Australian Stories matching your query...

Cable Beach, Broome, north-west Kimberley Coast, Western Australia. Most of Australia's population lives close to the coastline and the beach has long occupied a special place in the Australian identity. Based on this definition, the Coastal Studies Uni...

These painters, amongst them Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin and Charles Conder, were known by this name because of the artists' camps they shared in areas around Melbourne, including Heidelberg. Image courtesy of the National Gallery of ...

Australia's first official surf lifesaving club - the first in the world - was founded at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, in 1906. They showcase an array of surf life saving disciplines and involve three main areas of competition - beach events, surf swimming ev...

Public subscription has supported the construction of ocean baths and swimming pools around Australia. An innovative approach to swimming by Australia's first modern swimmers led to the development of the freestyle swimming stroke - the Australian Crawl....

While Australia has no single uniform national costume, an Australian national dress style, based on specific local dress styles, has emerged in response to climate, lifestyle and identity. An Australian style can be seen clearly in the main types of loc...

Australian swimming successes at the Melbourne (1956), Rome (1960) and Tokyo (1964) Olympics fuelled enthusiasm for competitive swimming in pools. Swimming pools came to be seen as a standard local government community facility that was available to all ...

Dupain, Max (1911-1992), Sunbaker, 1937, photograph, 37.7 x 43.2cm. Image courtesy National Gallery of Australia. 2007, Dupain's Sydney Opera House, Exhibition Hall, Sydney Opera House, Sydney....

Heritage walks and tours in Melbourne offer a range of guided and self guided tours including the Golden Mile Heritage Trail, and the National Trust conducts walking tours of the city which 'take you down the hidden laneways and tell the stories of the in...

On 25 April every year, Australians commemorate ANZAC Day. During the Second World War, ANZAC Day became a day on which the lives of all Australians lost in war time were remembered. Commemorative services are held at dawn on 25 April, the time of the o...

Internationally recognised Australian icons include buildings like the Sydney Opera House (architect Jørn Utzon) and the new Parliament House in Canberra (architect Romaldo Giurgola). Distinctive Australian architecture is also recognisable in the rural ...

Protestant and Roman Catholic churches hold Christmas Day services on 25 December. The Eastern churches - the Ethiopian Orthodox church, Russian Orthodox church and the Armenian church - celebrate Christmas on 6 or 7 January. Christmas is the celebratio...

Image courtesy of State Library of Victoria. Some trading ships were going to the East Indies for spices and lost their way in high winds and seas - literally 'bumping' into Australia's west coast. The Limestone coast of South Australian and the south we...

But Australia has a significant and untameable high country where another set of Australian myths and traditions of Australian identity were born - the high country of the Snowy Mountains. The Man from Snowy River is one of Australia's most famous poems ...

Today, the term refers to a number of artists, including Frederick McCubbin, Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts, who painted scenes 'en plein air' (in the open air) of Australia, particularly in Melbourne and its surrounds. Over the years they were joined b...

Cotton, Olive (1911-2003), Tea cup ballet , 1935, photograph, 37.3 x 29.6cm. Image courtesy of Art Gallery of NSW. O Cotton & S McInerney, Olive Cotton: photographer, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1995. ...

Even though the four 'official' calendar seasons have the same names as the northern hemisphere seasons, the weather during these seasons is very different to northern hemisphere weather patterns. Indigenous Australians have long had their own seasonal c...

This is reflected in the development of an alternative model for public spaces and urban living based on social architecture and the 'green' apartment. Australia's modern residential architecture also reflects this change with architects using new environ...

Unknown photographer, Freda Thompson (1906-1980), Pictured here in 1934 just before take off at Lympne Airport when she became the first Australian woman to fly solo from England to Australia, 1934. Courtesy of National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame. Avia...

The bush has an iconic status in Australian life and features strongly in any debate about national identity, especially as expressed in Australian literature, painting, popular music, films and foods. The bush was revered as a source of national ideals b...

Nicola Finetti, Dress of silk georgette, silk chiffon and metallic embroidery on silk organza. Fashion can be defined by colour, cut, cloth, garment type, garment styles and interpretation of looks. Chinese silk embroidered shawls and Chinese surcoats b...