Culture of Australia - From Indigenous Australia To Modern Australia

From Indigenous Australia To Modern Australia

The oldest surviving cultural traditions in Australia – and some of the oldest surviving cultural traditions on earth – are those of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Their ancestors have inhabited Australia for between 40,000 and 60,000 years, living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. In 2006, the Indigenous population was estimated at 517,000 people, or 2.5 per cent of the total population. Most Aboriginal Australians have a belief system based on the Dreaming, or Dreamtime, which refers both to a time when ancestral spirits created land and culture, and to the knowledge and practices that define individual and community responsibilities and identity. Conflict and reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians has been a source of much art and literature in Australia, and ancient Aboriginal artistic styles and iconic inventions such as the boomerang, the didgeridoo and Indigenous Australian music have become symbols of modern Australia.

The arrival of the first British settlers at Sydney in 1788 introduced Western civilisation to the Australian continent. Although Sydney was initially used by the British as a place of banishment for prisoners, the arrival of the British laid the foundations for Australia's democratic institutions and rule of law, and introduced the long traditions of English literature, Western art and music, and Judeo-Christian ethics and religious outlook to a new continent.

The British Empire expanded across the whole continent and established six colonies. According to the historian Geoffrey Blainey, during the colonial period: "In a thousand isolated places there were occasional shootings and spearings. Even worse, smallpox, measles, influenza and other new diseases swept from one Aboriginal camp to another ... The main conqueror of Aborigines was to be disease and its ally, demoralisation." The colonies were later to become the six states of Australia; most were originally penal colonies - though South Australia established itself as a "free colony" with no convicts and a vision for a territory with political and religious freedoms, together with opportunities for wealth through business and pastoral investments.

William Wentworth established Australia's first political party in 1835 to demand democratic government for New South Wales. From the 1850s, the colonies set about writing constitutions which produced democratically advanced parliaments as Constitutional Monarchies with Queen Victoria as the head of state.

Women's suffrage in Australia was achieved from the 1890s. Women became eligible to vote in South Australia in 1895. This was the first legislation in the world permitting women to stand for political office and, in 1897, Catherine Helen Spence became the first female political candidate. Though constantly evolving, the key foundations for elected parliamentary government have maintained an historical continuity in Australia from the 1850s into the 21st century.

During the colonial era, distinctive forms of Australian art, music and literature developed through movements like the Heidelberg school of painters and the work of bush balladeers like Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson, whose poetry and prose did much to promote an egalitarian Australian outlook which placed a high value on mateship. Favourite games like cricket and rugby were imported from Britain at this time and a locally invented variant of football: Australian Rules Football took off as treasured cultural traditions.

The Commonwealth of Australia was founded in 1901, after a series of referenda conducted in the British colonies of Australasia. The Australian Constitution established a federal democracy and enshrined human rights such as sections 41 (right to vote), 80 (right to trial by jury), 116 (freedom of religion) as foundational principles of Australian law and included economic rights such as restricting the government to acquiring property only "on just terms". The Australian Labor Party was established in the 1890s and the Liberal Party of Australia in 1944, both rising to be the dominant political parties and rivals of Australian politics, though various other parties have been and remain influential. Voting is compulsory in Australia and government is essentially formed by a group commanding a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives selecting a leader who becomes Prime Minister. Australia remains a constitutional monarchy in which the largely ceremonial and procedural duties of the monarch are performed by a Governor General selected by the Australian government.

Australia fought at Britain's side from the outset of World War One and World War Two and came under attack from the Empire of Japan during the latter conflict. These wars profoundly affected Australia's sense of nationhood and a proud military legend developed around the spirit of Australia's ANZAC troops, who came to symbolise the virtues of mateship, courage and endurance for the nation.

The Australian colonies had experienced a taste of multi-ethnic immigration during the Australian gold rushes, but following Federation in 1901, the Parliament instigated the White Australia Policy that gave preference to British migrants and ensured that Australia remained a predominantly Anglo-Celtic society until well into the 20th Century. The post-World War II immigration program saw the policy dismantled by successive governments, permitting large numbers of Southern European, and later Asian and Middle Eastern migrants to arrive. The Menzies Government (1949-1966) and Holt Government dismantled the legal barriers to multi-ethnic immigration and by the 1970s, the Whitlam and Fraser Governments were promoting multiculturalism.

Some States and Territories of Australia retained discriminatory laws relating to voting rights for Aborigines into the 1960s, at which point full legal equality was established. A 1967 referendum to include all Aborigines in the national electoral roll census was overwhelmingly approved by voters. In 1984, a group of Pintupi people who were living a traditional hunter-gatherer desert-dwelling life were tracked down in the Gibson Desert and brought in to a settlement. They are believed to have been the last uncontacted tribe.

While the British cultural influence remained strong into the 21st century, other influences became increasingly important. The Hawaiian sport of surfing was adopted in Australia where a beach culture and the locally invented surf lifesaving movement was already burgeoning in the early 20th century. American pop culture and cinema were embraced in the 20th century - with country music and later rock and roll sweeping Australia - aided by the new technology of television and a host of American content. The 1956 Melbourne Olympics announced a confident, prosperous post-war nation, and new cultural icons like Australian country music star Slim Dusty and dadaist Barry Humphries expressed a uniquely Australian identity.

Australia's contemporary immigration program has two components: a program for skilled and family migrants and a humanitarian program for refugees and asylum seekers. By 2010, the post-war immigration program had received more than 6.5 million migrants from every continent. The population tripled in the six decades to around 21 million in 2010, including people originating from 200 countries. More than 43 per cent of Australians were either born overseas or have one parent who was born overseas. The population is highly urbanised, with more than 75% of Australians living in urban centres, largely along the coast.

Contemporary Australia is a pluralistic society, rooted in liberal democratic traditions - in which informality and egalitarianism are seen as key societal values. Heavily influenced by Anglo-Celtic origins the culture of Australia has also been shaped by multi-ethnic migration which has influenced all aspects of Australian life, including business, the arts, cooking, sense of humour and sporting tastes.