Archive-name: australian-faq/part1
Last-modified: 6 July 1994
Version: 2.0

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PART I (this posting)
1.About soc.culture.australian
2.How to find Australians, Australian Information
  2.1 on the net
      2.1.1 Public access sites 
      2.1.2 Gopher and WWW
      2.1.3 Weather
      2.1.4 Finding people
      2.1.5 Other
  2.2 elsewhere
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PART II (separate posting)
3.Citizenship/Visas/Immigration
  3.1 Australian citizenship
  3.2 Dual Citizenship of other countries
  3.3 Visas
      3.3.1 For Foreigners in Australia
      3.3.2 For Australians in other Countries
  3.4 Immigration
      3.4.1 Addresses
      3.4.2 Criteria and Points System 
      3.4.3 Spouse/fiance(e) immigration              
  3.5 Emigrants
4.Coming to Australia
  4.1 Quarantine
  4.2 Standards
  4.3 Cars
       4.3.1 Car Insurance 
  4.4 Shipping Information
  4.5 Miscellaneous        
5.Studying in Australia
  5.1 Overview of Australian Higher Education
  5.2 Postgraduate Study
  5.3 Miscellaneous Questions
  5.4 "Classification" of Australian Universities 
  5.5 Academic Addresses
6.For Australians Overseas
  6.1 Radio Australia
  6.2 Newspapers:
  6.3 Australiana in the USA
  6.4 Video Conversion 
  6.5 Expatriate organisation
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PART III (separate posting)
7.History
  7.1 Pre-Europeans
  7.2 European Discovery
  7.3 European settlement
      7.3.1 Penal Colony
      7.3.2 Gold Rush
      7.3.3 Post WWI Immigration
      7.3.4 Miscellaneous
           (includes Tasmanian Aborigines)
  7.4 Political History
      7.4.1 Independence
      7.4.2 Aboriginal Voting
  7.5 Wars
      7.5.1 Boer War
      7.5.2 World War I
      7.5.3 World War II
      7.5.4 Korea, Vietnam and others
  7.6 National heroes/Notable Australians   
  7.7 Miscellaneous
8.Politics
  8.1 Political System 
  8.2 Voting System 
  8.3 Current governments
  8.4 Taxation
  8.5 The Independence Debate
  8.6 Mabo
  8.7 Health Care
      8.7.1 Medicare
      8.7.2 Medicare Levy
      8.7.3 Doctors
      8.7.4 Fees
      8.7.5 Public Hospitals
      8.7.6 Private Hospitals
      8.7.7 Aged Care
      8.7.8 Skin Cancer
  8.8 Economic Information
9.Geography, Natural History
  9.1 Geographic information
  9.1 Cities and Population
  9.2 National Holidays
  9.3 Weather 
  9.4 Flora
      9.5.1 Extinct Species
  9.5 Fauna
      9.5.1 Koalas
      9.5.2 Kangaroos
      9.5.3 Tasmanian devils and Tasmanian Tigers
      9.5.4 The Monotremes
      9.5.5 Other
      9.5.6 Extinct Species
  9.6 National Symbols
      9.6.1 Flag
      9.6.2 Coat of arms
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PART IV (separate posting)
10.Australian Life
  10.1 Housing
  10.2 Schooling
  10.3 Public Transport
  10.4 Roads
  10.5 Prices
  10.6 Shopping Hours
  10.7 Crime
  10.8 Sport
11.Travel
  11.1 Money      
  11.2 Jet-lag
  11.3 Responses to 3 questions      
  11.4 Travel Reports and Recommendations
       11.4.1 Australia from south to north [JO]
       11.4.2 A Trip description 
       11.4.3 Uluru (Ayers Rock)
       11.4.4 Places of interest in Tasmania
       11.4.5 Accomodation tips to the low budget motorhome traveller (BB)
       11.4.6 Adelaide and SA
       11.4.7 Touring Australia by Motorcycle [C]
       11.4.8 Cheap travel agent [RM]
12.Language
  12.1 Australian pronounciation
  12.2 Australian spelling
  12.3 Australian slang, word origins
  12.4 Australian word usage (misc)
13.Culture
  13.1 Recipes and food
       13.1.1 Vegemite
       13.1.2 Sweets recipes: anzac biscuits, pavlova, lamingtons,
                                chocolate crackles
       13.1.3 Meat Pies, Damper, Galah, pumpkin soup
       13.1.4 Misc
  13.2 Songs 
       13.2.1 "Waltzing Matilda",  by Banjo Paterson (3 versions :-)
       13.2.2 "Advance Australia Fair", National Anthem
       13.2.3 "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", Eric Bogle
       13.2.4  "Tie me kangaroo down" (Rolf Harris)
  13.3 Literature
       13.3.1 Fiction
       13.3.2 Poetry
 - "My Country" by Dorothea McKellar
 - "The Man From Snow River" by A.B. (Banjo) Paterson
       13.3.3 Children's Literature
       13.3.4 Non-Fiction
  13.4 Films 
  13.5 Music
       13.5.1 Classical
       13.5.2 Pop
       13.5.3 Jazz
       13.5.4 Other
   13.6 Opera
   13.7 Ballet
   13.8 Theatre
14. Contributors
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A major reorganisation has been done (June 1994) and some sections are
incomplete. Contributions welcome - send to Stephen Wales,
stephenw@mincom.oz.au.


PART I 

1. ABOUT SOC.CULTURE.AUSTRALIAN

The soc.culture.australian newsgroup was established in November 1990,
thanks largely to Ann Nicholson's persistent efforts.  It is devoted
to the discussion of all aspects of Australian culture.  Brad
Alexander (brad@winnie.cs.adelaide.edu.au) posts a weekly "oznews"
current affairs digest. Iain Sinclair put together the first FAQ for
this group. Ann Nicholson took it over in early 1993. She did a major
reorganisation in June 1994 before handing it over to Stephen Wales
(stephenw@mincom.oz.au) in July 1994.

There are many other related newsgroups.  If your article is more
appropriate for another newsgroup, please post it there first --
you'll get the audience you're looking for.

news.announce.newusers  general netiquette 
rec.travel   what to see, when to go, how much, etc.
soc.net-people   \ where to find Australians on the net
aus.wanted   /
misc.jobs.resumes  \ job-hunting
aus.jobs   /
talk.politics.guns  all traffic about gun-related issues
rec.sport.football.australian   \
rec.sport.cricket*  | sport results, chest-beating, etc.
aus.sport   /
soc.culture.new-zealand  New Zealand life, culture, etc.
aus.politics                    \
aus.music                       |
aus.culture.ultimo  | Australian life, culture, etc.
aus.films                       |
aus.tv                          /

If you're unable to post to or read the aus hierarchy, talk to
your system administrator about getting a feed. Since many people
cannot get a feed for the aus hierarchy, cross-postings to s.c.a.
and aus.* are welcome.

This FAQ for soc.culture.australian (and quite a few other newsgroups)
can be FTP'ed from the archie.au site.0.  The FAQ files are located in
the /usenet/FAQs/soc.culture/australian directory. 

The FAQ is also stored on
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/soc.culture.australian.
There's also a copy of the FAQ for obtaining public Net access in
Australia in that same directory.

2. HOW TO FIND AUSTRALIANS, AUSTRALIAN INFORMATION

2.1 Addresses on the Net

2.1.1 Public Access Sites 

Send mail to netfaq@zikzak.apana.org.au for a listing of public access
sites in Australia, with Subject: Network Access in Australia, and
First line in Body: Network Access in Australia

These are all dialup sites; most should offer news and mail for some
fee (UNIX, unless stated otherwise).  APANA (the Australian Public
Access Network Association) covers some of these.  For more info on
other sites in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane, potential
users can mail info@apana.org.au.

Melb:  Cloud   postmaster@cloud.apana.org.au [msdos]
Melb:  Werple    postmaster@werple.apana.org.au   03 888 1726
Syd:   Krazilec  postmaster@kralizec.zeta.org.au   02 837 1183
-      Pegasus  postmaster@peg.pegasus.oz.au   066 85 6789

Pegasus is now based in brisbane and has an (07) dial-up number. It is
fully internetted and you can telnet to it (peg.apc.org) or within
australia reach it via AUSPAC x.25 switching (but this method is
billed at a higher rate).  They are a member of the APC just like
GreenNet or the Web. [Scot]

[JS] DIALix is a commercial Internet access provider, with access for
business, personal, and student use. DIALix now offers live Internet
services (ftp, telnet, talk, finger etc) in addition to e-mail and
Usenet news groups.  Charges are 1c/minute for connection and 1c/1000
bytes for non-DIALixNet (Internet/AARNet) traffic. All accounts are
"in advance". Minimum annual usage of Business $250, Personal $80,
Student $10. Permanent live DIALixNet and Internet connections also
available. Further info from:

                Sydney (N.S.W.)                 Perth (W.A.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
  Phone (24hrs) 02 948 6995 -> Justin           09 244 2433 -> Jeff
  Email         justin@sydney.dialix.oz.au      jeff@perth.dialix.oz.au
  Modems        02 948 6918                     09 244 3233
  Mobile        018 491 642                     018 638 249
  Snail Mail    PO Box 153,                     Box 7, 145 Sydney Rd,
                Doubleview WA 6018              Fairlight NSW 2094

Information on network access in Australia is available by automatic
reply be sending mail to netfaq@zikzak.apana.org.au, put together by
Zik Saleeba. [JL]

2.1.2 Gopher and WWW

There is now an Australiana Gopher open in Canada, maintained by Tim
Little (little@ere.umontreal.ca).

Name=MegaGopher, Type=1, Port=70, Path=, Host=megasun.bch.umontreal.ca
Stuff of interest on the MegaGopher includes:
- Current and Back issues of Oz News (onya Brad!)
- Links to Other OzGophers
- Oz Sports news (footy, cricket and Motorcycle racing)
- Interesting Oz Stats
- Latest FAQ

Tim writes: "My collection is small but growing and it's definitely
worth a perusal!  If you have any interesting Oz information you want
to see on the gopher, please let me know."

"aus" newsgroups seem to be available on the following gopher: [IR]
gopher services.canberra.edu.au 4320
  -->   2.  USENET News/
  -->   3.  aus/

* GUIDE TO AUSTRALIA

The Guide is a hypermedia (= hypertext + multimedia) book that draws
together a comprehensive range of up-to-date information about
Australia. It available on-line via World Wide Web at this URL:

http://life.anu.edu.au:80/education/australia.html

The Guide distills information available on the Web into an organised
collection of pointers to useful information, such as:
- Statistics about Australia and the surrounding region; 
- Interactive maps
- Current weather forecasts and satellite images
- The environment, including flora and fauna
- Direct links to all Australian Web and Gopher services
- Postcodes and telephone information
- Travel advice
- General information about Australian society and culture

The editors are: David G. Green (david.green@anu.edu.au), 
                 Jim Croft      (jrc@anbg.gov.au). 

* Australian Newsletter

There is a newsletter called "Word From Down Under" published out of
LA.  The publisher is Neil Brandom.  He is an Aussie living in LA.  It
contains all the latest info on Oz.  Subscriptions for 26 issues cost
$34.95US.  You can contact Neil at 72506.23@compuserve.com or write to
him at:
 Word From Down Under
 P.O. Box 5434
 Balboa island
 CA 92662

2.1.3 On-line Weather Information [IC]

It's possible to find out the current weather for any state of
Australia from the Victorian Bureau of Meterology via telnet.

% telnet vicbeta.vic.bom.gov.au 55555
|           ************ VIC WEATHER - MAIN MENU ************
| 
|           1  = CURRENT MELB FORECAST
|           2  = CURRENT VIC FORECAST
|           [...] 
|           9  = INTERSTATE FORECASTS .................(menu)
|           10 = INTERSTATE CITIES MET OBS
|
|enter choice => 1
|
|***********************START MELBOURNE FORC*********************
|
| Forecast for Melbourne issued by the Bureau of Meteorology Melbourne
| at 2145 on 21/09/1993 for WEDNESDAY.
|
| CLOUDY PERIODS WITH A FEW SHOWERS. COOL WITH A MODERATE WEST TO
| SOUTHWEST WIND.
ie Typical Melbourne Weather :-) [IC]
| MIN = 8  MAX = 16
|
| OUTLOOK THURSDAY.  FINE.                              MAX = ABOUT 17
| OUTLOOK FRIDAY.    FINE.                              MAX = ABOUT 19
| OUTLOOK SATURDAY.  MAINLY FINE.                       MAX = ABOUT 19
 
| CURRENT OBSERVED TEMPERATURE  (within last hour)
| MELB       MELBOURNE CITY           10.5


GOPHER: The Bureau of Meteorology has just set up a Gopher server to
provide forecast information for each state and territory around
Australia.  Currently only textual information is available, but we
hope to add charts and satellite images sometime in the future.  The
server is known as "babel.ho.bom.gov.au" and should be accessible
through AARNET at the normal Gopher port (i.e port 70).  Please note :
This service is initially purely experimental and will not be
supported outside normal office hours. Contact : Justin Baker, Central
Operations and Systems Branch, Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne,
Australia e-mail : justinb@bom.gov.au.

There's also another gopher with Australian weather, at
gopher.austin.unimelb.edu.au, the Austin hospital in Melbourne.
(Search general, then weather.)  I found this on a gopher menu at
Michigan State University. [AE]

2.1.4 Finding people

* Currently about 30 academic institutions in Australia offer Gopher
servers. If you have access to gopher you can use these servers to
examine local email directories. Unfortunately this facility appears
to be restricted to educational institutions, there's nothing
available in the .com.au hierarchy.  [2/93, CP]

* For organizations, it's best to use nslookup (read the manual pages
first).  Example session:
    % nslookup
    > server aarnet.edu.au
    > ls edu.au
    [...]
There's also the information posted in comp.mail.maps occasionally --
most of it is dated, but some of it might be helpful.

* For people, mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send
usenet-addresses/[name]" in the body of the message.  If [name]
has posted to Usenet in the last few months, the mail server will
send back a list of matches.  Otherwise, try:
    telnet bruno.cs.colorado.edu, login as netfind.
    telnet NIC.DDN.MIL, login as whois.
(Not very useful -- user has to explicitly register with the server.)

* Another resource which is slowly being developed is the X.500
directory system. Gateways into this system can be found on many
gopher servers both within and outside Australia (e.g. there is one
accessible fromn the gopher at Monash university). The system
currently contains address information for about 80 commercial,
academic and scientific organisations.

2.1.5 Other

* Information on extinct, endangered, and vulnerable species available
from the Environmental Resources Information Network gopher at ANU.

* The Australian Computer Society national office is now on-line: [JL]

Chief Executive Officer:       ashleyg@acs.org.au
Business Manager:                 samb@acs.org.au
Overseas Membership:             kathc@acs.org.au
PA to the CEO:                  edithc@acs.org.au
Examination Coordinator:      belindaw@acs.org.au
Membership Data Maintenance:     lilyb@acs.org.au
National Conference Manager:     annaa@acs.org.au
National Membership Manager:    peterh@acs.org.au

(Originally Posted by Tom Worthington, Director of the Community
Affairs Board Australian Computer Society Inc., e-mail:
tomw@act.acs.org.au 7/22/93)

2.2 Other Addresses

* Most reasonable libraries should stock the "College Collection on
Microfiche", which contains copies of faculty handbooks/catalogs from
Australian Universities and Colleges of Advanced Education.  Large
libraries should also have copies of recent Australian telephone
books.

* There is also an English(?) publication, the "Commonwealth
Universities Yearbook", that has summaries of the programs and staff
of Australian and other Commonwealth universities.  This appears to be
a standard reference and widely available.

* If you need to get in touch with someone pretty dramatically, try
sending a wild fax to 'Tonight Live' (a poor 'Letterman' clone, +61 3
690 8749).

* The address of the Australian Computer Society is:
 Australian Computer Society     Tel: (02) 211 5855
 National Office                 Fax: (02) 281 1208
 PO Box 319
 Darlinghurst
 NSW 2010

