an essay about australia

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• Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine - Futurism
• National Geographic - Australia and Oceania: Physical Geography
• Official Site of the Embassy of Australia in Saudi Arabia
• The Official Site of Royal Australian Navy
• Central Intelligence Agency - The World Factbook - Australia
• Official Site of the Government of Australia
• Australian War Memorial - First World War 1914–18
• Official Site of the Embassy of Australia in Lebanon
• Australian War Memorial - Australia and the Boer War, 1899–1902
• Returned & Services League of Australia - The First World War
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• Australian Human Rights Commission - Face the facts: Cultural Diversity
• Australia - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
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Australia , the smallest continent and one of the largest countries on Earth, lying between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia’s capital is Canberra , located in the southeast between the larger and more important economic and cultural centres of Sydney and Melbourne .

The Australian mainland extends from west to east for nearly 2,500 miles (4,000 km) and from Cape York Peninsula in the northeast to Wilsons Promontory in the southeast for nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km). To the south, Australian jurisdiction extends a further 310 miles (500 km) to the southern extremity of the island of Tasmania , and in the north it extends to the southern shores of Papua New Guinea . Australia is separated from Indonesia to the northwest by the Timor and Arafura seas, from Papua New Guinea to the northeast by the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait , from the Coral Sea Islands Territory by the Great Barrier Reef , from New Zealand to the southeast by the Tasman Sea , and from Antarctica in the far south by the Indian Ocean.

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Australia has been called “the Oldest Continent,” “the Last of Lands,” and “the Last Frontier.” Those descriptions typify the world’s fascination with Australia, but they are somewhat unsatisfactory. In simple physical terms, the age of much of the continent is certainly impressive—most of the rocks providing the foundation of Australian landforms were formed during Precambrian and Paleozoic time (some 4.6 billion to 252 million years ago)—but the ages of the cores of all the continents are approximately the same. On the other hand, whereas the landscape history of extensive areas in Europe and North America has been profoundly influenced by events and processes that occurred since late in the last Ice Age—roughly the past 25,000 years—in Australia scientists use a more extensive timescale that takes into account the great antiquity of the continent’s landscape.

Australia is the last of lands only in the sense that it was the last continent, apart from Antarctica, to be explored by Europeans. At least 60,000 years before European explorers sailed into the South Pacific, the first Aboriginal explorers had arrived from Asia , and by 20,000 years ago they had spread throughout the mainland and its chief island outlier, Tasmania. When Captain Arthur Phillip of the British Royal Navy landed with the First Fleet at Botany Bay in 1788, there may have been between 250,000 and 500,000 Aboriginals, though some estimates are much higher. Largely nomadic hunters and gatherers, the Aboriginals had already transformed the primeval landscape, principally by the use of fire, and, contrary to common European perceptions, they had established robust , semipermanent settlements in well-favoured localities.

The American-style concept of a national “frontier” moving outward along a line of settlement is also inappropriate. There was, rather, a series of comparatively independent expansions from the margins of the various colonies, which were not joined in an independent federated union until 1901. Frontier metaphors were long employed to suggest the existence of yet another extension of Europe and especially of an outpost of Anglo-Celtic culture in the distant “antipodes.”

The most striking characteristics of the vast country are its global isolation, its low relief, and the aridity of much of its surface. If, like the English novelist D.H. Lawrence , visitors from the Northern Hemisphere are at first overwhelmed by “the vast, uninhabited land and by the grey charred bush…so phantom-like, so ghostly, with its tall, pale trees and many dead trees, like corpses,” they should remember that to Australians the bush—that sparsely populated Inland or Outback beyond the Great Dividing Range of mountains running along the Pacific coast and separating it from the cities in the east—is familiar and evokes nostalgia . It still retains some of the mystical quality it had for the first explorers searching for inland seas and great rivers, and it remains a symbol of Australia’s strength and independence; the Outback poem by A.B. (“Banjo”) Paterson , “ Waltzing Matilda ,” is the unofficial national anthem of Australia known the world over.

Australia’s isolation from other continents explains much of the singularity of its plant and animal life. Its unique flora and fauna include hundreds of kinds of eucalyptus trees and the only egg-laying mammals on Earth, the platypus and echidna . Other plants and animals associated with Australia are various acacias ( Acacia pycnantha [golden wattle] is the national flower) and dingoes, kangaroos, koalas, and kookaburras. The Great Barrier Reef , off the east coast of Queensland, is the greatest mass of coral in the world and one of the world’s foremost tourist attractions. The country’s low relief results from the long and extensive erosive action of the forces of wind, rain, and the heat of the sun during the great periods of geologic time when the continental mass was elevated well above sea level .

Isolation is also a pronounced characteristic of much of the social landscape beyond the large coastal cities. But an equally significant feature of modern Australian society is the representation of a broad spectrum of cultures drawn from many lands, a development stemming from immigration that is transforming the strong Anglo-Celtic orientation of Australian culture. Assimilation, of course, is seldom a quick and easy process, and minority rights, multiculturalism, and race-related issues have played a large part in contemporary Australian politics. In the late 1990s these issues sparked a conservative backlash.

Australia has a federal form of government, with a national government for the Commonwealth of Australia and individual state governments (those of New South Wales , Victoria , Queensland , South Australia , Western Australia , and Tasmania ). Each state has a constitution, and its government exercises a limited degree of sovereignty . There are also two internal territories: Northern Territory , established as a self-governing territory in 1978, and the Australian Capital Territory (including the city of Canberra), which attained self-governing status in 1988. The federal authorities govern the external territories of Norfolk Island , the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , Christmas Island , Ashmore and Cartier islands , the Coral Sea Islands, and Heard Island and McDonald Islands and claim the Australian Antarctic Territory , an area larger than Australia itself. Papua New Guinea, formerly an Australian external territory, gained its independence in 1975.

Historically part of the British Empire and now a member of the Commonwealth , Australia is a relatively prosperous independent country. Australians are in many respects fortunate in that they do not share their continent—which is only a little smaller than the United States —with any other country. Extremely remote from their traditional allies and trading partners—it is some 12,000 miles (19,000 km) from Australia to Great Britain via the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal and about 7,000 miles (11,000 km) across the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of the United States—Australians have become more interested in the proximity of huge potential markets in Asia and in the highly competitive industrialized economies of China , Japan , South Korea , and Taiwan . Australia, the continent and the country, may have been quite isolated at the beginning of the 20th century, but it entered the 21st century a culturally diverse land brimming with confidence, an attitude encouraged by the worldwide fascination with the land “Down Under” and demonstrated when Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympic Games .

Historical Facts of Australia Essay

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Australia has had a number of significant events. Among those events that Australia considers most important politically, economically as well as socially are the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, the Victorian Gold Rushes, the Federation in 1901 and the Second World War.

The British colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 as a penal. New South Wales was discovered by Lieutenant James cook in 1770. It promised to be a very strategic location for British settlement and a convict colony. As a result of the aforementioned reasons and its likelihood to become a very successful commercial centre, the British government opted to embark on this settlement. The initial years of the colony were faced with numerous challenges as the colony struggled to establish and feed itself.

The colony realized its initial sign of success in 1792 which was short lived when Governor Philip got sick and returned to Britain. The arrival of the first free settlers in 1793 was the initial sign of change.

More other settlers as well as merchants arrived and settled in New South Wales there after. With time the number of natives as well as that of convicts who had finished their jail term increased greatly. Subsequently, the high number of free citizens in relation to the present number of convicts as well as militants necessitated the need for a democratic change.

The New South Wales was under the rule of military governors who received their right of leadership under an act of British Parliament of 1787. The act gave the governors their commission and instructions. Because of the long distance between Britain and New South Wales, the governors often extended their powers beyond the act allowance.

Despite the absolute powers from the governors, a great deal of effective powers in New South Wales resulted from the military and especially the officers who were in charge of New South Wales. The officers exercised their authority to quickly acquire big portions of land as well as establishing cartels that controlled trade especially the imports of alcohol and ram.

When a new governor arrived in New South Wales in 1806, he realized that the officers who were in charge of New South Wales were only concerned with their selfish interests. He learned that they were discriminating against non-military farmers. The attempt of Bligh to alter this situation did not succeed because he was defeated by the Wales officers and his supporters were arrested and sentenced for two years in convict gang work.

The establishment of the colony in New South Wales resulted to the enacting of an act constituting a court of criminal judicature that was accepted by Imperial Parliament in 1787. This enabled Australia to have its first court of law on 11 th February 1788. Therefore, the establishment of the colony of New South Wales is an important event in Australia (Parliament of New South Wales 2011).

