SPORT IN AUSTRALIA
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IN THIS LESSON YOU WILL NEED TO:
DESCRIBE CHARACTERISTICS OF AUSTRALIA –
YOUNG NATION; SPARSELY POPULATED;
COLONIAL INFLUENCE AND IMMIGRATION.
EXPLAIN THE NATURE OF SPORT IN AUSTRALIA
(SOCIAL AND CULTURAL REASONS FOR SPORT
BEING HIGH STATUS NATIONAL PRE-OCCUPATION.
ANALYSE THE GAME OF AUSTRALIAN RULES
FOOTBALL (ORIGINS FACTORS WHICH SHAPED ITS
DEVELOPMENT INCLUDING COMMERCIALISM AND
IMPACT OF MEDIA.
FIND OUT………………..
 RESEARCH AND DESCRIBE THE MAIN
CHARACTERISTICS OF AUSTRALIA. NOTES SHOULD
INCLUDE:
 IT IS A YOUNG COUNTRY IN TERMS OF ITS CULTURE
AND ITS POPULATION – NEARLY HALF THE
POPULATION IS UNDER THE AGE OF 30. IT IS THE
ONLY NATION THAT OCCUPIES A WHOLE
CONTINENT. IT HAS A RELATIVELY SMALL
POPULATION OF ABOUT 20 MILLION AND THERFORE
A SPARSELY POPULATED COUNTRY. HOWEVER, 85%
OF THE POPULATION LIVE IN ONLY 3.3% OF THE
NATION’S LAND AREA.
 THE POPULATION IS LARGELY
SETTLED AROUND EIGHT CITIES. A
LARGE PERCENTAGE OF AUSTRALIA IS
UNINHABITABLE AND THE BULK IS
CENTRED IN THE SOTHERN AND
EASTERN SEABOARDS. AUSTRALIA IS
CONSIDERED URBAN
 THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF
AUSTRALIA, THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE,
ARE ONE OF THE OLDEST
CIVILISATIONS IN THE WORLD.
 ARRIVED IN THE ICE AGE WHEN
AUSTRALIA WAS CONNECTED TO ASIA.
AUSTRALIA AND ITS INHABITANTS
WERE ISOLATED FOR THOUSANDS OF
YEARS UNTIL DISCOVERY IN THE 18C.
 COLONIALISM – THE PROCESS
WHEREBY ONE COUNTRY,
THROUGH IMPLEMENTING ITS OWN
STRUCTURES AND CULTURE, TAKES
OVER A WEAKER COUNTRY.
 IN 1788, A BRITISH COLONY WAS ESTABLISHED IN
AUSTRALIA, IT HAD BEEN CHARTED BY CAPTAIN
COOK TEN YEARS EARLIER.
 CONVICTED CRIMINALS, OFFICIALS, ESCORTOF
ROYAL MARINES FOUNDED THE COLONY WHICH
LATER BECAME NEW SOUTH WALES.
 THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT CONSIDERED IT
IMPORTANT FOR BRITISH INTERESTS TO ESTABLISH
A TRADE AND SHIPPING BASE IN THE PACIFIC AND
THEY BELIEVED CONVICTS WERE THE BEST MEANS
OF GETTING THE COLONY STARTED. BY 1852,
160,000 CONVICTS AHD BEEN SENT TO AUSTRALIA.
 OTHER FREE SETTLERS LEFT BRITAIN TO START A
NEW LIFE, WITH FREE CONVICT LABOUR AND THE
RESOURCES INCLUDED ABUNDANCE OF LAND,
WALES AND SEALS.
 IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT AUSTRALIA
WAS NOT BUILT UPON CONVICT SETTLEMENT.
FORTUNATE HUNTERS WITH A FRONTIER ETHOS
SIMILAR TO AMERICAN PIONEERS LATER CAME TO
FARM THE LAND AND DIG FOR GOLD. AMONG THESE
MIGRANTS WAS AN ASPIRING MIDDLE-CLASS
ELEMENT FROM ENGLAND WHO PLAYED SPORTS
AND DID MUCH TO SHAPE THE CULTURE OF
AUSTRALIA.
