Australian Contemporary Society

Running head: AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
Australian Contemporary Society
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
The Australian culture originates from the western culture that prevails in Britain and
includes the culture of the Aboriginals and the Torrent Islanders. With the advancement of the
British colonization of Australia in 1788, it marked the commencement of multi-ethnic
migration. The contemporary Australia is a pluralistic society that is deeply rooted within the
liberal democratic traditions giving rise to egalitarianism and informality that reflects in the
societal values. With the advent of globalization, Australia has prospered in several aspects and
has always managed to be tied to the world and its own region. A contemporary society is
recognized from technological innovation, current political and social climate along with the
increasing human inter-connection and globalization. The essay aims at discussing about the
modern Australian society with reference to the changes in policies and the system, which will
portray the image of the country in the global context (Bessarab & Forrest, 2016).
Smith, Messenger and Soderland (2017) states that the national symbols and national
Australian places signify the extent to which the country is related to Britain. The citizenship
ceremonies, loyalty oaths and even ceremonial days are also deeply related with the British. As
mentioned earlier, that the modern culture prevailing in the country reflects the aboriginal or
indigenous culture as is evident from the citizenship rights that has been accorded to the
aboriginals. In the past, the aboriginals were not even considered as Australian citizens until the
High court decision in Mabo v Queensland in 1992 has made the legal system of the country
accept that the country was not merely an empty continent.
Dudgeon and Walke (2015) argues that even in the present day the constitution of
Australia does not identify the sovereignty of indigenous Australian still experience issues owing
to their neglect, colonial dispossession and removal. Jacobs (2016) states that after citizenship
accorded to the indigenous and the celebration of the aboriginal art and festival celebration

2AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
marks acceptance of the indigenous culture as part of their national identity. This further
establishes that the indigenous population of the country celebrates strength and survival of its
culture.
The lifestyle of Australians usually demonstrates traditional virtues of classlessness,
egalitarianism, mate ship, stoicism and fair go. According to Mansouri (2016), it is sometimes
referred to as ‘national ethos’ which implies that a particular life style is perceived to be in the
best interest of the entire community instead of one particular class of society. Given that, the
country is one of the most multicultural societies in the world, Luke (2018) states that the
contemporary visions of the diversity of Australian multiculturalism fits into the lifestyle of the
Australians by way of accepting diversity and the choice with respect to every aspects of
lifestyle, religion and culture.
This multiculturalism of the country is an outcome of its migration program. However,
this change in the composition of the Australian population has undergone drastic changes. The
country has embraced multiculturalism as an outcome of the expansion of the concept of ‘fair
go’ because it made the country develop non-discrimination policy in the context of immigration
moving away from the White Australia Policy introduced by the British.
By 2000, the Australians born overseas comprised 24 percent of the population while the
largest growth in respect of Australia’s population is attributed to the long-term visitors that
mostly comprised the overseas Asian students. Freeman and Staley (2018) states that while such
continued migration has given rise to several issues to the population policy of the country with
respect to prohibit extending support to people by providing jobs and welfare payments (if
necessary). This led both major political groupings including the Coalition and the Labor Party