Australia - Culture Smart!

Australia - Culture Smart! offers an engaging insight into a unique and vast island-continent. Australia stands out with its immense distances, so much so that Perth, the capital of Western Australia, is closer to Singapore than to Sydney. This remarkable land hosts stunning tropical rainforests, massive deserts equalling the size of several European states, and temperate zones that nurture a thriving wine industry, making Australia the world's fourth-largest wine exporter.

The country boasts a sixteen-thousand-mile coastline of breathtaking beaches, while its distinctive wildlife highlights Australia's "down-underness." Indigenous Australians have lived on the continent for over fifty thousand years, although European settlement is merely two centuries old. Since the end of the Second World War, Australia has embraced a diverse immigrant population, gradually shedding its British colonial influence to transform from what was once a perceived dull nation into a dynamic one.

Australians have left behind their old settler mentality, once self-described as "battlers" lacking sophistication, and have adopted a new national confidence. The accomplishments of Australia's artists, sportspeople, entertainers, scientists, and businesspeople have propelled them onto the global stage. Despite the ethnic diversity, there is a prevalent homogeneity among Australians characterized by a generosity of spirit and a forthrightness that can sometimes be disarming for visitors.

A sense of fairness and equality is highly valued, as is the ability to not take oneself too seriously. Culture Smart! Australia introduces you to a young nation with one of the world's highest standards of living, where people "work to live" to enjoy a lifestyle that is envied and cherished around the globe, and one in which Australians take great pride.