The gold rush in Australia was a major event that will ever linger in minds of Australian. It was estimated that Victoria produced over one third of the world’s gold output in 1850s. Subsequently, the Australian population increased from 77,000 to 540,000 within a period of two years.

The gold bullion which was imported to London yearly resulted to a huge flow of imports. The revenue generated from the gold importation resulted to amplified growth of the goldfield town as well as a huge boost in business investment in Australia that greatly stimulated local market for Australian produce.

The gold rush in Australia resulted to the growth of the Australian economy greatly. The gold rush helped in the construction of Australian first railway line that linked the gold mines with the sea to enhance the transportation of the mined gold. Moreover, the gold rush prompted the coming of Australian first telegraphs in order to enhance communications in Australia.

The gold rush in Australia was an important event since it stimulated the Australian economy greatly from the revenues received from the sale of the growth. Similarly, the gold rush attracted direct financial investment in Australia that helped in creating employment opportunities as well as market for Australian produce. Similarly, the discovery of the gold fields in Australia triggered the abolishing of the transportation of convicts to the southern Australia (Wells 2007).

Before the foundation of Australian federation, Australia existed as six separate British colonies with the main laws that were governing these colonies being made in Britain. The colonies were managed separately and were not supporting the idea of establishing an Australian federation.

The gold rush of 1850s enabled the Australian to mingle with many foreign people who came to Australia because of the gold fortune. The interaction of the Australian with outside world helped them to appreciate the idea of the formation of a united federation. The coming of telegraph in Australia in 1872 augmented the communication among the Australian colonies and the idea of establishing an Australian federation started to be appreciated.

At first, the establishment of the federation faced a lot of challenges as some States especially the smaller States feared that the larger States will command more say than them. The issue was resolved and Australia was successful in establish an Australian federation. The federation helped in the creation of the nation of Australia and in the foundation of Australian constitution (Williamson 2000).

According to Robertson (1984), the Australian Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced the Australian participation in Second World War on 3 September 1939. This resulted to over one million Australian men and women being engaged in the Second World War. The Australian joining of Second World War resulted to more than 3, 500 Australian being killed in the war Campaign. More than 30,000 Australian being taken prisoners.

It is estimated that over 36 percent of those Australian who were taken as prisoners by Japanese troops died. Nevertheless, the Second World War brought some positive impacts to Australian (Peterson 1995).

The war led o the establishment of Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force, Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service as well as the Australian Women’s Army Service in 1941 and 1942. These units were established in order to discharge men from specific military responsibilities in base units in Australian for assignments with fighting units overseas (Australian War Memorial 2011).

It is clear that the establishment of the colony of New South Wales, the Victorian Gold Rushes, the Australian Federation in 1901 and the Second World War were all very important events in Australia. The establishment of the colony of New South Wales resulted to the foundation of Australian first courts.

The federation of 1901 enabled the Australian colonies to merge and form the Australian nation. The participation of Australia in the Second World War helped Australia to establish special women units in the military that help to discharge men some duties in order to make the Australian military more effective.

Lastly, the Victorian Gold Rushes which is the most important event in Australia helped to strengthen the economy of Australia. Moreover, it was also responsible for triggering the desire in the Australians to establish an Australian federation after interacting with foreigners who had migrated to Australia due to the gold fortune.

List of References

Australian War Memorial. 2011, Second World War. Web.

Parliament of New South Wales., 2011 , A Convict Settlement in Sydney. Web.

Peterson, D., 1995, The Oxford companion to Australian military history, Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Robertson, J., 1984, 1939–1945: Australia goes to war , Sydney: Doubleday Australia.

Wells, K., 2007, The Australian Gold Rush . Web.

Williamson, D., 2000. Federation in Australia, New York: Prentice Hall.

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Essays on Australia

Essay on Australia Tourism

Students are often asked to write an essay on Australia Tourism in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Australia Tourism

Introduction.

Australia, a beautiful island continent, is a top tourist destination. Famous for its unique wildlife, stunning landscapes, and vibrant cities, it attracts millions of visitors yearly.

Famous Landmarks

Australia is home to the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House, and Uluru. These landmarks are not just visually stunning, but also hold cultural significance.

Australia’s unique wildlife includes kangaroos, koalas, and numerous bird species. The country’s national parks offer a chance to see these animals in their natural habitat.

Cities and Culture

Cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth offer a mix of modern architecture, historical sites, and diverse cultures, making them must-visit urban destinations.

250 Words Essay on Australia Tourism

Australia, a vibrant land of breathtaking landscapes and cosmopolitan cities, is a prime destination for global tourists. Its unique biodiversity, rich cultural history, and modern urban life make it a tourism hotspot.

Natural Wonders

Australia’s natural beauty is unparalleled. The Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a marine paradise home to diverse aquatic life. The expansive outback, with its red soil, offers a stark contrast, while lush rainforests and stunning beaches provide varied experiences.

Cultural Experiences

Australia’s cultural landscape is a blend of indigenous traditions and multicultural influences. Cities like Sydney and Melbourne showcase this diversity, with their world-class museums, galleries, and festivals. The indigenous Aboriginal culture, with its ancient rock art and storytelling, adds a unique dimension.

Urban Appeal

Australia’s cities combine historic charm with modern allure. Sydney’s iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Melbourne’s vibrant arts scene, and Brisbane’s laid-back vibe attract millions of visitors annually. These cities also serve as gateways to explore the country’s wine regions, coastal drives, and wildlife encounters.

Australia’s tourism thrives on its rich natural and cultural offerings. Its diverse landscapes, from coral reefs to desert outbacks, and its vibrant cities make it a must-visit destination. The blend of indigenous and multicultural influences creates a unique cultural fabric, enhancing the appeal of Australia as a global tourism destination.

500 Words Essay on Australia Tourism

Introduction to australia tourism.

Australia’s natural beauty is one of its biggest draws. From the Great Barrier Reef, an underwater ecosystem teeming with life, to the expansive Outback, a rugged desert landscape, Australia offers a wealth of natural attractions. The country’s national parks, such as Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta, protect these unique environments and are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Australia’s wildlife is equally distinctive, with species like kangaroos, koalas, and wombats found nowhere else on Earth.

Australia’s rich cultural heritage adds another layer to its appeal. Indigenous Australian culture, one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world, is a significant part of the country’s identity. Tourists can learn about Indigenous traditions, art, and connection to the land through experiences like the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park or the National Gallery of Australia.

Eco-Tourism and Sustainable Practices

Australia has been at the forefront of eco-tourism, with a focus on sustainable practices to preserve its natural wonders for future generations. This commitment to sustainability is evident in the management of attractions like the Great Barrier Reef and the various national parks. Tour operators are increasingly adopting eco-friendly practices, such as limiting visitor numbers and promoting responsible tourism.

Challenges and Opportunities

Despite its many attractions, Australia’s tourism industry faces challenges. The vast distances between attractions can make travel time-consuming and expensive. Climate change poses a threat to many of Australia’s natural wonders, including the Great Barrier Reef.

Australia’s diverse landscapes, rich cultural heritage, and unique wildlife make it a compelling destination for tourists. While challenges exist, the country’s commitment to sustainability and innovation ensure that its tourism industry continues to thrive. As a result, Australia remains a must-visit destination for any global traveller.

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Climate change and australia's future.

Australia is in peril. Do we truly grasp the impact of a warming planet – in particular, what it will mean for our sunburnt country? As temperatures rise, the climates of our capital cities will change. The sea will rise, and we will see increased fire and drought. In this powerful essay, Joëlle Gergis, a leading climate scientist, depicts the likely future in vivid and credible detail. Working from the science, she discusses the world’s and Australia’s efforts to combat climate change. She outlines how far Australia is from keeping its promises to cut emissions. She takes aim at false solutions and the folly of “adaptation” rather than curbing fossil fuel use. This is an essay about government paralysis and what is at stake for all of us. It’s about getting real, in the face of an unprecedented threat. “How many disasters does it take to wake people up to the fact that Australia’s climate is becoming more extreme, with today’s destruction set to be dwarfed by things to come? Do people realise that adapting to climate change won’t be possible in some parts of the country?” — Joëlle Gergis,  Highway to Hell

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Geography Notes

Essay on australia | continents | world geography.

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Here is an essay on island groups of Australia. Also learn about the flora and fauna of Australia.

Oceania is a region made up of thousands of islands throughout the Central and South Pacific Ocean. It includes Australia, the smallest continent in terms of total land area. Most of Australia and Oceania is under the Pacific, a vast body of water that is larger than all the Earth’s continental landmasses and islands combined. The name ‘Oceania’ justly establishes the Pacific Ocean as the defining characteristic of the continent.

