New Zealand and Australia
New Zealand and Australia
New Zealand (/njuːˈzilənd/ new-zee-lənd, Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses ‒ that of the North and South Islands ‒
HP Pavilion DV7-2215SA Keyboard and numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.
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Polynesians settled New Zealand in 1250–1300 CE and developed a distinctive Māori culture, and Europeans first made contact in 1642 CE. The introduction of potatoes and muskets triggered upheaval among Māori early during the 19th century, HP Pavilion DV7-1135EA Keyboard
which led to the inter-tribal Musket Wars. In 1840 the British and Māori signed a treaty making New Zealand a colony of the British Empire. Immigrant numbers increased sharply and conflicts escalated into the New Zealand Wars, which resulted in much Māori land being confiscated in the mid North Island.
HP Pavilion DV7-3115EA Keyboard Economic depressions were followed by periods of political reform, with women gaining the vote during the 1890s, and a welfare state being established from the 1930s. Sony PCG-61A11L Battery
After World War II, New Zealand joined Australia and the United States in the ANZUS security treaty, although the United States later, until 2010, suspended the treaty after New Zealand banned nuclear weapons. New Zealand is part of the intelligence sharing among the Anglosphere countries,
HP Pavilion DV7-3112EA Keyboard the UKUSA Agreement. New Zealanders enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the world in the 1950s, but the 1970s saw a deep recession, worsened by oil shocks and the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community. Sony PCG-61A12L Battery
The country underwent major economic changes during the 1980s, which transformed it from a protectionist to a liberalized
HP Pavilion DV7-3110EA Keyboard free-trade economy. Markets for New Zealand's agricultural exports have diversified greatly since the 1970s, with once-dominant exports of wool being overtaken by dairy products, meat, and recently wine.
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During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of animal, fungal and plant life. Most notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest.
HP Pavilion DV7-3105EA Keyboard The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions caused by the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates clashing beneath the earth's surface.
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The majority of New Zealand's population is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and non-Māori Polynesians. Sony PCG-61A13L Battery
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Sony PCG-71315L BatteryEnglish, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language are the official languages, with English predominant. Much of New Zealand's culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. Early European art was dominated by landscapes and to a lesser extent portraits of Māori.
HP Pavilion DV7-3020EA Keyboard A recent resurgence of Māori culture has seen their traditional arts of carving, weaving and tattooing become more mainstream. Sony PCG-61911L Battery
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Sony PCG-71314L BatteryMany artists now combine Māori and Western techniques to create unique art forms. The country's culture has also been broadened by globalisation and
HP Pavilion DV7-3001EA Keyboard increased immigration from the Pacific Islands and Asia. New Zealand's diverse landscape provides many opportunities for outdoor pursuits and has provided the backdrop for a number of big budget movies.
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New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes; these have less autonomy than the country's long defunct provinces did. Nationally, executive political power is exercised by the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. Queen Elizabeth II is the country's head of state and is represented by a Governor-General. Sony PCG-71911L Battery
Sony PCG-71313L BatteryThe Queen's Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau (a dependent territory); HP Pavilion DV7-1125EA Keyboard
the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing but in free association); and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica. Sony PCG-71912L Battery
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Sony PCG-71312L Battery New Zealand is a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Commonwealth of Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and the United Nations.
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Aotearoa (often translated as "land of the long white cloud")[11] is the current Māori name for New Zealand, and is also used in New Zealand English. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the whole country before the arrival of Europeans, with Aotearoa originally referring to just the North Island.[12]
HP Pavilion DV7-2120SA Keyboard Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, supposing it was connected to a landmass of the same name at the southern tip of South America.[13] In 1645 Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland.[14][15] British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand.[n 9]
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Māori had several traditional names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui (the fish of Māui) for the North Island and Te Wai Pounamu (the waters of greenstone) or Te Waka o Aoraki (the canoe of Aoraki) for the South Island.[ Sony PCG-71914L Battery
Sony PCG-71311L Battery16] Early European maps labelled the islands North (North Island),
HP Pavilion DV7-1214EA Keyboard Middle (South Island) and South (Stewart Island / Rakiura).[17] In 1830 maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907 this was the accepted norm.[ HP Pavilion DV7-1213EA Keyboard
18] The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised, but there are now plans to do so.[19] The board is also considering suitable Māori names,[20Sony PCG-71811L Battery
Sony PCG-71213L Battery] with Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Wai Pounamu the most likely choices according to the chairman of the Māori Language Commission.[21]
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History
Main article: History of New Zealand
The Māori people are most likely descended from people who emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands. After a pause of 70 to 265 years, a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand.[22]
New Zealand was one of the last major landmasses settled by humans. Radiocarbon dating, evidence of deforestation[2HP Pavilion DV7-1211EA Keyboard 3] and mitochondrial DNA variability within Māori populations[24] suggest New Zealand was first settled by Eastern Polynesians between 1250 and 1300,[16] Sony PCG-91211L Battery
Sony PCG-71212L Battery [25] concluding a long series of voyages through the southern Pacific islands.[26] Over the centuries that followed these settlers developed a distinct culture now known as Māori.
HP Pavilion dv6-3120sa Keyboard The population was divided into iwi (tribes) and hapū (subtribes) which would cooperate, compete and sometimes fight with each other. At some point a group of Māori migrated to the Chatham Islands (which they named Rēkohu) where they developed their distinct Moriori culture.[27][28]
HP Pavilion dv6-3118sa Keyboard The Moriori population was decimated between 1835 and 1862, largely because of Māori invasion and enslavement, although European diseases also contributed. Sony PCG-91311L Battery
Sony PCG-71211L Battery In 1862 only 101 survived and the last known full-blooded Moriori died in 1933.[29]
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The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and his crew in 1642.[30] In a hostile encounter, four crew members were killed and at least one Māori was hit by canister shot.[31
HP Pavilion dv6-3123sa Keyboard] Europeans did not revisit New Zealand until 1769 when British explorer James Cook mapped almost the entire coastline.[30] Sony PCG-71C11L Battery
Sony PCG-61317L BatteryFollowing Cook, New Zealand was visited by numerous European and North American whaling, sealing and trading ships. They traded food, metal tools, weapons and other goods for timber, food, artefacts, water, and on occasion sex. HP Pavilion dv6-3111sa Keyboard
[32] The introduction of the potato and the musket transformed Māori agriculture and warfare. Potatoes provided a reliable food surplus, which enabled longer and more sustained military campaigns.[33
HP Pavilion dv6-3122sa Keyboard] The resulting inter-tribal Musket Wars encompassed over 600 battles between 1801 and 1840, killing 30,000–40,000 Māori.[34Sony PCG-71C12L Battery
Sony PCG-61316L Battery] From the early 19th century, Christian missionaries began to settle New Zealand, eventually converting most of the Māori population.[35] The Māori population declined to around 40 percent of its pre-contact level during the 19th century; introduced diseases were the major factor.[36]
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The Waitangi sheet from the Treaty of Waitangi
The British Government appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832[37Sony PCG-71411L Battery
Sony PCG-61315L Battery] and in 1835, following an announcement of impending French settlement by Charles de Thierry, the nebulous United Tribes of New Zealand sent a Declaration of the Independence to King William IV of the United Kingdom asking for protection.[ HP Pavilion dv6-3048sa Keyboard
37] Ongoing unrest and the dubious legal standing of the Declaration of Independence prompted the Colonial Office to send Captain William Hobson to claim sovereignty for the British Crown and negotiate a treaty with the Māori.[
Sony PCG-71317L Battery38] The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840.[
HP Pavilion dv6-3116sa Keyboard9] In response to the commercially run New Zealand Company's attempts to establish an independent settlement in Wellington[40] and French settlers "purchasing" land in Akaroa,[
HP Pavilion dv6-3112sa Keyboard41] Hobson declared British sovereignty over all of New Zealand on 21 May 1840, even though copies of the Treaty were still circulating.[42] With the signing of the Treaty and declaration of sovereignty the number of immigrants, particularly from the United Kingdom, began to increase.[43] HP Pavilion dv6-3032sa Keyboard
New Zealand, originally part of the colony of New South Wales, became a separate Colony of New Zealand on 1 July 1841.[4Sony PCG-71511L Battery
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Sony PCG-61215L Battery4] The colony gained a representative government in 1852 and the 1st New Zealand Parliament met in 1854.[45] In 1856 the colony effectively became self-governing, gaining responsibility over all domestic matters other than native policy. (Control over native policy was granted in the mid-1860s.)[ HP Pavilion dv6-3068ea Keyboard5] Following concerns that the South Island might form a separate colony, premier Alfred Domett moved a resolution to transfer the capital from Auckland to a locality near the Cook Strait.[4Sony PCG-61611L Battery
Sony PCG-61312L Battery6] Wellington was chosen for its harbour and central location, 4HP Pavilion dv6-3056sa Keyboard
with parliament officially sitting there for the first time in 1865. As immigrant numbers increased, conflicts over land led to the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s and 1870s, resulting in the loss and confiscation of much Māori land.[47] HP Pavilion dv6-3046sa Keyboard
In 1893 the country became the first nation in the world to grant all women the right to vote[4Sony PCG-61311L Battery] and in 1894 pioneered the adoption of compulsory arbitration between employers and unions.[49]
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In 1907, at the request of the New Zealand Parliament, King Edward VII proclaimed New Zealand a dominion within the British Empire, reflecting its self-governing status. 8Sony PCG-61511L Battery
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In 1947 the country adopted the Statute of Westminster, confirming that the British parliament could no longer legislate for New Zealand without the consent of New Zealand.[45] New Zealand was involved in world affairs,
HP Pavilion dv6-3299ea Keyboard fighting alongside the British Empire in the First and Second World Wars[HP 640426-001 Fan
HP 650797-001 Fan50] and suffering through the Great Depression.[51] The depression led to the election of the first Labour government and the establishment of a comprehensive welfare state and a protectionist economy.[52]
HP Pavilion dv6-3180ea Keyboard New Zealand experienced increasing prosperity following World War IIHP 641477-001 Fan
HP 666391-001 Fan [53] and Māori began to leave their traditional rural life and move to the cities in search of work.[54] A Māori protest movement developed, which criticised Eurocentrism and worked for greater recognition of Māori culture and the Treaty of Waitangi.[5 HP Pavilion dv6-3100 Keyboard
5] In 1975, a Waitangi Tribunal was set up to investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty, and it was enabled to investigate historic grievances in 1985.[39HP 653627-001 Fan
HP 665309-001 Fan The government has negotiated settlements of these grievances with many iwi, although Māori claims to the foreshore and seabed have proved controversial in the 2000s.
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Politics
Main article: Politics of New Zealand
John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand since 2008
Government
Main article: Government of New Zealand
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy,[56] although its constitution is not codified.[57] Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand and the head of state.[58]
HP Pavilion dv6-3141ea KeyboardThe Queen is represented by the Governor-General,[59] whom she appoints on the advice of the Prime Minister.[60] HP Pavilion DV7-1105EA Battery
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The Governor-General can exercise the Crown's prerogative powers (such as reviewing cases of injustice and making appointments of Cabinet ministers, ambassadors and other key public officials)[6HP Pavilion DV7-1210EA Battery
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HP Pavilion DV7-3115EA Battery1] and in rare situations, the reserve powers (the power to dismiss a Prime Minister, dissolve Parliament or refuse the Royal Assent of a bill into law).[6HP Pavilion dv6-3100sa Keyboard
HP Pavilion dv6-3140sa Keyboard2] The powers of the Queen and the Governor-General are limited by constitutional constraints and they cannot normally be exercised without the advice of Cabinet.[62][63]
Elizabeth II
Sir Jerry Mateparae
The Queen of New Zealand and her representative, the Governor-General
The Parliament of New Zealand holds legislative power and consists of the Sovereign (represented by the Governor-General)
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HP Pavilion DV7-3110EA Battery and the House of Representatives.[63] It also included an upper house,
HP Pavilion dv6-3131sa Keyboardthe Legislative Council, until this was abolished in 1950.[63] The supremacy of the House over the Sovereign was established in England by the Bill of Rights 1689 and has been ratified as law in New Zealand.[63] The House of Representatives is democratically elected and a Government is formed from the party or coalition with the majority of seats.[63HP Pavilion dv6-3110ea Keyboard
] If no majority is formed a minority government can be formed if support from other parties during confidence and supply votes is assured. HP Pavilion DV7-1130EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-1125EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-3105EA BatteryThe Governor-General appoints ministers under advice from the Prime Minister, who is by convention the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition.[
HP Pavilion dv6-3130sa Keyboard64] Cabinet, formed by ministers and led by the Prime Minister, is the highest policy-making body in government and responsible for deciding significant government actions.[65] By convention, members of cabinet are bound by collective responsibility to decisions made by cabinet.[66]
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Judges and judicial officers are appointed non-politically and under strict rules regarding tenure to help maintain constitutional independence from the government.[5HP Pavilion DV7-1213EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-3101SA Battery7] This theoretically allows the judiciary to interpret the law based solely on the legislation enacted by Parliament without other influences on their decisions.[6
HP Pavilion dv6-3127sa Keyboard] The Privy Council in London was the country's final court of appeal until 2004, when it was replaced with the newly established Supreme Court of New Zealand. The judiciary, headed by the Chief Justice,[68
HP Pavilion DV7-3020EA Battery] includes the Court of Appeal, the High Court, and subordinate courts.[57]
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New Zealand government "Beehive" and the Parliament Buildings (right), in Wellington
Almost all parliamentary general elections between 1853 and 1996 were held under the first past the post voting system.[69] The elections since 1930 have been dominated by two political parties, National and Labour.[6
HP Pavilion dv6-3119sa Keyboard9] Since 1996, a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) has been used.[57]
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HP Pavilion DV7-3001EA BatteryUnder the MMP system each person has two votes; one is for the seventy electoral seats (including seven reserved for Māori),[70] and the other is for a party.
