Introduction

Australia's biggest attraction is its natural beauty. The landscape varies from endless sunbaked horizons to dense tropical rainforest to chilly southern beaches. Scattered along the coasts, its cities blend a European enthusiasm for art and food with a laid-back love of sport and the outdoors.

Visitors expecting to see an opera in Sydney one night and meet Crocodile Dundee the next will have to re-think their grasp of geography in this huge country. It is this sheer vastness that gives Australia - and its diverse population - much of its character.

Full country name: Commonwealth of Australia
Area: 7.68 million sq km
Population: 19.5 million
People: 92% Caucasian, 7% Asian, 1% Aboriginal
Language: English
Religion: 75% Christian, 1% Muslim, 1% Buddhist, 0.5% Jewish
Government: Independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations
Head of State: Governor General Michael Jeffery
Head of Government: Prime Minister John Howard

GDP: US$418 billion
GDP per capita: US$22,000
Annual Growth: 4%
Inflation: 2%
Major Industries: Minerals, oil, coal, gold, wool, cereals, meat, tourism
Major Trading Partners: Japan, ASEAN countries, South Korea, China, New Zealand, USA, EU

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History

Australia was uninhabited before stone-culture peoples arrived, perhaps by boat across the waters separating the island from the Indonesia archipelago about 40,000 years ago. Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English explorers observed the island before 1770, when Captain Cook explored the east coast and claimed it for Great Britain (three American colonists were crew members aboard Cook's ship, the Endeavor).

On January 26, 1788 (now celebrated as Australia Day), the First Fleet under Capt. Arthur Phillip landed at Sydney, and formal proclamation of the establishment of the Colony of New South Wales followed on February 7. Many but by no means all of the first settlers were convicts, condemned for offenses that today would often be thought trivial. The mid-19th century saw the beginning of government policies to emancipate convicts and assist the immigration of free persons. The discovery of gold in 1851 led to increased population, wealth, and trade.

The six colonies that now constitute the states of the Australian Commonwealth were established in the following order: New South Wales, 1788; Tasmania, 1825; Western Australia, 1830; South Australia, 1836; Victoria, 1851; and Queensland, 1859.

Settlement had preceded these dates in most cases. Discussions between Australian and British representatives led to adoption by the British Government of an act to constitute the Commonwealth of Australia in 1900.

The first federal Parliament was opened at Melbourne in May 1901 by the Duke of York (later King George V). In May 1927, the seat of government was transferred to Canberra, a planned city designed by an American, Walter Burley Griffin. The first session of Parliament in that city was opened by another Duke of York (later King George VI). Australia passed the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act on October 9, 1942, which officially established Australia's complete autonomy in both internal and external affairs. Its passage formalized a situation that had existed for years. The Australia Act (1986) eliminated the last vestiges of British legal authority.

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Culture

Australia's isolation as an island continent has done much to shape—and inhibit—its culture. The Aboriginal peoples developed their accommodation with the environment over a period of at least 40,000 years, during much of which contacts with the outside world, often hinging on changing sea levels, appear to have been fleeting. The British, on the other hand, when they settled New South Wales as a penal colony in 1788, did so partly because of its remoteness. The convict heritage ensured that European perceptions of the environment were often influenced by the sense of exile and alienation. Yet often the distance from Britain, and the isolation it imposed, served to strengthen rather than weaken ties with the cultural metropolis. The ambivalence of the continuing colonial relationship, which has only been dismantled in the second half of the 20th century, has been a central cultural preoccupation in Australia.

Australia substantially reflected the heritage of the British settlers. Customs were modified as the settlers adapted to the new country and its exceptionally fine climate. A culture evolved that, although based on the British tradition, is unique to Australia. The increasing sophistication of Australian culture has been promoted by government subsidies for the arts and the provision of improved facilities. Many cities and towns have built or expanded art galleries and performing art centers. The architecturally stunning Sydney Opera House is the best known of the modern venues. Opera, ballet, and dance companies, symphony orchestras, artists, playwrights, and writers are supported by the Australia Council. The federally funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation controls independent television and radio stations. Australia also has many other media companies, newspapers, and magazines that contribute to local culture, although some are now owned by foreigners.