Oceania is dominated by the nation of Australia. The other two major landmasses of Oceania are the microcontinent of Zealandia, which includes the country of New Zealand, and the western half of the island of New Guinea, made up of the nation of Papua New Guinea. Oceania also includes three island regions- Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (including the U.S. state of Hawaii).

Oceania’s physical geography, environment, resources and human geography can be considered separately.

Oceania can be divided into three island groups: continental islands, high islands, and low islands. The islands in each group are formed in different ways and are made up of different materials. Continental islands have a variety of physical features, while high and low islands are fairly uniform in their physical geography.

i. Continental Islands :

Continental islands were once attached to conti­nents before sea level changes and tectonic activity isolated them. Tectonic activity refers to the move­ment and collision of different sections, or plates, of the Earth’s crust.

Australia, Zealandia, and New Guinea are continental islands. These three regions share some physical features. All the three have mountain ranges or highlands—the Great Dividing Range in Australia; the North Island Volcanic Plateau and Southern Alps in New Zealand; and the New Guinea Highlands in Papua New Guinea. These highlands are fold mountains created as tectonic plates pressed together and pushed land upward. New Zealand and Papua New Guinea also have volcanic features as a result of tectonic activity.

Although, they share some landscape features, each of these regions has distinct physical features that resulted from different environmental processes. Australia’s landscape is dominated by the Outback, a region of deserts and semi-aridland.

The Outback is a result of the continent’s large inland plains, its location along the dry Tropic of Capricorn, and its proximity to cool, dry, southerly winds. New Zealand’s glaciers are a result of the islands’ high elevations and proximity to cool, moisture-bearing winds. Papua New Guinea’s highland rain forests are a result of the island’s high elevations, proximity to tropical, moisture-bearing winds, and location right below the warm Equator.

ii. High Islands :

High islands, also called volcanic islands, are created as volcanic eruptions build up land over time. These eruptions begin under water, when hot magma is cooled and hardened by the ocean. Over time, this activity creates islands with a steep central peak— hence the name ‘high island.’ Ridges and valleys radiate outward from the peak towards the coastline.

The island region of Melanesia contains many high islands because it is a major part of the ‘Ring of Fire,’ a string of volcanoes around the boundary of the Pacific Ocean. This part of the Ring of Fire is on the boundary of the Pacific plate and the Australian plate.

This is a convergent plate boundary, where the two plates move toward each other. Important volcanic mountains in Melanesia include Mount Tomanivi, Fiji; Mount Lamington, Papua New Guinea; and Mount Yasur, Vanuatu.

iii. Low Islands :

Low islands are also called coral islands. They are made of the skeletons and living bodies of small marine animals called corals. Sometimes, coral islands barely reach above sea level—hence the name ‘low island’. Low islands often take the shape of an irregular ring of very small islands, called an atoll, surrounding a lagoon.

An atoll is formed when a coral reef builds up around a volcanic island then the volcanic island erodes away, leaving a lagoon. Atolls are defined as one island even though they are made up of multiple communities of coral.

The island regions of Micronesia and Polynesia are dominated by low islands. The Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, for example, is composed of 97 islands and islets that surround one of the largest lagoons in the world, with an area of 2,173 square kilometers (839 square miles). The nation of Kiribati is composed of 32 atolls and one solitary island dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometers (1.35 million square miles) of the Pacific Ocean.

Flora and Fauna:

i. Island Flora and Fauna :

The evolution of flora and fauna across the islands of Australia and Oceania is unique. Many plants and animals reached the islands from south­ern Asia during the last glacial period when sea levels were low enough to allow for travel.

After sea levels rose, species adapted to the environment of each island or community of islands, producing multiple species that evolved from a common ances­tor. Due to its isolation from the rest of the world, Australia and Oceania has an incredibly high num­ber of endemic species, or species that are found nowhere else on the Earth.

Plants travelled between islands by riding wind or ocean currents. Birds carried the seeds of fruits and plants and spread them between islands with their droppings. Ferns, mosses, and some flowering plants rely on spores or seeds that can remain airborne for long distances.

Coconut palms and mangroves, common throughout Australia and Oceania, produce seeds that can float on salty water for weeks at a time. Important flowering plants native to Australia and Oceania include the jacaranda, hibiscus, pohutukawa and kowhai. Other indigenous trees include the breadfruit, eucalyptus and banyan.

Birds are very common in Australia and Oceania because they are one of the few animals mobile enough to move from island to island. There are more than 110 endemic bird species in Australia and Oceania, including many seabirds.

Many flightless birds, such as emus, kiwis, cassowaries, wekas, and takahes, are native to Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand. The Pacific Islands have more than 25 species of birds of paradise, which exhibit colorful plumage.

Lizards and bats make up the majority of Australia and Oceania’s native land animals. Lizard species include the goanna, skink, and bearded dragon. Australia and Oceania has more than a hundred dif­ferent species of fruit bats.

The few native land animals in Australia and Oceania are unusual. Australia and Oceania is the only place in the world that is home to monotremes— mammals that lay eggs. All monotremes are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. There are only five living species- the duckbill platypus and four species of echidna.

Many of the most familiar animals native to Australia and Oceania are marsupials, including the koala, kangaroo, and wallaby. Marsupials are mam­mals that carry their newborn young in a pouch. Almost 70 per cent of the marsupials on Earth are native to Oceania. (The rest are native to the Americas).

In Australia and Oceania, marsupials did not face threats or competition from large predators such as lions, tigers, or bears. The red kangaroo, the world’s largest marsupial, can grow up to 2 meters (6 feet) tall, and weigh as much as 100 kilograms (220 pounds). In the America, marsupials such as possums are much smaller.

ii. Marine Flora and Fauna :

The marine environment is an important and influential physical region in Australia and Oceania. The region is composed of three marine realms: Temperate Australasia, Central Indo-Pacific, and Eastern Indo-Pacific.

Marine realms are large ocean regions where animal and plant life are similar because of shared environmental and evolutionary factors. The Temperate Australasia realm includes the seas surrounding the southern half of Australia and the islands of New Zealand.

This realm is one of the world’s richest areas for seabirds. Its cold, nutrient-rich waters support a diversity of plants and fish, that seabirds feed on. These seabirds include different species of albatross, petrel, and shearwater, as well as the Australasian gannet and rockhopper penguin.

The Central Indo-Pacific realm includes the seas surrounding the northern half of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. This marine realm has the greatest diversity of tropical coral in the world and includes the world’s two largest coral formations- Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and the New Caledonia Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site off the coast – of northeast Australia, is 344,400 square kilometers (133,000 square miles).

The Great Barrier Reef and the New Caledonia Barrier Reef are underwater hotspots for biodiversity. The Great Barrier Reef is a home to 30 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises; six species of sea turtles; 215 species of birds; and more than 1,500 species of fish.

The New Caledonia Barrier Reef is home to 600 species of sponges, 5,500 species of mollusks, 5,000 species of crustaceans, and at least 1,000 species of fish. The Eastern Indo-Pacific realm surrounds the tropical islands of the central Pacific Ocean, extending from the Marshall Islands through central and southeastern Polynesia. Like the Central Indo-Pacific realm, this realm is also known for its tropical coral formations. A variety of whale, tortoise, and fish species also inhabit this realm.

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Australia , Continents , Essay , Essay on Australia , Geography , World

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Australia is the only country in the world that covers an entire continent. It is one of the largest countries on Earth.

Australia is the only country in the world that covers an entire continent. It is one of the largest countries on Earth. Although it is rich in natural resources and has a lot of fertile land, more than one-third of Australia is desert.

Most Australian cities and farms are located in the southwest and southeast, where the climate is more comfortable. There are dense rain forests in the northeast. The famous outback (remote rural areas) contains the country's largest deserts, where there are scorching temperatures, little water, and almost no vegetation.

Running around the eastern and southeastern edge of Australia is the Great Dividing Range. This 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) stretch of mountain sends water down into Australia's most important rivers and the Great Artesian Basin, the largest groundwater source in the world.

Map created by National Geographic Maps

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Australia is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations. Nearly a quarter of the people who live in Australia were born in other countries. They come from the United Kingdom and other European countries, but also from China , Vietnam , North Africa, and the Middle East.

Australia's warm, sunny climate and abundance of open spaces gives the population a love of the outdoors. The people are also passionate about sports, including swimming, surfing, sailing, tennis, soccer, cricket, rugby, and their own invention, Australian rules football.

Australia's ecosystem is an unusual one because of its remote location. As a result, there are many animal species that occur here and nowhere else in the world, such as the platypus , kangaroo , echidna, and koala . Australia has 516 national parks to protect its unique plants and animals.

