Tasmania is cooler and wetter than the rest of Australia, with high mountains, thick forests, and some of the world's oldest trees.

The Aborigines

When British people came to Australia in 1788, they gave the name 'Aborigine' to the people they found there. The 300,000 Aborigines who lived in Australia at that time belonged to more than three hundred different groups and each group had its land and language. They travelled to different parts of their land during the year to find food and water; they ate plants and fruits and caught animals and fish. They did not own many things, and their only buildings were by animals, plants and humans together. This time was called 'Dreamtime', and there are many songs, stories and pictures about it.

At special times Aborigines came together in big groups. They painted their bodies and sang, danced and made music.

After 1788 their life suddenly began to change. Thousands of Aborigines died from fighting the British or from the diseases that they brought to Australia. The new Australians took a lot of Aboriginal land, too. Tasmania is a terrible example. In 1804 there were about 7,000 Aborigines there. In 1831 there were 190. By 1876 there were none.

Houses made from branches and leaves. This way of life did not damage or destroy the land where they lived.

They believed that a long time ago the world was made between 1900 and 1930 special places were made where the Aborigines had to live, far away from other Australians. Life was very difficult for the Aborigines: they could not own land, they could not get jobs very easily, and their children could not go to school with white children. Nobody counted the Aborigines in the Australian population. Some people thought that there was no hope for the Aboriginal people, and many of their languages disappeared successful, many feel that they belong neither to Aboriginal Australia nor to white Australia. At last now in some cities Aborigines are helping each other to learn about the Aboriginal way of life; young people are taken to the country, where older Aborigines teach them the songs, dances, and way of living of the Aborigines of the past. And perhaps white Australians also are beginning to realize that they can learn a lot about their country from the Aborigines.

In fact, after about 1940 the number of Aborigines began to grow again, and now there are about 160,000 in Australia. In some ways life is better; for example, some of the land that the British took now belongs to the Aborigines again. By 1983, the Aborigines owned twenty-eight per cent of the Northern Territory.

But for lots of Aborigines life is still difficult. Most now live in cities and towns, away from the land although some have been.

The political system of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a self-governing federal state and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Formally the head of the state is the King or Queen of England represented by the Governor-General. The Commonwealth of Australia consists of six states and two territories: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Federal Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The Capital Territory is the land around the Federal Capital, Canberra.

The states run such things as education, police, health, railway and roads; the Commonwealth looks after the army, posts and telegraph, relations with other countries.

Australia has a parliament in each state and the Federal Parliament of the Commonwealth at Canberra. The Federal Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The federal government of the country is headed by the Prime Minister, usually the leader of the party which has majority in the House of Representatives. The political parties represented in the parliament are the Australian Labour Party, the Liberal Party of Australia and the National Agrarian Party.

3. Australia on the world’s tourist map

3.1 Transportation

There are three choices of transportation in Australia:

· Air

· Land

· Water

Airlines on regular services

The airline situation in Australia has changed frequently since mid-2001. Anything you hear about routes, fares, and availability may change quickly. When making travel plans, be sure to check the relevant websites or talk with your travel agent often. You should be fine once you've booked your tickets, although (as always) exact flight times can change on short notice.

You can buy some tickets over the Internet (often at good discounts), if you know exactly what you want, but to get a good idea of the choices available, you may need to talk to a travel agent or to airline reservations staff.

In some cases overseas visitors will get a lower price by including within-Australia travel on their overseas tickets (for one thing, you won't pay GST - Goods and Services Tax - on air travel purchased abroad). If you're an overseas visitor buying a ticket after you arrive in Australia, check with a travel agent about possible discounts not available to Australian residents (note that you will pay GST on those tickets).

Many parts of the country are well served by local carriers (both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters) taking people to tourist locations or simply flying around scenic areas and returning to the same airport.

Air tours may last anywhere from half an hour to several days. We'll list some (as we find them) on the relevant pages, and put some here that cover a wider area.

If you have your own plane, you can fly to many hard-to-reach parts of the country as well as more populous areas. Pilots may also be able to make arrangements with a local flying club to rent a small plane.

Land transportation

Rent (hire) a vehicle

Many travellers prefer to rent a vehicle rather than take a guided tour. The major international car rental companies are here, and most of them have both conventional (2-wheel-drive) and 4-wheel-drive cars and campervans.

Most car-rental companies restrict where you can go, so be sure to check before you head off onto unsealed (unpaved) roads or even all the way across or around the country.

Also check exactly what the insurance covers. The standard insurance for rental cars often does not include damage to tires and windscreens (windshields), but you should be able to pay a bit more to include that coverage.

Major car rental companies:

· Avis

· Hertz