Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as “New Holland”, a name first used in 1644 by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (as Nieuw-Holland) and later anglicized. Terra Australis was still used occasionally, for example in scientific texts. [N 6] The name Australia was popularized by explorer Matthew Flinders, who said it was “more pleasing to the ear and an alignment with the names of other major parts of the earth.” [39] Several famous cartographers have also used the word Australia on maps. Gerardus Mercator used the term climata australia on his 1538 double-stringed world map, as did Gemma Frisius, who was Mercator`s teacher and collaborator, on his own string wall map in 1540. Australia appears in a book on astronomy by Cyriaco Jacob zum Barth, published in Frankfurt am Main in 1545. [40] The impeachment of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by Governor-General Sir John Kerr in 1975 following the whitlam government`s loss of parliamentary supplies, dubbed the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, caused considerable controversy and is widely regarded as the most dramatic political crisis in the history of modern Australia. According to the 2016 census, English is the only language spoken at home for 72.7% of the population. In 2021, Australia signed a major security treaty with the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) to counter China`s growing threat in the region. [240] “Australian.” dictionary Merriam-Webster.com, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Australian. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
The Aboriginal population declined for 150 years after colonization, mainly due to infectious diseases. [70] Thousands more died as a result of a border conflict with settlers. [71] A government policy of “assimilation” that began with the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1869 resulted in many Aboriginal children in their families and communities being referred to as stolen generations, a practice that also contributed to the decline of the Aboriginal population. [72] As a rich country, Australia has a market economy, a high GDP per capita and a relatively low poverty rate. In terms of average wealth, Australia ranked second in the world after Switzerland from 2013 to 2018. [245] In 2018, Australia overtook Switzerland to become the country with the highest average wealth. [245] Australia`s relative poverty rate is 13.6%. [246] It was identified in 2013 by the Credit Suisse Research Institute as the country with the highest median wealth in the world and the second highest average wealth per adult. [247] In 2020, the Australian Council of Social Service published a report stating that relative poverty is increasing in Australia, with an estimated 3.2 million people, or 13.6% of the population, living below an internationally recognised relative poverty line of 50% of a country`s median income. It is also estimated that 774,000 (17.7 per cent) children under the age of 15 live in relative poverty. [278] [279] The company also operates in Australia and has approximately 800,000 members. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was created in 1911 to house the future federal capital of Canberra.
Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927, when Canberra was under construction. [92] The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the Government of South Australia to the Federal Parliament in 1911. [93] Australia became colonial ruler of the territory of Papua in 1902 (which had first been annexed by Queensland in 1883)[94] and the Territory of New Guinea (formerly German New Guinea) in 1920. The two were united as the territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1949 and gained independence from Australia in 1975. [95] [96] [97] The name Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪliə/ in Australian English[6]) is derived from the Latin australis, which means “south”, and in particular from the hypothetical Terra Australis postulated in premodern geography. The name was popularized by explorer Matthew Flinders from 1804 and has been officially used since 1817, replacing “New Holland”, an English translation of the Dutch name first given in 1643 by Abel Tasman as the name of the continent. Australia has the highest proportion of international students per capita in the world, with 812,000 international students enrolled in the country`s universities and vocational training institutions in 2019. [350] [351] According to the study, international students accounted for an average of 26.7% of the student body at Australian universities in 2019.