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HP Pavilion dv6-3120sa KeyboardThe remaining fifty seats are assigned so that representation in parliament reflects the party vote, although a party has to win one electoral seat or 5 percent of the total party vote before it is eligible for these seats.[
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HP Pavilion dv6-3116tx Keyboard71] Between March 2005 and August 2006 New Zealand became the only country in the world in which all the highest offices in the land (Head of State, HP Pavilion DV7-1211EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-2230SA Battery Governor-General, Prime Minister, Speaker and Chief Justice) were occupied simultaneously by women.[72] HP Pavilion dv6-3114sa Keyboard
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New Zealand is identified as one of the world's most stable and well-governed nations.[73] As of 2011, the country was ranked 5th in the strength of its democratic institutions[74] and 1st in government transparency and lack of corruption.[75] New Zealand has a high level of civic participation, v
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with 79% voter turnout during the most recent elections, compared to an OECD average of 72%. Furthermore, 67% of New Zealanders say they trust their political institutions, far higher than the OECD average of 56%.[76]
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Foreign relations and the military
Main articles: Foreign relations of New Zealand and New Zealand Defence Force
Early colonial New Zealand allowed the British Government to determine external trade and be responsible for foreign policy.[
HP Pavilion dv6-1130sa Keyboard77] The 1923 and 1926 Imperial Conferences decided that New Zealand should be allowed to negotiate their own political treaties, with the first successful commercial treaty being with Japan in 1928. HP Pavilion DV7-1212EA Battery
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Despite this independence New Zealand readily followed Britain in declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939 with then Prime Minister Michael Savage proclaiming, "Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand."[78]
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Māori Battalion haka in Egypt, 1941
In 1951 the United Kingdom became increasingly focused on its European interests,[79] while New Zealand joined Australia and the United States in the ANZUS security treaty.[80] HP Pavilion DV7-2110SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV7-2120SA BatteryThe influence of the United States on New Zealand weakened following protests over the Vietnam War,[81
HP Pavilion dv6-1133sa Keyboard] the refusal of the United States to admonish France after the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior,[82] disagreements over environmental and agricultural trade issues and New Zealand's nuclear-free policy.[83][8Sony VPCSA2Z9E Battery
4] Despite the USA's suspension of ANZUS obligations the treaty remained in effect between New Zealand and Australia, whose foreign policy has followed a similar historical trend.[
HP Pavilion dv6-1140ea Keyboard85] Close political contact is maintained between the two countries, with free trade agreements and travel arrangements that allow citizens to visit, live and work in both countries without restrictions.[86] Sony VPCSA3S9E Battery
Currently over 500,000 New Zealanders live in Australia and 65,000 Australians live in New Zealand.[86]
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New Zealand has a strong presence among the Pacific Island countries. A large proportion of New Zealand's aid goes to these countries and many Pacific people migrate to New Zealand for employment.[87]
HP Pavilion dv6z-1000 Keyboard Permanent migration is regulated under the 1970 Samoan Quota Scheme and the 2002 Pacific Access Category, which allow up to 1,100 Samoan nationals and up to 750 other Pacific Islanders respectively to become permanent New Zealand residents each year. A seasonal workers scheme for temporary migration was introduced in 2007 and in 2009 about 8,000 Pacific Islanders were employed under it.[ Sony VPCSA3X9E Battery
Sony VPCSB3N9E Battery88] New Zealand is involved in the Pacific Islands Forum,
HP Pavilion dv6z KeyboardAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (including the East Asia Summit).[86] Sony VPCSA4W9E Battery
Sony VPCSB2M9E Battery New Zealand is also a member of the United Nations,[89] the Commonwealth of Nations,[90] the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development[91] and the Five Powers Defence Arrangements.[92]
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Infantry from the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment in the Battle of the Somme, September 1916.
The New Zealand Defence Force has three branches: the Royal New Zealand Navy, the New Zealand Army and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.[93] New Zealand's national defence needs are modest because of the unlikelihood of direct attack,[9Sony VPCSB Battery
Sony VPCSB1Z9R Battery4] although it does have a global presence.
HP Pavilion dv6t-1000 KeyboardThe country fought in both world wars, with notable campaigns in Gallipoli, Crete,[95] El Alamein[96] and Cassino.[97] The Gallipoli campaign played an important part in fostering New Zealand's national identity[98Sony VPCSB1A7E Battery
Sony VPCSB1X9E Battery][99] and strengthened the ANZAC tradition it shares with Australia.[100]
HP Pavilion dv6t Keyboard According to Mary Edmond-Paul, "World War I had left scars on New Zealand society, with nearly 18,500 in total dying as a result of the war, more than 41,000 wounded, Sony VPCSB1A9E Battery
Sony VPCSB1V9R Battery and others affected emotionally, out of an overseas fighting force of about 103,000 and a population of just over a million."[101] New Zealand also played key parts in the naval Battle of the River Plate[
HP Pavilion dv6-2010sa Keyboard102] and the Battle of Britain air campaign.[103][104] During World War II, the United States had more than 400,000 American military personnel stationed in New Zealand.[105]
In addition to Vietnam and the two world wars, New Zealand fought in the Korean War, the Second Boer War,[106Sony VPCSB1B7E Battery
Sony VPCSB1V9E Battery] the Malayan Emergency,[107] the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War. It has contributed forces to several regional and global peacekeeping missions, such as those in Cyprus, Somalia,
HP Pavilion dv6-1108ca Keyboard Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sinai, Angola, Cambodia, the Iran–Iraq border, Bougainville, Sony VPCSB1B9E Battery
Sony VPCSB1S1E Battery East Timor, and the Solomon Islands.[108] New Zealand also sent a unit of army engineers to help rebuild Iraqi infrastructure for one year during the Iraq War.
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New Zealand ranks 8th in the Center for Global Development's 2011 Commitment to Development Index, which ranks the world's most developed countries on their dedication to policies that benefit poorer nations.[10
Sony VPCSB1D7E Battery9] New Zealand is considered the second most peaceful country in the world according to the 2012 Global Peace Index.[110]
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Local government and external territories
Main articles: Local government in New Zealand and Realm of New Zealand
Realm of New Zealand
The early European settlers divided New Zealand into provinces, which had a degree of autonomy.[11Sony VPCSB1C5E Battery
Sony VPCSB1C7E Battery1] Because of financial pressures and the desire to consolidate railways, education, land sales and other policies, government was centralised and the provinces were abolished in 1876.[112]
HP Pavilion dv6-1010ea Keyboard As a result, New Zealand now has no separately represented subnational entities. The provinces are remembered in regional public holidays[1Sony VPCSB3S9E Battery
Sony SVE1513Q1E Keyboard13] and sporting rivalries.[114]
Since 1876, various councils have administered local areas under legislation determined by the central government.[111][11 HP Pavilion dv6-1013ea Keyboard5] In 1989, the government reorganised local government into the current two-tier structure of regional councils and territorial authorities.[116Sony VPCSE1E1E Battery
Sony SVE1513H1E Keyboard] The 249 municipalities[116] that existed in 1975 have now been consolidated into 67 territorial authorities and 11 regional councils.[11HP Pavilion DV6-6C77SA Keyboard
7] The regional councils' role is to regulate "the natural environment with particular emphasis on resource management",[116] while territorial authorities are responsible for sewage, water, local roads, building consents and other local matters.[1Sony VPCSE1L1E Battery
Sony SVE1513E9E Keyboard18] Five of the territorial councils are unitary authorities and also act as regional councils.[ HP Pavilion DV6-6000EA Keyboard
119] The territorial authorities consist of 13 city councils, 53 district councils, and the Chatham Islands Council. While officially the Chatham Islands Council is not a unitary authority, it undertakes many functions of a regional council.[120]
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The Realm of New Zealand is one of 16 realms within the commonwealth[121][ Sony VPCSE1Z9E Battery
Sony SVE1513C5E Keyboard122] and comprises New Zealand, Tokelau, the Ross Dependency, the Cook Islands and Niue.[122] The Cook Islands and Niue are self-governing states in free association with New Zealand.[123][124]
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The New Zealand Parliament cannot pass legislation for these countries, but with their consent can act on behalf of them in foreign affairs and defence. Sony VPCSE2J9E Battery
Sony SVE1513C4E Keyboard Tokelau is a non-self-governing territory that uses the New Zealand flag and anthem, but is administered by a council of three elders (one from each Tokelauan atoll).[125]
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[126] The Ross Dependency is New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica, where it operates the Scott Base research facility.[127] New Zealand citizenship law treats all parts of the realm equally, Sony VPCSE2M9E Battery
Sony SVE1512M1E Keyboardso most people born in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau and the Ross Dependency before 2006 are New Zealand citizens. Further conditions apply for those born from 2006 onwards.[128]
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Torrent Bay at Abel Tasman National Park in the South Island
New Zealand is made up of two main islands and a number of smaller islands, located near the centre of the water hemisphere. The main North and South Islands are separated by the Cook Strait,
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22 kilometres (14 mi) wide at its narrowest point.[129] Besides the North and South Islands, the five largest inhabited islands are Stewart Island, the Chatham Islands, Great Barrier Island (in the Hauraki Gulf),[130] d'Urville Island (in the Marlborough Sounds)[131Sony SVE1511A1EW Keyboard
Sony SVE1512K1E Keyboard] and Waiheke Island (about 22 km (14 mi) from central Auckland).[132] The country's islands lie between latitudes 29° and 53°S, and longitudes 165° and 176°E. HP Pavilion DV6-6001SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion DV6-6005EA Keyboard
New Zealand is long (over 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) along its north-north-east axis) and narrow (a maximum width of 400 kilometres (250 mi)),[133] with approximately 15,134 km (9,404 mi) of coastline[134] and a total land area of 268,021 square kilometres (103,483 Sony SVE1511F1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1512J1E Keyboard sq mi)[135] Because of its far-flung outlying islands and long coastline, the country has extensive marine resources. Its Exclusive Economic Zone, one of the largest in the world, covers more than 15 times its land area.[136]
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The South Island is the largest land mass of New Zealand, and is divided along its length by the Southern Alps.[137Sony SVE1511K1E Keyboard
] There are 18 peaks over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), the highest of which is Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3,754 metres (12,316 ft).[138] Fiordland's steep mountains and deep fiords record the extensive ice age glaciation of this south-western corner of the South Island.[139]
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The North Island is less mountainous but is marked by volcanism.[140] The highly active Taupo volcanic zone has formed a large volcanic plateau, punctuated by the North Island's highest mountain, Mount Ruapehu (2,797 metres (9,177 ft)). Sony SVE1511M1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1512C6E Keyboard The plateau also hosts the country's largest lake, Lake Taupo,[141] nestled in the caldera of one of the world's most active supervolcanoes.[142]
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The country owes its varied topography, and perhaps even its emergence above the waves, to the dynamic boundary it straddles between the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates.[1Sony SVE1511P1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1512B1E Keyboard43] New Zealand is part of Zealandia, a microcontinent nearly half the size of Australia that gradually submerged after breaking away from the Gondwanan supercontinent.[144HP Pavilion DV6-6006EA Keyboard
] About 25 million years ago, a shift in plate tectonic movements began to contort and crumple the region. This is now most evident in the Southern Alps, formed by compression of the crust beside the Alpine Fault. HP Pavilion DV6-6051EA Keyboard
Elsewhere the plate boundary involves the subduction of one plate under the other, producing the Puysegur Trench to the south, the Hikurangi Trench east of the North Island, and the Kermadec and Tonga Trenches[Sony SVE1511Q1E Keyboard
Sony SVE1511W1E Keyboard145] further north.[143]
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Climate
Main article: Climate of New Zealand
New Zealand has a mild and temperate maritime climate with mean annual temperatures ranging from 10 °C (50 °F) in the south to 16 °C (61 °F) in the north.[14Sony SVE1711R1E Keyboard
6] Historical maxima and minima are 42.4 °C (108.3 °F) in Rangiora, Canterbury and −25.6 °C (−14.08 °F) in Ranfurly, Otago.[147]
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Conditions vary sharply across regions from extremely wet on the West Coast of the South Island to almost semi-arid in Central Otago and the Mackenzie Basin of inland Canterbury and subtropical in Northland.[148]
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Of the seven largest cities, Christchurch is the driest, receiving on average only 640 millimetres (25 in) of rain per year and Auckland the wettest, receiving almost twice that amount.[149Sony SVE1712Q1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13C5E Keyboard] Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch all receive a yearly average in excess of 2,000 hours of sunshine.
