Dependent Territories and Commonwealth Countries

Dependent Territories and Commonwealth Countries

Almost all the countries that were once a part of the British Empire belong to the "Commonwealth". Britain is just one of the Commonwealth's members, with no extra privileges or responsibilities. The process of transformation of the empire into the modern political organization is remarkable. Its 14 dependent territories are mostly self-governed, having their own legislature and civil service. The motherland of Britain is responsible for their defense, security, external affairs, and judiciary. They are:

Anguilla

Bermuda

British Antarctic Territory

British Indian Ocean Territory

British Virgin Islands

Falkland Island

Gibraltar

Hong Kong

Montesano

Pitcairn, Ducie, Henderson, Oeno

St. Helena and St. Helena Dependencies (Ascension and Tristan de Cunha)

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Turks and Caicos Island

These countries and Britain were described as: ' ... autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations'. In 1931 the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster which allowed the Dominions to become independent nations. Most of them do not have natural resources and some of them are not even inhabited permanently such as British Antarctic, British Indian Ocean, South Georgia and South Sandwich Island. Some of them are still claimed by the governments of other countries such as the Falkland Island, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands by Argentina and Gibraltar by Spain.

According to the agreement concluded in 1984 between Britain and the People's Republic of China, Britain was responsible for the administration of Hong Kong until 1997. Since then Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China but it has maintained the social system of capitalism for 50 years and it enjoys the autonomous status.

There are also some territories belonging to the voluntary association of Commonwealth that also recognize the British Queen as their head. The association has 50 countries with over 1,500 million people of all races and faiths. Most of the territories associated in Commonwealth belonged also to the British Empire previously, but they were granted their independence. Some of them are republics but there are also national monarchies. After having abolished its policy of apartheid, South Africa rejoined the Organisation.

Commonwealth is supported by the member states, promotes co-operations among professional national association, and encourages professional training, information and technical exchange.

The London Declaration of 1949 said that the British monarch would be a symbol of the free association of independent countries, and the Head of the Commonwealth meaning that republics could also be members, if they accept the monarch as Head of the Commonwealth not as their own Head of State. Today, most member countries are republics. Thus when Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952 she became Head of the Commonwealth. She is a symbol of the association - she has no powers to decide what the Commonwealth should do or how it should conduct its affairs. However, the Queen has had a very important role in shaping the modern Commonwealth. When she became Queen, she was a young woman. She sympathized with the young African politicians who were campaigning for independence from British rule. Throughout the last 50 years the Queen has shown a great commitment to the Commonwealth, visiting many of its member-countries and attending most Heads of Government Meetings. When the Queen dies or if she abdicates, her heir will not automatically become Head of the Commonwealth. It will be up to the Commonwealth heads of government to decide what they want to do about this symbolic role. Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings After the Commonwealth Games, the Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGMs) are the most well known events of the Commonwealth. In the spotlight of the world's media, the Commonwealth leaders gather to discuss matters of common interest. The journalists are quick to emphasize disagreements, but the real work of the meetings goes on behind the scenes and away from the press.

1. Aims of Commonwealth:

1.2. Human Rights

The Harare Declaration of 1991 confirmed the association's commitment to the protection of fundamental human rights. To prevent exploitation of children and to promote their rights, the Commonwealth encourages all its members to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has also drawn up a curriculum on human rights and a teacher's guide, which can be adapted for use in member countries.

1.3. Freedoms

People must be free to express their opinions and to criticise government actions. One way they do this is through the media. Newspapers, radio and television have a vital role to play in any democracy - they help to make the government accountable to its citizens. Throughout the Commonwealth there is a vigorous tradition of journalism and broadcasting - and the common use of English means there is ample opportunity for co-operation.

Peace and Order Promotion

The Commonwealth tries to resolve disputes and conflicts within and between its members as soon as possible. Commonwealth is seen as a friendly, non-threatening organisation. It has credibility and can call on very experienced people to help solve problems. If there is trouble in a country, the Secretary-General often visits himself, or sends an envoy from another Commonwealth country. The aim is to persuade the two sides in the dispute to talk to each other and solve their problems, before open conflict breaks out. When violent conflict breaks out, then the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meets. This group is made up of eight Commonwealth foreign ministers. They decide what should be done

1.5. Civil Society

Democracy isn't just about having elections. It is also about having an open, just and honest government, about respect for the law and for the human rights of all people, including women, young people, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities.

To achieve this kind of society, ordinary people have to play an active part and governments have to listen to them. People cannot sit passively waiting for government to solve all their problems. When people take action, whether individually or in a group, they are building a civil society. A strong civil society is essential for embedding democracy into the very fabric of a country.

1.6. International co-operation

International co-operation is fundamental to the Commonwealth. By sharing problems and experiences member countries help each other - and this helps to improve people's lives. The Commonwealth works in an informal way through forming partnerships - not telling governments what to do, but working with them. These methods of working are among the strengths of the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC).

