The prison island of Australia

The year is 1835, another ship has just arrived at Port Jackson, Sydney with the so far biggest amount of prisoners on bout. The prison general said that some of them were to come and help us with building up the the Harbour of Port Phillips. But I don't know. He also said that last time a convict ship arrived here to the prison Island. I’ve only got approximately one and a half year left as a prisoner and after I’m a free man. I can move back to England, but I probably just stay here and join the other settlers.  - Charles May set to jail (7 years) for stealing.

Australia the land of beauty, extreme nature, big coast cities and animals as nowhere else. Actually have a more than less dark past. From 1788 - 1868 roughly 165.000 convicts were transported from overflowed english prisons to Australia, the UK’s answer to Alcatraz. The reason were that you in the UK would be sent to prison, for just about nothing. Instead of being handed a fine you got sent to prison.

The convicts got transported in big convict ships to Australia. But unfortunately a lot of the criminals were already dead when they arrived at the harbours in Australia.

The criminals wasn’t to be sitting on their ass all day in some Australian super prison. No, they were to work hard all day to build up a colony for England in Australia. The way criminal stood out from non criminals,b  were their black and yellow uniforms and with a fetter so that they couldn’t escape.

This utilization of the criminals resulted in a fast growing country and society. The prisoners normally stayed in Australia to join the newborn settlement instead of going back to England or where they came from.

Today if you go to Australia and ask people “Why do you live in Australia?” you will frequently get the answer “Because my forefathers were by some how criminals”.  

Heritage of Sydney

In New South Wales, Sydney,  an architectural icon is placed, mentioned at the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage Site. 233 individual suggestions, but the visuals of the mind of Danish Jørn Utzon attracted the most attention. Inspired by the simple act of peeling an orange, but still defined as genius.

But both the engineers and Jørn himself met lots of difficulties, realizing the vision. Constructing parts of one great sphere was not easy – but the solution of one problem only led to another. During the period, Australia had a new government with a new minister, David Huges, with no heart for architecture, design or art in general. The minister refused to pay for finishing the up-coming opera – which had already cost Australia round 23 mio. $. The rebuff made Jørn leave the project and close his office in Australia, to travel back home.

Yet the vision became reality, and was dedicated by the British queen Elisabeth in 1973. Jørn was not a part of the ceremony, and wasn’t mentioned that day either. However some appreciated the work of Jørn Utzon, and in the end, the mind of the founder was needed to re-design the inside furniture. Once more the trip went back to Sydney for the turbulent architect.

In addition to be a sensation in architectural history The Opera House is also the place for new ideas and modernity to bloom. Latest is the 18-day lasting Vivid event; for spectacular light, music and new ideas, part of the program.

The mountain in the desert

Ayers rock or Uluru as known by locals, is a huge sandstone rock located in a desert in the middle of Australia. The rock formation is about 348 m tall. Earlier it was known to be the largest stand alone rock in the entire world, but today we know that it actually goes about 6 km below ground. Making it a an astonishing sight, but not quite a world record, since it doesn't count as a rock. The rock is a holy place for the natives (aborigines), and you can find many drawings and scriptures from rituals, in caves that were dug out by wind and weather.

Today tourist infrastructure has been built next to the base of the rock since it is a very popular sightseeing destination for tourists on vacation.  Since the park was listed as a World Heritage Site, annual visitor numbers rose to over 400,000 visitors by the year 2000. Increased tourism provides regional and national economic benefits. It also presents an ongoing challenge to balance conservation, of cultural values and visitor needs. For example the native community has requested that tourists do not take photographs in certain parts of the cave system in the rock, because they view these places as holy.

An unexpected experience in Australia

When I was 7 years old, I went to Australia with my family in 3 months. It was so amazing, but sadly I don’t remember so much from the Trip, because of my ages. But something I clearly remember, was the day when, I experience to be really close to a typhoon. My mom and dad told me, we had to sleep in a cabin that night, because they were afraid our camper van would tip over. We arrived to a camping site in Cairns. I wasn't afraid or anything, I just didn't understand, what was going on. We met another danish family with a boy at my age. We played together, with his little figures of animals that lives in Australia. He borrowed me a figure of a Tasmanian Devil.

