A Comprehensive Look at Contemporary Australian Society

This essay provides an overview of contemporary Australian society, highlighting its multiculturalism, environmental diversity, urbanization, and educational infrastructure. It emphasizes the unity and common identity shared by Australians despite their diverse backgrounds. The essay discusses the significance of Australian Day, the recognition of Indigenous Australians' rights, and the country's commitment to preserving its natural environment, including its fourteen national heritage spots. It also addresses the challenges posed by climate variations and water scarcity. Furthermore, the essay explores Australia's high degree of urbanization, with a majority of the population residing in coastal areas, and the importance of agriculture to the nation's GDP. Finally, it touches upon the country's progressive education system and its democratic political structure, concluding that Australia is a contemporary society that is continuously evolving through globalization and technological innovation. Desklib provides access to similar essays and study resources for students.

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

1CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY
The concept of a contemporary society can be best described as a series of changes that
tends to increase the degree of connection amongst humans and individual residing in a
particular era or region. The majorly known features of a contemporary society include
advancements in the field of internationalisation, technology and innovation. As a matter of fact,
a contemporary society is one that promotes and inculcates growth and development of the
economy so that there is emergence of larger amounts of trade and globalisation. Australia is
known for its diverse population and values which yield different cultures altogether in the
society. The values and beliefs of the Australian individuals are extremely varied because of the
difference in the origins and backgrounds of these people (Griffin, Griffin & Trudgett, 2017).
However, as these people have lived and have advanced their social and mental growth together
as citizens of Australia, for over a period of fifty thousand years, they have been able to harness
unity and a common identity. This essay focuses on the various spheres of the contemporary
society existing in Australia.
Australia as is well known is characterised by multiculturalism and a mixture of different
cultures held together by a common bond of integrity and nationalism. The ethnic complexities
of the Australian culture are in particular considered to be the most diverse and multi-faceted in
nature. The ties of the nation with other nations in terms of culture and international integrity
holding are also well known and widely celebrated. Further, the Australian Day celebrated on the
26th of January is a very important day as it helps in holding up the loyalty to the oaths made by
the citizens to the country as well as celebrating the authenticity of the nation. The aboriginals of
the nation are also celebrated and their rights are considered to be equivalent to that of the
sovereign citizens since the year 1992. These are the Indigenous Australians and although there
has always been widespread debate about this context, Australia as a nation has been successful

2CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY
in keeping all the citizens unified and has been successful in restoring the multi-cultural integrity
(Trudgett, Griffin & Griffin, 2018).
In the context of environment, Australia has always been ahead of most other countries
on account of the presence of immensely beautiful and diverse environmental areas and well
protected and reserved natural spots throughout the country. It is known for beholding fourteen
of the greatest national heritage spots in the world (O'leary et al., 2015). The Great Barrier Reef
is one of these heritage spots and is known all over the world for its contribution to tourism and
environmental beauty. Reports assert that only two- thirds of the country is habitable and the rest
is comprised of land area that is environmentally conserved. The temperature and climate
variations in Australia are also rampant. The climate and the annual rainfall patterns in Australia
vary up to extremely high degrees with a total variation in these statistics by about 6%. It is
considered to be one of the most dry countries in the w0rld and has a total land area out of which
only a small portion is arable. Water thus forms one of the most conserved and protected natural
elements in this country. Further, the country is increasingly growing the extent of urbanisation
so that there is effective networking of transport throughout the country. Studies assert that over
eighty percent of Australians stay in the urban parts of the country with majority of the
population staying close to the coast. Majority of the population resides at a distance of 50 km
from the coast. These residential areas constitute about 1% of the total land mass in Australia.
Almost 60% of the total land area in Australia is used for agricultural purposes. The agricultural
products in Australia account for almost 3% of the entire Gross Domestic Product of the entire
nation as a whole.
Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world with majority of population
living in a very small portion of the entire land area available in the country (Porter, 2018). The

3CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY
two largest cities in Australia are Sydney and Melbourne and are the most widely populated
regions in Australia. The degree of urbanization in Australia has continuously been increasing at
a progressive rate and has been at a level of 89.68% in the year 2017.
In the field of education also, Australia has been improving in leaps and bounds and
currently has a number of public funded schools, universities and colleges as well as private
institutions for educational purposes within the country (Bodkin-Andrews & Carlson, 2016). The
options of open education and distance learning are also widespread in the public funded
educational organisations in Australia. Open Learning Australia for example is one of the broker
agencies that operates on behalf of a lot of Australian Universities. In the field of politics too,
Australia is progressive and consists of a monarchy that is democratic and constitutional in
nature. The constitution of the country is not considered to be of utmost importance however. It
is not considered to be the icon of the country, or is it widely accepted as a part of the popular
culture of Australia. In spite of this situation, the Australian Constitution is reported to be one of
the longest continuously framed constitutions in the history of the world. The quality of the
constitution and the values constituting it are highly robust and stringent. Thus, in the political
sense too the country is contemporarily ahead of most other countries in the world.
Thus, in order to conclude. It can be asserted that Australian society at large is
contemporary and is improving at its very own pace. It is culturally rich and the heritage of the
country is preserved with the help of diverse backgrounds and multiculturalism. There are many
aspects that uphold the contemporary society in Australia including the political structure, the
educational infrastructure, the environmental biodiversity and the degree of urbanization of the
country that is both commendable and well known. Australian society s thus progressing through

4CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY
globalisation and technological innovation currently and will continue to do so in the coming
years.

5CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY
References:
Bodkin-Andrews, G., & Carlson, B. (2016). The legacy of racism and Indigenous Australian
identity within education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(4), 784-807.
Griffin, L., Griffin, S., & Trudgett, M. (2017). At the Movies: Contemporary Australian
Indigenous Cultural Expressions–Transforming the Australian Story. The Australian
Journal of Indigenous Education, 1-8.
O'leary, G. J., Christy, B., Nuttall, J., Huth, N., Cammarano, D., Stöckle, C., ... & Farre‐Codina,
I. (2015). Response of wheat growth, grain yield and water use to elevated CO 2 under a
free‐air CO 2 enrichment (FACE) experiment and modelling in a semi‐arid
environment. Global change biology, 21(7), 2670-2686.
Porter, L. (2018). From an urban country to urban Country: confronting the cult of denial in
Australian cities. Australian Geographer, 49(2), 239-246.
Trudgett, M., Griffin, L., & Griffin, S. (2018). At the Movies: Contemporary Indigenous cultural
expressions-transforming the Australian story. The Australian Journal of Indigenous
Education.