Assistance of Small States

Of the 53 member countries of the Commonwealth, 32 are classified as small states. Most of these have a population of less than 1.5 million. Many are islands - in the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Because of the high number of such states in the Commonwealth, the association has developed a unique understanding of their problems. Small states need particular assistance because:

2. Commonwealth Culture:

2.1. Literature

The shared history of British rule has also produced a substantial body of writing in many languages - Commonwealth literature. There is an Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS) with nine chapters worldwide. ACLALS holds an international conference every three years.

In 1987, the Commonwealth Foundation established the Commonwealth Writers Prize "to encourage and reward the upsurge of new Commonwealth fiction and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin." Caryl Phillips won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2004 for A Distant Shore. Mark Haddon won the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2004 Best First Book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

Although not affiliated with the Commonwealth in an official manner, the prestigious Booker Prize is awarded annually to an author from a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland. This honour is one of the highest in literature. The Best Book Award 2005 has been won by Andrea Levy for Small Island (Review, UK). Andrea Levy was born in England to Jamaican parents. She is the author of Every Light in the House Burnin', Never Far from Nowhere and Fruit of the Lemon. Small Island won the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread Book of the Year 2004. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, from Nigeria, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2005 First Best Book prize for Purple Hibiscus (Fourth Estate,UK). Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria in 1977. She is from Abba, in Anambra State, but grew up in the university town of Nsukka, where she attended primary and secondary schools. Purple Hibiscus, her first novel, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and was winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy award for debut fiction. She is a Hodder fellow at Princeton University for the 2005-2006 academic year.

3. Australia

3.1. Geographical and Historical Hints

Before the arrival of European settlers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples inhabited most areas of the Australian continent. Each people spoke one or more of hundreds of separate languages, with lifestyles and cultural traditions that differed according to the region in which they lived. Their complex social systems and highly developed traditions reflect a deep connection with the land and environment.

Asian and Oceanic mariners and traders were in contact with Indigenous Australians for many centuries before the European expansion into the Eastern Hemisphere. Some formed substantial relationships with communities in northern Australia.

In 1768-79 Captain James Cook led three voyages to the South Pacific. These voyages brought the British into contact with the huge land of Australia. Taking troublesome people to the other side of the world appealed to the British, especially since criminals could not be taken to America any more. In 1788 the first convict colony was established at Botany Bay in Australia - 737 men, women and children. In total, 162,000 convicts were sent to Australia before the practice ended in 1868. Most settled in Australia once they were free. The British viewed Australia as an empty land, disregarding the rights of the aboriginal peoples. They hunted these people down. Many aborigines were killed or died of the new diseases brought by the white men. It is only now that the ancient land rights of the aboriginal peoples are being recognised.

Australia is an island continent situated in the southern hemisphere. It is bounded on the west by the Indian Ocean and on the east by the Coral Sea and the Tasmanian Sea of the South Pacific Ocean. Almost 40% of its territory is north of the Tropic Capricorn. The land extremities are Steep Point (Western Australia), Cape Byron (New South Wales) in the east, Cape York (Queensland) in the North and South East, Cape Tasmania in the South. Australia's totals area is 2,967,741 square miles. This is almost the size of the United States excluding Alaska and Hawaii, and half as large again as Europe excluding Russia and the former Soviet countries.

Australia is the fattest of the continents. Almost three quarters of the land mass is a vast ancient plateau, averaging about 1000 ft. above sea level. Another large part is lowland of less than 500 ft. The third structural division is a highland belt, featuring a chain of elevated plateaus known as the Great Dividing Lange. The dominating structural division, the Great Western Plateau emerges from Western Australia's coastal plains to cover almost the whole of the State. It is mostly formed of very old and hard rocks, with a few higher table lands and ridges such as the Kimberley's region and Hamersley, MacDonnell and Musgrave Ranges. The few other outcrops interrupting the flat monotony of the plateau are significant more for geological phenomena than for their topographical importance. Such structures include Ayers Rock, a high monolith six miles in circumference rising from the central Australian Desert to a height of 1100 ft. It is sometimes referred to as "largest pebble in the world" A good deal of the Great Western Plateau is practically desert - sand ridges, "gibber" plains of pebbles or barren land with grass and spiky bushes.

The Eastern Highlands provide the highest points in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. They are Mount Bartle Frere (5287 ft); Mount Bogong (6516 ft); Mount Ossa (5305 ft) in Tasmania wet and wild central west. Because of its global sitting and physical features, Australia has a well-varied climate, generally without severe extremes. Over inland areas the extremes range of temperature is 70 to 90 F. On the north coast and the Queensland coast the Extreme range is about 60F.

The traditional white Christmas of European and northern hemisphere countries is unknown in Australia, which celebrates Christmas and the New Year in summer. December to February is the summer season; March to May, autumn, June to August winter, and September to November, spring. In Northern Australia the year is divided into the usual tropical divisions of dry and wet seasons with January, February and March as the wettest months. On the coast the rainfall is often abundant, but the temperatures are prevented from becoming low by the moist atmosphere and from becoming very high by rain and cloud. Inland, however, conditions are drier and the range of temperature from early morning to afternoon increases with distance from the coast.