 NO PROBLEMS WITH THE ABORIGINES AS THEY
WERE THINLY SPREAD OUT OVER THE COUNTRY.
SHEEP FARMING BECAME THE MAIN INDUSTRY.
 FREE SETTLEMENTS WERE ESTABLISHED FROM
NEW SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND VICTORIA IN 1834. THE
DICOVERY OF GOLD INCREASED SETTLEMENT.
 COLONIES WERE LARGELY SEPARATE AND WERE
SELF-GOVERNING. THEY DID NOT UNITE UNTIL 1901.
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA WAS
ESTABLISHED, UNION OF NEW SOUTH WALES,
VICTORIA, QUEENSLAND, SOUTH AUSTRALIA,
TASMANIA AND WEST AUSTRALIA.
 MOST OF THE POPULATION LIVE ON THE
LOW-LYING COASTAL PLAINS RUNNING
ROUND THE SOUTH AND EAST COAST, AND
ACCESSIBILITY OF THE BEACH AND SEA
CONSEQUENTLY DOMINATE AUSTRALIAN
CULTURE.
 THE COLONIAL LINK OF THE PAST IS THE
REASON WHY SPORTING RELATIONS
BETWEEN THE UK AND AUSTRALIA ARE
CLOSE TODAY. FOR MANY IN AUSTRALIA A
SPORTING VICTORY OVER THE FORMER
MOTHERLAND REMAINS IMPORTANT.
 BECAUSE AUSTRALIA HAS A
DECENTRALISED SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
THE PROVISION IN AUSTRALIA FOR SPORT
EDUCATION, PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND
OUTDOOR EDUCATION IN SCHOOL AND
SPORT IN THE COMMUNITY IS DIFFERENT IN
EACH STATE.
 GREAT DISTANCE SEPARATES THE MAIN
CITIES, THERFORE THIS PRESENTED
PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SPORT IN THE 19C.
 THE NATURE OF SPORT IN AUSTRALIA
(social and cultural reasons that
contribute to high level sport)
 ALTHOUGH THERE ARE RECOMMENDATIONS
OF HOW PHYSICAL EDUCATION SHOULD BE
TAUGHT THERE IS NO NATIONAL
CURRICULUM. THE OVERRIDING EMPHASIS
IS ENJOYMENT AND MAXIMUM
PARTICIPATION. – ACTIVE AUSTRALIA! THIS
IS THE SLOGAN USED FOR THE SPORT FOR
ALL POLICY.
 AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMISSION
(ASC) – GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR SPORT. ITS
PURPOSE IS TO ADMINISTER AND FUND
SPORT NATIONALLY ON BEHALF OF
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
 SCHOOLS IN AUSTRALIA HAVE ALSO HAD TO ADAPT
TO PRESSURES FROM OTHERV AGENCIES IN TERMS
OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION. POOR PERFORMANCES
BY THE AUSTRALIAN TEAM IN THE MONTREAL
OLYMPICS OF 1976 LED TO A REVIEW OF SPORT AND
PHYSICAL EDUCATION. TOO MUCH EMPHASIS WAS
PLACED ON EDUCATIONAL VALUES AND NOT
ENOUGH ON SPORTING TALENT. THIS PRODUCED
AUSSIE SPORT WHICH IN TURN BECAME ACTIVE
AUSTRALIA. THIS WAS TO ENCOURAGE MASS
PARTICIPATION.
 AUSTRALIA, LIKE BRITAIN, WAS
RELUCTANT TO FULLY EMBRACE FULLTIME PROFESSIONAL STATUS. SO
THEREFORE, MANY OF THE
SPORTSMAN PLAY ABROAD.
 THERE IS A STRONG LINK BETWEEN
SPORT AND THE MEDIA AND THE
VARIOUS MEDIA CORPORATIONS PLAY
A MAJOR ROLE IN THE PROMOTION
AND FUNDING OF AUSTRALIAN
SPORTS.
 AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTEOF SPORT –
AIS
 POSSIBLY THE BEST CENTRE FOR
ATHLETIC PREPARATION IN THE
WORLD, TOGETHER WITH A NET WORK
OF SPORTS ACADEMIES. THE AIS IS
FUNDED 95% FROM FEDERAL FUNDS
AND 5% FROM COMMERCIAL FUNDS.