The frontier has also exercised a powerful influence over the European imagination. For many years landscape dominated Australian painting, but the images were often Arcadian (as with the early Tasmanian painter John Glover) or were associated with pastoral settlement. The so-called Heidelberg school (in the late 19th century, Heidelberg was a semirural suburb on the fringe of Melbourne), influenced by both contemporary European Impressionism and Realism, created a romantic image of a sunlit, pastoral landscape: the works of Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, and Frederick McCubbin have become popular icons. After World War II, painters such as Russell Drysdale and Sidney Nolan were drawn to the dramatic isolation of the Outback, while Fred Williams' inspired deconstruction of landscape patterns has led some to acclaim him as Australia's greatest painter.

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Getting There & Away

Virtually all visitors to Australia arrive by air. The main international airports are Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, followed by Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Cairns. There are plenty of connections to Asia, Europe and the USA, but Australia's remoteness makes flights relatively expensive and long. Many flights are heavily booked, so make plans well in advance. Departure tax on international flights is US$19. This tax is usually included with the price of your airline ticket.

Getting Around

Australia is so vast (and so empty in places) that something like 80% of long-distance trips by public transport are made by air. For many years, Qantas and Ansett monopolised the domestic scene and a cosy cooperation between the two ensured that domestic air travel remained relatively expensive. Recently Ansett and the regional airlines it owned have either collapsed or run a skeleton service, while upstart airlines have taken on Qantas, and there's a sense of competition in the air. Few people pay full fare for domestic air travel because the airlines offer a wide range of discounts, including random discounting and air passes.

Few people travel long-distances by train because it's usually the slowest mode of overland transport and remains relatively expensive (though it is generally more comfortable for overnight trips).

There are several long-distance bus companies but only one truly national service, Greyhound Pioneer Australia. Buses are comfortable, but if you're travelling between major cities, be prepared for a long trip. Australia has a skeletal rail network linking all major cities except Darwin.

Many visitors group together and hire or purchase a car. The latter can be an economical way of travelling around Australia, as long as you don't have too many mechanical failures. Highway 1 circumnavigates the continent, sticking close to the coast much of the way. Watch out for monstrous road trains (trucks with multiple trailers) on outback roads; naturally it's wise to give way to anything bigger than yourself.

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Attractions

Canberra (Canberra Hotels & Canberra Resort Reservatoin Service)

Canberra is a picturesque 20th-century concoction on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin that has struggled to establish itself as the focus of Australia's national identity. It has often been perceived as a 'fat cat' town of politicians and bureaucrats living off the rest of the country.

As Australia's capital, Canberra pulls out the big guns when it comes to sightseeing. Souped-up national versions of art galleries, war memorials and libraries come extra-large and with lashings of grandiose gravitas. The city's impressive sights are ringed around its focal lake.

Adelaide (Adelaide Hotels & Adelaide Resort Reservatoin Service)

When the early colonists arrived and began building Adelaide they used stone. What they had in mind was to build a solid, dignified city. It was to be a civilised and calm place, with a manner that no other state capital in the country could match.

The 'city of churches' has a superb setting, with a centre ringed by green parklands and a backdrop of hills. Bouncing between its musuems, fine galleries, metropolitan beaches and historic houses will keep you busy, and then there's daytrips into the Mt Lofty Ranges.

Brisbane (Brisbane Hotels & Brisbane Resort Reservatoin Service)

Brisbane has shucked its reputation as a backwater and emerged as one of the country's most progressive centres. It has several interesting districts, a good street cafe scene, a great riverside park, a busy cultural calendar and a thriving nightlife.