Australia's long isolation as a land mass has resulted in a vegetation predominantly different from that of the rest of the world. The relatively arid conditions which came to prevail intensified the struggle for existence. It is these plants which form the main part of the country's flora, with the gums (Eucalyptus) and wattles (Acacias) predominating as general. Australia's fauna, are an example of how evolution and isolation favors the development of many different forms from few ancestral types, is remarkable for the presence of many unique animals and the absence of many others known in other countries. The kangaroo has become a symbolic of Australia. Even its name is a derivation of the Aboriginal word Kanguru and shares a place in the nation's coat-of-arms with the emus, a large flightless bird also exclusive to Australia. As well known as the kangaroo and perhaps even more popular in appeal is the koala, often called the native bear. The name Koala is derived from an Aboriginal word implying that the animal does not normally drink; apparently it gets enough liquid from eucalyptus leaves. The European discovery that Terra Incognita actually existed was a by-product of Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch mercantile expansion into Asia. Portuguese and Dutch vessels sailed around the southern tip of Africa and the Spanish pushed across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines from their colonies in South America.

The first Englishman to visit the continent was the buccaneer William Dampier in 1688. After adventures in the Caribbean and along the South American coast, Dampier landed at Buccaneer Archipelago near King Sound on the north/west coast. Had these early explorers discovered the more futile and attractive east coast, Australia's history as a European occupied country would have started much earlier. Instead, it was not until 1770 more than 70 years after the previous explorers had visited Australia, that captain James Cook of the Royal Navy first sighted the east coast of the continent. He hoisted the British flag and formally took possession of the eastern parts of the continent. The first settlers arrived at Botany Bay 18 years after Cook's visit and make their first camp at Sydney Cove on the shoes of Port Jackson. The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement and penal colony at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January . This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. The transportation of convicts to Australia was phased out between 1840 and 1868.

This was the beginning of Australia, which in 184 years has grown into a modern thriving nation. With a rapid growth of a free population and a more rapid increase of stock settlements spread quickly and the opening of a way through the Blue Mountains in 1813 led to a spontaneous overflow on to the Western plains. Ownership of this land was established by occupation or "squatting". The term "squatter" meaning a pastoralist, remains in the Australian vocabulary, along with its derivative "squattocracy" .Meanwhile, immigration and natural increase had brought the population to an important amount. From the days of the first settlement, immigration has been a feature of the country's development. The discovery of gold by Edward Hardgrave at Bathurst on the Western plains of the New South Wales in 1851, followed by incredibly rich finds at Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria, brought a great influx of men from all over the world, of varying occupations and experience who introduced vigour of thought and initiative.

Before 1800, Captain John Macarthur and others began experiments in breeding fine wool merinos, and he laid the foundations of the future economic development of the country. The first fine wool was exported in 1807 in England. By 1880, sheep numbered 25,000.

Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping.

3.2. Government

The self government became an early objective because of the increasing administrative problems. The first constitutional charter was granted in 1823 when the British Government passed an Act which authorized the creation of a council possessing a limited legislative responsibility. The state chose to become a penal colony in 1850, and it was not until 1886 that "convictism" ended officially. The first draft of a Federal constitution was drawn up. The Commonwealth of Australia was declared to come into being on and after January 1 1901. The Commonwealth Constitution provided that Federal Parliament shown sit in Melbourne.

Before then, the six colonies were self governing under the British Crown. These colonies had gradually adopted the system known as cabinet or responsible government, which had grown up in Britain over the previous 300 years. The Federal Parliament consists of the Crown, represented by the Governor General; the Senate, elected on a universal adult franchise with states having equality of representation; and the House of Representatives, also elected on a universal adult franchise, with the state representation in proportion to population. The Federal Parliament was located in Melbourne from 1901 until 1927 when it was transferred to Canberra, the national capital. The Governor General's powers under the Constitution include summoning, proroguing and dissolving Parliament; assessing to Bills; appointing Ministers; setting up Departments of State; commanding the armed forces and appointing judges.

The Senate is a House of review, a function universally accepted as the role of a second chamber. The House of Representatives is designed to be the legislative body representing national interest as a whole. Its members are directly chosen by the people.

Australia has a decimal system of currency of which the unit is the dollar. A dollar consists of 100 cents. The design of banknotes features the antiquity, history and culture of Australia and their legal tender for any amount.

3.3. Economy in Australia

Australia is an important producer and exporter of primary products. It leads the world in wool production and it is a significant supplier of cereals, minerals, diary products, meat, sugar, fruits. The manufacturing industry has grown spectacularly after the removal of interstate trade barriers and the adoption of a uniform protective tariff. Iron and steel and many related and subsidiary industries were established, machinery production extended, and a wide range of high grade products textiles, metal manufactures, electrical goods: optical

instruments and chemicals. There are also shipbuilding yards situated at Why Alta, Adelaide, Brisbane, Maryborough, Newcastle, Sydney, and Melbourne. The value of the output of the industrial and heavy chemicals industry has risen dramatically in recent years. From primary raw materials such as petroleum, coal, molasses, salt, sulphur and limestone, the industry produces many basic chemicals. These include ammonia, chlorine, caustic soda, soda ash. All sectors of the textile and clothing industries are well developed from the processing of natural and man-made fibers to the making up of a wide variety of apparel, household and industrial goods.