 THE FORMATION OF THE AIS HAS BEEN THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS OLYMPIC
SPORT. FAILURE AT THE OLYMPICS LED TO A
NATIONAL OUTCRY AND SPURRED THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT TO FUND AND REORGANISE ELITE
SPORT. THE GOVERNMENT TOOK A THOROUGH
REVIEW OF THE SPORTING SET UP IN AUSTRALIA.
BEFORE THIS IT WAS RUN LIKE SPORT IN BRITAIN.
 THE CONCLUSION TO THIS REVIEW WAS THAT
AUSTRALIA NEEDED TO DEVELOP AN ELITE
ACADEMY SYSTEM WHERE THE BEST ATHLETES
COULD TRAIN AND PREPARE WITHOUT WORRIES OF
FUNDING.
 THE RESULT OF THIS WAS THE
SETTING UP OF THE AIS, WHICH
SHORTLY FOLLOWED BY THE
CREATION OF THE ASC, AUSTRALIAN
SPORTS COMMISSION, THE BODY
RESPONSIBLE FOR COORDINATING
THE GOVERNMENT’S SPORTS
PROGRAMMES.
 SOCIALLY
 SPORT HAS FOLLOWED SOCIETY IN DISTINCT
SOCIAL GROUPS. FROM THE FORMATION OF THE
COLONY THERE WAS SEVERE SOCIAL HIERARCHY
DIFFERENTIATING COLONIAL FROM ABORIGINE,
FREE SETTLER FROM CONVICT, AND THIS HAS
GROWN INTO SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS, AGE
GEDER, RACE ETC. THAT AFFECT ACCESS TO
SPORTS.
 IN THE MAIN, WHITE ANGLO CELTS HAVE BEEN THE
DOMINANT GROUP IN SPORT AND SOCIETY.
MINORITY GROUPS HAVE AHD TO STRUGGLE EG.
ABORIGINES.
 AUSTRALIA IS BLESSED WITH A YOUNG
POPULATION
 A WEALTH OF OPEN SPACE
 ACCESSIBLE NATURAL RESOURCES SUCH
AS THE BEACH AND SEA.
 A FAVOURABLE CLIMATE WHICH
ENCOURAGES SPORT AND RECREATION.
 A NATION OBSESSEDWITH SPORT, WHICH
PROVIDESMOST YOUNG AUSTRALIANS WITH
THEIR MAIN SOURCE OF ROLE MODELS.
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THE CULTURAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL DESIRE TO
ACHIEVE SPORTS EXCELLENCE INCLUDE:
SETTLEMENT AND COLONIALISM – HISTORICAL INFLUENCE OF THE MOTHERLAND
BUSH CULTURE – OLD FRONTIER IMAGE OF INDIVIDUALITY AND RUGGEDNESS
NEW IMAGE – DESIRE TO PROJECT NEW TECHNOLOGICAL IMAGE
POLITICS – SUCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS RECOGNISE POSSIBILITIES AND INVEST
ECONOMY – COUNTRY IS AFFLUENT ANDV WILL SPEND MONEY ON SPORT
ENLIGHTENMENT – PEOPLE ARE EAGER TO PARTICIPATE; HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IS
IMPORTANT
GLOBAL PLAYER – NATION DESIRES TO MATCH POLICIES AND STANDARDSV WORLDWIDE
UNITY AND NATIONALISM – SPORT HAS UNITED A SMALL POPULATION IN A LARGE LAND
EGALITARIANISM – SPORT REFLECTS EQUALLY; SUPPORT THE LAND OF THE FAIR GO
IMAGE
AMBITION – DESIRE TO BE A WORLD SPORTS POWER; NATIONAL CONFIDENCE COMES
FROM THE SPORT
CLIMATE – HIGHLY FAVOURABLE FOR OUTDOOR SPORT; POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON
LIFESTYLE
TRENDS AND FASHION – POPULATION ENJOYS SPORT SUCCESS ASSOCIATION; SPORT IS
FASHIONABLE.