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Advance Australia Fair Australians all let us rejoice,For we are young and free;We've golden soil and wealth for toil;Our home is girt by sea;Our land abounds in nature's giftsOf beauty rich and rare;In history's page, let every stageAdvance Australia Fair.In joyful strains then let us sing,Advance Australia Fair. Beneath our radiant Southern CrossWe'll toil with hearts and hands;To make this Commonwealth of oursRenowned of all the lands;For those who've come across the seasWe've boundless plains to share;With courage let us all combineTo Advance Australia Fair.In joyful strains then let us sing,Advance Australia Fair.
Didgeridoo The didgeridoois a unique wind instrument of the Indigenous Australians of northern Australia. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden Trompet or "drone pipe".Musicologists classify it as an aerophone.A didgeridoo is usually cylindrical or conical in shape and can measure anywhere from 1 to 1.5 metres. Instruments shorter or longer than this are less common. Generally, the longer the instrument, the lower the pitch or key of the instrument. Keys from D to F are the preferred pitch of traditional Aboriginal players.
Construction and play Authentic Aboriginal didgeridoos produced in traditionally-oriented communities in northern Australia are typically made from hardwoods, especially the various eucalyptus species that are endemic to the region. Aboriginal craftsmen spend considerable time searching for a suitable tree to make into a didgeridoo. The difficult part is in finding a tree that has been suitably hollowed out by termites. If the hollow is too big or too small, it will make a poor quality instruments. The didgeridoo is played with continuously vibrating lips to produce the drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. This requires breathing in through the nose whilst simultaneously expelling air out of the mouth using the tongue and cheeks.
Boomerang A boomerang is a curved, usually wooden, device which is thrown. A boomerang spins as it flies through the air, and can travel long distances. A boomerang is designed to, when thrown correctly, fly in a curved path to return to the person who threw it.
Origins of Australian fauna • Australia was a part of the supercontinent Gondwana. • Several reasons for the uniqueness of Australia's fauna have been advanced. Australia was once part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, which also included South America, Africa, India and Antarctica. Gondwana began to break up 140 million years ago (MYA); 50 MYA Australia separated from Antarctica, and was relatively isolated until the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate with Asia in the Miocene era 5.3 MYA. The establishment and evolution of the present-day fauna was apparently shaped by the unique climate and the geology of the continent. As it drifted, Australia was, to some extent, isolated from the effects of global climate change, and the unique fauna that originated in Gondwana, like the marsupials, was conserved and radiated in Australia. • After the Miocene, fauna of Asian origin were able to establish themselves in Australia. The Wallace Line—the hypothetical line separating the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Australasia—marks the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates. This continental boundary prevented the formation of land bridges, which explains the distinct zoological distribution and limited overlap of most Asian and Australian fauna, with the exception of birds. Following the emergence of the circumpolar current in the mid-Oligocene era (some 15 MYA), the Australian climate became increasingly arid, giving rise to a diverse group of arid-specialised organisms, just as the wet tropical and seasonally wet areas have produced their own adapted species.
DesignA returning boomerang is a propeller. Though it is not a requirement that the boomerang be in its traditional shape, it is usually flat. A falling boomerang starts spinning and most then fall in a spiral. When the boomerang is thrown with high spin, the wings produce lift. Larger boomerangs are used in hunting, thus they drop on the ground after striking the target. Smaller ones are use in sport, and are the only boomerangs that return to the thrower. No one would think a spinning object flies a straight line, neither does the boomerang, it flies a turn or to be clearly: It flies on a circle. So it naturally returns to its starting point unless all spin is eaten up. Now in more detail:These wings are set so that the lift created by each wing opposes the lift of the other, but at an angle such that the flight pattern is constantly shifted as the forces of lift, drag, speed, rotational inertia etc. 'attempt' to reach equilibrium, see Boomerang engineer.This is what makes the boomerang 'return gracefully to the hurler, fluttering to a stop in his hand'... when thrown correctly. This is also what makes the boomerang 'rocket straight up into the air before plunging to its shattered doom'... when thrown incorrectly. With the exception of long-distance boomerangs, they should not be thrown sidearm or like a frisbee, but rather almost vertically.Fast Catch boomerangs usually have three symmetrical wings (in the planform view), whereas a Long Distance boomerang is most often shaped very similar to a question mark. Maximum Time Aloft boomerangs have one wing considerably longer than the other. This feature, along with carefully executed bends and twists in the wings, help to set up an 'auto-rotation' effect to maximize the boomerang's hover-time in descending from its highest point in the flight.
Ayers Rock In October 1872 the explorer Ernest Giles was the first non-indigenous person to sight the rock formation. He saw it from a considerable distance, and was prevented by LakeAmadeus from approaching closer. He described it as "the remarkable pebble". On 19 July 1873, the surveyor William Gosse visited the rock and named it Ayers Rock in honour of the then Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. Since then, both names have been used, although Ayers Rock was the most common name for many years, and remains the most familiar name to non-Australians.In 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted that allowed official names that consist of both the traditional Aboriginal name and the English name. On 15 December 1993, Uluru was renamed Ayers Rock / Uluru and became the first officially dual named feature in the Northern Territory.