Australia is one of the world's leading surplus food producing countries, and it also has considerable potential for future expansion. It produces and exports substantial amounts of bulk raw or fresh foodstuffs, including meats (lamb, beef, pork, poultry, offal), diary produce, fruit ranging from tropical pineapple, bananas and mangoes, to deciduous fruits, citrus and berry fruits; grains, sugar, abalone and scallops. A particular importance in the food industry has been a growing emphasis on such processed foods as frozen, canned, pre-cooked and packed convenience food.

Australia has a thriving metropolitan and country press, free from government control and censorship. Capital city newspaper circulation, in proportion to population, is among the highest in the world, the ratio being more than 500 copies a thousand people. Sydney and Melbourne newspapers have more than two thirds of the total circulation of capital city dailies. Australian newspapers editions are free to print anything they choose, within the bounds of laws of libel designed to prevent unrestrained plying into personal affairs and defamation of character, and subject to certain requirements. Most city newspapers are owned by public companies, but some privately owned papers have played an important part in Australian history and have acquired family traditions.

3.4. Education

Tuition in government school is free at primary and secondary level School attendance is compulsory between the ages of six and 15 at least. Besides government schools there are also many non-government schools, the majority being conducted by religions denomination. Each state education department prescribes its own syllabus, concentrating on reading, writing, arithmetic and social studies. Progression from primary to secondary school is usually automatic. Allocation to particular schools or particular courses is based on the recommendation of the schoolmaster, ability, achievement tests, and parents' wishes. Secondary students take up new studies, such as foreign languages, technical and commercial subjects, and more on to more specialized studies in natural and social science and mathematics.

Most common type of secondary is the comprehensive or multipurpose high school, which offers a wide range of subjects. The curriculum consists of general educational subjects and practical training. The educational system, mostly the secondary level, benefit from limited financial help through scholarship or bursaries. As tuition in Government schools is free, this help is usually in the form of maintenance allowances that are paid in lump sums or installments throughout the year. Awards are usually made on the results of a competitive examination, and sometimes a means test is applied. Many non-government schools also award scholarships on a competitive basis, to allow students to attend school without paying fees. The matriculation examination or the Leaving Certificate, Senior Public, Matriculation and Higher School Certificate, qualifies students for entry to universities colleges of higher education, teachers' colleges, etc. However, there is a tendency of no longer using examinations as sole criterion for entrance to tertiary courses.

For the secondary education two main examinations are held: the first (Leaving, Junior or School Certificate examination) is held at the end of the third, fourth or fifth year to quality pupils for entry to trade courses, at technical colleges and to some agriculture colleges, to commercial occupation such as junior positions in insurance, and banking, to nursing and secretarial courses, and to some positions in the public service and industry. Under the Achievement Certificate, the second type of examination, students' work is continuously assessed. They are awarded certificate whether or not they complete third-year high school.

On the fringes of metropolitan areas and near big countries school busses carry children to and from school each day. Correspondence schools meet the needs of the children whose daily attendance at school is prevented by distance, illness or physical disability. Specially written lessons are studied under family supervision and papers are posted back for correction. Some children living too far from a secondary school to allow daily-travel live in hostels or are given money for privately owned residential. The Government also pays boarding allowances to the holders of bursaries or scholarships. The government also administers school medical and dental services, and school children's accident insurance schemes operate through Government or private insurance companies.

The academic education is provided by the 15 universities, the college courses have the vocational aim to produce graduates who can apply themselves readily to the problems and demands of industry, commerce and professions.

There are also conservatoire of music and specialized schools of arts having courses in painting, sculpture and design, while several of the larger technical institutes offer courses in plastic and industrial arts.

3.5. Cultural Heritage

In Australia the arts are given support by the Federal and State Government and private sources, through the Commonwealth Literary Fund, the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board, Commonwealth Assistance to Australian Composers and the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). The establishment of the Australian Council for the Arts in 1967 sprang from the Government wish to be more directly involved in helping the arts. The Council task was to recommend policies designed to develop and promote the quality, understanding and enjoyment of the arts, and tom act as the Government's agent in distributing financial support.

