AUSTRALIAN CULTURE

People
Australia is a multicultural country. Australians were predominantly of British and Irish descent but that has changed dramatically after World War II. Australia became home to large amount of immigrants from Greece, Italy Yugoslavia, Lebanon and Turkey after the war, and more recently to immigrants from Asia. There are also the Torres Strait Islanders Aboriginal people who were thought to be the first people to arrive in Australia. Most Australians are English speaking. The Aussie's speech are quite distinctive in that shortened and indigenous slangs are used.

Films and Literature
Australians have been accused of being 'sports-crazy', and that is indeed true. However, they are also enthusiastic supporters of the arts and the communication industries. Australia ranks among the highest in their expenditure on arts and products in developed countries. Research also shows that Australians read more newspapers per head of population than any other nation!

Australian cultural achievements are becoming well known internationally through the awards gained by films and literature. Strictly Ballroom, the movie starring Paul Mercurio, won the Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992. The New Zealand-Australian production of The Piano won the Palme d'Or in 1993. In the United Kingdom, Thomas Kenneally and Peter Carey are making a name for themselves by each winning the prestigious Booker Prize for Literature. In 1994 the New York Times described the Australian Ballet as a 'world-class company' when it toured the United States.

Sport
Aussies are world beaters in cricket, rugby league, rugby union, swimming and cycling. Other popular sports are basketball, yatching, soccer and Aussie Rules - a special Australian sport, similar to Gaelic football. The Olympic Games will be held in Sydney in the year 2000.

Aboriginal Arts
Aboriginal art was little known and appreciated until recent years, partly due to the small number of people that knew of the Aboriginal people's art. The fact that it was only drawn in natural pigments and on natural surfaces like rocks, bark or the earth was also a longstanding inhibition. Now with the use of paint and canvas, the Aboriginal art has become more 'permanent and portable'. Where once it was restricted to the ethnographic sections of museums it now can be displayed in contemporary art galleries and has been shown internationally.

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