Australian Culture

Culture : Australia is rich in the arts. There are eight professional orchestras and a national opera company. Within Australia there are more than 1000 museums preserving and displaying Australia's diverse cultural heritage.

Australian films are winning international acclaim and many Australian film directors, actors and technicians have been acclaimed in Hollywood at the highest level.

Australian authors have received international recognition particularly with the Booker Prize, won twice by Australians and with Patrick White winning the Nobel Prize for literature. Novelists, dramatists and poets are internationally accepted by their peers as having made a substantial contribution to world literature.

Australians traditionally have provided strong support for theatre, from regional amateur troupes to polished professional companies.

In music, Australia has developed a fertile environment that supports a great range of musical tastes ranging from the most avant-garde experimental to folk, from the youthful sounds of chart-busting pop to the unique music of the Aboriginal people.

Painting in Australia has a history that can not only be traced back over forty thousand years of Aboriginal culture but also is represented in the major museums and galleries of modern and avant-garde art, worldwide.

Sports and Recreation : Australians are very keen on sport and outdoor activities. Australia has more than 120 national sporting organizations and thousands of state, regional and club bodies. It is estimated that 6.5 million people, about a third of the population, are registered sports participants. While there are over 120 sporting organizations, Australians also take part in bushwalking, fishing, boating and water sports.

Australia has a world wide reputation for sports and outdoor activities. This is endorsed by the Olympic Committee's selection of Sydney to host the Olympic Games in the year 2000.