Two national touring companies supported by the Council are the Australian Opera and the Australian Ballet Music is supplied by the two Elizabethan Trust orchestras. Another touring company subsidized through the Council is the Marionette Theatre which has toured overseas. State drama companies are supported by the Council in most towns. In the Melbourne Theatre Company in Melbourne, the South Australian Theatre Company in Adelaide and the Queensland Theatre Company in Brisbane. The Council attaches great importance to professional training in the arts. It supports the National Institute of Dramatic Art and the Australian Ballet School. Festivals of arts are playing an increasing role in the nation's cultural live. The two biggest are Adelaide's biennial and Perth's annual festivals, both of which last several weeks and present overseas artists as well leading Australian companies. Other festivals of more popular nature are introducing arts programmes, and many small countries attract performers and artist all over the country. Australian playwrights have signal successes. A completion by the Playwrights' Advisory Board produced Ray Lawler's "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" in 1954 that is still the best known play abroad. Since then Lawler's Piccadilly Bushman, Richard Beynon's Shifting Heart, Alen Seymour's The One Day of the Year, Patrick White's The Ham Funeral, The Season at Sarsaparilla, A Cherry Soul and Night on Bald Mountain, and Alexander Buzo's Norm and Ahmed have brought new life and style to the Australian theatre. So were Morris West's the Devil's Advocate, which was produced in Australia and New York and his Daughters of Silence. Among the Australian actors with international reputation are Peter Finch, Judith Anderson, Zoë Caldwell, Rod Taylor, Diane Cilento and Leo McKern. In the last few years Australia has been the location for several feature films and American, British and Japanese enterprises have combined with local interests to produce films with unique settings. Official government film production and distribution organization is the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit, part of the News and Information Bureau of the Department of the Interior. The Unit makes 60 films a year in the documentary, information and educational fields. Films fall into two broad types, those produced for distribution overseas to promote knowledge and understanding of the country, and those for domestic distribution, dealing with matters of national interest and welfare.

Music

The first white men to settle Australia were London pickpockets, Irish Rick-burners, and poachers from the Midlands, already the inheritors of a long tradition of folk music. The Irish seem to have taken the lead. United by more than their chains, they sang in a whisper the old songs of Ireland. At the risk of flogging or hanging they sang the rebel songs too. The authorities called any criticism of the system 'treason', and punished it as such. But this never quite stopped the Irish from singing, and it never stopped them from making up new, local verses to old tunes. From mouth to ear and from ear to mouth, not always of the same nationality, both kinds of song spread through the convict settlements; and no amount of floggings could stop them.

Emancipists, bolters and the pick of the free settlers pushed out into the bush where no laws ran, and took the 'treason' songs with them to sing there. But the face of the country had been drastically changed by the gold rush. Many of the gold-rush songs are anonymous; most of them that survive are the work of professional entertainers, Thatcher, Colon and others- witty, topical verses set to current overseas hit tunes for use in the theatres and cabarets of the mushroom gold towns. They are seldom heard from bush singers today.

Then the alluvial gold petered out. Many towns shrank back into idleness. Unemployment grew serious. Many squatters were bankrupted by the Land Acts, and went off droving or shearing in the new outback. Owing to the fact the cadets (alias jackaroos or narangies) were literate we know a fair bit about their singing habits. Living an isolated sort of life between the homestead and the men's hut, jackaroos sometimes amused themselves by composing and singing new verses to familiar tunes.

The men of the nomad trades, the drovers, shearers, bullockies and the rest, were great diffusers of songs; and in addition they composed their own. It was in the late 1880's that the first printing of bush songs occurred, but the first systematic collection was begun by AB Paterson in 1898. He published a first thin edition of The Old Bush Songs in 1905 and successive enlarged ones until 1932. Many contributors helped him, including ex-bushranger Jack Bradshaw.

But folksongs belong in the home, in the pub, or on a friendly veranda; not in a list of set pieces. The new generations cast aside their didgeridoos and lagerphones (bottle top instruments) and embraced the guitars and drums of Great Britain. But even though the medium changed, strong Australian fingerprints still defined the music's substance. Specifically, a strong larrikin streak had millions of people throughout the world shaking their heads in bemusement at the peculiar musical style of Australians.

The unique musical charge was headed by the likes of Rolf Harris whose "tie me Kangaroo down, sport" raised suspicions that kangaroos are to Australians what sheep are to New Zealanders. Joe Dolce took the piss out of his Italian ancestry with "Shaddap You Face"; a novelty ditty that toped the charts world wide and has since been voted the worst No. 1 song in British pop history. The music of AC/DC had the strongest Convict themes since the early days of the colony. They reignited a sense of defiance with songs such as "TNT." They continued the Australian tradition of taking the piss out of the pompous with "Big Balls"; a song that equates the elite's quest for social esteem with a proud declaration of testicle size. They sang of debauchery with "Touch to Much" , female empowerment with "She's Got Balls" and explored the criminal element with "Dirty Deeds", "Sin City" and "Jailbreak."

The melancholy that defined the early Convict music also remerged with Australian artists singing about the Vietnam War. Cold Chisel's "Khe Sahn" and Red Gums,"I was only 19" became immortal tunes that triggered empathy for Australian servicemen's sense of anguish.

The 80s was a particularly dynamic era in the creation of unofficial national anthems. In 1984, Men at Work revived the nomadic spirit of wandering with the travelling song "Down Under"; a song containing lyrics such as "I come from a land down under where beer does flow and men chunder."

