How old is australian

This offers the most obvious parallel for Australia, whose birth occurred as a similar joining of colonies into one dominion on January 1, January 26, , was not the birthday of Australia.

Other parts of what was known by the Europeans as New Holland were colonised separately or variously annexed to and separated from NSW.

In this way, the six colonies were formed. The campaign to unite these colonies had as a motto, the idea of "a continent for a nation and a nation for a continent".

It was not until January 1, , that this idea was realised and the Commonwealth of Australia came into being. As such a nation, created through law, Australia is years old. The founding document — a piece of paper signed by the hand of Queen Victoria — sits as evidence of this fact in the federal parliament. To pretend otherwise is to deny history. The objection is sometimes made that New Year's Day is "already a holiday".

The date of Australia's birth, however, was not a mere accident. It was deliberately chosen by its founders as the first day of the new year of the new century. Many Australians even then relished the idea of themselves as a new or a young country — a place of reinvention that would be free and different to the "old world". This legacy of peace and stability has been the hallmark of Australian history that has made it the country it is today.

It continues to trade off that history in attracting migrants and investment. It is strange then, that its national day was not chosen to reflect this history. Relationships within groups predetermined categories of responsibilities and obligations to the group and to family. Aboriginal people built semi-permanent dwellings; as a nomadic society emphasis was on relationships to family, group and country rather than the development of an agrarian society.

Being semi-nomadic meant that Aboriginal people were also relatively non-materialistic. Greater emphasis was placed on the social, religious and spiritual activities.

The environment was controlled by spiritual rather than physical means and religion was deeply tied to country. According to Aboriginal beliefs, the physical environment of each local area was created and shaped by the actions of spiritual ancestors who travelled across the landscape.

Living and nonliving things existed as a consequence of the actions of the Dreaming ancestors. Helen Milroy speaks about the importance of land as part of the Dreaming:. We are part of the Dreaming. We have been in the Dreaming for a long time before we are born on this earth and we will return to this vast landscape at the end of our days. It provides for us during our time on earth, a place to heal, to restore purpose and hope, and to continue our destiny.

Land is fundamental to Indigenous people, both individually and collectively. Concepts of Indigenous land ownership were, and are, different from European legal systems. Boundaries were fixed and validated by the Dreaming creation stories.

Each individual belonged to certain territories within the family group and had spiritual connections and obligations to particular country. Hence land was not owned; one belonged to the land.

Aboriginal people experience the land as a richly symbolic and spiritual landscape rather than merely a physical environment.

Religion was based on a philosophy of oneness with the natural environment. Historically there has been "a small number of claims that there were people in Australia before Australian Aborigines, but these claims have all been refuted and are no longer widely debated. The overwhelming weight of evidence supports the idea that Aboriginal people were the first Australians.

A comprehensive genomic study of Aboriginal people in Australia confirmed that modern Aboriginal people are the descendants of the first people to inhabit Australia and descendants of a single wave of migrants who left Africa about 72, years ago. The following table shows the estimated age of archaeological sites in Australia [6].

Poem by Zelda Quakawoot [7]. Read more Aboriginal poetry. More and more Australians inoculate themselves against ignorance and stereotypes by finally reading up on Aboriginal history and the culture's contemporary issues. But to truly move forward we need to achieve "herd information". It will definitely be really helpful in me getting to know, understand, honour and relate with Aboriginal people better. This site uses cookies to personalise your experience. If you continue using the site, you indicate that you are happy to receive cookies from this website.

The Age Structure of Australia provides key insights into the level of demand for age based services and facilities such as child care. It is also an indicator of Australia's residential role and function and how it is likely to change in the future.

Five year age groups present a classic age profile of the population. Each age group covers exactly five years, which enables direct comparison between each group.

Overall, The major differences between the age structure of Australia and Greater Capital Cities were:. From to , Australia's population increased by 1,, people 8. This represents an average annual population change of 1.

The largest changes in age structure in this area between and were in the age groups:. Please view our Privacy Policy , Terms of use and Legal notices. The copyright in the way.

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