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The southern and south-western parts of the South Island have a cooler and cloudier climate, with around 1,400–1,600 hours; the northern and north-eastern parts of the South Island are the sunniest areas of the country and receive approximately 2,400–2,500 hours.[150]
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Biodiversity
Main article: Biodiversity of New Zealand
The endemic flightless kiwi is a national icon.
New Zealand's geographic isolation for 80 million years[15Sony SVE1713C5E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13C4E Keyboard1] and island biogeography is responsible for the country's unique species of animals, fungi and plants. They have either evolved from Gondwanan wildlife or the few organisms that have managed to reach the shores flying, swimming or being carried across the sea.[152] HP Pavilion DV6-6053EA Keyboard
About 82 percent of New Zealand's indigenous vascular plants are endemic, covering 1,944 species across 65 genera and includes a single family.[153][1Sony SVE1511A1EB Keyboard
Sony VPCF13B4E Keyboard54] The number of fungi recorded from New Zealand, including lichen-forming species, is not known, IBM Thinkpad SL310 Keyboard
nor is the proportion of those fungi which are endemic, but one estimate suggests there are approximately 2300 species of lichen-forming fungi in New Zealand[153] and 40 percent of these are endemic.[15
IBM Thinkpad R61 Keyboard5] The two main types of forest are those dominated by broadleaf trees with emergent podocarps, or by southern beech in cooler climates.[156] The remaining vegetation types consist of grasslands, the majority of which are tussock.[157Sony SVE14A1S1EP Keyboard
Before the arrival of humans an estimated 80 percent of the land was covered in forest, with only high alpine, wet, infertile and volcanic areas without trees.[ Sony SVE1511Q1EB Keyboard
Sony SVE17 batteryKeyboard158] Massive deforestation occurred after humans arrived, with around half the forest cover lost to fire after Polynesian settlement.[15
IBM Thinkpad R60E Keyboard9] Much of the remaining forest fell after European settlement, being logged or cleared to make room for pastoral farming, leaving forest occupying only 23 percent of the land.[160]
The forests were dominated by birds, and the lack of mammalian predators led to some like the kiwi, kakapo and takahē evolving flightlessness.[161]
Sony SVE1513V1E Keyboard The arrival of humans, associated changes to habitat, and the introduction of rats, ferrets and other mammals led to the extinction of many bird species, including large birds like the moa and Haast's eagle.[162][163]
Other indigenous animals are represented by reptiles (tuataras, skinks and geckos),[164] frogs, spiders (katipo), insects (weta) and snails.[165][1Sony SVE1511V1EW Keyboard
Sony SVE1513B4E Keyboard66] Some, such as the wrens and tuatara, are so unique that they have been called living fossils. Three species of bats (one since extinct) were the only sign of native land mammals in New Zealand until the 2006 discovery of bones from a unique,
IBM Thinkpad SL500 Keyboard mouse-sized land mammal at least 16 million years old.[167][168] Marine mammals however are abundant, Sony SVE14 Keyboard
Sony SVE1513A4E Keyboard with almost half the world's cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) and large numbers of fur seals reported in New Zealand waters.[169] Many seabirds breed in New Zealand, IBM Thinkpad SL510 Keyboard
a third of them unique to the country.[170] More penguin species are found in New Zealand than in any other country.[171]
Since human arrival almost half of the country's vertebrate species have become extinct, including at least fifty one birds, three frogs, three lizards, one freshwater fish, and one bat, and four plant species have become extinct.[ Sony SVE14A3C5E Keyboard
IBM Thinkpad E220 Keyboard162]. Others are endangered or have had their range severely reduced.[162] The number of fungi which have become extinct, endangered or reduced in range is not known. Sony VPCF13E1E Keyboard
However New Zealand conservationists have pioneered several methods to help threatened wildlife recover,
IBM Thinkpad E125 Keyboard including island sanctuaries, pest control, wildlife translocation, fostering, and ecological restoration of islands and other selected areas.[172][173][174][175] According to the 2012 Environmental Performance Index, New Zealand is considered a "strong performer" in environmental protection, ranking 14th out of 132 assessed countries.[176]
Economy
Main article: Economy of New Zealand
See also: List of companies of New Zealand
New Zealand has a modern, prosperous and developed market economy with an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita of roughly US$28,250.[n 10] The currency is the New Zealand dollar, Sony VPCF13G4E Keyboard
IBM Thinkpad E220S Keyboard informally known as the "Kiwi dollar"; it also circulates in the Cook Islands (see Cook Islands dollar), Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands.[180] New Zealand was ranked 5th in the 2011 Human Development Index,[181] 4th in the The Heritage Foundation's 2012 Index of Economic Freedom,[182] and 13th in INSEAD's 2012 Global Innovation Index.[183]
Milford Sound, one of New Zealand's most famous tourist destinations[184]
Historically, extractive industries have contributed strongly to New Zealand's economy, focussing at different times on sealing, whaling, flax, gold, kauri gum, and native timber.[ Sony VPCF13H4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11K4E Keyboard185] With the development of refrigerated shipping in the 1880s meat and dairy products were exported to Britain,
IBM Thinkpad E420S Keyboard a trade which provided the basis for strong economic growth in New Zealand.[186] High demand for agricultural products from the United Kingdom and the United States helped New Zealanders achieve higher living standards than both Australia and Western Europe in the 1950s and 1960s.[187
IBM Thinkpad E420 Keyboard] In 1973 New Zealand's export market was reduced when the United Kingdom joined the European Community[188] and other compounding factors, such as the 1973 oil and 1979 energy crisis, led to a severe economic depression.[18Sony VPCF13J4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11J1E/B Keyboard9] Living standards in New Zealand fell behind those of Australia and Western Europe, and by 1982 New Zealand had the lowest per-capita income of all the developed nations surveyed by the World Bank.[19IBM Thinkpad E520S Keyboard
0] Since 1984, successive governments engaged in major macroeconomic restructuring (known first as Rogernomics and then Ruthanasia), rapidly transforming New Zealand from a highly protectionist economy to a liberalised free-trade economy.[191Sony VPCF13J8E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11J04E/H Keyboard][192]
Unemployment peaked above 10 percent in 1991 and 1992,[193] following the 1987 share market crash, but eventually fell to a record low of 3.4 percent in 2007 (ranking fifth from twenty-seven comparable OECD nations).[194IBM Thinkpad E520 Keyboard
] However, the global financial crisis that followed had a major impact on New Zealand, with the GDP shrinking for five consecutive quarters, the longest recession in over thirty years,[195][ Sony VPCF13L0E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11G4E Keyboard196] and unemployment rising back to 7% in late 2009.[197] As of May 2012, the general unemployment rate was around 6.7%,Dell Inspiron 1545 Keyboard
while the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 21 was 13.6%.[198] New Zealand has experienced a series of "brain drains" since the 1970s[199] that still continue today.[200] Sony VPCF13Z1E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCF11F4E Keyboard Nearly one quarter of highly skilled workers live overseas, mostly in Australia and Britain, which is the largest proportion from any developed nation.[ Dell Inspiron 1540 Keyboard
201] In recent years, however, a "brain gain" has brought in educated professionals from Europe and lesser developed countries.[202][203]
Trade
New Zealand is heavily dependent on international trade,[204] particularly in agricultural products.[205] Exports account for a high 24 percent of its output,[1Sony VPCF22C5E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11E4E Keyboard34] making New Zealand vulnerable to international commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. Its principal export industries are agriculture, horticulture, fishing, forestry and mining, which make up about half of the country's exports.[20
Dell Inspiron 630m Keyboard 6] Its major export partners are Australia, United States, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom.[134] Sony VPCF12E4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11B4E KeyboardOn 7 April 2008, New Zealand and China signed the New Zealand China Free Trade Agreement, the first such agreement China has signed with a developed country.[207][20
Dell XPS M1710 Keyboard 8] The service sector is the largest sector in the economy, followed by manufacturing and construction and then farming and raw material extraction.[134Sony VPCF12H4E Keyboard
Sony VPCF11A4E Keyboard] Tourism plays a significant role in New Zealand's economy, contributing $15.0 billion to New Zealand’s total GDP and supporting 9.6 percent of the total workforce in 2010.[20Dell Inspiron 6000 Keyboard
9] International visitors to New Zealand increased by 3.1 percent in the year to October 2010[210] and are expected to increase at a rate of 2.5 percent annually up to 2015.[209]
Wool has historically been one of New Zealand's major exports.
Wool was New Zealand’s major agricultural export during the late 19th century.[185] Even as late as the 1960s it made up over a third of all export revenues,[185Dell Latitude E4310 Battery
] but since then its price has steadily dropped relative to other commodities[211] and wool is no longer profitable for many farmers.[212
Dell XPS M140 Keyboard ] In contrast dairy farming increased, with the number of dairy cows doubling between 1990 and 2007,[213] to become New Zealand's largest export earner.[214] In the year to June 2009, dairy products accounted for 21 percent ($9.1 billion) of total merchandise exports,[21
Dell Vostro 3300 Keyboard 5] and the country's largest company, Fonterra, controls almost one-third of the international dairy trade.[216] Other agricultural exports in 2009 were meat 13.2 percent, wool 6.3 percent, fruit 3.5 percent and fishing 3.3 percent. Dell Latitude E4200 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Battery New Zealand's wine industry has followed a similar trend to dairy, the number of vineyards doubling over the same period,[217] overtaking wool exports for the first time in 2007.[218][219]
Infrastructure
In 2008, oil, gas and coal generated approximately 69 percent of New Zealand's gross energy supply and 31% was generated from renewable energy, primarily hydroelectric power and geothermal power.[220] Dell Latitude E6500 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430S BatteryNew Zealand's transport network includes 93,805 kilometres (58,288 mi) of roads, worth 23 billion dollars,[2
Dell Inspiron 1747 Keyboard 21] and 4,128 kilometres (2,565 mi) of railway lines.[222] Most major cities and towns are linked by bus services, although the private car is the predominant mode of transport.[223] The railways were privatised in 1993, then re-purchased by the government in 2004 and vested into a state owned enterprise.[
Dell Studio XPS 133 Keyboard 224] Railways run the length of the country, although most lines now carry freight rather than passengers.[225] Most international visitors arrive via air[226Dell Latitude E5410 Battery
] and New Zealand has seven international airports, although currently only the Auckland and Christchurch airports connect directly with countries other than Australia or Fiji.[22Dell Inspiron 6400 Keyboard
7] The New Zealand Post Office had a monopoly over telecommunications until 1989 when Telecom New Zealand was formed, initially as a state-owned enterprise and then privatised in 1990.[ Dell Latitude E5510 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Battery228
Dell Studio XPS 1640 Keyboard ] Telecom still owns the majority of the telecommunications infrastructure, but competition from other providers has increased.[229Dell Latitude E5420 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430 Battery] The United Nations International Telecommunication Union ranks New Zealand 12th in the development of information and communications infrastructure, having moved up four places between 2008 and 2010. [230]
Demography
Main article: Demographics of New Zealand
New Zealand's historical population (black) and projected growth (red)
The population of New Zealand is approximately 4.4 million.[231] New Zealand is a predominantly urban country, Dell Latitude E5520 Battery
Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Batterywith 72 percent of the population living in 16 main urban areas and 53 percent living in the four largest cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and Hamilton.[232
Dell Precision M6400 Keyboard ] New Zealand cities generally rank highly on international livability measures. For instance, in 2010 Auckland was ranked the world's 4th most liveable city and Wellington the 12th by the Mercer Quality of Life Survey[233] Dell Latitude E6420 Battery
The life expectancy of a New Zealand child born in 2008 was 82.4 years for females, and 78.4 years for males.[234] Life expectancy at birth is forecast to increase from 80 years to 85 years in 2050 and infant mortality is expected to decline.[235Dell Latitude E6520 Battery
Dell Latitude E6220 Battery] New Zealand's fertility rate of 2.1 is relatively high for a developed country, and natural births account for a significant proportion of population growth.