One artist, Kevin Bloody Wilson, even created his own genre. A hybrid mix of historical musings, humour and swear words, Wilson songs appealed to those who wanted to make fun of wowser moralising.

In the 90s, Australia has also produced its fair share generic acts which have gained huge international sales, but have not achieved immortality across the generations. As such generic acts try hard not to offend, they were chosen for the musical scores representing Australia at the Sydney Olympics. Curiously, they failed to capture the prevailing larrikin vibe of the games and sales were disappointing. As well as failing at the time, it seems history has provided no redemption for nowadays the songs are never heard.

Pop, heavy metal, rock, country and western, techno, rap and reggae remains firmly entrenched in the Australian music scene. However folk music which had been on the verge of extinction has undergone somewhat of a revival. Australia wide, capital cities host folk festivals that give bush musicians the chance to come together and play before an audience once more.

Australia has now fully professional symphony orchestras in every large town. The Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras have toured abroad with acclaim. Chamber music is organized on a national touring level by the Musica Viva Society which imports international groups each year such as the Percussions de Strasbourg, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and London's Aeolian Quartet. Many composers, singers and instrumentalists of the past and present have achieved international fame: they include Dame Nellie Melba, Peter Dawson, Percy Grainger, Harold Williams, Malcolm McEachern, Joan Hammond, Kenneth Neate, June Bronhill, Marie Collier, Malcolm Williamson and Geoffrey Parsins. An outstandingly successful composer established overseas is Ron Grainer who wrote the music for Robert and Elisabeth and the haunting themes for BBC television series like Maigret. All state capitals have big art galleries. Canberra has a National Gallery built in 1967 by the Federal Government to house the national collection and new acquisitions in contemporary works, with special reference to Australian painters and paintings from the South East Asian and Pacific regions. International exhibitions of art are touring overseas and are being received enthusiastically. Commercial galleries are opening each year to meet the increasing demand of private collector and practice of decorating new buildings with commissioned works is increasing. Several contemporary artists including the late Sir William Dobell, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman, and John Perceval have attracted international recognition, as have sculptors Tom Bass, Norma Redpath, Clifford Last and others

3.5.2. Literature

The first known writers living in Australia were the officers of the First Fleet whose diaries and journals express their lively interest in the country to which they have been sent. Many of the explorers from Europe were not only close and accurate observers, but men of letters with a gift of humor and sense of style. One of the earliest of the Australian-born writers was Charles Harpur, the son of convict parents; he was intensely nationalistic at a time when nationalism was just beginning to creep into the Australian vocabulary. Harpur tried mighty to lay a foundation for an Australian poetry under conditions that would have discouraged most writers. Through his influence, the country found its first poet in Henry Kendall who sang of the more gentle aspects of the Australian landscape. The English-born Adam Lindsay Gordon is considered the first poet of any substance to attract a popular audience. He was the forerunner of Paterson, Barcroft Boake, and the school of bush balladist that developed from the earlier folk songs deep-rooted in native soil.

The tradition of the worker facing desolation of the countryside with a sardonic grin and a sentimental heart blossomed with the work of Henry Lawson. His ballads of poems also had a wide popular appeal, but the love-hate relationship between Australian man and his environment. Lawson's identification with the Australian worker has followed by many "social realist" writers. Notable exponents in this field were Joseph Farphy and Vance Palmer and also Katherine Susannah Prichard, Xavier Hubert Dymphna Cusack and Kylie Tennant who have also brought imagination and creative talent to their writing. The stream of lyric poetry continued from Kendall to Hugh McCrae to John Shaw Neilson and others. In the decade after the 1920s with a more sophisticated voice Kenneth Slessor at this time introduced into local poetry to English modernism of T.S. Eliot. He was followed by R.D. Fitzgerald, Judith Wright, Douglas Steward, David Campbell, James McAuley and others who all look to their native roots for their inspiration, although a few poets like A.D. Hope and Michael Thwaites are cosmopolitan.
Since the end of the World War II the writers, particularly the young poets are now concerned with social problems and universal themes.

Fiction writing developed slowly. There were from the beginning novels written in an Australian setting - something exotic for the people at home to wonder at - as in the novels of Rosa Praed and Ada Cambridge. Then there appeared the novels of Marcus Clarke and Rolf Boldrewood who wrote of convicts and bushrangers. In fiction writing, the influence of European naturalism was seen in the novels of Henry Handel Richardson. In these days creative writers like Patrick White and Randolph Stow have moved away from social realism and are concerned more with character than setting. Morris West has become a best selling novelist and Jon Cleary has had several of his novels made into films. Other names can be mentioned about Australian literature: Thomas Kenneally, Alan Morehead, George Johnston, Geoffrey Dutton, D'Arcy Niland, Ruth Park, Eleanor Dark, and Ernestine Hill.

There has been an important increase in local book publication in recent years and overseas have come in strength to take advantage of the increase market. Universities are active in the publishing field, with a variety of academic and other publications of special domestic interest.