One of Australia's most amazing sites rises like an enormous whale's back from a flat red-soil desert called the Red Center. This site is called Uluru, and it is a sacred natural formation at the heart of the country. Rising 1,100 feet (335 meters) tall, it is the largest rock in the world!

Australia is home to many of the deadliest species of animals on the planet. There are 36 species of poisonous funnel-web spiders in eastern Australia. There are also 20 types of venomous snakes, including the taipan, which attacks without warning and bites repeatedly, killing its victim in minutes.

There are several types of rain forests in Australia. Tropical rain forests, mainly found in the northeast, are the richest in plant and animal species. Subtropical rain forests are found near the mid-eastern coast, and broadleaf rain forests grow in the southeast and on the island of Tasmania.

As a commonwealth of the United Kingdom, Australia's head of state is the British monarch. Many Australians think the country should end its ties to Britain and become a republic. In a vote in 1999, Australians decided against separating from the UK, but the vote was close, and the debate continues.

Australia is an important exporter of agricultural goods like wool, wheat, beef, fruit, and wine. The country is also rich in minerals and metals and is the world's fourth largest producer of gold.

Aboriginal people arrived in Australia about 50,000 years ago. They may have traveled from Asia across land bridges that were exposed when sea levels were lower. The hardy Aborigines have learned to live in the harsh conditions of the outback.

Dutch explorers first landed in Australia in 1606, and the British began to settle there in 1788. Many settlers were criminals sent to live in Australia as punishment. For a short time, the newcomers lived peacefully with the Aboriginal people. But soon, fighting broke out over who owned the land.

In 1851, gold was discovered in Australia. A rush to find riches brought thousands of new immigrants, and by 1859, six separate colonies existed. In 1901, these colonies joined to form a British commonwealth.

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Introduction

• Academic essays
• Thesis statement
• Question analysis

Sample essay

• Introduction paragraphs
• Beginner paragraphs
• Perfecting Paragraphs
• Academic paragraphs
• Conclusion paragraphs
• Academic writing style
• Using headings
• Using evidence
• Supporting evidence
• Citing authors
• Quoting authors
• Paraphrasing authors
• Summarising authors
• Tables & figures
• Synthesising evidence
• About academic reading
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Sometimes a good example of what you are trying to achieve is worth a 1000 words of advice! When you are asked to write an essay, try to find some samples (models) of similar writing and learn to observe the craft of the writer. You can use the samples as a basis for working out how to write in the correct style.

About sample essays

Most books on essay writing will supply you with a number of model essays—collect some of these as they are great teachers! No matter what the topic is, you will see similarities between your writing tasks and these model essays. This is because many features of writing are common across subject areas. In some subjects (e.g. Law, Economics, Psychology and others), it is very useful to find subject -specific essay models as you can use these to work out the ‘peculiarities’ of writing for that subject area.

Read an academic essay

The following five paragraph essay has paragraph labels to show the parts of an academic essay. (Note: This essay does not contain authentic references and has been written specifically to use for this teaching task.)

Body paragraph 1

Body paragraph 2

Using assignment essays for assessment supports student learning better than the traditional examination system. It is considered that course-work assignment essays can lessen the extreme stress experienced by some students over ‘sudden-death’ end of semester examinations:

If we insist that all students write about everything they have learned in their study courses at the same time and in the same place (e.g. in examinations), we are not giving all of our students equal opportunities. Some students are not daunted by the exam experience while others suffer ‘exam nerves’ and perform at the lowest level of their capabilities. (Wonderland University, 2006, p. 4)

Additionally, Jones et al. (2004, pp. 36-37) propose that assignment essays can be used to assess student learning mid-course and so provide them with helpful feedback before they are subjected to the exam experience. Exams only provide students with a mark rather than specific feedback on their progress. Therefore, setting assignment essays for a substantial part of student assessment is a much fairer approach than one-off examination testing.

Body paragraph 3

Bloggs, J. (2003).  Linking teaching, learning and succeeding in higher education . London: Bookworld.

Jinx, J.M. (2004). Student essay writing.  Journal of Research in University Education, 9 (2), 114-125.

Jones, J., Smith, P.L., Brown, K., Zong J., Thompson, K., & Fung, P.A. (2004).  Helpline: Essays and the university student . Tokyo: Courtyard Printers.

Sankey, J.M., & Liger, T.U. (2003).  Learning to write essays  [CD-ROM]. Sydney: Wonderland University.

Taylor, G. (1989).  The student’s writing guide for the arts and social sciences . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wonderland University. (2006).  Attributes of a university graduate . doi:10.1098/063-112

Yang, S., & Baker, O.E. (2005).  Essay writing and the tertiary student . Melbourne: Diamond Press.

Zapper, Y. (2006). Learning essay writing. In F.T. Fax & Y. Phoney (Eds.),  Learning Experiences at University  (pp. 55-70). Calcutta: Academic Scholar Press.

Analyse an academic essay

Most students really appreciate seeing a finished product. If you are to really benefit from model essays, you need to learn how to read the ‘techniques of the writer’. The following exercise helps you to get started with developing your ‘read the writer’ skills.

1. The introduction paragraph

2. Body paragraph 1

3. Body paragraph 2

4. Body paragraph 3

5. The conclusion paragraph

6. The reference list

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Australia Essays

Policy reforms to ensure continuity of mother-child relationship among justice-involved mothers: victoria, australia, foundational principles of liberal democracy in australia, evaluation of the macroeconomic performance of australia under a rapidly changing world economic environment, aurizon’s (azj) acquisition of one rail australia, a cross-cultural study of electric vehicle adoption in multinational markets: the case studies of australia and china, how has australia’s strategic approach to asia evolved from the federation to the present, retail sector in australia, corporate governance failure in australia, how will the implementation of the sugar tax improve the health of australia, comparing a-league football in australia to mls, the vulnerability of indigenous australian teenagers, global value chains in australia’s economic development, accounting treatment of r&d in different countries and recommendation of which treatment is better than others, drug abuse among australian teenagers: a human rights violation, the impact of covid-19 on marriage and divorce rates in australia, essays about australia.

Doing an essay about an entire country opens up the possibilities of what can be written about. Australia has quite a unique history, and if you go just to the aboriginal history, it is several thousands of years old! British colonization is only a small part of that history, and a couple of hundred languages are spoken on the land.

It’s quite a contrasting country whose origins came from being a penal colony for the British Empire. The British Empire believed it was far enough away from Britain, so it was the ideal location for their criminals. Eventually, that changed, and it became one of the most thriving countries in the South Pacific. It also became home to multiple new cultures, continuously being a melting pot and accepting many people across the world.

Additionally it has both an ancient land and culture that’s now covered on its coasts by modern and lavish cities. It’s known as a global tourist destination with the Sydney Opera House to The Outback to the Great Barrier Reef. It’s also a huge center for commerce and agriculture which has come a long way over the last century.

How to write an essay on Australia

Focus on what area you want to write about. Are you looking to write about its history or its development as a combination of cultures? Are you looking to showcase its economic prowess, or are you more interested in its future and relationship regionally and globally?

Either way, you need to make sure to pick a lane with your topic and make sure that you don’t deviate from the subject. Pick your essay structure and write the outline first. This will make sure you are interested in what you are writing about and have a concise and well-planned essay.

For those who are looking for specific topics on the matter take a look below:

• Australia: A Land of Contrasts • Australia’s Role in the World • Australia’s Challenges and Opportunities • Australian Culture and Identity • Australia’s Colonial History • Australia: A Country of Immigrants • Australia: A Popular Tourist Destination • Australia’s Unique Wildlife • Australia’s Aboriginal Heritage

If you are stuck or need ideas for an essay on Australia, feel free to use samples from this page to ace your paper!

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The Basics of Essay Writing

What does a good essay need.

An academic essay aims to persuade readers of an idea based on evidence .

• An academic essay should answer a question or task .
• It should have a thesis statement (answer to the question) and an argument .
• It should try to present or discuss something: develop a thesis via a set of closely related points by reasoning and evidence.
• An academic essay should include relevant examples , supporting evidence and information from academic texts or credible sources.

Basic steps in writing an essay

Although there are some basic steps to writing an assignment, essay writing is not a linear process. You might work through the different stages a number of times in the course of writing an essay. For example, you may go back to the reading and notetaking stage if you find another useful text, or perhaps to reread to locate specific information.

Possible steps (In no strict order)

  See next: Getting Started

Essay and assignment writing guide.

• Getting started
• Research the topic
• Organise your ideas
• Write your essay
• Reference your essay
• Edit your essay
• Hand in your essay
• Essay and assignment planning
• Answering assignment questions
• Editing checklist
• Writing a critical review
• Annotated bibliography
• Reflective writing
• ^ More support

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The Colonization of Australia

How did the continent become home to British convicts?