Brisbane is known for its showiness - think artificial beaches and tourist arcades - but it also has gracious architecture and tranquil parks. Its galleries and musuems are legendary, and if you need a break from the built environment it's refreshingly close to bushland and wildlife.

Cairns (Cairns Hotels & Cairns Resort Reservatoin Service)

Cairns is the tourist 'capital' of the Far North and one of Australia's top travellers' destinations. Not long ago, it was just a sleepy tropical backwater. Unfortunately, much of its allure and tropical languor has vanished amid the rapid growth of tourist infrastructure, but it is still one of the best bases for exploring the riches of tropical Queensland. From Cairns, you can arrange trips to the Great Barrier Reef, Green Island and Fitzroy Island, the beautiful Atherton Tableland, the market town of Kuranda, the string of enchanting beaches stretching 50km (30mi) north to Port Douglas, and the spectacular rainforest and coastal scenery of Cape Tribulation and the Daintree River.

Darwin (Darwin Hotels & Darwin Resort Reservatoin Service)

The 'capital' of northern Australia is closer to Jakarta than it is to Sydney, and closer to Singapore than it is to Melbourne, so it should come as no surprise that it looks outward to Asia as much as it looks inland to the rest of Australia.

When Cyclone Tracy levelled Darwin in 1974, she took with her a lot of its streetscapes, but there are still a few colonial buildings to give a feel for what went before. The city's musuems focus on everything from pearling to crocodiles to the night Tracy came to town.

Great Barrier Reef

One of Australia's greatest assets is the magnificent reef that runs along virtually the entire coast of Queensland. Considered one of the world's natural wonders, it is the most extensive reef system and the biggest structure made by living organisms on earth.

Great Ocean Road

This route along the south-western coast of Victoria is one of the most spectacular coastal drives in the world. It winds around ragged cliffs, windswept beaches and tall bluffs, passing through lush rainforest and towering eucalypts.

Hobart (Hobart Hotels & Hobart Resort Reservatoin Service)

Hobart is Australia's southernmost capital city. The fact that it is also the smallest is the key to its particular charm. A riverside city with a busy harbour, its mountain backdrop offers fine views over the beautiful Georgian buildings, numerous parks and compact suburbs below.

Many say that Hobart's history as a demonically harsh penal colony and the site of some of Australia's worst massacres of indigenous people lingers in the form of melancholy ghosts, lending an eerie chill to the idyllically peaceful honey-stoned colonial buildings and Irish-looking landscapes.

Melbourne (Melbourne Hotels & Melbourne Resort Reservatoin Service)

Melbourne is dubbed marvellous for a reason. Healthy hedonism masquerades as high art: Melburnians are equally passionate about football and ballet, nuts for fashion, munchy for restaurants, ravenous for music and hot for theatre. It's a smorgasbord of a city that invites you to take a bite.

Melbourne's easy-going pace is perfect for enjoying its gracious Victorian architecture, its green wealth of parks and gardens, and its many cultural highlights. Most of the city's main sights are just a short walk or tram-hop apart, with plenty of latte pick-me-up opportunities on the way.

Perth (Perth Hotels & Perth Resort Reservatoin Service)

Perth is a vibrant and modern city sitting between the cerulean Indian Ocean and the ancient Darling Ranges. It claims to be the sunniest state capital in Australia, though more striking is its isolation from the rest of the country - Perth is over 4400kms (2750mi) from Sydney by road.

Desert the cluttered rectangle of the city centre and go looking for the beauty that makes visitors fall for Perth: Indian Ocean beaches, hillside hideaways, romantic Fremantle, cosmopolitan Subiaco and the select, comfortable suburbs which fringe the Swan River.

Sydney (Sydney Hotels & Sydney Resort Reservatoin Service)

Sydney is Australia's oldest city, the economic powerhouse of the nation and the country's capital in everything but name. It's blessed with sun-drenched natural attractions, dizzy skyscrapers, delicious and daring restaurants, superb shopping and friendly folk.