Dell Studio 1737 Keyboard Subsequently, the country has a young population compared to most industrialized nations, with 20 percent of New Zealanders being 14 years-old or younger.[ Dell Latitude E5530 Battery
Dell Latitude E6120 Battery236] By 2050 the population is forecast to reach 5.3 million, the median age to rise from 36 years to 43 years and the percentage of people 60 years of age and older to rise from 18 percent to 29 percent.[235] Dell Inspiron 9400 Keyboard
Ethnicity and immigration
Main articles: New Zealanders and Immigration to New Zealand
In the 2006 census, 67.6 percent identified ethnically as European and 14.6 percent as Māori.[237] Dell Latitude E6520N Battery
Other major ethnic groups include Asian (9.2 percent) and Pacific peoples (6.9 percent), while 11.1
Dell Studio 1736 Keyboard percent identified themselves simply as a "New Zealander" (or similar) and 1 percent identified with other ethnicities.[23Dell Latitude E5220 Battery
Dell Precision M6500 Battery8][n 11] This contrasts with 1961, when the census reported that the population of New Zealand was 92 percent European and 7 percent Māori, with Asian and Pacific minorities sharing the remaining 1 percent.[24Dell Inspiron E1405 Keyboard
0] While the demonym for a New Zealand citizen is New Zealander, the informal "Kiwi" is commonly used both internationally[241] and by locals.[242] The Māori loanword Pākehā usually refers to New Zealanders of European descent, although some reject this appellation,[24Dell Latitude E6400 Battery
Dell Precision M4500 Battery3][244] and some Māori use it to refer to all non-Polynesian New Zealanders.[245]
New Zealand's fastest growing ethnic groups are Asian. Here, lion dancers perform at the Auckland Lantern Festival.
The Māori were the first people to reach New Zealand, followed by the early European settlers. Following colonisation, Dell Latitude E6500 Battery
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Dell Precision M4600 Batteryimmigrants were predominantly from Britain, Ireland and Australia because of restrictive policies similar to the white Australian policies.[246] There was also significant Dutch, Dalmatian,[
Dell Inspiron E1705 Keyboard 247] Italian, and German immigration, together with indirect European immigration through Australia, North America, South America and South Africa.[2Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Battery
Dell Precision M2400 Battery48] Following the Great Depression policies were relaxed and migrant diversity increased. In 2009–10, an annual target of 45,000–50,000 permanent residence approvals was set by the New Zealand Immigration Service — more than one new migrant for every 100 New Zealand residents.[249] Dell Inspiron E1505 Keyboard Twenty-three percent of New Zealand's population were born overseas, most of whom live in the Auckland region.[250] Dell Latitude E6410 Battery
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Dell Latitude E5430 Battery While most have still come from the United Kingdom and Ireland (29 percent), immigration from East Asia (mostly mainland China, but with substantial numbers also from Korea, Dell Studio 15 Keyboard
Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong) is rapidly increasing the number of people from those countries.[2Dell XPS 14 Battery
51] The number of fee-paying international students increased sharply in the late 1990s, with more than 20,000 studying in public tertiary institutions in 2002.[252]
Language
Main article: Languages of New Zealand
English is the predominant language in New Zealand, spoken by 98 percent of the population.[3] New Zealand English is similar to Australian English and many speakers from the Northern Hemisphere are unable to tell the accents apart.[253]. Dell Studio 1535 Keyboard
The most prominent differences between the New Zealand English dialect and other English dialects are the shifts in the short front vowels: the short-"i" sound (as in "kit") Dell XPS 14D Battery
Dell XPS L502X Battery has centralised towards the schwa sound (the "a" in "comma" and "about"); the short-"e" sound (as in "dress") has moved towards the short-"i" sound; and the short-"a" sound (as in "trap") has moved to the short-"e" sound.[25
Dell Inspiron 1525 Keyboard 4] Hence, the New Zealand pronunciation of words such as "bad", "dead", "fish" and "chips" sound like "bed", "did", "fush" and "chups" to non-New Zealanders.
After the Second World War, Māori were discouraged from speaking their own language (te reo Māori) in schools and workplaces and it existed as a community language only in a few remote areas.[255
Dell Studio 1555 Keyboard ] It has recently undergone a process of revitalisation,[256][257] being declared one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987,[258] and is spoken by 4.1 percent of the population. Dell XPS 15 Battery
Dell XPS L501X Battery [3] There are now Māori language immersion schools and two Māori Television channels, the only nationwide television channels to have the majority of their prime-time content delivered in Māori.[25
Dell Studio 1536 Keyboard ] Many places have officially been given dual Maori and English names in recent years. Samoan is one of the most widely spoken languages in New Zealand (2.3 percent),[n 1Dell XPS 15D Battery
Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery 2] followed by French, Hindi, Yue and Northern Chinese.[3][260][n9Dell Studio 1537 Keyboard 13] New Zealand Sign Language is used by approximately 28,000 people and was made New Zealand's second official language in 2006.[261] Dell Inspiron M411R Keyboard
A Ratana church
Education and religion
Main articles: Education in New Zealand and Religion in New Zealand
Primary and secondary schooling is compulsory for children aged 6 to 16, with the majority attending from the age of 5.[26
Dell Latitude E4200 Keyboard 2] There are 13 school years and attending public schools is free. New Zealand has an adult literacy rate of 99 percent,[134] and over half of the population aged 15 to 29 hold a tertiary qualification.[2
62][n 14] There are five types of government-owned tertiary institutions: universities, colleges of education, polytechnics, specialist colleges, and wānanga,[263] in addition to private training establishments.[264] In the adult population 14.2 percent have a bachelor's degree or higher, 30.4 percent have some form of secondary qualification as their highest qualification and 22.4 percent have no formal qualification.[265
Dell Inspiron 1720 Keyboard ] The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment ranks New Zealand's education system as the 7th best in the world, with students performing exceptionally well in reading, mathematics and science.[266]
Christianity is the predominant religion in New Zealand, although its society is among the most secular in the world.[267] In the 2006 Census, 55.6 percent of the population identified themselves as Christians, while another 34.7 percent indicated that they had no religion (up from 29.6 percent in 2001)
Dell Insprion 1011 Keyboard and around 4 percent affiliated with other religions.[268][n 15] The main Christian denominations are Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, Presbyterianism and Methodism. Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery
Dell XPS L702X Battery There are also significant numbers of Christians who identify themselves with Pentecostal, Baptist, and Latter-day Saint churches and the New Zealand-based Ratana church has adherents among Māori.
Dell Insprion 1010 Keyboard According to census figures, other significant minority religions include Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.[260][269]
Late twentieth-century house-post depicting the navigator Kupe fighting two sea creatures Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery
Early Māori adapted the tropically based east Polynesian culture in line with the challenges associated with a larger and more diverse environment, eventually developing their own distinctive culture.
Dell Inspiron N4050 Keyboard Social organisation was largely communal with families (whanau), sub-tribes (hapu) and tribes (iwi) ruled by a chief (rangatira) whose position was subject to the community's approval.[27Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
Sony SVS151E1GL Battery1] The British and Irish immigrants brought aspects of their own culture to New Zealand and also influenced Māori culture,[272] Dell Inspiron M4110 Keyboard [273] particularly with the introduction of Christianity.[274] However, Māori still regard their allegiance to tribal groups as a vital part of their identity, and Māori kinship roles resemble those of other Polynesian peoples.[27Dell Latitude E6400 Keyboard
5] More recently American, Australian, Asian and other European cultures have exerted influence on New Zealand. Sony SVS131A11L Battery
Sony SVS151C2DL Battery Non-Māori Polynesian cultures are also apparent, with Pasifika, the world's largest Polynesian festival, now an annual event in Auckland.
Cook Islands dancers at Auckland's Pasifika festival
The largely rural life in early New Zealand led to the image of New Zealanders being rugged, industrious problem solvers.[276] Modesty was expected and enforced through the "tall poppy syndrome",Dell Precision M2400 Keyboard
where high achievers received harsh criticism.[277] At the time New Zealand was not known as an intellectual country.[27Sony SVS151A11L Battery
Sony SVS151C1GL Battery8] From the early 20th century until the late 1960s Māori culture was suppressed by the attempted assimilation of Māori into British New Zealanders.[255] In the 1960s, Dell Precision M4400 Keyboard
as higher education became more available and cities expanded[279] urban culture began to dominate.[280] Even though the majority of the population now lives in cities, much of New Zealand's art, literature, film and humour has rural themes.
Art
Main article: New Zealand art
As part of the resurgence of Māori culture, the traditional crafts of carving and weaving are now more widely practised and Māori artists are increasing in number and influence.[281] Sony PCG-4121DL Battery
Sony SVS131G1DL Battery Most Māori carvings feature human figures, generally with three fingers and either a natural-looking, detailed head or a grotesque head.[2
Dell Inspiron 14V Keyboard 82] Surface patterns consisting of spirals, ridges, notches and fish scales decorate most carvings.[283] The pre-eminent Māori architecture consisted of carved meeting houses (wharenui) decorated with symbolic carvings and illustrations. Sony PCG-4121EL Battery
Sony SVS131C24L Battery These buildings were originally designed to be constantly rebuilt, changing and adapting to different whims or needs.[284]
Māori decorated the white wood of buildings, canoes and cenotaphs using red (a mixture of red ochre and shark fat) and black (made from soot) paint and painted pictures of birds, reptiles and other designs on cave walls.[285] Dell Inspiron M101Z Keyboard
Māori tattoos (moko) consisting of coloured soot mixed with gum were cut into the flesh with a bone chisel.[286] Since European arrival paintings and photographs have been dominated by landscapes, originally not as works of art but as factual portrayals of New Zealand.[2Sony PCG-4121FL Battery
Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery87] Portraits of Māori were also common, with early painters often portraying them as "noble savages", exotic beauties or friendly natives.[287Dell Inspiron 1440 Keyboard
] The country's isolation delayed the influence of European artistic trends allowing local artists to developed their own distinctive style of regionalism.[28Sony PCG-4121GL Battery
Sony PCG-41414L Battery8] During the 1960s and 70s many artists combined traditional Māori and Western techniques, Dell Inspiron 14 Keyboard
creating unique art forms.[289Sony PCG-41212L Battery
] New Zealand art and craft has gradually achieved an international audience, with exhibitions in the Venice Biennale in 2001 and the "Paradise Now" exhibition in New York in 2004.[281][290]
Portrait of Hinepare of Ngāti Kahungunu by Gottfried Lindauer, showing chin moko, pounamu hei-tiki and woven cloak
Māori cloaks are made of fine flax fibre and patterned with black, red and white triangles, diamonds and other geometric shapes.[ Sony PCG-41214L Battery
Sony PCG-41412L Battery291] Greenstone was fashioned into earrings and necklaces, with the most well-known design being the hei-tiki, a distorted human figure sitting cross-legged with its head tilted to the side.[ Dell Vostro 3750 Keyboard
292] Europeans brought English fashion etiquette to New Zealand, and until the 1950s most people dressed up for social occasions.[293] Standards have since relaxed and New Zealand fashion has received a reputation for being casual, practical and lacklustre.[ Sony PCG-41215L Battery
Sony PCG-41218L Battery294][295] However, the local fashion industry has grown significantly since 2000, doubling exports and increasing from a handful to about 50 established labels, with some labels gaining international recognition.[295] Sony PCG-41216L Battery
Literature
Main article: New Zealand literature
Māori quickly adopted writing as a means of sharing ideas, and many of their oral stories and poems were converted to the written form.[296] Most early English literature was obtained from Britain and it was not until the 1950s when locDell Inspiron N7110 Keyboard
al publishing outlets increased that New Zealand literature started to become widely known.[297] Although still largely influenced by global trends (modernism) and events (the Great Depression), Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
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writers in the 1930s began to develop stories increasingly focused on their experiences in New Zealand. During this period literature changed from a journalistic activity to a more academic pursuit.[298]
Dell Inspiron N4030 Keyboard Participation in the world wars gave some New Zealand writers a new perspective on New Zealand culture and with the post-war expansion of universities local literature flourished.[299]
Entertainment
Main articles: Music of New Zealand, Cinema of New Zealand, and Media of New Zealand
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Bungy jumping in the popular resort town of Queenstown.
