AUSTRALIA

Ancestry and Inmigration in Australia

 

 

The great majority of Australians are descended from assisted immigrants, but they are also descended from convicts, far more Colonial Era settlers were British and Irish. 

About 20 percent of Australians are descendants of criminals. Most of the first Australian settlers came from London, the Midlands and the North of England, and Ireland.

Since 1945, when the first federal immigration portfolio was created, over than 7.5 million people have settled at Australia and Australia's overseas, that is estimated to be 28.2 per cent of the population (2015).

Religion

Australians don’t have an official religion because Australian Constitution prohibits from establishing a church or interfering with the freedom of religion. 

However, 61.1 % of the population were listed as Christian, in a census of 2011, and a 22.3% of them defined themselves as irreligious, this percentage has been growing since some years ago.

 

Cuisine

Contemporary Australian cuisine combines British and Indigenous origins with Mediterranean and Asian influences. Australia's abundant natural resources helps to access to a large variety of quality meats, and to barbecue beef or lamb in the open air is one of the best Australian traditions. The majority of Australians live close to the sea so Australian seafood restaurants are among the world's best.

Apart from those meals, Australians also eat animals of their native fauna, like crocodiles, kangaroos or emus, these 3 are really typical dishes there.

Watch the following video to know more about Australian cousine.

Clothing

Australia hasn’t got an official national dress, but they have iconic styles, such as, bushwear, that is characterised by brands like Akubra hats, Driza-Bone coats, RM Williams bushmen's outfitters (moleskin trousers, riding boots and merino woolwear), Blundstone Footwear and Country Road, or surfwear, characterised by surfer’s brands, for example, Billabong, Rip Curl, Mambo and Quiksilver. 

The best fashion event of the country is the Australian Fashion Week, a twice yearly meeting in which they show seasonal collections from Australian and Asia Pacific Designers, with top models like Elle Macpherson, Miranda Kerr and Jennifer Hawkins.

Here, we have a video on a small curiosity which is why do Australians love going barefooted.

 

Humour

 

Comedy is an important part of the Australian identity. The "Australian sense of humour" is often characterised as dry, irreverent and ironic, we can highlight great artists like Barry Humphries and Paul Hogan. 

The convicts of the early colonial period helped establish anti-authoritarianism as a hallmark of Australian comedy.

 

 

Symbols

 

The Australian flag (1 January 1901) contains the Union Flag in the left corner, because of the historical links to the United Kingdom, the stars of the Southern Cross on the right half of the flag indicate Australia's geographical location, and the seven-pointed Federation Star in the bottom left represent the six states and the territories of Australia.

The Australian Coat of Arms was granted by King George V in 1912 and consists of a shield containing the badges of the six states, within an ermine border. The crest above the shield and helmet is a seven-pointed gold star on a blue and gold wreath, representing again the 6 states and the territories. The shield is supported by a red kangaroo and an emu, which are characteristic animals of the country.

Green and gold were confirmed as Australia's national colours in 1984, these colours had been adopted by many national sporting teams since then. The Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) was officially proclaimed as the national floral emblem in 1988.

 

Language

Australia has not an official language but the most spoken is English with difference. Australian English is distinguished from the other dialects because of its unique accents, pronunciations, idioms and vocabulary. 

However, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population, there are other idioms spoken at Australian homes like Mandarin (1.7%), Italian (1.5%), and Arabic (1.4%).

Don't miss these videos on how do Australians speak.

 

Arts

The arts in Australia (film, music, painting, theatre, dance and crafts) are internationally recognised. 

Australia has traditionally tended to fit with general trends and styles in Western arts, but, the arts practised by Indigenous Australians represent a unique Australian cultural tradition, and Australia's landscape and history have helped to some unique variations in the styles that come from Australia's migrant communities.

NEW ZEALAND

NEW ZEALAND

  

Ancestry and Inmigration in New Zealand

 

Nowadays, the population there is made up of people from different backgrounds; 70% are of European descent, 16.5% are indigenous Māori, 15.1% Asian and 8.1% non-Māori Pacific Islanders. 

Originally, there was only indigenous Māori people because in 1769 two Indians arrived at the island and they reproduced rapidly until they filled the island.

It is a safe and friendly environment for families, offers great career opportunities and the possibilities for exploration and travel. The high quality of life New Zealand offers is what draws immigrants from all over the world to the country, so there are lot of different ethniticies such as European, Māori, Pacific peoples, Asian and Middle Eastern, Latin American and African which are called MELAA.

Religion

 

Christianity is the predominant religion in New Zealand, although its society is among the most secular in the world. In the 2018 census, 44.7% of respondents identified with one or more religions, including 37.0% identifying as Christians. Another 48.5% indicated that they had no religion. 

Of those who affiliate with a particular Christian denomination, the main responses are Anglicanism (6.7%), Roman Catholicism (6.3%), and Presbyterianism (4.7%). Immigration and demographic change in recent decades have contributed to the growth of minority religions, such as Hinduism (2.6%), Islam (1.3%), Buddhism (1.1%), and Sikhism (0.9%).

 

 

Cuisine

 

The national cuisine has been described as Pacific Rim, incorporating the native Māori cuisine and diverse culinary traditions introduced by settlers and immigrants from Europe, Polynesia, and Asia. New Zealand yields producefrom land and sea, most crops and livestock, such as maize, potatoes and pigs, were gradually introduced by the early European settlers.  

Distinctive ingredients or dishes include lamb, salmon, kōura… Around 1930, the kiwifruit began to be widely cultivated and traded in New Zealand.

 

 

Arts

 

As part of the resurgence of Māori culture, the traditional crafts of carving and weaving are now more widely practised, and Māori artists are increasing in number and influence. Māori decorated the white wood of buildings, canoes and cenotaphs using red (a mixture of red ochre and shark fat) and black (made from soot) paint and painted pictures of birds, reptiles and other designs on cave walls. 

In terms of architecture the wharenui are very common. They are communal and meeting houses of the Maori and is considered the most important thing for a Marae. Also, they are considered sacred but no as a church.

 

 

Māori tattoos (moko) consisting of coloured soot mixed with gum were cut into the flesh with a bone chisel.  It shows an ancestry which is really important for them and the personal history of each one. In times past, it was an important indicator of knowledge and social status.

The country's isolation delayed the influence of European artistic trends allowing local artists to develop their own distinctive style of regionalism.

 

 

 

 

Language

Mainly, in New Zealand, the language spoken is English but, also Māori, which is a language of the indigenous people living there. In the 2013 census, 90% people spoke English and a 3% of people speaking Māori.  

The rest, are other languages such as Mandarin or Samoan.

 

Literature

 

Māori quickly adopted writing as a means of sharing ideas, and many of their oral stories and poems were converted to the written form. Most early English literature was obtained from Britain, and it was not until the 1950s when local publishing outlets increased that New Zealand literature started to become widely known. 

Participation in the world wars gave some New Zealand writers a new perspective on New Zealand culture. 

Katherine Mansfield was a really important writer between 1898 and 1923,