• Lithograph of the First Fleet entering Port Jackson in 1788, by Edmund Le Bihan. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Australia’s unique English-speaking culture seems so ingrained in the modern day that it’s easy to forget just how bizarre and far-fetched the idea of its colonization once seemed. Australia’s distance from England provoked doubt, derision, and ridicule at the idea of its colonization—and yet it eventually succeeded to such a degree that the far-flung penal colony grew beyond self-sufficiency to eventual independence. The colonization of Australia is an unlikely story, written in the blood, sweat, and tears of hundreds of thousands of British-born convicts and Aboriginal Australians. 

Australia Faced Ruthless Birds During the Great Emu War

It was the reign of King George III, and crime rates were soaring. Those born into England’s working class were expected to start working long days in perilous sweatshops at the age of six; it’s no wonder many of them turned to a life of crime. The British justice system had once punished most offenses by hanging, and so had little need for prisons. However, that practice was falling out of favor, and what few privately-owned penitentiaries existed in England were filling up. Prisoners had previously been transported to work on plantations in the Americas, but with the United States’ burgeoning independence, that was no longer an option. The House of Commons convened a committee to hear options and, in 1786, voted Australia the most suitable location for prisoners, and Seven Years’ War Navy veteran Arthur Phillip the most suitable captain—to be declared governor after their arrival.

The Australian coast had already been partially mapped, mostly by Captain James Cook on his 1770 expedition, but no one in Britain knew what lay beyond its immediate shores. Australia had been occupied by diverse groups of Aboriginal people, who first arrived by boat from the islands of Southeast Asia, for at least 50,000 years by that time. To the British legislature, however, Australia, which had a population of at least 300,000, lacked a Christian culture and therefore was as good as empty. There was no talk of reconnaissance.

The First Fleet of 11 ships bore over 700 prisoners to Australia; 48 of them never made it. The average convict was a rural tradesman between the ages of 16 and 35. The youngest was a nine-year-old boy, and the oldest was an 82-year-old woman. Most of them had been convicted of theft, burglary, or highway robbery. The voyage was poorly provisioned, the ships rife with pests, and the pests rife with typhus. But finally, on January 19, 1778, the First Fleet sailed into Australia’s Botany Bay. 

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Captain Cook’s log, which had reported long, unbroken stretches of fertile grassland, was wrong. Eucalyptus trees huddled together on the shores, while the space between them was overgrown with thick, tangled brush. Forming a self-sufficient, agrarian community here would be difficult, even with the intended regular arrival of supplies. On a brief northward expedition, Phillip found land more arable, water more potable, and a harbor more suitable just a few miles from the landing site. He called the area Sydney Cove. 

The convicts disembarked and received work details; most of the labor in those early days went toward building houses for officers and tilling farmland. The fertile soil around Sydney Cove, while preferable to that of Botany Bay, was concentrated in small, separate patches; clearing the brush and trees to expand it proceeded slowly. Phillip was forced to pare down rations repeatedly, until officers and convicts were getting the same amounts of food.

Absent the promised provisions, Phillip sent a group of convicts and officers to nearby Norfolk Island to try farming there, but they fared no better. He dispatched his flagship, Sirius , to Cape Town in South Africa twice for resupply; she never returned from the second voyage. Many convicts had sold their clothes in exchange for parts of the officer’s rations. Some swiped salt pork and peas from food stores or vegetable gardens, an offense punishable by hanging. Finally, in June of 1790, the Lady Juliana  arrived with the long-awaited supplies, along with more convicts’ mouths to feed. The original supply ship, the Guardian , had struck an iceberg and sank. From then on, ships laden with food and convicts appeared more regularly; over 160,000 prisoners would be transported by the time the practice ended in 1868.

How Hawaii Became a State

Relations with Aboriginal people were relatively peaceful in the early years of the colony, despite the devastating effects of smallpox and influenza on the Eora population. Some Aboriginal people even helped guide European explorers, probing Australia’s inland on both surveying and naturalistic expeditions. Phillip encouraged friendship and free trade, and punished convicts who lashed out at the Indigenous population. And they often did, especially as the colony expanded inland and convicts stole Aboriginal people’s tools to sell as souvenirs. Conflict with the Darug people in 1795 resulted in raids that destroyed many of the settlers’ crops in the first of the Australian frontier wars. 

Governor Phillip returned to England in 1792, bringing with him two Aboriginal friends, Woollarawarre Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne. The colony he left behind had survived years of famine and was well on its way to self-sufficiency. He had a series of ineffectual successors, allowing New South Wales Corps officers to claim power for themselves and briefly rule the colony as a military junta. Much would change, however, with the arrival of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810.

Macquarie set precedents for the future of Australia in many ways. He believed in equal treatment for emancipists—freed convicts—and gave many of them jobs in his government. He offered land grants to attract rich Europeans to the colony. Macquarie hired city planners to lay out the streets of Sydney, and commissioned public buildings, banks, and hospitals. In 1813, he issued the very first unique Australian currency, paying contractors in punched-out Spanish dollars. Macquarie was Australia’s last autocratic governor; two years after his resignation in 1821, New South Wales formed its very first Legislative Council under imperial supervision.

For all the goodwill he extended toward emancipists, Macquarie had none for Aboriginal Australians. By April of 1816, skirmishes with the Darug had escalated into an all-out war, involving the Eora, Dharawal, and Gandangara peoples. Under Macquarie’s orders to punish and exile the Dharawal, Captain James Wallis and his party of 37 grenadiers found and attacked one of their camps near the town of Appin. They killed at least 14 people in the massacre, including the elderly and children. The following month, Macquarie issued a proclamation in the Sydney Gazette  encouraging settlers to attack any Aboriginal people who refused to vacate their land, providing them with government support.

Policies of family separation also emerged during the 19th century. 1869’s Aboriginal Protection Act in Victoria established a government board with the authority to regulate many aspects of Aboriginal people’s lives, including their employment, residence, and custody of children. Similar policies would follow later in other regions. Government agents, mostly targeting mixed-race children, would remove them from their homes and parents, sometimes with the use or threat of force. Many children were sent to boarding schools or foster homes, where they were severely punished for acknowledging their own culture or speaking their native language. Although it began earlier, forcible removal of Aboriginal children peaked after 1910, and continued in some parts of Australia into the 1970s. 

6 Famous Explorers Who Vanished from the Face of the Earth

So the colonization of Australia proceeded; settlers and soldiers violently pushed Aboriginal people from their land across the six colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. Wealthy Europeans received grants of rural land, urban planners laid out the streets of new cities, and contractors built them. Prospector Edward Hargraves’ discovery of gold sparked a rush , bringing hundreds of thousands of immigrants to the colonies. Industry developed around Australian wool, which became the colonies’ top export. All the while, Australia’s free population grew. Each colony formed its own legislature and elected officials. 

With the exception of a depression in the 1890s, Australia’s economy boomed throughout the 19th century. But with high customs restricting trade between them, representatives of the six colonies agreed tentatively to a constitutional convention and, eventually, a federation in 1890. Delegates from the Australian colonies eventually presented their case before the British government, and Australia officially declared its independence on January 1, 1901. 

In just over a century, the unlikely, agrarian penal colony on the shores of Botany Bay had grown into a fully independent, urbanized nation, and had done so without going to war with its sovereign. Still, it had been no easy task; colonial expansion killed hundreds of thousands of Aboriginal Australians, while their children were stolen and forced to assimilate. The modern Australian government has begun to recognize historical wrongdoings; as of 2022, all six Australian states had redress programs for survivors of the child removal policy. Many convicts had died on the journey over, others starved in the famine years, and those who survived built the nation under forced labor. From their experiences emerged a national identity that is still part of Australian culture today.

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Writing an essay

What is an essay?

An academic essay is a piece of writing in which you present your position on a topic, and support that position by evidence.

An essay has three main parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.

• In the introduction , you put forward your position (this can take the form of a question or an argument) and its relevance to the chosen topic.
• In the body of an essay, you support your position through logically connected paragraphs supported by evidence and linked through transitions.
• In the conclusion , you tell your reader how the points you have made in the body have addressed the question or supported your argument.