New Zealand music has been influenced by blues, jazz, country, rock and roll and hip hop, with many of these genres given a unique New Zealand interpretation.[ Sony SVS151A11L Battery
Sony SVS151B11L Battery
Sony SVS151C1GL Battery300] Māori developed traditional chants and songs from their ancient South-East Asian origins, and after centuries of isolation created a unique "monotonous" and "doleful" sound.[301] Flutes and trumpets were used as musical instruments[3
Dell Inspiron N4010 Keyboard 02] or as signalling devices during war or special occasions.[303] Early settlers brought over their ethnic music, with brass bands and choral music being popular, and musicians began touring New Zealand in the 1860s.[304][305] Pipe bands became widespread during the early 20th century.[
306] The New Zealand recording industry began to develop from 1940 onwards and many New Zealand musicians have obtained success in Britain and the USA.[ Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
Sony PCG-4121DL Battery
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Sony SVS131G1DL Battery300] Some artists release Māori language songs and the Māori tradition-based art of kapa haka (song and dance) has made a resurgence.[307]
Dell Inspiron 1764 Keyboard The New Zealand Music Awards are held annually by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ); the awards were first held in 1965 by Reckitt & Colman as the Loxene Golden Disc awards.[30Sony PCG-4121FL Battery
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Sony SVS131E1DL Battery8] The RIANZ also publishes the country's official weekly record charts.[309]
Radio first arrived in New Zealand in 1922 and television in 1960.[310] The number of New Zealand films significantly increased during the 1970s.[311] Sony PCG-41211L Battery
Sony PCG-41212L Battery
Sony SVS131C24L BatteryIn 1978 the New Zealand Film Commission started assisting local film-makers and many films attained a world audience, some receiving international acknowledgement.
Dell Inspiron N4110 Keyboard Deregulation in the 1980s saw a sudden increase in the numbers of radio and television stations.[311] Sony PCG-41213L Battery
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Sony SVS131C1DL Battery New Zealand television primarily broadcasts American and British programming, along with a large number of Australian and local shows. The country's diverse scenery and compact size,
Dell Vostro V1450 Keyboard plus government incentives,[312] have encouraged some producers to film big budget movies in New Zealand.[313] The New Zealand media industry is dominated by a small number of companies, most of which are foreign-owned, although the state retains ownership of some television and radio stations. Sony PCG-41215L Battery
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Dell -XPS 15 L502X Keyboard Between 2003 and 2008, Reporters Without Borders consistently ranked New Zealand's press freedom in the top twenty.[314] As of 2011, New Zealand was ranked 13th worldwide in press freedom by Freedom House, with the 2nd freest media in the Asia-Pacific region after Palau.[315] Sony PCG-41216L Battery
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Sports
Main article: Sport in New Zealand
Statue of mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary gazing towards Aoraki / Mount Cook
Most of the major sporting codes played in New Zealand have English origins.[316]
Sony PCG-41414L Battery Golf, netball, tennis and cricket are the four top participatory sports, soccer is the most popular among young people and rugby union attracts the most spectators.[ Dell Inspiron mini 1018 Keyboard
Dell Vostro V131 Keyboard 317] Victorious rugby tours to Australia and the United Kingdom in the late 1880s and the early 1900s played an early role in instilling a national identity,[318Sony PCG-41218L Battery
Sony PCG-41411L Battery
Sony PCG-41412L Battery
Sony PCG-41413L Battery] although the sport's influence has since declined.[319] Horse racing was also a popular spectator sport and became part of the "Rugby,
Dell Vostro 3550 Keyboard Racing and Beer" culture during the 1960s.[320] Māori participation in European sports was particularly evident in rugby and the country's team performs a haka (traditional Māori challenge)
before international matches.[321]
New Zealand has competitive international teams in rugby union, netball, cricket, rugby league, and softball and has traditionally done well in triathlons, rowing, yachting and cycling. Sony PCG-71111L Battery
Sony PCG-81314L BatteryThe country has performed well on a medals-to-population ratio at Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games.[317] Dell Inspiron mini 1012 Keyboard
[322] New Zealand's national rugby union team is often regarded as the best in the world, and are the reigning World Cup holders. New Zealand are also the reigning rugby league world champions. New Zealand is known for its extreme sports, adventure tourism[3Sony PCG-81111L Battery
Sony PCG-81312L Battery23] and strong mountaineering tradition.[32Acer Aspire 7745Z Keyboard
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4] Other outdoor pursuits such as cycling, fishing, swimming, running, tramping, canoeing, hunting, snowsports and surfing are also popular.[3
Sony PCG-81311L Battery25] The Polynesian sport of waka ama racing has increased in popularity and is now an international sport involving teams from all over the Pacific.[326] Acer Aspire 7745G Keyboard
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia,[12] is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area.
Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. Sony PCG-81113L Battery
For at least 40,000 years[13] before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians,[14] who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups.[15] Sony PCG-81114L Battery
Sony Vaio PCG-71312L Keyboard [16] After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The federation comprises six states and several territories. The population of 22.7 million[5Sony Vaio PCG-41112L Keyboard
] is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated in the eastern states due to geography and climate.[17]
A highly developed country, Australia is the world's 12th-largest economy and has the world's fifth-highest per capita income. Australia's military expenditure is the world's 13th-largest. With the second-highest human development index globally, Sony Vaio PCG-51311L Keyboard
Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.[18] Australia is a member of the G20, OECD, WTO, APEC, UN, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS and the Pacific Islands Forum. Sony Vaio PCG-51312L Keyboard
Pronounced [əˈstɹæɪljə, -liə] in Australian English,[19] the name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern". The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century.[N 4] Aussie is a common colloquial term for "Australian". In neighbouring New Zealand the term "Aussie" is sometimes applied as a noun to the nation as well as its residents.[24]
Legends of Terra Australis Incognita—an "unknown land of the South"—date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the continent. Following European discovery, names for the Australian landmass were often references to the famed Terra Australis.
The earliest recorded use of the word Australia in English was in 1625 in "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Sir Richard Hakluyt", published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus, a corruption of the original Spanish name "Tierra Austral del Espíritu Santo" (Southern Land of the Holy Spirit)[25] Sony Vaio PCG-51411L Keyboard
for an island in Vanuatu.[26] The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia (Jakarta) in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south.[ Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery
27] Australia was later used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe,
Sony Vaio PCG-71211L Keyboard a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny, under the pen-name Jacques Sadeur.[28] Referring to the entire South Pacific region, Alexander Dalrymple used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean in 1771. By the end of the 18th century, Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q battery
Sony Vaio PCG-61313L Keyboard the name was being used to refer specifically to Australia, with the botanists George Shaw and Sir James Smith writing of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland" in their 1793 Zoology and Botany of New Holland,[29] and James Wilson including it on a 1799 chart.[ Sony VGP-BPS13/Q battery
The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who pushed for it to be formally adopted as early as 1804. When preparing his manuscript and charts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis, Sony VGP-BPS13/S battery
Sony VGP-BPS13B/B battery he was persuaded by his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, to use the term Terra Australis as this was the name most familiar to the public. Flinders did so, but allowed himself the footnote:
"Had I permitted myself any innovation on the original term, it would have been to convert it to Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."[31]
This is the only occurrence of the word Australia in that text; but in Appendix III, Robert Brown's General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis, Brown makes use of the adjectival form Australian throughout,[32Sony Vaio PCG-51412L Keyboard
]—the first known use of that form.[33] Despite popular conception, the book was not instrumental in the adoption of the name: the name came gradually to be accepted over the following ten years.[34] Sony VGP-BPS13/B battery
The first time that the name Australia appears to have been officially used was in a despatch to Lord Bathurst of 4 April 1817 in which Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledges the receipt of Capt. Flinders' charts of Australia.[35]
Sony Vaio PCG-61611L Keyboard On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted.[ Sony VGP-BPS13A/S battery
Sony VGP-BPS13AB battery36] In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.[37]
The first map on which the word Australia occurs was published in St Petersburg in 1824. It is in Krusenstern's "Atlas de l'Océan Pacifique".[38]
History
Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago,[3Sony VGP-BPS13AS battery
Sony VGP-BPS13A/R battery9] possibly with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now South-East Asia. These first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians.[40]
Sony Vaio PCG-81311L Keyboard At the time of European settlement in the late 18th century, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. Sony VGP-BPS13S battery
Sony VGP-BPS13A/Q battery The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturalists and hunter-gatherers.[41] The northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia.[42] Sony Vaio PCG-51111L Keyboard
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon. Sony VGP-BPL8 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS21A/B BatteryHe sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York.[4Sony Vaio PCG-51113L Keyboard
3] The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of "New Holland" during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement.[43] William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, Sony VGP-BPL9 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS21/S Batterylanded on the north-west coast of Australia in 1688 and again in 1699 on a return trip. In 1770,
James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.[44
] With the loss of its American colonies in 1780, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the "First Fleet", under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales. A camp was set up and the flag raised at Sydney Cove,
Sony Vaio PCG-81115L Keyboard Port Jackson, on 26 January 1788,[45] a date which became Australia's national day, Australia Day although the British Crown Colony of New South Wales was not formally promulgated until 7 February 1788. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney,
the establishment of farming, industry and commerce; and the exploration and settlement of other regions.
Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825.[46] The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Western Australia (the Swan River Colony) in 1828.[ Sony VGP-BPL11 Battery
47] Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851,
Sony Vaio PCG-81113L Keyboard and Queensland in 1859.[48] The Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia.[49] South Australia was founded as a "free province"—it was never a penal colony.[50
] Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts.[51][5Sony VGP-BPL12 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS15/B Battery2] A campaign by the settlers of New South Wales led to the end of convict transportation to that colony; the last convict ship arrived in 1848.[53]
Port Arthur, Tasmania was Australia's largest gaol for reoffending convicts.
The indigenous population, estimated at 750,000 to 1,000,000 at the time of European settlement,[54] declined for 150 years following settlement, mainly due to infectious disease.[55] Sony Vaio PCG-51211L Keyboard
A government policy of "assimilation" beginning with the Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 resulted in the removal of many Aboriginal children, now called the Stolen Generations, Sony VGP-BPL14 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS14/S Battery from their families and communities, a process that may have contributed to the decline in the Indigenous population.[5
Sony Vaio PCG-7133L Keyboard 6] The Federal government gained the power to make laws with respect to Aborigines following the 1967 referendum.[57] Traditional ownership of land—aboriginal title—was not recognised until 1992, Acer Aspire 7741G Keyboard
when the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius ("land belonging to no one") before European occupation.[58]
A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s[59] and the Eureka Rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience.[60] Sony VGP-BPL14B Battery
Sony VGP-BPS14B Battery Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire.[
Acer Aspire 7530G Keyboard61] The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs,[62] defence,[63] and international shipping.
The Last Post is played at an ANZAC Day ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Similar ceremonies are held in most suburbs and towns.
