#australia help

Check out this amazing project that was created to help wildlife victims of Australian Bushfires!

Truly amazing artist were selected for this book. Get yourself a copy! All proceeds will be donated to a non-profit environmental organization. 

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 A GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA (FOR RP'ING PURPOSES)- requested by anon

Firstly, the BASICS when it comes to Australia:

The capital of Australia is not Melbourne or Sydney. But Canberra. (Where i live and it's awful)

The temperature is not always hot, and the beach isn't around every corner. Especially where i've been- the temperatures can be humid, moody and irregular. The weather reports are never taken seriously. 

Whilst being a highly multicultural continent- Australia is still racist. It is not as laid back as most people perceive it.

It is not like USA. This needs to be emphasised. I thought Australia was just like USA and then when i went to USA it was... intimidating. USA is huge, it is like one big city, even the 'country side' is bigger then most would think. In Australia there are many nooks and crannies where there is literally just dirt for miles. Or roads. Nothing else. 

Most words you spell with 'ize', we spell with 'ise'. E.g emphasise, categorise.

It has two World Wonders currently: The Sydney Opera House and The Sydney Bridge

We're not really good at any sport except Cricket? We love Cricket for some reason

We have a sport called AFL. Australian Football League. It's just like NFL except there's no tackling. Lame.

New Zealand is the equivalent to Australia as Canada is to the US.

It is one of the smallest continents in the world- which includes Main land Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea as well as many other neighbouring islands!

Australia has six states (five in the mainland, Tasmania counting as the sixth)

88 Random fun Facts about Australia

Australian currency is called dollars as well, and it's made out of plastic. Therefore it is almost entirely impossible to counterfeit. 

The Australian Dollar is surprisingly strong

Everything in Australia is expensive. People say England is expensive but after visiting London, i can honestly say that Australia and England both have the same price for clothing and such. Everything is super expensive. Therefore, if you live in Australia you're probably at least a tiny bit well off

Australia does not have a lot of homeless people or poverty, not compared to America at least

Some people you probably didn't know were Australian

AUSTRALIAN HISTORY:

Australia actually took the land from the Aboriginals and Indigenous People, led by Arthur Phillip (who was from Britain)

The 'Stolen Generation' was a movement that was then led in 1909 till 1969. In which the English came and stole indigenous children from their homes to put them into schools were they would learn how to be white. These children were abused physically, mentally, emotionally and sexually and a lot of families were damaged due to this. Even today.

In 2012, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued an apology to all those that were part of The Stolen Generation. 

In 1915, Australia fought in Gallipoli. And lost. Many soldiers were killed in battle- it was one of Australia's greatest defeats. This War is still remembered, even today in Australia, it's a great day of respect.

The Gold Rush was where pretty much everyone went gold mining and it was extremely dangerous being around that much coal and a lot of people died but a lot of gold was also found. Which apparently made the death toll okay?

This is pretty much all that you learn in Australian Schools about Australian History in 12 years of schooling.

POLITICS:

Everyone, or at least most people in Australia, are politically aware, especially nowadays

We do not have a President. We have a Prime Minister. What's the difference?

Our current Prime Minister is Tony Abbott. Who 98% of people hate because of his opinions on sexuality, women and people of colour as well as the carbon tax.

We had our first Female Prime Minister ever just a few years ago who was named Julia Gillard. Who you might remember tripped over when she visited India

We have two major political parties- The House of Representatives (green) and the Senate (red)

SO YOU'RE MAKING YOUR RP BASED IN AUSTRALIA?

The ever helpful wikipedia page which should include EVERYTHING you'd need to know before opening

We have more cities then just Melbourne and Sydney. 

In fact here are the top 100 best towns in Australia!

The Australian Calendar and dates to remember!

The seasons go like this: December, January, February (summer). March, April, May (autumn). June, July, August (winter), September, October, November (spring)

Things you probably don't think are (or hope aren't) stereotypes about Australia

The school year goes a bit like this-  Starts: first week of February, goes for 10 weeks. Two week break. That is one term. After two week term: another 10 weeks, or 8 weeks if you're in year 11 or 12. Then another break, 2-4 weeks long. This concludes semester one. After a fortnight/ month according to which year you're in at school, it is then the start of a new semester. Which starts about mid July and is exactly the same as above. Two semester equal one year of school. Done and done

Schooling is a bit like this (not so different from US schooling!): preschool, kindergarten, year 1, year 2, year 3, year 4, year 5 (all counted as primary school). Year 6, year 7, year 8 (all counted as middle school). Year 9, year 10, (high school) year 11, and then year 12 (college). Then you can choose to go to university or yadda yadda.

100 things you can only do in Australia!

SO YOU'RE MAKING AN AUSTRALIAN CHARACTER?

15 tips on what every Australian does/ knows

A list of perfectly useable famous Australian FCs!

Australian stereotypes you should probably avoid