10 tips for an excellent essay View

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(page 125) p. 125 Conclusion

• Published: May 2012
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In the ‘Conclusion’ Australia's history is summarized: it's distinction as the last inhabitable continent to be explored by Europeans; the British foundation of the six colonies; the maritime economy; the export of raw materials; the establishment of democracy after 1852; 20th- and 21st-century economic development and military engagements; the role of the United States in Australian foreign policy; the historical and changing status of Aborigines; and the transformation from the ‘White Australia Policy’ to a multiculturalism that embraces Asia and the rest of the world.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Aboriginal Rights — History of Aborigines in Australia

History of Aborigines in Australia

• Categories: Aboriginal Rights Australia

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Words: 528 |

Published: Nov 8, 2019

Words: 528 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

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Essay writing

When writing an essay, don't be tempted to simply summarise other writers' ideas. It is your discussion of the topic and your analysis of their ideas that should form the backbone of your essay.

• What is an essay?
• Expectations
• Linking ideas
• The writing process

An essay is a type of assignment in which you present your point of view on a single topic through the analysis and discussion of academic sources. Usually, an essay has the format of an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion.

Critical analysis is essential to essay writing. One way you can demonstrate this is by  summarising and paraphrasing other writers and by comparing, contrasting and evaluating their ideas. You can use this analysis to construct your own opinions, questions or conclusions.

When writing an essay, you need to have a clear position on a topic (sometimes called a thesis statement) in the introduction. You then support your thesis statement in the body of the essay, using relevant ideas and evidence from  appropriate sources . It is important that you present  your own ideas, opinions and analyses throughout your essay. When you use someone else’s ideas, you must correctly acknowledge it through  referencing .

Essay writing is different to:

• reflective writing , which is based primarily on your personal experiences
• report writing , which focuses primarily on reporting facts and making recommendations.

What will my marker be looking for in my essay?

If in doubt, ask early! Your lecturer and tutor are there to help – and you can always ask for further advice from a Writing Mentor or a Language and Learning Adviser . In general, your marker will be looking for evidence that you have:

• Answered the essay question directly.
• Met the assignment criteria.
• Drawn on discussions from weekly seminars and classes (your unit’s weekly topics should be your guide for all of your assessments).
• Provided a position on, and shown understanding of, the topic.
• Completed the set and recommended readings.
• Discussed and analysed sources and formatted them in the required referencing style.
• Planned your essay so that is readable, clear and logically sequenced and with a distinct introduction, body and conclusion.
• Kept within the set word limit.

How much should I write?

Again,  always consult your unit guide and assessment instructions for exact details of your assignment. These should clearly state the required word count for your assignment. Do not go dramatically under or over this amount. Usually about 10% over or under is acceptable – but always check with your lecturer first.

Planning your essay well before the due date will result in less stress and also less time writing, as you will know exactly how many words you need for each section. If you use the introduction, body and conclusion model, it is recommended to have  one main idea per body paragraph . For example, if you have to write a 1000-word essay you might have three body paragraphs of approximately 250 words each, leaving 125 words for both the introduction and the conclusion.

A reference list or bibliography – formatted according to your referencing style – on a separate page at the end of your essay is also usually required. Normally this is not included in the word count but check with your lecturer or tutor to be sure.

Below are some ideas for structuring your essay. You should always check the assignment criteria and other information in your unit site for specific requirements. If you are not sure, you should ask your lecturer or tutor. You can also get further advice from a writing mentor or a Language and Learning Adviser .

Try to begin and end each paragraph with your own thoughts rather than quoting or paraphrasing someone else’s words. Remember that your marker will be looking for your opinion, your discussion and your analysis of ideas.

The introduction

Remember that these are the first words your marker will read so always try to make a great first impression to ensure that you provide your marker with a clear and accurate outline of what is to follow in your essay. Don’t go into too much detail in the introduction. Save the detail for the body of your essay. You should try to include the following:

• Provide background information about the topic. Introduce and define some of the key concepts discussed in the essay.
• Respond directly to the essay question and clearly state what your essay intends to achieve.
• Provide an overview of some of the main points, or direction, of the essay.
• Be sure to revise the introduction in your final draft so that it accurately reflects any changes you may have made to the body and conclusion of your essay.

Body paragraphs

• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence. This is the main point of your paragraph and everything within this paragraph should relate back to it.
• Each main point should be relevant to your essay question or thesis statement.
• Integrate evidence and examples  into your paragraph from your readings to support your point. Do not simply present evidence but analyse it at each stage, always relating it back to your assignment question.
• Be  formal, objective and cautious in your writing.
• All sources must be cited in text in the referencing style required by your unit (citations are also listed in a bibliography or reference list at the end of the essay).
• Consider how you conclude your paragraph and how you might link it to the following paragraph.

The conclusion

Conclusions are primarily for summing up what you have presented in the body of your essay. No new information is presented in the conclusion. Use synonyms and paraphrasing so that you do not repeat all your main points word for word.

• Summarise your argument and draw on some of the main points discussed in the body of the essay but not in too much detail.
• Tell your reader how your essay has successfully responded to the essay question.
• You may return to discuss the background/context of the topic, if relevant.
• Where you see a gap in knowledge, you might provide suggestions for further research (optional).

Reference list or bibliography

• Create a  reference list or bibliography – with full bibliographic details – according to the  referencing style required by your unit.

Linking words clarify for the reader how one point relates to another. An essay flows cohesively when ideas and information relate to each other smoothly and logically.

Here are some common linking words used to:

• Introduce and add ideas firstly, secondly, finally, also, another, too, moreover, furthermore, as well as
• Illustrate ideas for example, to demonstrate this
• Show a result or effect accordingly, therefore, as a result, thus, in order for this to occur
• Compare ideas similarly, likewise
• Contrast ideas in contrast, however, but, in comparison, despite, on one hand ... on the other hand ...
• Restate and clarify in other words, to put this another way, this could also be defined as
• Sum up or conclude therefore, so, to summarise, to conclude, in conclusion, finally

You should also avoid repeating key names and words too many times. Instead, use pronouns that refer back to earlier key words. For example:  it, they, their, this, these, that, those

Further examples of linking words in academic writing:

Common linking words , University of Wisconsin Academic phrasebank , Manchester University

Planning and researching

• Use the Deakin Assignment Planner to get a better idea of the time required to complete your essay.
• Watch video - Analyse the assignment question .
• Stuck? Ask your tutor or Study Support.
• Gather relevant information and supporting evidence from class notes and readings.
• Make further notes about any questions you have.
• Researching involves sourcing texts appropriate to your task.
• Use a variety of reading strategies .
• Take notes always with the assignment question in mind.

Initial writing

• It is important to begin writing as soon as soon as possible – think of writing as a process rather than a goal.
• Write an answer to the question in just one or two sentences – this can form the basis your thesis statement or argument.
• Plan and structure the body paragraphs of your essay into topic sentences with bullet points for each paragraph.
• Expand on each bullet point to build paragraphs based on evidence, - this will also require citations .
• Be formal, objective and cautious in your writing.
• Integrate your sources with your own analysis.
• After reviewing the plan and draft of body paragraphs, write the introduction and conclusion.

Drafting, reviewing and proofreading

• Take a break for at least a day and come back with a fresh pair of eyes.
• Review the marking criteria and assignment instructions again. Ask yourself: Have I done everything required?
• Draft and re-draft your essay.
• Read the paper aloud to find errors in sentence structure and word choice and refine it so there is a more natural flow.
• Save a back-up copy of each draft – and in more than one place!
• Get help with writing and referencing from Study Support .
• Don’t leave adding citations and references until the final draft – it can be very time consuming.
• Proofread your essay and make sure it follows any formatting requirements required by the unit.
• Ensure your referencing is correct and consistent.
• Save a back-up copy of your final essay before submitting your assignment!
• Submit your assignment according to your unit’s instructions.

Guide to essay paragraph structure

Access the guide here

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Successful University Writing

• Before You Start Writing...

Structuring an essay

• Report writing
• Annotated bibliography
• Literature review
• Reflective writing
• Using Ideas from sources in your writing
• Writing concisely and editing your work
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Thesis statements

Most academic writing at university will require you to argue a position. This means including a thesis statement upfront in the first paragraph that concisely states the central argument and purpose of the essay. This video addresses the key features of a thesis statement.