Australia seeks to offer a preserved cultural integrity. Its intangible cultural heritage or living cultural heritage is manifested inter alia in oral traditions, expressions and language, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices about nature and the universe, traditional craftsmanship.

3.5.3.Painting

Australian aboriginal paintings are the world's oldest form of painting. They are complex, weaving history, mythology and geography of the land into a whole, giving directions to a billabong accounts of a historical encounter with another tribe or a mythical man turning into a kookaburra during dreamtime. Such paintings offer value to hunters, people on walkabout as well as the storytellers entrusted to communicate the essence of the tribe's identity and the individual's place within it. When European artists arrived in the 18th century, they brought with them the relatively juvenile traditions of the "old" world. The likes of Eugéne von Guérard and Nicholas Chevalier tended to paint what they saw and the value of the work was principally in its aesthetics qualities. Like most artists, they strove for a sense of uniqueness and tried to find it by painting the Australian land. But despite being technically skilled, most of their early paintings neither captured the look nor the feeling of the landscape. The Australian land is messy and random. The trees are twisted with the chaotic look of an old lady's broken fingers. The bark hangs like a poor child wearing the well-used hand-me-downs of an older sibling. The earth is littered with leaves and old branches. As the topsoil is thin, it reveals the immense history of the earth; its faults, its fossils, its bones and its sediment. The colours are dull and contrast is slight but with this dullness, comes great complexity of colour. Yet despite these distinguishing characteristics, the European's paintings looked and felt more like the French Alps or the rolling hills of Ireland. They used deep colours of monotone green that made Australia seem new and fertile. They used deep blues in conjunction with white to create feelings of contrast. Some artists even tried to further emphasise the uniqueness with a few token Aborigines. Unfortunately, they made Aborigines look more like black Romans who forgot to put on their tunics. .One artist who did manage to attain a sense of regional definition was Convict artist W.B Gould. However Gould found his uniqueness not from the land, but from the people. His painting "The landlord" offers an insight into the origins of Australia's larrikin personality. It depicts a suited man with a toothless grin. Strict convention amongst noble man of the time was a deadpan expression; especially if one's teeth were missing. Without doubt, Gould had painted an ex-convict whose desire to conform to social prestige had been surpassed by a self-effacing personality.

Towards the beginnings of the 20th century, a cultural tradition was developing and led to the creation of the Heidleburg School. Together, a group of painters dealt with a common subject matter, learnt from each other, yet produced completely individualistic results. The likes of Tom Roberts, and Arthur Streeton captured the chaos and complexity of the land and wove into it the prevailing themes of nationalism and independence. Their paintings convey optimism with hill top gazes filled with vibrant blues and subtle yellows. Their subject matter included the pioneers whom were pushing the bush frontiers and who at the time were Australia's quintessential heroes.

Also painting the pioneers was Frederick McCubbin; however unlike Roberts and Streeton, McCubbin's themes tended to be melancholic. McCubbin painted thick bushland where light was dim and the environment seemed somewhat lonely and dark. Into the scene he would introduce a pioneer but rather than optimistically showing the pioneer conquering nature, McCubbin showed them being conquered themselves or using the bush as their refuge.

In the 1950's, Russell Drysdale went searching in the farthest frontier of them all; the outback. Drysdale's work is interesting to contrast to the optimism of previous pioneering artists. His paintings depict towns that had been the pioneering dream but were now laying desolate as the frontier shrink back into nothingness. They depict dilapidated iron structures that seem so fleeting in comparison to the eternity of the landscape and the native animals that have inhabited it since time immemorial. If appreciated in a historical context, Drysdale's works are not mere depictions of the outback, they record Australians changing their attitude towards their identity. Rather than depicting the bush as the place of opportunity, Drysdale's works are a record of a time when Australians began seeing the bush as a place of broken dreams and hence, began to look elsewhere for their heroes. Although Dysdale's paintings showed admiration for the survivors of the Bush, there was no longer any sense of envy or opportunity.

Another movement that explored the broken dreams was the Angry Penguins society. It included the likes of Albert Tucker who painted decaying carcasses of animals killed in a drought. Yet even in death the animals do not find peace, they loom large at the beholder as if they are the mutant remains of the apocalyse. The Angry Penguins also included Arthur Boyd who explored the difficult marriage of Aboriginal and non-aboriginal ideas. The marriage was perhaps finally consumated with the work of Sidney Nolan. More than any of his predecessors, Nolan's style was Aboriginal, not in terms of method, but in terms of substance. Nolan described his works as "a confused mix of landscape, animals, and aboriginal culture, with a kind of Bible overtone." Like traditional aboriginal art, Nolan married the land, the people, history and most importantly, mythology. Nolan became obsessed with the icons of Australia with the most notable being the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly. Nolan painted Ned as a comic book character, a magician, a leader and a martyr. He blended into Ned images of the landscape and even titled the paintings with newspaper commentary.