Sydney Harbour's sandstone headlands, dramatic cliffs and stunning beaches define the city. But whichever way you look, from the white sails of the harbour to the arc of The Coathanger to the toned flesh on Bondi, Sydney is serious eye-candy.

Uluru

Uluru is a site of deep cultural significance to the Anangu Aboriginals and the most famous icon of the Australian outback. The 3.6km (2.2mi) long rock rises a towering 348m (1141ft) from the pancake-flat surrounding scrub. It is especially impressive at dawn and sunset when the red rock spectacularly changes hue.

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Money & Costs

Currency: Australian Dollar

Meals

Budget: US$5-10
Mid-range: US$10-25
Top-end: US$25+

Lodging

Budget: US$10-30
Mid-range: US$30-100
Top-end: US$100+

If you're coming from Europe or the USA, Australia is going to look pretty cheap. Food, in particular, is great value. Accommodation is also reasonably priced, and if you're staying in hostels or on-site caravans (trailers) or camping, and mostly making your own meals you could conceivably get by on about A$35 to A$45 a day. Travel will be your biggest expense - distances are huge - so if you're moving around a bit, eating out once or twice a day and staying in budget hotels, plan for around A$85 a day. If you're only staying for a couple of weeks and plan to take a few internal flights, you'll be looking at more like A$170 a day.

Credit cards (particularly Visa and MasterCard) are widely accepted (and pretty much compulsory if you're going to rent a car), and ATMs all over the country accept credit and Cirrus cards.

Tipping is gaining a foothold in Australia, particularly in cafes and restaurants in the bigger cities, and a tip 10-15% is usual. However, you won't cause offense if you don't tip. Taxi drivers are always grateful if you leave the change.

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Facts for the Traveler

Visas: Every nationality except New Zealanders need visas. Tourist visas and Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) visas are valid for three months. ETAs are just under US$11; standard visas cost US$35. Longer-term visas can be applied for.
Health risks: Sunburn, Heat Exhaustion
Time: GMT/UTC +10 (Eastern Standard Time), GMT/UTC +9.5 (Central Time), GMT/UTC +8 (Western Time)
Dialling Code: 61
Electricity: 200-240V
Weights & measures: Metric

When to Go

Any time is a good time to be in Australia. Summer (December to February) can get uncomfortably hot but it's great beach weather. Up north, the summer wet season, is very, very humid and the sea is swarming with box jellyfish. Winter (June to August) offers skiing in NSW and Victoria. In spring and autumn the weather is mild.

Events

Christmas is part of the long summer school vacation and during December and January you can be forgiven for thinking that half of Australia is on holiday. This is when accommodation is almost always booked out.

Australia's arts festivals attract culture vultures from all over Australia to see mainstream and fringe drama, dance, music and visual arts. The huge Festival of Sydney, which takes up most of January, is the umbrella for a number of events from open air concerts, to street theatre and fireworks. The Adelaide Arts Festival takes place at the beginning of March in even-numbered years. In odd-numbered years, Womadelaide, Adelaide's outdoor festival of world music and dance, takes care of February. Melbourne has a Comedy Festival in April, the world's biggest Writers' Festival in September and the fabulous Melbourne International Festival in October. A couple of festivals to celebrate Aboriginal arts and culture include the Stompen Ground Festival, which is held in Broome in October and the Barunga Wugularr Sports & Cultural Festival, held near Katherine in June.

Sporty fun includes Darwin's Beer Can Regatta in August, when a series of boat races are held for craft constructed entirely of beer cans; Alice Spings holds the Henley-on-Todd, a boat race 'run' on a dry river bed. More mainstream events include the Sydney to Hobart yacht race (from Boxing Day); the Australian Open tennis championship (Melbourne in January); the Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne in March); Australian Rules Football (around the country from March to September); and the country-stopping Melbourne Cup on the first Tuesday in November.

Gay festivals include Sydney's massive, outlandish Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, in February/March, and Melbourne's January/February Midsumma Festival.

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