Page 27 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Australia

A POR TR AIT OF A USTR ALIA  25

Today there is a growing realization that
the country must look to the Pacific region
for its future. Closer ties with Asia, such as
business and trade with Indonesia, China
and Japan, have been forged.
Art and Culture
Blessed with a sunny climate and
surrounded by the sea, outdoor leisure is
high on the list of priorities for Australians
– going to the beach is almost a national
pastime. Australians are also mad about
sport: four codes of football, cricket, tennis
and golf are high
on the national
agenda.
Yet despite
this reputation,
Australians actually
devote more of Australian Rules football match in Melbourne
their time and
money to artistic their high standards. Every state also has
pursuits than they its own thriving theatre company and
Poster for Mad Max: Fury Road, Mad Max: Fury Road, Mad Max: Fury Road do to sporting ones, symphony orchestra. Major art galleries
which won many technical Oscars and as a result the abound throughout the country, from the
national cultural many excellent state galleries exhibiting
scene is very vibrant. It is no accident that international works to a multitude of small
the Sydney Opera House is one of the private galleries exhibiting local and con-
country’s most recognizable symbols. temporary Australian and Aboriginal art.
The nation is probably best known for its The Australian film industry has also
opera singers, among whom have been come into its own since the 1970s.
two of the all-time greats, Dame Nellie Prominent Australian films such as Mad
Max
Max (1979), (1979), Crocodile Dundee (1985),
Melba and Dame Joan Sutherland. Opera Max
Moulin Rouge! (2001), (2001), Happy Feet (2006) Happy Feet (2006) Happy Feet
Moulin Rouge!
Australia and the Australian Ballet, both Moulin Rouge!
based in Sydney, are acknowledged for and the multiple-Oscar-winning Mad Max:
F F
Fury Road (2015) have won international ury Road (2015) have won international ury Road
acclaim, as well as awards.
This is not to say that Australia’s cultural
pursuits are entirely high-brow. Low-budget
television soap operas such as Neighbours
have become high-earning exports. Rock
bands such as AC/DC also have an
international following.
In almost all aspects, it seems, Australia
lives up to its nickname of “the lucky country”
and it is hard to meet an Australian who
is not thoroughly convinced that this
young and vast nation is now the best
Young boogie boarder country on earth.