Shopping in Australia

Special purchases include excellent local wines; wool, clothing, leather and sheepskin products; opal and other precious or semi-precious stones; and modern art sculpture and paintings. Exhibitions of bark paintings, boomerangs and other tribal objects are on view and for sale in Darwin, Alice Springs and the State capitals; many depict stories from the Dreamtime. Many cities and towns have small shops devoted to the sale of ‘Australiana’, where Australian souvenirs, ranging from T-shirts to boomerangs, can be bought.

Shopping hours
Opening hours for most stores in the cities are Mon-Fri 0900-1730, Sat 0900-1700. Late-night shopping is available Friday to 2100 in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart and Darwin. Late-night shopping is available Thursday at the same times in Sydney, Canberra and Perth. Major stores in some states are open 1000-1600 Sunday. Corner stores, restaurants and snack bars are open in most cities until well into the night. For further information on shopping and trading, contact the ACT Office of Fair Trading .

Currency Information:

Currency
Australian Dollar (AUSD ) = 100 cents. Notes are in denominations of AUSD 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5. Coins are in denominations of AUSD 2 and 1, and 50, 20, 10 and 5 cents.

Currency exchange
Exchange facilities are available for all incoming and outgoing flights at all international airports in Australia. International-class hotels will exchange major currencies for guests. It is recommended that visitors change money at the airport or at city banks.

Credit and debit cards
American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa are accepted. Use may be restricted in small towns and outback areas. Check with your credit or debit card company for details of merchant acceptability and other services which may be available.

Travelers cheques
These are accepted in major currencies at banks or large hotels. However, some banks may charge a fee for cashing travelers cheques. To avoid additional exchange rate charges, travelers are advised to take travelers cheques in a major currency.

Currency restrictions
Export and import of coins/notes in Australian or foreign currency above AUSD 10,000 must be declared to customs at the port of entry or departure. Export of local currency above AUSD 2000 must have reserve bank approval.

Exchange rate indicators
The following figures are included as a guide to the movements of the Australian Dollar against Sterling and the US Dollar

Banking hours
Mon-Thurs 0930-1600, Fri 0930-1700. These hours may vary slightly throughout the country.

Education in Australia

Education in Australia follows a three tier model: primary, secondary and tertiary education. Education is primarily regulated by the individual state governments, not the federal government. Education is compulsory up to an age specified by legislation; this age varies but is generally 15 or 16, that is prior to completing secondary education.

Post-compulsory education is regulated within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), a unified system of national qualifications in schools, vocational education and training (TAFEs and private providers) and the higher education sector (mainly universities).

OECD data shows that all member countries have problems with adult literacy, and in Australia one in five adults do not have the literacy skills to effectively participate in daily life

Government and Private

Primary and Secondary

Primary and secondary education may be provided by:
Government schools (also known as State schools, or public schools)
Private schools (the older of these institutions are sometimes called Public School)

There has been a strong drift of students to private schools during the past decade.

Government schools educate the majority of students and do not charge large tuition fees (most do charge a fee as a contribution to costs). The major part of their costs is met by the relevant State or Territory government. Private schools, both religious or secular (the latter often with specialisations), may charge much higher fees.

Public schools can be divided into two types: open and selective. The open schools accept all students from their government defined catchment areas, while selective schools have high entrance requirements and cater to a much larger area. Entrance to selective schools is often highly competitive. In Victoria, for example, more than 3000 applicants sit the entrance exam each year competing for the 600 available places.

Private schools can also be divided into two groups. By far the most numerous are Catholic schools. The rest are known as Independent schools, which are largely Protestant grammar schools and lower key religious schools. There has been substantial growth of low fee church based schools.

The most prestigious schools are generally the private grammar schools and highest performing selective High Schools. James Ruse Agricultural High School in New South Wales and Melbourne High School and Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School in Victoria consistently out perform the private grammar schools in all academic fields, and have thus earned their associated prestige.

The prestige itself, unlike some other countries, confers no advantage for university entrance; however, students from the prestigious schools tend to get higher than average Equivalent National Tertiary Entry Rank scores. However, this slight advantage does not appear to equate to superior university performance. A recent study found that students from independent schools are more likely to drop out in the first year of university than those from public schools. Regardless of whether a school is public or private, they are regulated by the same curriculum standards frameworks.

Most school students in Australia wear uniforms, although there are many exceptions. Private schools tend to have stricter dress codes than government schools do.

Sport in Australia

Australians pride themselves on their active, outdoors lifestyle, and as such, sport in Australia is extremely popular, and plays a central role in many aspects of the local culture. The climate is suited to playing sport year-round, with cricket being the most popular summer sport and Australian rules football, rugby union and rugby league being the most popular winter sports, depending on the region.

Many sports are played in Australia, with popularity varying between sports and between regions. Some of the more popular sports are listed below. Australians are passionate about sport, and it forms a major part of the country’s culture. Most of Australia’s patriotism is expressed through sport, and thus it is taken quite seriously, especially seen during events such as the olympics and other international events.

Australian Rules Football typifies the uniqueness of the Australian sporting landscape. It is a completely unique game of football, for all body types, that is played in all states and is the most popular sport in the nation. Aussie Rules is the most popular winter sport, yet there are certainly other acknowledged winter sports occurring.