Nolan's work is a reflection of the evolution of the Australian style that seems to be somewhat of an assimilation to the mentality the Aborigines developed over tens of thousands of years. By blending myth, land, history and people into one, the value of Nolan's work is not in its aesthetics but rather in the thoughts they provoke.

As Australia ceased to be a bush-dreaming nation, an urban landscape style emerged to take its place. Despite having a different subject matter, the new style still retains much of the cognitive approach of the bush artists. Jeffrey Smart is the most renowned of the new urban landscape artists. Smart renders the sterile features of modernity - concrete streetscapes, industrial wastelands, freeways, street signs, trucks, containers and oil drums - into formal pictures which are beautiful and peaceful but also strangely unsettling. Again, they are not beautiful, but in their disturbing feelings they provoke a kind of need to explore further.

3.5.4. Craft

In the pioneering Australian age, craft ceased to be an expression of the heart and instead became a pragmatic solution to necessity. In times of hardship, the bushmen had no choice but to adapt, improvise and make do. With an optimistic outlook, they developed a can-do culture based on finding lateral solutions to novel problems. Crafts were fashioned from whatever material was available. A beer mug made from a hollow tree trunk. Coolers made by dripping water over canvas. Hats with corks to swat away the flies. Wheels from sliced tree logs. Ant hills puddled into water and spread across the floor to make a cement like surface. Strips of possum fur wound around the base of table legs to prevent ants invading food. Such craft served a purely functional purpose and aside from appreciation for ingenuity, they provoked few feelings. But to sympathetic and informed eyes, they now vividly state the material and spiritual aspirations of vanished generations.

The most famous craft of the pioneering era came from the Kelly Gang who fashioned plough shares into body armour. In their thoughts, the Kelly gang imagined iron protecting their bodies as they led the downcast into a revolution. But through history, the armour has become so much more. It has become a muse for creativity; a mask that concealed the face of Kelly, hiding his humanity, leaving nothing but an emotionless warrior. Yet at his trial, the unmasked Kelly revealed the voice of a poetic. A man loyal to his family, his friends and his convictions. Even when all hope was lost, a man of passion, courage and defiance. Such contradictions have inspired artists to paint, to write and to sing his story with his armour representing the essence of his life.

Towards the end of the 19th Century, some craftsmen evolved into artisans and set about introducing aesthetics into their home. Scrimshaws from bone, bullock horns and emus eggs. Picture frames decorated with gumnuts. Pillow cases sewn from an assortment of animal hides and hessian. Cigar boxes decorated with shards of pottery. A sign on the door of a modest bush hut saying "home."

In the 20th century, farmers and roaming swagman who lacked access to shops, continued to fashion their own solutions to their necessity. Letterboxes made from old milk tins. Automated fishing reels from window blind rollers mounted on a stick. Barbeques from old steel drums. Sticks and vines lashed into beds, gantries, animal traps and shelters.

Recreation was also important and sharing a song with a new friend was a favoured pastime. Needing to travel light, Aboriginal droving hands, swagman and bullockers fashioned musical instruments out of whatever was available. A 'lagerphone' invented by nailing bottle tops onto branches. The 'bones' made from two sawn ribs of a bullock. A didgeridoo made from hollow tree log. A violin from an empty cigar box, wallaby sinews for strings and horse hair for the bow.

Australians at war also showed them themselves more than capable of finding lateral solutions to novel problems. At Gallipoli, the Diggers fastened mirrors onto their guns to act as a telescope that could safely see over the top of the trenches. For the evacuation, to fool the Turks that Diggers were still fighting, guns were left with a makeshift timer set by dripping water into a can suspended from the trigger.

Towards the end of the 20th century, craft making began to flower in the cities. The most notable style was the recycling of fence pailings into tables, picture frames and book covers. Other common crafts included clocks fitted to polished tree burls, timber carved into candle holders and cigar boxes making use of gum nuts embedded in native timbers. In a world flooded with plastic and chipboard, such craft provided character, history, and naturalness. With time, the city craftsmen evolved their work so they were not merely producing innovative household goods, they were producing works of art. Some created wood mosaics of the landscape. Others shaped natural timber into sculptures that acted as a catalyst for thought or a reservoir of emotions.

A feature of many of the wooden sculptures are their feminine elements. Perhaps this reflects men sublimating their appreciation for females or women seeking a homo-erotic exploration. More likely though, it stems from the randomness of the Australian timber that compels the craftsmen to reveal mother nature's female form. Unlike the straight grained timber of the northern hemisphere, the grain of Australian timber ebbs and flows like a river. Branches are born only to die, and are then concealed by new layers of bark ala an oyster growing a pearl. In its lifetime, almost every wild tree will be burnt by fire but rather than die, the tree will recover, flowing new growth into and over its scare.

Australia's craft culture is the strongest in the industrialised world. To Australia's good fortune, space for pottery kilns, wielders, band-saws, wood-working lathes or drill presses can still be found in backyard sheds or garages. More importantly, many Australians still have that mental frame of mind to recycle, to adapt, to innovate and most importantly, to use their hands.