On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation and voting.[6Sony VGP-BPL15 Battery
Sony Vaio PCG-7131L Keyboard 4] The Commonwealth of Australia was established and it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory)
Sony VGP-BPS13/Q Batterywas formed in 1911 as the location for the future federal capital of Canberra. Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was constructed.[6
5] The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the federal parliament in 1911.[6Sony VGP-BPL15/B Battery
Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery6] In 1914, Australia joined Britain in fighting World War I, with support from both the outgoing Commonwealth Liberal Party and the incoming Australian Labor Party.[67]
Sony Vaio PCG-7112L Keyboard Australians took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front.[68] Of about 416,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded.[69Sony VGP-BPL15/S Battery
Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery] Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) Sony Vaio PCG-5T3L Keyboard
at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military action.[70][71] The Kokoda Track campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.[72]
Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the UK. Australia adopted it in 1942,[73] Sony VGP-BPL21 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II.[74][75Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery] The shock of the United Kingdom's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector.[7Sony Vaio PCG-5T4L Keyboard
6] Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US, under the ANZUS treaty.[77] After World War II Australia encouraged immigration from Europe. Acer Aspire 7540G Keyboard
Acer Aspire 7740 Keyboard Since the 1970s and following the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and elsewhere was also promoted.[78
Sony Vaio PCG-7162L Keyboard ] As a result, Australia's demography, culture, and self-image were transformed.[ Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery
Sony VGP-BPS12 Battery79] The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and closing the option of judicial appeals to the Privy Council in London.[80Acer Aspire 7735 Keyboard
Acer Aspire 7736 Keyboard] In a 1999 referendum,
Sony Vaio PCG-7161L Keyboard 55 per cent of voters and a majority in every state rejected a proposal to become a republic with a president appointed by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of the Australian Parliament. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972,[8Sony Vaio PCG-7191L Keyboard
1] there has been an increasing focus in foreign policy on ties with other Pacific Rim nations, while maintaining close ties with Australia's traditional allies and trading partners.[82] Sony Vaio PCG-7192L Keyboard
Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia since 2010
Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system of government with Queen Elizabeth II at its apex as the Queen of Australia, HP MU06 Battery
a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen resides in the United Kingdom,
Sony Vaio PCG-7154L Keyboard and she is represented by her viceroys in Australia (the Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the advice of her ministers. Supreme executive authority is vested by the Constitution of Australia in the sovereign,
Sony Vaio PCG-7153L Keyboard but the power to exercise it is conferred by the Constitution specifically to the Governor-General.[83] HP MU09 Battery
[84] The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside a Prime Minister's request was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.[85]
The federal government is separated into three branches:
The legislature: the bicameral Parliament, defined in section 1 of the constitution as comprising the Queen (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, and the House of Representatives; HP RM08 Battery
The executive: the Federal Executive Council, in practice the Governor-General as advised by the Prime Minister and Ministers of State;[86]
The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Council. HP RS06 Battery
In the Senate (the upper house), there are 76 senators: twelve each from the states and two each from the mainland territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory).[87]
Sony Vaio PCG-7185L Keyboard The House of Representatives (the lower house) has 150 members elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats",
HP MN06 Battery allocated to states on the basis of population,[88] with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats.[89]
Sony Vaio PCG-7184L Keyboard Elections for both chambers are normally held every three years, simultaneously; senators have overlapping six-year terms except for those from the territories, whose terms are not fixed but are tied to the electoral cycle for the lower house; HP VE12 Battery
HP GB06 Battery thus only 40 of the 76 places in the Senate are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a double dissolution.[87]
Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting for all lower house elections with the exception of Tasmania and the ACT which, along with the Senate and most state upper houses, HP MO06 Battery
HP LU06 Battery combine it with proportional representation in a system known as the single transferable vote. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction,[90] as is enrolment (with the exception of South Australia).[
Sony Vaio PCG-7182L Keyboard 91] The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms the government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. In cases where no party has majority support, HP MO09 Battery
HP EV12 Battery the Governor-General has the power to appoint the Prime Minister and, if necessary, dismiss one that has lost the confidence of Parliament.[92] Sony Vaio PCG-7173L Keyboard
There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party and the Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party.[93][ Sony PCG-4121DM battery
94] Independent members and several minor parties have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.
Within Australian political culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right and the Labor Party is considered centre-left. Queensland in particular, along with Western Australia and the Northern Territory, are regarded as comparatively conservative.[95][96][ Sony PCG-4121EM battery
Sony PCG-4121GM battery97][98][99][100] Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory are regarded as comparatively socially liberal.[100][101][10Sony Vaio PCG-7172L Keyboard
2][103] New South Wales has often been regarded as a politically moderate bellwether state.[100][103]
Following a partyroom leadership challenge, Julia Gillard became the first female Prime Minister in June 2010.[ Sony PCG-41213M battery
Sony PCG-41214M battery104] The most recent federal election was held on 21 August 2010 and resulted in the first hung parliament in over 50 years. Gillard was able to form a minority Labor government with the support of independents. Sony 148781111 Keyboard
States and territories
Main article: States and territories of Australia
A clickable map of Australia's states and mainland territories
Australia has six states — New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (TAS), Victoria (VIC), Sony PCG-41218M battery
Sony PCG-41414M batteryand Western Australia (WA) — and two major mainland territories — the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Sony 148792611 Keyboard
and the Northern Territory (NT). In most respects these two territories function as states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, Sony SVS13AA11M battery
Sony SVS151A12M battery federal legislation overrides state legislation only in areas that are set out in Section 51 of the Australian Constitution;
Sony 148778711 keyboard state parliaments retain all residual legislative powers, including those over schools, state police, the state judiciary, roads, public transport, and local government, since these do not fall under the provisions listed in Section 51.[105]
Each state and major mainland territory has its own parliament—unicameral in the Northern Territory, the ACT, and Queensland, and bicameral in the other states. Sony SVS131B12M battery
Sony SVS151A11M battery The states are sovereign entities, although subject to certain powers of the Commonwealth as defined by the Constitution. The lower houses are known as the Legislative Assembly (the House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania);
Sony 148738011 keyboardthe upper houses are known as the Legislative Council. The head of the government in each state is the Premier, and in each territory the Chief Minister. The Queen is represented in each state by a Governor; and in the Northern Territory, the Administrator.[106] In the Commonwealth, the Queen's representative is the Governor-General.[107] Sony 148088721 Keyboard
Main articles: Foreign relations of Australia and Australian Defence Force
Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact, and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific,
Sony 148088721 keyboard particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, and in 2011 attended the Sixth East Asia Summit in Indonesia. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation.[109]
Australian Army soldiers conducting a foot patrol during a joint training exercise with US forces in Shoalwater Bay (2007).
Australia has pursued the cause of international trade liberalisation.[110][111][112] It led the formation of the Cairns Group and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.[113Sony PCG-61A11L Battery
][114] Australia is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization,[115][11
Sony 148793411 keyboard6] and has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the Australia – United States Free Trade Agreement[117] and Closer Economic Relations with New Zealand,[1
Sony 148768711 keyboard18] with another free trade agreement being negotiated with China—the Australia–China Free Trade Agreement—and Japan,[119] South Korea in 2011,[120][1Sony PCG-61A14L Battery
Sony PCG-71914L Battery21] Australia–Chile Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN – Australia – New Zealand Free Trade Area, and the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership.
Along with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore, Australia is party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements, a regional defence agreement. A founding member country of the United Nations,
Sony 148969411 KeyboardAustralia is strongly committed to multilateralism[122] and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5 billion for development assistance.[123Sony PCG-71C12L Battery
Sony PCG-71913L Battery] Australia ranks seventh overall in the Center for Global Development's 2008 Commitment to Development Index.[124]
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Australia's armed forces—the Australian Defence Force (ADF)—comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), in total numbering 80,561 personnel (including 55,068 regulars and 25,493 reservists).[125Sony 141780221 Keyboard ] The titular role of Commander-in-Chief is vested in the Governor-General, who appoints a Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services on the advice of the government.[1Sony PCG-61813L Battery
Sony PCG-71911L Battery26] Day-to-day force operations are under the command of the Chief, while broader administration and the formulation of defence policy is undertaken by the Minister and Department of Defence.
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In the 2010–11 budget, defence spending was A$25.7 billion,[127] representing the 13th largest defence budget.[128] Australia has been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping, disaster relief and armed conflict;
Sony 148084811 Keyboard it currently has deployed approximately 3,330 defence force personnel in varying capacities to 12 international operations in areas including East Timor, Solomon Islands and Afghanistan.[129] Sony 148084521 Keyboard
Geography and climate
Main articles: Geography of Australia, Climate of Australia, and Geology of Australia
Climatic zones in Australia, based on the Köppen climate classification.
Australia's landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi)[130] is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans,[N 5] it is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, Sony 148084721 Keyboard with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent[132] and sixth largest country by total area,[1
Sony PCG-71811L Battery33] Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the "island continent",[134] and is sometimes considered the world's largest island.[135]
Sony Vaio PCG-7186M KeyboardAustralia has 34,218 kilometres (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands),[136] and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory.[13Sony PCG-61913L Battery
Sony PCG-71713L Battery7] Excluding Macquarie Island, Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44°S, and longitudes 112° and 154°E.
Sony Vaio PCG-7181M Keyboard
The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef,[138] lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 kilometres (1,240 mi). Mount Augustus, claimed to be the world's largest monolith,[13
Sony Vaio PCG-7161M Keyboard9] is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 metres (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Sony PCG-61713L Battery
Even taller are Mawson Peak (at 2,745 metres or 9,006 feet), on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island, and, in the Australian Antarctic Territory, Mount McClintock and Mount Menzies, at 3,492 metres (11,457 ft) and 3,355 metres (11,007 ft) respectively.[140]
Everlastings on Mount Hotham, located in Victoria
Australia's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with subtropical rain forests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east areas and a dry desert in its centre.[141] It is the flattest continent,[142] Sony Vaio PCG-81112M Keyboard
with the oldest and least fertile soils;[143Sony PCG-91112L Battery
Sony PCG-61315L Battery][144] desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land.[145] The driest inhabited continent, only its south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate.[146] The population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, Sony Vaio PCG-51512M Keyboard
is among the lowest in the world,[147] although a large proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline.[148]
Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range, which runs parallel to the coast of Queensland, Sony PCG-71311L Battery
New South Wales and much of Victoria—although the name is not strictly accurate as parts of the range consist of low hills and the highlands are typically no more than 1,600 metres (5,249 ft) in height.[149]
Sony Vaio PCG-7151M Keyboard
The coastal uplands and a belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland.[149][ Sony PCG-71217L Battery
Sony PCG-61312L Battery150] These include the western plains of New South Wales, and the Einasleigh Uplands, Barkly Tableland, and Mulga Lands of inland Queensland. The northern point of the east coast is the tropical rainforested Cape York Peninsula.[151][152][153][154]
Topographic map of Australia
The landscapes of the northern part of the country—the Top End and the Gulf Country behind the Gulf of Carpentaria, with their tropical climate—consist of woodland, grassland, and desert.[155][156
Sony Vaio PCG-7143M Keyboard][157] At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of The Kimberley, and below that the Pilbara. South and inland of these lie more areas of grassland: the Ord Victoria Plain and the Western Australian Mulga shrublands.[1Sony PCG-71315L Battery
Sony PCG-61311L Battery58][
Sony Vaio PCG-7162M Keyboard159][160] At the heart of the country are the uplands of central Australia; prominent features of the centre and south include the inland Simpson, Sony PCG-71316L Battery
Sony PCG-61211L Battery Tirari and Sturt Stony, Gibson, Great Sandy, Tanami, and Great Victoria deserts, with the famous Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast.[161][162][163][164]
The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia.[165][166]
Sony Vaio PCG-7154M KeyboardThese factors induce rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical predominantly summer rainfall (monsoon) climate.[167] The southwest corner of the country has a Mediterranean climate.[16Sony PCG-71318L Battery
Sony PCG-71216L Battery8] Much of the southeast (including Tasmania) is temperate.[167]
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Environment
Main article: Environment of Australia
See also: Flora of Australia and Fauna of Australia
Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests, and is recognised as a megadiverse country. Because of the continent's great age,
Sony Vaio PCG-71511M Keyboard extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85 per cent of flowering plants, Sony PCG-71211L Battery
Sony PCG-71215L Battery84 per cent of mammals, more than 45 per cent of birds, and 89 per cent of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic.[169] Australia has the greatest number of reptiles of any country, with 755 species.[170]
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The koala and the eucalyptus form an iconic Australian pair
Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions, wattles replace them in drier regions and deserts as the most dominant species.[171]
Sony Vaio PCG-7144M Keyboard Among well-known Australian fauna are the monotremes (the platypus and echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, koala, and wombat, and birds such as the emu and the kookaburra.[17
Sony Vaio PCG-7194M Keyboard1] Australia is home to many dangerous animals including some of the most venomous snakes in the world.[172] The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE.