Origins of Australian fauna Australia was a part of the supercontinent Gondwana. Several reasons for the uniqueness of Australia's fauna have been advanced. Australia was once part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana. The establishment and evolution of the present-day fauna was apparently shaped by the unique climate and the geology of the continent. As it drifted, Australia was, to some extent, isolated from the effects of global climate change, and the unique fauna that originated in Gondwana, like the marsupials, was conserved and radiated in Australia.
THE RED KANGAROO The Red Kangaroo is the largest macropod and is Australia's heraldic animal, appearing on the Coat of Arms of Australia.
Mammals Australia has a rich mammalian fossil history, and a varied group of extant species dominated by the marsupials. The fossil record shows that monotremes have been present in Australia since the Early Cretaceous 145–99 MYA, and that marsupials and placental mammals date from the Eocene 56–34 MYA , when modern mammals first appeared in the fossil record. Although marsupials and placental mammals did coexist in Australia in the Eocene, only marsupials have survived to the present. The placental mammals made their reappearance in Australia in the Miocene as Australia moved closer to Indonesia, and bats and rodents started to appear reliably in the fossil record. Marsupials evolved to fill similar niches and are in many cases physically similar to their placental counterparts in Eurasia and North America, which occupy similar ecological niches in a phenomenon known as convergent evolution For example, the top predator in Australia, the Tasmanian Tiger, bore a striking resemblance to canids such as the Gray Wolf; gliding possums and flying squirrels have similar adaptations enabling their arboreal lifestyle; and Numbat and anteaters are both digging insectivores.
Spotted Quoll The Spotted Quoll is mainland Australia's largest carnivorous marsupial and an endangered species.
Sugar Glider There are seven species in Australia, most of which are endangered. These small creatures share several caracteristic physical features: a plump, arch-backed body with a long, delicately tapering snout, large upright ears, long, thin legs, and a thin tail. The evolutionary origin of this group is unclear, because they share caracteristics from both carnivorous and herbivorous marsupials. tail. The evolutionary origin of this group is unclear, because they share caracteristics from both carnivorous and herbivorous marsupials.
Koala The Koala does not normally need to drink, because it can obtain all of the moisture it needs by eating leaves.
Placental Mammals The Dingo was the first placental mammal introduced to Australia by humans
Dugong The Dugong is an endangered species; the largest remaining population is found in Australian waters.
Birds The Emu is the second largest surviving species of bird. It is a heraldic bird, appearing on the Coat of Arms of Australia.
Gang-gang Cockatoo A female Gang-gang Cockatoo. Relatively recent colonists from Eurasia are swallows, larks, thrushes, cisticolas, sunbirds, and some raptors, including Australia's raptor, the Wedge-taile Eagle. A number of bird species have been introduced by humans: some, like the European Goldfinch and Greenfinch, coexist happily with Australian species; others, such as the Common Starling, European Blackbird, House Sparrow and Indian Mynah, are destructive of some native bird species and thus destabilise the native ecosystem.
The Eastern Banjo Frog is a common frog species across eastern Australia.
The Saltwater Crocodile is the World's largest reptile. Australia has both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. The Saltwater Crocodile, known colloquially as the 'salty', is the largest living crocodile species; reaching up to 7 m and weighing up to 1000 kg, they can and do kill humans. They live on the coast and in the freshwater rivers and wetlands of northern Australia, and they are farmed for their meat and leather. Freshwater Crocodiles are found only in the freshwater waterways of Northern Australia, and are not considered dangerous to humans.
Blue-tongued lizards are the largest species of skink. Australia is the only continent where venomous snakes outnumber their non-venomous cousins. Australian snakes belong to seven families, of these the most venomous species including the Fierce Snake, Eastern Brown Snake, Taipan and Eastern Tiger Snake are from the family Elapidae. Of the 200 species of elapid, 86 are found only in Australia. Thirty-three sea snakes from family Hydrophiidae inhabit Australia's northern waters; many are extremely venomous. Two species of sea snake from the Acrochordidae also occur in Australian waters. Australia has only 11 species from the world's most significant snake family Colubridae; none are endemic, and they are considered to be a relatively recent arrival from Asia. There are 15 species of boa, and 31 species of insectivorous blind snake.
The Queensland Lungfish normally uses its gills for respiration, but is also capable of taking in oxygen from the air.
Weedy Sea Dragon is found in waters around southern Australia. Most of Australia's fish species are marine. Groups of interest include the Moray eels, squirrelfish, pipefish and seahorses, whose males incubate the eggs in a specialised pouch
The Grey Nurse Shark is critically endangered on the Australian east coast.
The Spotted Wobbegong is the largest wobbegong shark, reaching a length of 3.2 m.
