.

Graph of Australian Religious Preferences. Specific related information is located in the paragraph above.

Language

Australia has no official language; although, most Australians speak English. The English spoken in Australia has a very distinct accent and vocabulary. Other languages spoken in Australia include Mandarin Chinese, Italian, Greek, Arabic, and Cantonese. There are over 70 Australian aboriginal languages that are spoken today. The aboriginal language is slowly dying out and more than 30 of these languages are endangered.

 

Try this!

Can you write a story about Australia....IN Australian?

Write a narrative story about a day in the life of living in the Australian Bush. Try to use at least 20 Australian terms throughout the story. 

Click here to access a list of Australian terms. Links to an external site.

 

Image of an Arrow 

 


Think About This

 

We learned about the diversity of Australian culture by examining Australia's population, many languages, religions and the literacy rate of its citizens.

What are 5 facts you can recall from this lesson?

 

 

POPULATION MAP ACCORDING TO THE 1921 CENSUS. BY TW CAMERON, [PUBLIC DOMAIN] VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

 ALL OTHER IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS