AUSTRALIA

Australia is the 6th largest country in the world and is only slightly smaller than the U.S. Before the British arrival in 1770, the continent was inhabited by the native Aborigines. The continent was first discovered and explored in the 1620's by the Dutch, and later claimed by Captain Cook for the British Empire. The British formally arrived in 1788 and founded a penal colony in what is now Sydney, Hobart, and Brisbane. Gold was discovered in 1851 which led to a rapid increase in free men immigrating to Australia. Convicts were no longer transported to Australia in 1868. In 1901 the 6 colonies which made up the continent agreed to federate as the Commonwealth of Australia. Since then the country has enjoyed growth and stability. Since WWII Australia has developed close ties with the U.S., and is active in global politics.

Physical Resources: Australia is considered to be rich in natural resources despite the fact that 1/3 of the continent is entirely useless and another third is at best sparce pasture. The country is rich in natural resources such as bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, and petroleum. Australias agricultural and mineral exports are sensitive to fluctuations in world market prices which can restrict or encourage growth. Australia is also a world exporter of livestock, wool, and food. The country is very dependant on exports which has an overall effect of influencing its development plan.

Technological Resources: Australia is a modern day country with access to and production of many information age technologies. Computers are common and pervasive in business and everyday life. Satellite technology is available and widely used. Unfortunately, the country's distance from Europe and North America has a negative influence on trade policies and imposes considerable transportation costs on imports and exports. This also explains why the country trails in overall technology and why it receives less fallout from the scientific advances that are revolutionizing industry among the Atlantic powers. With this in mind, Australia still lags the in the industrial age with some considerable progress into the information age.

Human Resources: Australia has a highly educated society with a literacy rate of 99 to 99.5%. The institutional breakdown is as follows: 33 universities, 1619 second level schools with a net enrollment of 86%, 95 third level schools with an enrollment rate of 27%, vocational schools number 234 and the percentage of the population with postsecondary education is 22. Australia is into the information age with a rich human resources backround.

Energy Resources: The composition of Australias energy supply has changed since the end of WWII, first in favor of oil, and after two oil shocks, in favor of coal. Coal and lignite account for 70% of the total energy sources with petroleum and natural gas accounting for the other 28%. Electric power only accounts for 3%. Australia is one of the five members of OECD that is a net energy exporter. Oil was first discovered in 1961 in Southeastern Queensland. Since then many more oil rich land have been developed. The prospects of other oil rich areas being discovered are considered good. Public electricity supply rests with the state governments which control both production and distribution. Hydroelectrfic resources are poor, with the exception of Tasmania, because of low average rainfall and limited areas of high relief. Nuclear power is non-existent as of this time. Australia is still considered to be in the Industrial age of energy resources with a shift towards more renewable energy sources in the near future.

Economy: Australias economy is basically free-enterprise in structure, and it's largest components are finance, manufacturing, services and trade. Australia has a developed, modern, regulated market economy characterized by industrialization, high technology, urbanization, large scale production, exploitation of natural resources, and a dominant private-enterprise sector. The economy's great strengths are a stable political system; an Anglo-Saxon respect for law and private property; a well maintained and extensive infrastructure; and vast mineral resources, the full extent of which is only gradually being revealed. It's GDP is $374.6 billion with a national per capita of $20,720. The inflation rate is 2.5% and it's unemployment rate is 8.9%. Australia is mainly in the Industrial age due to its monetary economy yet it's type of economic system is moving into the Information age.

Primary Jobs:The Australian labor force is estimated at 8.63 million with a 60.7% participation rate. Women make up 39.4% of the labor force. Australias unemployment rate is close to the OECD average. However, unemployment is very high for two groups: youth, for whom it has hovered between 22% and 25%; and for women, for whom it has risen as high as 31.9%. Many observers attribute the high youth unemployment to high pay scales for that age group. The workforce breakdown includes: 70% in the services, 21% in the mining and manufacturing industry, 5% in agriculture, and 4% in public administration. This service oriented country has all the information age characteristics with a small percentage of left over industrial age sectors.

Labor Union Membership:Although Australian unions are still strong, their numbers have been steadily declining since the 1970's. It's expected that as the country moves towards a more service based economy that the trend will continue, however, due to its highly industrialized manufacturing sectors it's expected to stabilize in the near future. This places Australia in the Information age regarding labor unions.

Population:While the overall population density rate is low, approximately 85% of the people live in urban areas, mostly in the coastal cities. This reflects an Industrial age distribution.

Age Distribution:Australias total population is 18,322,231(July 1995 est.)The age breakdown is as follows: 0-14 years= 22%; 15-64=67%; 65 and up= 11%. The country is approximately 49% female and 51% male. The birth rate is 14.13 births/1000 population and the death rate is 7.37 deaths/ 1000 population. Life expectancy is 74.67 for males and 81.04 for females while the total fertility rate is 1.82 children born/woman. Australia fits into the Information Age in this distribution.

Family & Houshold Patterns:The average family has two or three children, although larger families are not uncommon. Society is family oriented, and Australian family life is similar to life in the U.S. As in other parts of the world, there are more and more single parent homes and families where both father and mother work outside of the home. Women are generally considered equal to men with about the same levels of education, fairly equal wages, and important leadership positions in the private and public sector. Home ownership is valued highly and is part of the "Australian Dream." Despite usually high interest rates on home loans, about 70% of Australians have their own homes.

Educational Trends:Public education is administered by the state governments and financed by federal funds. Schooling is compulsory from ages six to fifteen. Correspondence instruction, supplemented by two way radio, reaches children in remote areas. Approximately 1/4 of all Australian children attend private schools. All states have universities, colleges, and institutes. Most Australian adults have completed an average of 11 years of schooling; that is, most finish compulsory education and go on to finish high school as well. A significant portion of the population has had higher education. Australia is into the Information Age regarding educational trends.

Australia hasn't suffered as much widespread pollution as many post-industrial nations have due to its small population and uninhabitable landscape. Current environmental issues include: soil erosion from overgrazing, pollution from industrial development and coal use, poor farming practices and an increase in soil salinity due to the use of poor quality water. Other environmental issues are desertification, threatened natural habitats of many unique animals and plant species due to agricultural clearing, and lastly the effect of increased shipping on the Great Barrier Reef. This combination would set Australias pollution problems in the Industrial Age. The country is attempting to further resources into more renewable, and thus less polluting, sources.

Australias management style is primarily hierarchial like that used in most industrialized western countries, but it is also moving towards a network-based participating management. Japanese management models and styles have been incorporated as well as some middle management positions. This gives Australia a combination of Industrial and Information Age characteristics.

Although Australians are proud of their history and way of life, they become more globally interdependant everyday. This closeness of the Asian theatre and the Pacific Rim guaranty that Australia will move even deeper into the Information Age regarding culture. On the other hand, the Australian mindset would have to be characterized as a combination of Industrial and Informational Ages because it still bases itself on Western civilization and ideals like Newtonian physics or deductive logic. Still, the country is moving into the new age faster and faster everyday as it attempts to keep up with an ever changing world, and convert its Industrial Age aspects into an Information Age way of life.