While indigenous Australians are the custodians of the world’s most ancient living culture, Australia as we know it evolved from the late 18th century on, and was built on the labour of Britain’s unwanted
+
unwanted:
indeseados
. In 1770, the English explorer James Cook had recommended Botany Bay, near present-day Sydney, as a site for a colony. Petty criminals
+
petty criminals:
delicuentes de poca monta
, as young as nine years old, were forced
+
to force:
obligar
to emigrate there and put to work in a harsh
+
harsh:
duro
environment.
FIRST FLEET The first fleet
+
fleet:
flota
travelled to the continent in 1787. Some 1,530 men and women, convicts and their families, seamen
+
seamen:
marineros
and officers crowded
+
to crowd:
amontonarse
onto eleven ships and set sail
+
to set sail:
zarpar
for New South Wales. The journey took around 250 days, and not everyone survived it. In the last decades of the 18th century, around a third out of almost six thousand convicts transported on ships died from diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Many of the 160,000 convicts sent in total to Australia were skilled
+
skilled:
cualificados
carpenters or blacksmiths
+
blacksmiths:
herreros
, whose jobs had been threatened
+
to threaten:
amenazar
by the industrial revolution. In Australia they built roads, bridges and public buildings and worked on government farms or as domestic labour.
FREE SETTLERS Initially, Aboriginal guides assisted in the European exploration of the colony and traded
+
to trade:
comerciar
goods
+
goods:
mercancías, bienes
. However, hostility between prisoners and Aboriginal men, as well as sexual violence against women, became common. Public meetings were held across Britain to promote the benefits of the new colony and the first free settlers
+
settlers:
colonos
arrived in 1793. They received free passage, two years’ provisions, and free grants
+
grants:
cesiones
of farming land. New colonies were formed, as Europeans occupied Aboriginal lands and resources.
GOLD RUSH The population of Australia shot up
+
to shoot up:
dispararse
with the discovery of gold in 1850. New shops, factories and farms were opened and merchants and shopkeepers
+
shopkeepers:
tenderos
became rich. A century on
+
a century on:
un siglo después
, rapid industrialisation led to another wave of immigration as demand for labour for new industries and civil engineering projects grew. In addition to people from Britain and Ireland, many people migrated from China, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Cultures, customs and cuisines combined, although the Australian English language that had arisen from the intermingling
+
intermingling:
mezcla
of early settlers’ dialects remained dominant.
GOVERNMENT Today, Australia has a population of twenty-five million people, and immigration is strictly controlled. Indigenous Australians make up just 3 per cent of the population, victims of the economic and psychological effects of government policies that assumed white superiority. Australia’s political structure and its legal and educational institutions are based on British and American models. It is governed by Parliament, located in the capital Canberra, which consists of three components: the Monarch (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate and the House of Representatives. The office
+
office:
cargo
of prime minister is the most powerful political office.
NATURAL RESOURCES While Australia is one of Earth’s driest
+
driest:
más seco
continents, it also has tropical rainforests
+
rainforests:
bosques pluviales
and mountain ranges
+
mountain ranges:
cadenas montañosas
. What Australians call the “bush
+
bush:
monte
” refers to rural areas, while the Outback
+
outback:
interior
is a vast, sparsely
+
sparsely:
escasamente
populated area that extends from the northern to southern coastlines and encompasses
+
to encompass:
abarcar
a number of climatic zones. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals and fuels
+
fuels:
combustibles
to Asia and the US. The use of renewable energy has received a recent boost
+
boost:
estímulo, impulso
, and now some 21 per cent of energy is green. However, natural disasters in Australia are common, from heatwaves to severe storms, earthquakes
+
earthquakes:
terremotos
and tsunamis. In recent years there have been huge bushfires
+
bushfires:
incendios forestales
across its east coast and cyclones across the west.
ECOSYSTEMS Australia’s unique geographic position and centuries of isolation have created ecosystems that are unique in the world and that require protection. Australia is famous for its Great Barrier Reef
+
reef:
arrecife
, the largest coral reef in the world. Koalas, kangaroos and wombats
+
wombats:
tejones australianos
are native animals. The continent is also famous for its alligators
+
alligators:
caimanes
and many snake species. Notable insects include the giant centipede, the goliath stick insect
+
goliath stick insect:
insecto palo goliat
and a notorious array
+
array:
diversidad
of spider
+
spider:
araña
species, some of which are enormous or have a poisonous bite
+
bite:
picadura
.
funny spiders Among the most serious of the spiders to avoid
+
to avoid:
evitar
in Australia is the venomous lizard-eating
+
lizard-eating:
que come lagartijas
redback spider
+
redback spider:
araña de lomo rojo
—responsible for some two thousand human bite victims showing up
+
to show up:
presentarse, llegar
in hospital every year— the funnel-web spider
+
funnel-web spider:
araña de teleraña de embudo
, the white-tailed spider
+
white-tailed spider:
araña de cola blanca
, the wolf-spider
+
wolf-spider:
araña lobo
and the impressive goliath bird-eating spider
+
goliath bird-eating spider:
tarántula pajarera
, with its 6cm body and 16cm leg span
+
span:
envergadura
. Spiders are such an issue on the continent that a controversial episode of the children’s cartoon Peppa Pig called “Mister Skinny
+
skinny:
flacas
Legs” is continuously being pulled off the air
+
to pull off the air:
cancelar la emisión
, as it is felt to promote the idea that spiders are harmless
+
harmless:
inofensivas
and not to be feared...
