WORLD GEOGRAPHY
AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA
UNIT 11 VOCABULARY
TERMS
THE ECOSYSTEM OF THE REGION
• Limestone skeletons of a tiny sea animal:
coral
• Shrimplike animal: krill
• Small, sturdy plants:
lichen
• Small shrub that grows in New Zealand:
manuka
• Pool of water inside an atoll: lagoon
• The formation that lies just off Australia's
northeastern coast (the largest living thing on
earth) is the _____.
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef can be seen
from outer space – it’s big!
A FEW CULTURAL ASPECTS
• In some parts of Oceania _____ is spoken.
pidgin
English
• Australians speak _____, a dialect of English. Strine
• The _____ was originally a hunting tool.Boomerang
• Each aboriginal family group traveled as a _____.
Clan
• A _____ provides simple shelter on tropical islands. Fale
• Some islanders still make their livings by _____.
subsistence farming
• The arts have enriched life in the South Pacific region by
passing on knowledge from generation to generation and
now it has many _____, _____, and _____.
musicians,
writers and artists
• Some characteristics of modern lifestyles in Australia, New
Zealand, and Oceania include: _____ and _____.
Australia and New Zealand are fast paced and island
life is slow paced
THE ECONOMICS OF THE REGION
• New Zealand's main natural resource
is _____. Land
• The local resources that help to meet
New Zealand's main natural resource
are: _____. rivers and dams that
produce hydroelectric power and
geothermal energy provided by
water heated underground by
volcanoes
The beauty of scenic New Zealand is
stunning. The sheep like it too!
THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE REGION
• Well from which pressurized water flows
to the surface: artesian well
• Huge crack in an ice cap: crevasse
• Low, ring-shaped island:
atoll
• The three types of islands that are found
in Oceania are: _____, _____, and _____.
high islands, low islands, and
continental islands
• The _____ of the cap causes the motion
of the Antarctic ice cap.
Weight
This is an island. It’s an atoll – created
by a volcanic explosion leaving a ring
SOME POLITICAL FACTORS OF THE REGION
• The Micronesian islands became a
_____ after World War II. trust
territory
• In 1901 Australia became a _____
Great Britain. Dominion
The Antarctic treaty was established in
1959 because they wanted to
preserve Antarctica as a peaceful
scientific _____. research site
Antarctica is a wasteland of ice, but millions
of animals survive their year-round
SOME HISTORY OF THE REGION
*Geography influenced settlement patterns in the region
because a high percentage of the land is unsuited for
human _____. Habitation
*The ways of life that Pacific indigenous peoples practice
is that the Aborigines were nomads and the pacific
islanders settled in family groups along the _____.
Coasts
*European settlement influenced the region by _____,
_____, _____, _____ and _____.
establishing
coastal farms, bringing livestock, building textile
industries, bringing diseases, and by ruling the people
cruelly
*Maori, Aborigines, and people from Asia were the
original settlers of _____, _____, and _____.
Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania
The didgeridoo (also known as a didjeridu) is a wind instrument
developed by Indigenous Australians of the North
•
•
•
•
WEATHER & CLIMATE
Windless area near the Equator:
doldrums
Violent Pacific Ocean storm:
typhoon
The climate that supports most of
Australia's agricultural lands is _____.
humid subtropical
The factor that prevents temperature
extremes in _____ is ocean winds that
warm the land in winter and cool it in
the summer.
New Zealand
South Pacific island typhoons can be deadly