Sony Vaio PCG-7192M Keyboard173] Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after first human settlement,[174] including the Australian megafauna; others have disappeared since European settlement, among them the thylacine.[175][176]
Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species.[177] The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is the legal framework for the protection of threatened species.[178]
Sony Vaio PCG-7196M KeyboardNumerous protected areas have been created under the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity to protect and preserve unique ecosystems;[179
Sony Vaio PCG-7195M Keyboard][180] 65 wetlands are listed under the Ramsar Convention,[181] and 16 natural World Heritage Sites have been established.[182] Australia was ranked 51st of 163 countries in the world on the 2010 Environmental Performance Index.[183] Sony Vaio PCG-51211M Keyboard
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Climate change has become an increasing concern in Australia in recent years, and protection of the environment is a major political issue.[184][185] In 2007, the Rudd Government signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Nevertheless, Australia's carbon dioxide emissions per capita are among the highest in the world, lower than those of only a few other industrialised nations.[1
Sony Vaio PCG-3C2M Keyboard86] Rainfall in Australia has slightly increased over the past century, both nationwide and for two quadrants of the nation,[187] According to the Bureau of Meteorology's 2011 Australian Climate Statement, Australia had lower than average temperatures in 2011 as a consequence of a La Nina weather pattern, Sony Vaio PCG-7171M Keyboard
however, "the country's 10-year average continues to demonstrate the rising trend in temperatures, with 2002–2011 likely to rank in the top two warmest 10-year periods on record for Australia, at 0.52 °C above the long-term average"
Sony Vaio PCG-5N2M Keyboard188] Water restrictions are frequently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages due to urban population increases and localised drought.[189][1.[Sony Vaio PCG-5P1M Keyboard90] Throughout much of the continent, major flooding regularly follows extended periods of drought, flushing out inland river systems, overflowing dams and inundating large inland flood plains, as occurred throughout Eastern Australia in 2010, 2011 and 2012 after the 2000s Australian drought.
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Economy
Main article: Economy of Australia
See also: Economic history of Australia and Median household income in Australia and New Zealand
The Super Pit gold mine in Kalgoorlie, Australia's largest open cut mine.[191]
Australia is a wealthy country[192][193][194] with a market economy with high GDP per capita and a low rate of poverty.
The Australian dollar is the currency for the nation, including Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. After the 2006 merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange is now the ninth largest in the world.[195]
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Ranked third in the Index of Economic Freedom (2010),[196] Australia is the world's thirteenth largest economy and has the fifth highest per capita GDP (nominal) at $66,984. The country was ranked second in the United Nations 2011 Human Development Index and first in Legatum's 2008 Prosperity Index.[1
Sony Vaio PCG-71312M Keyboard97] All of Australia's major cities fare well in global comparative livability surveys;[198] Melbourne reached first place on The Economist's 2011 and 2012 world's most livable cities lists, followed by Sydney, Perth, and Adelaide in sixth, eighth, and ninth place respectively.[19
Sony Vaio PCG-71212M Keyboard9] Total government debt in Australia is about $190 billion[200] – 20 per cent of GDP in 2010.[201] Australia has among the highest house prices and some of the highest household debt levels in the world.[202]
Destination and value of Australian exports in 2006[203]
An emphasis on exporting commodities rather than manufactured goods has underpinned a significant increase in Australia's terms of trade since the start of the 21st century, due to rising commodity prices. Australia has a balance of payments that is more than 7 per cent of GDP negative,
Sony Vaio PCG-71211M Keyboard and has had persistently large current account deficits for more than 50 years.[204] Australia has grown at an average annual rate of 3.6 per cent for over 15 years, in comparison to the OECD annual average of 2.5 per cent.[20Sony Vaio PCG-3F1M Keyboard
4] Australia was the only advanced economy not to experience a recession due to the global financial downturn in 2008–2009.[205] Six of Australia's major trading partners had been in recession which in turn affected Australia, and economic growth was hampered significantly over recent years.[206][207]
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The Hawke Government floated the Australian dollar in 1983 and partially deregulated the financial system.[20
Sony Vaio PCG-3G2M Keyboard8] The Howard Government followed with a partial deregulation of the labour market and the further privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry.[2
Sony Vaio PCG-3E1M Keyboard09] The indirect tax system was substantially changed in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST).[210] In Australia's tax system, personal and company income tax are the main sources of government revenue.[211]
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In May 2012, there were 11,537,900 people employed (either full- or part-time), with an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent.[212] Youth unemployment (15–24) stood at 11.2 per cent.[212] Sony Vaio PCG-3H1M Keyboard
Over the past decade, inflation has typically been 2–3 per cent and the base interest rate 5–6 per cent. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, accounts for about 70 per cent of GDP.[21Sony Vaio PCG-3J1M Keyboard3] Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, particularly wheat and wool, minerals such as iron-ore and gold, and energy in the forms of liquified natural gas and coal. Although agriculture and natural resources account for only 3 per cent and 5 per cent of GDP respectively, they contribute substantially to export performance. Australia's largest export markets are Japan, China, the US, South Korea, and New Zealand.[21Sony PCG-5P2m Keyboard
4] Australia is the world's fourth largest exporter of wine, in an industry contributing $5.5 billion per annum to the nation's economy.[215]
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Australia and Immigration to Australia
Nearly three quarters of Australians live in metropolitan cities and coastal areas. The beach is an integral part of the Australian identity.[216]
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For almost two centuries the majority of settlers, and later immigrants, came from the British Isles. As a result the people of Australia are primarily of British and/or Irish ethnic origin. The 2011 Census asked respondents to provide a maximum of two ancestries with which they most closely identify.
Sony PCG-7186M Keyboard The most commonly nominated ancestry was English (36.1 per cent), followed by Australian (35.4 per cent),[217] Irish (10.4 per cent), Scottish (8.9 per cent), Italian (4.6 per cent), German (4.5 per cent), Chinese (4.3 per cent), Indian (2.0 per cent), Greek (1.9 per cent), and Dutch (1.7 per cent).[218] Asian Australians make up 12% of the population.[219]
Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I.[220] Nevertheless, its population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, remains among the lowest in the world.[147
Sony PCG-7185M Keyboard] Much of the population increase came from immigration. Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants, meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born in another country.[221
Sony PCG-7184M Keyboard] Most immigrants are skilled,[222] but the immigration quota includes categories for family members and refugees.[222] By 2050, Australia's population is currently projected to reach around 42 million.[223]
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In 2011, 24.6% of Australians were born elsewhere and 43.1% of people had at least one overseas-born parent;[224] the largest immigrant groups were those from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, India, Italy, Vietnam, and Philippines.[225]
Sony PCG-7182M KeyboardOver 80 percent of Australia's population is of European ancestry, and most of the rest are of Asian heritage, with a smaller minority of indigenous (Aboriginal) background. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism.[226] Sony PCG-5R2M Keyboard
In 2005–06, more than 131,000 people emigrated to Australia, mainly from Asia and Oceania.[227] The migration target for 2012–13 is 190,000,[228] compared to 67,900 in 1998–99.[229]
The Barossa Valley is a wine-producing region in South Australia. Fewer than 15 per cent of Australians live in rural areas.
The Indigenous population—mainland Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders—was counted at 548,370 (2.5 per cent of the total population) in 2011,[230] a significant increase from 115,953 in the 1976 census.[231
Sony PCG-5T2M Keyboard] The increase is partly due to the fact that previously, many people with Indigenous heritage were overlooked by the census due to undercount and cases where their Indigenous status had not been recorded on the form.
Indigenous Australians experience higher than average rates of imprisonment and unemployment,[232] lower levels of education, and life expectancies for males and females that are 11–17 years lower than those of non-indigenous Australians.[214][233][234] Some remote Indigenous communities have been described as having "failed state"-like conditions.[
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In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2004, the average age of the civilian population was 38.8 years.[240] A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03;[241] 1 million or 5% of the total population in 2005[242]) live outside their home country.
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Although Australia has no official language, English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language.[2] Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon,[24
Sony VGN-NW21MF/P Keyboard4] and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.[245] General Australian serves as the standard dialect. According to the 2011 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 81% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (1.7%), Italian (1.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese (1.3%), Greek (1.3%),
Sony VGN-NW20SF Keyboardand Vietnamese (1.2%);[225] a considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. A 2010–2011 study by the Australia Early Development Index found the most common language spoken by children after English was Arabic, followed by Vietnamese, Greek, Chinese, and Hindi.[246][247]
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Between 200 and 300 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact, of which only about 70 have survived. Many of these are exclusively spoken by older people; only 18 Indigenous languages are still spoken by all age groups.[248] At the time of the 2006 census,
Sony VGN-NW26EG Keyboard 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12 per cent of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home.[249] Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 5,500 deaf people.[250]
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WR Thomas, A South Australian Corroboree, 1864, Art Gallery of South Australia. Aboriginal Australians developed the animist religion of the Dreamtime.
Australia has no state religion, and section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the federal government from making any law to establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion.[251] In the 2011 census, 61.1 per cent of Australians were counted as Christian, Sony VGN-NW24MG Keyboard including 25.3 per cent as Roman Catholic and 17.1 per cent as Anglican. 22.3 per cent of the population reported having "no religion" (which includes humanism, atheism, agnosticism and rationalism). 7.2 per cent identify with non-Christian religions, the largest of these being Buddhism (2.5 per cent), followed by Islam (2.2 per cent), Hinduism (1.3 per cent) and Judaism (0.5 per cent). The remaining 9.4 per cent of the population did not provide an answer.[225]
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St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sydney, built to a design by William Wardell. About a quarter of Australians are Roman Catholic.
Prior to European settlement in Australia, the animist beliefs of Australia's indigenous people had been practised for millennia. Sony VGN-NW24EG Keyboard In the case of mainland Aboriginal Australians, their spirituality is known as the Dreamtime and it places a heavy emphasis on belonging to the land. The collection of stories that it contains shaped Aboriginal law and customs. Aboriginal art, story and dance continue to draw on these spiritual traditions. In the case of the Torres Strait Islanders who inhabit the islands between Australia and New Guinea,
Sony Vaio VGN-SR49VT/H Keyboardspirituality and customs reflected their Melanesian origins and dependence on the sea. The 1996 Australian census counted more than 7000 respondents as followers of a traditional Aboriginal religion.[252]
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Since the arrival of the First Fleet of British ships in 1788, Christianity has grown to be the major religion. Consequently, the Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter are public holidays, the skylines of Australian cities and towns are marked by church and cathedral spires, and the Christian churches have played an integral role in the development of education, health and welfare services in Australia. Sony VGN-SR11M Keyboard
The Catholic education system operates as the largest non-government educator, accounting for about 21 per cent of all secondary enrolments at the close of the 2000s (decade), with Catholic Health Australia similarly being the largest non-government provider. Christian welfare organisations also play a prominent role within national life, with organisations like the Salvation Army,
Sony Vaio VGN-SR59VG/H Keyboard St Vincent de Paul Society and Anglicare enjoying widespread support. Such contributions are recognised on Australia's currency, with the presence of Christian pastors like Aboriginal writer David Unaipon ($50); founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, John Flynn ($20); Sony VGN-SR11MR Keyboard
and Catherine Helen Spence ($5) who was Australia's first female candidate for political office. Other significant Australian religious figures have included St. Mary MacKillop, who became the first Australian to be recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 2010 and Church of Christ pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls, Sony VGN-SR19VN Keyboard
Sony Vaio VGN-SR59TH/H Keyboard who, like Martin Luther King in the United States, led a movement against racial inequality in Australia and was also the first indigenous Australian to be appointed as a State Governor. Sony VGN-SR19XN Keyboard
For much of Australian history the Church of England (now known as the Anglican Church of Australia) was the largest religious affiliation, however multicultural immigration has contributed to a decline in its relative position, with the Roman Catholic Church benefiting from the opening of post-war Australia to multicultural immigration and becoming the largest group. Similarly, Islam, Buddhism, Sony VGN-SR21M/S Keyboard
Hinduism and Judaism have all been expanding in the post war decades.[253] To a lesser extent, smaller affiliations including the Bahá'í Faith, Sikhism, Wicca and Paganism have also seen a significant increase in numbers. In the 2001 census there were, 17,381 Sikhs, 11,037 Bahá'ís, 10,632 Pagans and 8,755 Wiccans in Australia.[254]
An international survey, made by the private, not-for profit German think-tank, the Bertelsmann Foundation, found that "Australia is one of the least religious nations in the western world, coming in 17th out of 21 [countries] surveyed" and that "Nearly three out of four Australians say they are either not at all religious or that religion does not play a central role in their lives."[255]
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While weekly attendance at church services in 2001 was about 1.5 million[256] (about 7.8 per cent of the population),[257] a survey of 1,718 Australians by the Christian Research Association at the end of 2009 suggested that the number of people attending religious services per month in Australia has dropped from 23 per cent in 1993 to 16 per cent in 2009, and while 60 per cent of 15 to 29-year-old respondents in 1993 identified with Christian denominations, 33 per cent did in 2009.[258] Sony VGN-SR29VN Keyboard
Education
Main article: Education in Australia
School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia. Education is the responsibility of the individual states and territories[259] so the rules vary between states, but in general children are required to attend school from the age of about 5 up until about 16.[2Sony VGN-SR31M Keyboard
60][261] In at least some states (e.g., WA)[262] children aged 16–17 are required to either attend school or participate in vocational training, such as an apprenticeship.