Invertabrates • Of the estimated 200,000 animal species in Australia, about 96% are invertebrates. While the full extent of invertebrate diversity is uncertain, 90% of insects and molluscs are considered endemic. Invertebrates occupy many ecological niches and are important in all ecosystems as decomposers, pollinators, and food sources. The largest group of invertebrates is the insects, comprising 75% of Australia's known species of animals. The most diverse insect orders are the Coleoptera, with 28,200 species of beetles and weevils out of an estimated 300,000 worldwide. There are 20,816 species of Lepidoptera, including butterflies and moths, out of an estimated 100,000, and 12,781 species of Hymenoptera, the order that included the ants, bees and wasps from 100,000 worldwide. Order Diptera, which includes the flies and mosquitoes, comprises 7,786 species out of 150,000; and of the estimated 60,000 species of Hemiptera (including bugs, aphids and hoppers), 5,650 are found in Australia. There are 2,827 species of order Orthoptera, including grasshoppers, crickets and katydids, out of an estimated global total of 20,000.Introduced species that pose a significant threat to native species include the European Wasp, the Red Fire Ant, the Yellow Crazy Ant and feral honeybees which compete with native bees.
Australia has a wide variety of arachnids, including 135 species of spider that are familiar enough to have common names. There are a number of highly venomous species, including the notorious Sydney Funnel-web and Red-back spiders, whose bite can be deadly. There are thousands of species of mites and ticks from order Acarina. Australia also has eight species of pseudoscorpion and nine scorpion species. There are two families of native terrestrial worms: the Enchytraeidae, and the Megascolecidae that includes the world's largest earthworm, the Giant Gippsland Earthworm. The Giant Earthworm is found only in Gippsland, Victoria, on average they reach 80 cm in length and specimens up to 3.7 m in length have been found. There are many more families of aquatic oligochaetes than there are terrestrial families.
Wolf spider Wolf spider Lycosa godeffroyi is common in many areas of Australia. Females from this family of spiders carry their egg-sac.
Human impact and conservation Main article: Conservation in Australia For at least 40,000 years, Australia's fauna played an integral role in the traditional lifestyles of Indigenous Australians, who exploited many species as a source of food and skins, and for sport and pest control. Vertebrates commonly harvested included macropods, possums, seals, fish and the Short-tailed Shearwater, most commonly know as the Muttonbird. Invertebrates used as food included insects like the Bogong moth and larvae collectively called witchetty grubs and molluscs. The use of fire-stick farming, in which large swathes of bushland were burnt to facilitate hunting, modified both flora and fauna — including large herbivores with a specialised diet, such as the flightless birds from the genus Genyornis. The role of Indigenous people in the extinction of the Australian megafauna is uncertain. No archæological evidence has been found to support the hypothesis that intensive hunting caused the extinction of megafauna, so climate change in Pleistocene is considered a more likely explanation for the megafauna extinction.
The impact of Aborigines on native species populations is widely considered to be less significant than that of the European settlers,whose impact on the landscape has been on a relatively large scale. Since European settlement, direct exploitation of native fauna, habitat destruction and the introduction of exotic predators and competitive herbivores has led to the extinction of some 27 mammal, 23 bird and 4 frog species. Much of Australia's fauna is protected by legislation; a notable exception is kangaroos, which are prolific and are regularly culled. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was created to meet Australia's obligations as a signatory to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. This act protects all native fauna and provides for the identification and protection of threatened species. In each state and territory, there is statutory listing of threatened species. At present, 380 animal species are classified as either endangered or threatened under the EPBC Act, and other species are protected under state and territory legislation. More broadly, a complete cataloguing of all the species within Australia has been undertaken, a key step in the conservation of Australian fauna and biodiversity. In 1973, the federal government established the Australian Biological Resources Study (ARBS), which coordinates research in the taxonomy, identification, classification and distribution of flora and fauna. The ARBS maintains free online databases cataloguing much of the described Australian flora and fauna.
Australia is a member of the International Whaling Commission and is strongly opposed to commercial whaling—all Cetacean species are protected in Australian waters. Australia is also a signatory to the CITES agreement and prohibits the export of endangered species. Protected areas have been created in every state and territory to protect and preserve the country's unique ecosystems. These protected areas include national parks and other reserves, as well as 64 wetlands registered under the Ramsar Convention and 16 World Heritage Sites. As of 2002, 10.8% (774,619.51 km²) of the total land area of Australia is within protected areas. Protected marine zones have been created in many areas to preserve marine biodiversity; as of 2002, these areas cover about 7% (646,000 km²) of Australia's marine jurisdiction.The Great Barrier Reef is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority under specific federal and state legislation. Some of Australia's fisheries are already overexploited, and quotas have been set for the sustainable harvest of many marine species. The State of the Environment Report, 2001, prepared by independent researchers for the federal government, concluded that the condition of the environment and environmental management in Australia had worsened since the previous report in 1996. Of particular relevance to wildlife conservation, the report indicated that many processes—such as salinity, changing hydrological conditions, land clearing, fragmentation of ecosystems, poor management of the coastal environment, and invasive species—pose major problems for protecting Australia's biodiversity