• Parts of an essay
• Writing introductions and conclusions
• Writing paragraphs
• Making your writing flow

Academic writing structures may vary, but the main sections are the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Here is an overview of what these sections contain:

Introduction

• The introduction tells the reader what your writing is about.
• Start by defining the topic and any terms which will be crucial for your discussion.
• The introduction should also state what position you will argue and how you will do it. This is the thesis statement .
• Use words and phrases which are in the assignment question to help the reader see that you are directly addressing the main issues.
• It can help to write the introduction last. This is particularly helpful if you have not yet fully determined what your document is going to say and what your arguments will be.
• This is the most important part of your writing. Begin each sentence with a "topic sentence" which is then discussed and explained.
• Each paragraph must discuss a different point. Each paragraph should be a discussion on the point you have made in the first sentence.
• Paraphrase or summarise the sources you have read in your research. If using direct quotes, ensure they are relevant and impactful. Evaluate what is being said. Never assume the reader knows what you are talking about.
• Always reference any ideas you have used in your writing. 
• Paragraphs should flow in an organised and logical sequence. One way to do this is by introducing the next paragraph (topic) in the last sentence of the previous paragraph.
• Avoid repetition and rewriting another version of what you have already said.
• Transition or linking words ,   such as  however, therefore,  and  although tell the reader about the direction you are arguing or when there is a change of direction.
• Avoid using first person point of view.
• Avoid slang or jargon (use academic language).
• Avoid using long and complicated sentences. Make your point obvious and easy to read.
• The work should read as one organised discussion, not a mix of unrelated information. Make sure each sentence in the paragraphs has a role in the discussion and contributes to the overall argument and topic you are addressing.
• Restate what you planned to do in your introduction and discuss how you have done it. You should tell the reader that your discussion led to the conclusion that your thesis (argument/position) supported.
• No new information should be included in the conclusion.

An essay introduction usually:

• clearly states the topic that will be the focus of the essay;
• offers a preview of main aspects that will addressed, or the particular angle that will be taken in; and
• clearly articulates the position that will be argued. This is known as the thesis statement.

Consider this introduction:

Leadership has been defined as “the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement” (Block & Tackle, 2019 , p. 46). This essay compares and contrasts two approaches to leadership from Western and Eastern traditions. The first is Fayol’s Administrative Principles approach, considered to be one of the foundations of the study of Management. The second approach is Confucianism, which is said to continue to guide leadership and management across China and much of South-East Asia (Shih, Wong, Han, Zheng, & Xin, 2004). It will be argued that these two approaches share certain core values, and a critical understanding of both approaches can support management decision-making.

The first sentence clearly states the topic. Leadership has been defined as “the process of influencing the activities of an organized group toward goal achievement” (Block & Tackle, 2019 , p. 46).

The middle sentences preview the aspects that will be addressed and hints at the approach (compare and contrast). This essay compares and contrasts two approaches to leadership from Western and Eastern traditions. The first is Fayol’s Administrative Principles approach, considered to be one of the foundations of the study of Management. The second approach is Confucianism, which is said to continue to guide leadership and management across China and much of South-East Asia (Shih, Wong, Han, Zheng, & Xin, 2004).

The final sentence clearly states the thesis, or position that will be argued. This is essentially a succinct version of the response to the essay question. It will be argued that these two approaches share certain core values, and a critical understanding of both approaches can support management decision-making.

In any academic essay, the paragraphs should follow the key points that have been outlined in the introduction. Each paragraph then contextualises and expands upon these points in relation the thesis statement of the essay. Having a paragraph plan is an effective way to map out your essay and ensure that you address the key points of the essay in detail – especially for longer forms of essays and academic writing that students engage with at university.

An basic paragraph plan would generally contain:

• The thesis statement (for an essay)
• A topic heading for each paragraph
• The claim of argument to be made in each paragraph (this will be, or will inform, your topic sentence)
• The evidence that will be presented to support the claim
• Summary of the conclusion paragraph

Consider this example of a paragraph plan:

Paragraph plans provide an overview of your essay and provide an effective starting point for structured writing. The next step is using this plan to expand on the points as you write your essay.

Getting your writing to flow.

In almost all cases, written assignments call for students to explore complex topics or aspects of an area of study. Any academic writing task  is an opportunity to show how well you understand a particular topic, theme or area. Usually this means demonstrating how various ideas, knowledge, information or ways of thinking are connected within the context of the task or area of focus. 

This means that successful academic writing presents ideas logically, and that there is high connectivity within the writing. In other words, the aim should be for writing to have high flow to help make the connections clear.

Three ways to achieve this include:

• ensuring that there is good connection from one paragraph to another;
• ensuring that there is good connection from one sentence to another; and
• using transition words effectively to make the logical connections between ideas clear.

Flow from one paragraph to another

Topic sentences, or the leading sentences of a paragraph, play a key role in connecting the ideas of an essay. High-flow topic sentences should look to include three key elements:

• An explicit reference to the topic of the essay.
• A reference to the main aspect of the previous paragraph
• An introduction to the topic of the new paragraph

Consider the following examples of topic sentences in response to an essay question about Virtue Ethics.

A low-flow topic sentence : Aristotle defined phronesis as practical wisdom.

This sentence does not reference the topic (virtue ethics), nor does it link to an idea from a previous paragraph. It does however, introduce the sub-topic of the paragraph (phronesis).

A high-flow topic sentence:  Another fundamental concept in Virtue Ethics is phronesis.

This sentence refers to the essay topic (virtue ethics), acknowledges that this is an additional concept that build on the previous paragraph, and introduces the topic of this paragraph (phronesis).

Flow from one sentence to another

Well-constructed paragraphs have high connections between sentences. In general sentences that promote flow should:

• reference the topic of the previous sentence;
• add new information in the second half; and
• use topic words.

The following paragraph example can be considered high-flow. It includes sentences that reference the previous sentence ( underlined ), add new information ( maroon ) and use topic words ( green ).

Another fundamental concept in Virtue Ethics is phronesis. According to Aristotle, phronesis is a form of practical wisdom through which individuals make principled decisions in line with virtues such as courage and honesty (reference). Its practical nature means that phronesis can only be developed over a lifetime of carefully considered actions and sober reflection . This practice builds a person’s moral character, allowing them to make morally-defensible choices even in unfamiliar and complex situations (reference). In other words, it is a kind of social and professional skill, which at first requires conscious effort and can still result in mistakes. However, through discipline and persistence, it becomes second nature. As a result, practitioners consistently act wisely and in accordance with the virtues they uphold . Their wise actions further strengthen their own character and contribute to human fulfilment at both individual and community levels (reference). 

Transition words that improve flow

Transition words help make the relationships and connections between ideas clear. Some examples of helpful transition words and phrases for various types of connections include:

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The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

The Foundations of Culture in Australia: An Essay towards National Self-Respect [by P. R. Stephensen, 1936]

18 April 2014 · 1 Comment

The Foundations of

Culture in australia, an essay towards national self-respect, p. r. stephensen.

Third Instalment January, 1936 Section 40 : Politics and culture Section 41 : “Equal status” Section 42 : Loyalty and disloyalty Section 43 : “Populate or perish” Section 44 : No need for a protector Section 45 : Bloodstained Europe Section 46 : Sires to the slaughter Section 47 : Australia is an island Section 48 : Chauvinism and culture Section 49 : Commerce and culture Section 50 : Noblesse oblige Section 51 : Wardens of the future Section 52 : The bone-pointers Section 53 : One place is enough Section 54 : A New Britannia Section 55 : The true Australian creed

Australia: Published by W. J. Miles 4 Rosedale Road, Gordon, N.S.W.

First Published 1936

Wholly Set Up and Printed in Australia by The Forward Press Limited, 175 Campbell Street, Sydney. Registered at the General Post Office, Sydney, for transmission through the Post as a Book.

To Winifred

Each, desperate, his sword against the world, A blow for his diverse illusion tries. The truth man leaps to when the banner’s furled, And man confronts his bosom, makes him wise.

— Sonnets of Baylebridge

Source: P. R. Stephensen, The Foundations of Culture in Australia , Gordon (N.S.W.): W. J. Miles, 1936

Editor’s notes: This book was dedicated by P. R. Stephensen to his wife, Winifred Sarah Venus (née Lockyer).

The Foundations of Culture in Australia was republished in 1986, with an introduction by Craig Munro (who had published a biography of P.R. Stephensen in 1984, Wild Man of Letters: The Story of P.R. Stephensen , which was republished in 1992 as Inky Stephensen: Wild Man of Letters ).

Baylebridge = William Baylebridge (1883-1942), Australian poet (born as Charles William Blocksidge)

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Friday essay: ‘like being hungry’ – loneliness afflicts nearly 1 in 3 Australians. It can be devastating, but can spark creativity or change

Visiting Research Fellow, Department of English and Creative Writing, University of Adelaide

Disclosure statement

Carol Lefevre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Adelaide provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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My sharpest experience of loneliness was during the New Year period when I turned 22. Following the breakdown of a youthful and doomed marriage, I had landed in a new country, in a city, Wellington, where the only people I had contact with were at the job I’d just started. They were work acquaintances, but not yet friends. Luckily, one of them realised I would be alone over the Christmas break. She invited me to spend it with her family. I couldn’t have been more grateful, yet once Christmas had passed, I found myself alone again, preparing to greet the New Year and my birthday.