At night I could hear the storm outside, and I couldn't sleep. When we went out again the next morning, was everything destroyed. All the tress was fallen over, and everybody was so shocked, to see how it looked outside. In the News we heard about, how the rooftops was fallen of houses, in the city we were in before. I thought, I had to find the boy and give the figure back to him. But my mom told me, that they already had left, so I couldn't give it back to him. I kept the little figure, and I still have it today.

Long distance school

Australia is a very big country, and many of the Australian people live lots of kilometers from the nearest store, hospital and school. The children who live far away from everything of course also have to go to school. Children who live these places maybe has to drive two or three hours to get to school every day, the whole year around. Thats why the long distance schooling was invented.

When you are in a long distance school, you get teached over the webcam on a computer, through Skype for an example. Tests and other examinations is sent to her or him over the computer by email. Ones in a while the children need to go and see the teacher for real, to make sure that curtain skills and knowledge is being communicated in the right way. So the teaching requires some face to face contact. Distance learning in Australia covers most academic areas. So this mean, that no matter how long apart from a school people are, they will always have the chance of an education like anybody else. If this kind of teaching wasn’t invented lots of children would have a problem today, but thanks to our highly loved technology, this is possible.

The Aboriginals of Australia

What is the Aboriginals of Australia?
There are about 500 different Aboriginal people in Australia, each with their very own language and territory. These people are usually made up of a large number of separate clans. Aboriginal Australians are defined as people who are members "of the Aboriginal race of Australia". Archaeologists thinks that the Aboriginals first came to the Australian continent around 45.000 years ago. They used to live along the coasts, but today more than half of all Aboriginals actually live in towns, often on the outer parts in terrible conditions. Many others are workers for cattle ranches that have taken over their land. The Aboriginals’ land was invaded from the end of the 18th century onwards, with awful consequences for them. Most of the Aboriginal people have had their land stolen from them or destroyed. Children have been taken away from their families and culture, and the invasions also lead to diseases that killed thousands of people – many others were massacred. In a little more than a hundred years from the first invasion of their land, the numbers of Aboriginal people left in Australia were reduced from up to one million to only 60,000.

Storytelling, Art, and the Didgeridoo
Many people know the Aboriginals of Australia for their storytelling, art and didgeridoos. Their storytelling informs about the aboriginals' vibrant cultural life. Their songs illustrate the Dreamtime and all the other tales of the land, while dances and diagrams drawn in the sand play together as one big kind of stage play. The Aboriginal music is often recognized for its most famous instrument, the didgeridoo. The Aboriginals use their didgeridoos in formal ceremonies at events like sunsets, circumcisions, and funerals.

Conclusion
With an overall view, we can conclude that Australia wouldn’t be the same without the Aboriginal people. The Aboriginals were known as the first people in the country, and they bring a sort of originality to Australia. With their many different cultures, languages, traditions, beliefs, arts and musical instruments they give us an glimpse of what Australia once were. Even though they have gone through many difficulties and disasters, they’ve still kept true to themselves and their beliefs. It’s interesting to see the modern culture of Australia stand side by side with the old Aboriginals'.

The real life Tarzan

Steve Irwin, the famous movie star, lived and died in the dangerous animal world. He was the Australian Tarzan. Steve was, and still is, very famous for his many documentaries about the wildlife. He even became a wildlife expert. A lot of people called him a genius because they thought that he had some kind of animal spirit in him. The way he talked, moved and felt with the animals was something beyond human.  

Despite his dedication to the animal world, he still fell in love with a human. It was love at first sight when the couple, Steve Irwin and Terri Raines, met each other. They even got 2 children. So not only was Steve like the wild Tarzan fighting all kind of dangerous animals in the jungle, but he was also a family man. A very kind and sweet dad. The children even got to star in one of his documentaries.

But when things have a start, they’ll always have an end. Steve eventually died in the dangerous animal world. The world that he as a child was born in. Under the filming of “Ocean’s Deadliest”- one of his documentaries, he got pierced in the chest by a stingray. Steve Irwin died on the 4th of september 2006.

Steve managed to do a lot of things before his death. He of course got to make a lot of documentaries and films, but another thing that you still can see today, is the Australian zoo that he and his wife owned. Steve Irwin did indeed touch the world with many things.