Australia Culture

A background on the Australia Culture

Australia is known as a home to people from different tongues and tribes. Originally, according to historical records Australia was a land little known to many. The inhabitants if this country 'down under' were the Aborigines. Different people only started infiltrating this land after it was discovered by James Cook leading to the major migration by the English people from Britain eighteen years later.

As Australia offered some great opportunities in farming and owning cheap land the place was soon abuzz with activities. The discovery of gold marked a big leap towards the increment of immigrants from all over the world. The Chinese for example started to migrate to Australia in their numbers to try their fortune in the newly found treasure.

When the English people came to Australia they claimed the land as their own. Apart from the native culture of the Aborigines the culture of the English started to spread and soon the "Anglo Celtic culture was the dominant culture of the land. However as the world has been changing so has the culture of the Australia which has become more and more American.

The great land of Australia prides itself in its lenience and variety being a home to more than 200 different nationalities. Founded on the base of uplifting all peoples, all citizens have a right to engage in their own culture as well as religion. The English language is the official language that enables intermingling of people from different backgrounds.


The Australian culture is guided by some simple principles.

• Social Equity: Everyone is equal, race, sex, birth, culture and language not withstanding.
• Cultural respect: This dictates that all the people are at liberty to practice their religion and culture
• Productive Diversity: Everyone should uplift economic cultural and social values.
• The most predominant aspect of the Australian culture is the 'Live life large' approach to life that the Australians have adopted. They go to great lengths to ensure the enjoy life the best they can.

The Society and culture

Australians can be said to be modest people. They have a down to earth attitude always mindful not to imply that they think themselves better than others. This being so, they always tend to down play their achievements making it seem as if they are non achievement oriented.

Authenticity and sincerity are widely appreciated values. Being humble and modest themselves, Australians are a bit wary of people who tend to brag of their own achievements and draw attention to themselves.

Another aspect that is common in the Australian society is their value for relationships. People often refer to each other as mates showing their commitment to peaceful co existence with one another.

Their easy going attitude makes them relate to each other in a manner that is informal. However this informal attitude does not in any way lead to an intrusion of others' privacy. The respect of other people's privacy in turn makes them keep away from engaging strangers in a talk easily preferring to be talked to first.

Likewise they are usually reluctant to asking questions that can be regarded as private or even offer unsolicited advice.

In social circles you are likely to find people making fun of each other not to insult but as a sign of friendship and humour. Just as it is in other countries most of the Australian humour is based on poking fun at those that think themselves better than others.

An egalitarian attitude is wide spread among citizens who strive to show social fairness. There is even an expression 'to give one a fair go' that is commonly used to show their egalitarian culture. Even though this is so the capitalistic nature of the society means that there still exist differences in economic, educational and social standings.