Although Rugby league is not an indigenous Australian game, it the most popular winter sport in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state. Most of the teams in the NRL are based within Sydney, while many Australian Football League teams are based in Melbourne. Australia has one of the highest standard rugby league competitions in the world. In fact it would seem that football of almost any code is popular in Australia.

Australians also enjoy other imported sports, such as cricket, netball, rugby league, rugby union, soccer, golf, basketball and tennis.

One must also note that non-mainstream sports in Australia still attract a high standard from Australian teams due the sporting culture. A prime examples is field hockey where Australia’s teams are considered amongst the best in the world.

As with most nations, women’s sport is given less attention than men’s, in both media coverage and funding, although the gap is closing slowly.

Cuisine of Australia

Originally, traditional Australian cuisine was based on English cooking brought to the country by the first European settlers. This cuisine generally consisted of Sunday roasts, grilled chops, and other forms of meat, and was generally accompanied by vegetables (often known colloquially as “three veg”) such as mashed potatoes, beans, peas, and carrots. This trend has declined considerably with the multicultural emphasis of Australian culture over the last thirty to fifty years. However, the barbecue or “barbie” remains an important part of Australian life.

The ‘barbie’ remains the icon of Australian cuisine and culture, has developed and grown as a party/gathering tradition. Despite this, the range of cuisines available in the multicultural cities of Australia have developed greatly to have a high level of immigrant success. Italian, Chinese, Thai, Indian, and Mexican foods are very popular and are maintained at a high authentic quality by a thriving restaurant trade in many cities for the enjoyment of ethnic background and western background Australians.

Australian cuisine is among the most diverse. Australian meals are extremely different from the early English Settler years. The influx of immigrants living in Australia has brought many new dishes to the country and it’s popular to take standard meals and add elements of different cultures.

Traditional Australian cuisine was based on English cooking brought to the country by the first European settlers. This cuisine generally consisted of Sunday roasts, grilled chops, and other forms of meat, and was generally accompanied by vegetables (often known colloquially as “three veg”) such as mashed potatoes, beans, peas, and carrots (often served soggy or overcooked). This trend has declined considerably with the multicultural emphasis of Australian culture over the last thirty to fifty years.

Background

Fifty years ago, Australian cuisine was unsophisticated; Chicken Maryland would be regarded as a sophisticated dish. By stark contrast, today’s Australian cuisine is some of the most diverse available anywhere, due to the many cultural influences. Modern Australian cuisine has been heavily influenced by the country’s South East Asian neighbours, and by the many waves of immigrants from there, and all parts of the world.

Similarly, Greek, Lebanese and Italian influences are common. Fresh produce is readily available and thus used extensively, and the trend (urged by long-term government health initiatives) is towards low-salt, low-fat healthy cookery incorporating lean meat and lightly cooked, colourful, steamed or stir-fried vegetables.

Australia’s wide variety of seafood are also popular, especially for festivities, while barbecues are common at weekend family gatherings. Barbecues are also common in fundraising, where sausages and onion are served on white bread with tomato sauce, although due to food safety issues this trend has decreased.

Some English trends are still evident in domestic cuisine, among them a widespread tradition of having a hot roast turkey, chicken and/or ham with all the trimmings for Christmas dinner, followed by a heavy Christmas pudding.

Cinema of Australia

Australia has a long history of film production-in fact, it is claimed that the first feature-length film was actually an Australian production. However, the purchase of virtually all cinemas by American distribution companies saw an almost total disappearance of Australian films from the screens. A notable exception was Charles Chauvel’s classic Jedda (1955). During the late 1960s and 1970s an influx of government funding saw the development of a new generation of directors and actors telling distinctively Australian stories.

Films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Sunday, Too Far Away had an immediate international impact. The 1980s is regarded as perhaps a golden age of Australian cinema, with many wildly successful films, from the dark science fiction of Mad Max to the blatantly commercial Aussie-bloke fantasy of Crocodile Dundee, a film that defined Australia in the eyes of many foreigners despite having remarkably little to do with the lifestyle of most Australians.

The early 1990s saw a run of successful comedies such as Muriel’s Wedding and Strictly Ballroom, which helped launch the careers of Toni Collette, P. J. Hogan and Baz Luhrmann. The indigenous film industry continues to produce a reasonable number of films each year, also many US producers have moved productions to Australian studios as they discover a pool of professional talent well below US costs. Notable productions include The Matrix and the Star Wars Episode II and III.

The cinema of Australia has a long history-in fact, it is possible that the first feature-length narrative film was the Australian production, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). Australia’s film history has been characterised as ‘boom and bust’, because of the unstable and cyclical nature of the industry, with deep troughs when few films were made for decades and high peaks when a glut of films reached the market.

The first peak occurred in the second decade of the 20th century. After beginning slowly in the years from 1900, 1910 saw 4 narrative films released, then 51 in 1911, 30 in 1912, and 17 in 1913, and back to 4 in 1914, which was the beginning of World War I.[2] Australia was one of the most prolific film-producing countries at the time. The demise of the industry can be seen as a response to falling audience numbers, a lack of interest in Australian product and narratives, or to the decision to participate in World War I.