Australia has an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99 per cent. In the Programme for International Student Assessment, Australia regularly scores among the top five of thirty major developed countries (member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Catholic education accounts for the largest non-government sector.
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Australia has 37 government-funded universities and two private universities, as well as a number of other specialist institutions that provide approved courses at the higher education level.[263] The University of Sydney is Australia's oldest university, having been founded in 1850, followed by the University of Melbourne three years later. Sony VGN-SR41M/P Keyboard
Other notable universities include those of the Group of Eight leading tertiary institutions, including the University of Adelaide (which boasts an association with five Nobel Laureates), the Australian National University located in the national capital of Canberra, Monash University and the University of New South Wales.
The OECD places Australia among the most expensive nations to attend university.[264] There is a state-based system of vocational training, known as TAFE, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople.[26Sony VGN-SR45H/P Keyboard5] Approximately 58 per cent of Australians aged from 25 to 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications,[214] and the tertiary graduation rate of 49 per cent is the highest among OECD countries. The ratio of international to local students in tertiary education in Australia is the highest in the OECD countries.[266] Sony VGN-SR41M/W Keyboard
Health
See also: Health care in Australia
Australia has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world after Iceland, Japan and Hong Kong.[267] Life expectancy in Australia in 2010 was 79.5 years for males and 84.0 years for females.[268]
Sony VGN-SR45H/N Keyboard Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world,[269] while cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease, responsible for 7.8 per cent of the total mortality and disease. Ranked second in preventable causes is hypertension at 7.6 per cent, with obesity third at 7.5 per cent.[270] Sony VGN-SR51MF/P Keyboard
[271] Australia ranks 35th in the world[272] and near the top of developed nations for its proportion of obese adults.[273]
Total expenditure on health (including private sector spending) is around 9.8 per cent of GDP.[274] Australia introduced universal health care in 1975.[275] Known as Medicare, it is now nominally funded by an income tax surcharge known as the Medicare levy, currently set at 1.5 per cent.[276]
Sony VGN-SR45H/B KeyboardThe states manage hospitals and attached outpatient services, while the Commonwealth funds the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (subsidising the costs of medicines) and general practice.[275]
Culture
Main article: Culture of Australia
The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne was the first building in Australia to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.[277]
Since 1788, the basis of Australian culture has been strongly influenced by Anglo-Celtic Western culture.[278][279] Distinctive cultural features have also arisen from Australia's natural environment and Indigenous cultures.[280][281] Sony VGN-SR51MF/W Keyboard
Since the mid-20th century, American popular culture has strongly influenced Australia, particularly through television and cinema.[282] Other cultural influences come from neighbouring Asian countries, and through large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking nations.[282][283]
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Arts
Main articles: Australian art, Theatre of Australia, and Dance in Australia
Bailed up by Tom Roberts depicts the robbing of a coach from the gold fields by bushrangers.
Australian visual arts are thought to have begun with the cave paintings, rock engravings and body painting of its Indigenous peoples. The traditions of Indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally,
Sony VGN-SR51B/S Keyboard through ceremony and the telling of Dreamtime stories.[284] From the time of European settlement, a theme in Australian art has been the natural landscape,[280] seen for example in the works of Albert Namatjira,[285] Arthur Streeton and others associated with the Heidelberg School,[280] and Arthur Boyd.[286]
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The country's landscape remains a source of inspiration for Australian modernist artists; it has been depicted in acclaimed works by the likes of Sidney Nolan,[287] Fred Williams,[288] Sydney Long,[289] and Clifton Pugh.[
Sony VGN-SR49VN/H Keyboard290] Australian artists influenced by modern American and European art include cubist Grace Crowley,[291] surrealist James Gleeson,[292] and pop artist Martin Sharp.[293] Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the only art movement of international significance to emerge from Australia[2
Sony VGN-SR31M/S Keyboard94][295] and "the last great art movement of the 20th century";[296] its exponents have included Emily Kngwarreye.[297][298] Art critic Robert Hughes has written several influential books about Australian history and art, and was described as the "world's most famous art critic" by The New York Times.[29Sony VGN-SR29XN/S Keyboard9] The National Gallery of Australia and state galleries maintain Australian and overseas collections.[300] Australia has one of the world's highest attendances of art galleries and museums per head of population—far more than Britain or America.[301]
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Many of Australia's performing arts companies receive funding through the federal government's Australia Council.[302] There is a symphony orchestra in each state,[303] and a national opera company, Opera Australia,[304] well-known for its famous soprano Joan Sutherland.[305] At the turn of the 19th to 20th century,
Sony VGN-SR39XN/S KeyboardNellie Melba was one of the world's leading opera singers.[306] Ballet and dance are represented by The Australian Ballet and various state companies. Each state has a publicly funded theatre company.[307][308][309]
Performance of Aboriginal song and dance in the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney
Australian literature has also been influenced by the landscape; the works of writers such as Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, and Dorothea Mackellar captured the experience of the Australian bush.[310] Sony VPCY21S1E Keyboard
The character of the nation's colonial past, as represented in early literature, is popular with modern Australians.[280] In 1973, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature,[311] the first Australian to have achieved this.[31Sony VPCYB3V1E Keyboard
Sony VPCY11M1R Keyboard 2] Australian winners of the Man Booker Prize have included Peter Carey and Thomas Keneally;[313] David Williamson, David Malouf, and J. M. Coetzee, who recently became an Australian citizen, are also renowned writers,[314] and Les Murray is regarded as "one of the leading poets of his generation".[315]
Media
Main articles: Television in Australia, Media of Australia, and Music of Australia
The Australian cinema industry began with the 1906 release of The Story of the Kelly Gang, which is regarded as being the world's first feature-length film;[316] Sony VPCYB3V1E/R Keyboard
but both Australian feature film production and the distribution of British-made features declined dramatically after World War I as American studios and distributors monopolised the industry,[317Sony VPCY11M1E Keyboard
Sony VPCYB3Q1R Keyboard ] and by the 1930s around 95 per cent of the feature films screened in Australia were produced in Hollywood. By the late 1950s feature film production in Australia had effectively ceased and there were no all-Australian feature films made in the decade between 1959 and 1969.[318]
Thanks to initiatives by the Gorton and Whitlam federal governments, the New Wave of Australian cinema of the 1970s brought provocative and successful films, some exploring the nation's colonial past, such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Breaker Morant,[319] while the so-called "Ocker" genre produced several highly successful urban-based comedy features including The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and Alvin Purple.[32
Sony VPCYB1S1R Keyboard 0][321][322] Later hits included Mad Max and Gallipoli.[323][324] More recent successes included Shine and Rabbit-Proof Fence.[325][326] Notable Australian actors include Judith Anderson,[327] Errol Flynn,[328] Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts,[329] Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush, and Cate Blanchett—current joint director of the Sydney Theatre Company.[330][331] Sony VPCY11S1E Keyboard
Australia has two public broadcasters (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the multicultural Special Broadcasting Service), three commercial television networks, several pay-TV services,[33Sony VPCY11S1E/S Keyboard
Sony VPCYB1S1E Keyboard 2] and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Each major city has at least one daily newspaper,[332] and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review.[332] In 2010, Reporters Without Borders placed Australia 18th on a list of 178 countries ranked by press freedom,
behind New Zealand (8th) but ahead of the United Kingdom (19th) and United States (20th).[333] This relatively low ranking is primarily because of the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia;[334] most print media are under the control of News Corporation and Fairfax Media.[335]
Cuisine
Main article: Australian cuisine
The Pavlova has been consumed in Australia since the 20th century.
The food of Indigenous Australians was largely influenced by the area in which they lived. Most tribal groups subsisted on a simple hunter-gatherer diet, hunting native game and fish and collecting native plants and fruit. The general term for native Australian flora and fauna used as a source of food is bush tucker.[
Sony VPCYA1V9E Keyboard 336][337] The first settlers introduced British food to the continent[338] which much of what is now considered typical Australian food is based on the Sunday roast has become an enduring tradition for many Australians.[339] Since the beginning of the 20th century, food in Australia has increasingly been influenced by immigrants to the nation, particularly from Southern European and Asian cultures.[338][3
Sony VPCYA1C5E Keyboard 39] Australian wine is produced in 60 distinct production areas totalling approximately 160,000 hectares, mainly in the southern, cooler parts of the country. The wine regions in each of these states produce different wine varieties and styles that take advantage of local climates and soil types. The predominant varieties are Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sony VPCW1E8R/BU Keyboard
Merlot, Sémillon, Pinot noir, Riesling, and Sauvignon blanc.[340][341][342][215][343][344] In 1995, an Australian red wine, Penfolds Grange, won the Wine Spectator award for Wine of the Year, the first time a wine from outside France or California achieved this distinction.[345]
Sport
Main article: Sport in Australia
Cricket has been an important part of Australia's sporting culture since the 19th century.[346]
Around 24 per cent Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities in Australia.[21Sony VPCY11V9E Keyboard
Sony VPCY21V9E Keyboard 4] Australia has strong international teams in cricket, field hockey, netball, rugby league, and rugby union, having been Olympic or world champions at least twice in each sport in the last 25 years for both men and women where applicable.[347][348][3Sony VPCY11V9E/S Keyboard
49][350][351][352][353][354] Australia is also powerful in track cycling, rowing, and swimming, having consistently been in the top-five medal-winners at Olympic or World Championship level since 2000.[355][356][357] Swimming is the strongest of these sports; Australia is the second-most prolific medal winner in the sport in Olympic history.[358][359][360]
Some of Australia's most internationally well-known and successful sportspeople are swimmers Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose, Shane Gould, and Ian Thorpe; sprinters Shirley Strickland, Betty Cuthbert, and Cathy Freeman;[361] tennis players Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Evonne Goolagong, and Margaret Court; Sony VPCY21S1E/L Keyboard
cricketers Donald Bradman and Shane Warne; three-time Formula One world champion Jack Brabham; five-time motorcycle grand prix world champion Mick Doohan; golfers Greg Norman and Karrie Webb;[362Sony VPCY21S1E/P Keyboard
] cyclist Hubert Opperman, prodigious billiards player Walter Lindrum[363] and basketball player Andrew Bogut.[364] Nationally, other popular sports include Australian rules football, horse racing, squash, surfing, soccer, and motor racing. The annual Melbourne Cup horse race and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race attract intense interest.
Australia has participated in every summer Olympics of the modern era,[365] and every Commonwealth Games.[366] Australia hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney,[3
Sony VPCY21B7E Keyboard 67] and ranked among the top six medal-takers for the games of 2000, 2004 and 2008.[368] In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Australia was placed 10th in the medal table.[3
Sony VPCY21A7E Keyboard 69] Australia has also hosted the 1938, 1962, 1982, 2006 Commonwealth Games and will host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.[370] Other major international events held in Australia include the Australian Open tennis grand slam tournament, international cricket matches, and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Sony VPCY21S1E/SI Keyboard Sydney hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup and the annual Australia–New Zealand Bledisloe Cup is keenly watched. The highest-rating television programs include sports telecasts such as the summer Olympics, FIFA World Cup, Rugby League State of Origin, and the grand finals of the National Rugby League and Australian Football League.[ HP Pavilion DV7-1105EA Keyboard
371] Skiing in Australia began in the 1860s and snow sports take place in the Australian Alps and parts of Tasmania.