Australia and New Zealand

AUSTRALIA

Australia is situated in the eastern part of the Southern Hemisphere. Australia is an island continent lying between the Indian Ocean on the west and Pacific Ocean on the east. It is the sixth largest country and the smallest continent.

HISTORY

James Cook discovered Australia on the 20th of April 1770. The original inhabitants of Australia were people called Aborigines. This name they gained from British people in 1788. The each group of Aborigines had its land and language. They travelled to different parts of their land to find food and water, they ate plants and fruits and caught animals and fish. After 1788 their life suddenly began to change. Life was very difficult for the Aborigines: they couldn’t own land, couldn’t get jobs, their children couldn’t go to school with white children. Nowadays it is better.