Biotic:

Australia is a product of a unique blend of established traditions and new influences. The country’s original inhabitants, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, are the custodians of one of the world’s oldest continuing cultural traditions. They have been living in Australia for at least 40 000 years and possibly up to 60 000 years.  

The rest of Australia’s people are migrants or descendants of migrants who have arrived in Australia from about 200 countries since Great Britain established the first European settlement at Sydney Cove in 1788.

In 1945, Australia’s population was around 7 million people and was mainly Anglo–Celtic. Since then, more than 6.5 million migrants, including 675 000 refugees, have settled in Australia, significantly broadening its social and cultural profile.

Today Australia has a population of nearly 23 million people. At 2009, abou 25.6 per cent of the estimated resident population comprised those born overseas. Australian Bureau of Statistics projections from the 2006 census of the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people suggest and Indigenous population of 575,552 people at 30 June 2011.

Many of the people who have come to Australia since 1945 were motivated by a commitment to family, or a desire to escape poverty, war or persecution. The first waves of migrants and refugees came mostly from Europe. Subsequent waves have come from the Asia–Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.

Migrants have enriched almost every aspect of Australian life, from business to the arts, from cooking to comedy and from science to sport. They, in turn, have adapted to Australia’s tolerant, informal and broadly egalitarian society.

The defining feature of today’s Australia is not only the cultural diversity of its people, but the extent to which they are united by an overriding and unifying commitment to Australia.

Within the framework of Australia’s laws, all Australians have the right to express their culture and beliefs and to participate freely in Australia’s national life.

At the same time, everyone is expected to uphold the principles and shared values that support Australia’s way of life. These include:

- Education in Australia is compulsory between the ages of five or six and fifteen, sixteen or seventeen, depending on the state of territory and date of birth 
Politics

Economic status

1. Contempary

- The inside of the homes were often open plan 
- Large windows often at the corner of the house 
- Inside of home often had an open plan 
- The roof was low pitched with corrugated iron or steel deck roofing. 
2. Double and Tripe fronted brick veneer 
- Had a hipped roof call side of the roof slope downward to the walls that was tiled with concrete tiles. 
- The external walls consisted of a brick veneer wall, usually made from wire cut bricks that were light tan, light red or brown
- Windows were horizontal sliding aluminium or timber awning with a brick on edge or terracotta tiled window sill

- 87% of houses has outer walls of brick. 67% are single brick and 20% are double brick. Only 6% of houses have timber outer walls
- Homes in Australia are orientated to increase the energy efficiency of the homes. In Australia, homes that face north will have better access to winter sun and can more easily be protected from unwanted summer sun. 

- Sydney Opera House
- Parliament House