Australia

Discover Australia

Fun Foods

Vanilla Slice, Lamington, Pavlova, Vegemite, Meat pie

Australia started as Britain's prison. In 1788, ships full of convicts landed at Sydney Cove because Britain needed somewhere to dump its criminals.

Over the next 80 years, more than 162,000 convicts were shipped to Australia to serve their sentences building the colony.

But people had already been living there for 65,000 years. Aboriginal Australians developed over 250 distinct language groups and cultures, making them possibly the oldest continuous culture of humans outside Africa.

When the British arrived, they took Aboriginal lands without treaties. Australia still hasn't signed one.

Six separate British colonies eventually united on January 1, 1901, creating the Commonwealth of Australia. The new nation was barely a teenager when World War I broke out.

On April 25, 1915, about 16,000 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers stormed the beaches at Gallipoli in modern-day Turkey. The campaign failed spectacularly.

It lasted eight months, cost thousands of lives, and achieved nothing militarily.

Yet Gallipoli became the defining moment of Australian identity. The courage and mateship shown there created the Anzac legend.

April 25 is now Anzac Day, when Australians gather at dawn services nationwide to honor those who served.

Australia Day on January 26 marks the 1788 First Fleet arrival. Many Aboriginal Australians call it Invasion Day because it represents the beginning of colonization and loss of their lands and culture.

The Great Barrier Reef runs 1,400 miles along Queensland's coast. Uluru rises from the desert, a massive red rock sacred to the Anangu people.

Sydney Opera House's distinctive sails make it instantly recognizable worldwide.

Vegemite, invented in 1923, is a salty yeast spread that Australians love and most visitors hate. Spread it thin on toast with butter.

Lamingtons are chocolate-coconut-covered sponge cakes. Fairy bread is literally white bread, butter, and rainbow sprinkles, and kids devour it at parties.

Meat pies are everywhere, especially at cricket and football matches. Tim Tams are chocolate-coated cookies perfect for dunking in tea.

Anzac biscuits, made with oats and golden syrup, honor the wartime tradition. Beach culture and BBQs define the Australian lifestyle. The flat white coffee was perfected here.