My father had died four months earlier, so I was not only alone, but grieving. In the aftermath of his death, my mother and younger brother had left Sydney and returned to South Australia. Their move had left me feeling as if the world I’d been raised in had collapsed behind me. I felt there was no way back.

Even at work, in a busy office, I existed in a bubble of pain and separation. The people around me all had busy lives, complex connections, history with the place they occupied. I was out of my country, a discarded young wife, a bit of an oddity.

On that New Year’s Eve, watching from the kitchen window of my flat as car headlights streamed towards me and away, I felt rootless, forgotten. I had slipped through a crack into a dark vacuum. Knowing I had brought this upon myself was no comfort. Each hour crawled by like ten. I didn’t see anyone to speak to until the third day of January, when I was relieved to return to work. Afterwards, I always volunteered for shifts over long weekends, so as not to repeat the experience.

Loneliness is felt as a profound and painful yearning for connection. In her book The Lonely City , Olivia Laing describes it as

like being hungry: like being hungry when everyone around you is readying for a feast. It feels shameful and alarming, and over time these feelings radiate outwards, making the lonely person increasingly isolated.

Laing has talked about the shame of loneliness , describing it as “a taboo state that will cause others to turn and flee”. People who are lonely often try to keep the fact a secret, fearing it will make them appear weird, or needy. Fear can lead them to become hypervigilant for signs of rejection, which in turn leads to rejecting behaviours. In this way, loneliness forms a persistent cycle.

‘Unloved, unheard, unseen’

“In a sense our lives are nothing more than a series of stages to help us get used to loneliness,” wrote Japanese writer Haruki Murakami . Daunting as this idea may be, many of us will face varying states of loneliness as we age, with the inevitable losses of parents, siblings, partners, and friends.

A recent study shows nearly one in three Australians feel lonely, and one in six experience severe loneliness.

Songwriters have always been sensitive to the emotion of loneliness, though most have sugared its bitterness with a plaint of romance gone awry. In 1949, Hank Williams sang of a night when time crawled by to the whine of a midnight train. Wrapped in the waltz-time that shouts the lack of a dance partner like no other beat, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry became a country music classic. By 1960, Elvis Presley was crooning Are You Lonesome Tonight? , while in the same decade, The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby documented lives of haunting emptiness.

Growing up alongside those songs, and a slew of others, few of us believed we could ever be old and sad enough to become the people they were singing about. But loneliness is not exclusively an affliction of age: new mothers are at risk, as well as the recently bereaved, refugees and other people living outside their own culture.

Perhaps the most poignant aspect of this hard-to-define, yet devastating emotion is that it can even affect people in the midst of busy lives – and people within families, who for some reason feel misunderstood, unloved, unheard, unseen.

A global public health priority

The World Health Organization has declared loneliness a global public health priority . It links loneliness to depression and suicide, and an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

In the United Kingdom, a joint study commissioned by the British Red Cross and Co-Op, Trapped in a Bubble , found nine million people there (almost a fifth of the population, and more than the population of London) often or always feel lonely. In 2018, the British government introduced a national strategy to tackle the problem, and appointed the world’s first Loneliness Minister . Australia has been urged to do the same.

Japan appointed their own minister in 2021, prodded into action by escalating suicides (particularly of young women) during the pandemic.

Since then, other countries are trialling their own solutions: some good, offbeat ideas include “ chat checkouts ” in a Dutch supermarket, where shoppers can stop and chat rather than be shuffled through as fast as possible.

The Loneliness Project , a research collaboration between the University of South Australia and an Adelaide Hills community centre, is just one Australian initiative. Together with local people, who responded to an advertisement, they will develop strategies to address community loneliness: plans so far include a cafe, regular social activities, a women’s development program and a podcast.

“The health risks of loneliness are thought to be as high as for smoking or obesity,” says Hayley Everuss, the project’s community development officer.

Ending Loneliness Together is a national network of organisations formed to address Australia’s growing loneliness problem. Their 2023 survey found lonely people are more likely to suffer anxiety and depression, and to have worse physical and mental health. Perhaps surprisingly, people over 65 were the least lonely, with 26% of 65-74 year-olds and just 13% of those aged 75+ reporting loneliness.

The highest rates of loneliness were among those aged 18-24, at 38%. With the transition from high school to university, or to first jobs, young people are faced with paths that stream away in many directions. Social media offers the illusion of connection, yet it may be the very thing that makes them feel most isolated.

While frequent social media use isn’t connected to loneliness, according to the survey, social media addiction is: 16% of lonely people reported being addicted to social media, compared to 9% of people who are not lonely.

Loneliness and ‘luminous menace’

Lynne, an artist now in her seventies, tells me as a young woman she was very much a “people person”. She thrived in communal living and was happy in the most chaotic of houses. In those days, her greatest nightmare would have been to find herself living alone. Decades later, she is doing it.

Since the breakup of her marriage, and the move from a family home to an apartment, followed by retirement (and as someone vulnerable to anxiety and depression), Lynne was managing reasonably well. Until the pandemic hit. Pre-COVID, she had more people dropping by, but now they’re out of the habit. “We just broke the pattern,” she says.

COVID-19 pushed all of us apart, with its masks and gloves, and its 24/7 drive-through testing stations, often sited in disused or semi-abandoned spaces. As we waited late at night in the sealed bubbles of our cars to be swabbed, those makeshift outposts – aglow against the urban dark – embodied something of the luminous menace of the painting, Nighthawks , by the American artist Edward Hopper.

Painted in 1942, it shows four people inside a brightly lit New York diner, a capsule of shadowless light set among darkened, empty streets. The lack of an entrance is a troubling detail, and the figures inside appear both exposed and trapped.

Hopper, a man known for his immense reserve, insisted each painting was an expression of his inner life, publicly stating his belief that “the man’s the work” and so the pictures “talk about me”.

A habitual night-walker of New York’s streets, Hopper began Nighthawks late in 1941, after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour propelled America into World War II. Dimmed lights and evening blackouts became the norm in the city; it was a different kind of crisis to the pandemic, but a crisis all the same.

For the viewer, a Hopper painting resembles an exquisite short story, which invites the reader to receive and interpret the elements of place, character and tension according to their own experience. Paintings like Automat (1927), in which a young woman sits alone in a cafe serviced by machines, and New York Movie (1939), with its bored or contemplative usherette standing to one side in a movie theatre while a film plays out on the screen, invariably return me to that lonely time after my father’s death. That is when I first stumbled upon Hopper’s work.

“The loneliness thing is overdone,” Hopper said . And I doubt I would have described his figures as lonely when I first saw them – if they were alone, they had been captured in a moment of typically human solitude. But now, decades later, I see that Hopper’s figures spoke to something deeper in me than the apparent loneliness of a young woman living far from home.

As great works of art have the power to do, they struck a note against my truest self: the part that had chosen the solitary path, despite its perils and pitfalls.

Meanwhile, the pandemic jabbed at us with its vocabulary of punishment: “isolation”, “quarantine”, “lockdown”, “curfew”. Only separation was safe. COVID’s social distancing rules normalised a fear of close contact we may never entirely lose.

For Lynne, travel is a way of offsetting the loneliness of solo living. “I love seeing other places, but also I’m with people around the clock,” she told me. “I’m usually sharing with the friend I travel with, so I wake up in the morning with someone, I go to sleep with someone there. And that’s the bonus on top of the travel.” After a recent month-long trip to India, she is again facing days when she doesn’t see or speak to anyone, unable to re-establish her pre-COVID social connections.

“I hate the fact that I wake up and it takes me so long to remember which day it is. And the thing about it is that it’s of no consequence, whereas once it was important whether it was Saturday or Sunday or Monday.”

Loneliness appears to be less prevalent in some other cultures. Over her many trips to Bali, Lynne has noticed that, despite the challenges of poverty, no one there is much alone. In a local family she’s become friendly with over the years, the grandmother has been cared for within the family, bathed and fed by her grandson when she became very ill.

Across Western society, we have long ago lost the village model of living, though a version of it still prevails in places like Bali. If we are lonely, it is an unwelcome outcome of the way we live now in the first quarter of the 21st century: tuned to the “self” rather than to the family group. (If there is a functioning group.)

Family networks stretch nationwide, or even globally. But families themselves break down, or become so complex in their connections and loyalties, they often cannot provide a safety net for those who encounter serial losses and find themselves alone.

Communal living and finding comfort

The loneliness of our “me” culture is quietly driving change. In Australia, co-housing schemes are creating “intentional communities”. This means either living in a collection of private homes, accompanied by communally owned shared spaces, or in developments of self-contained dwellings, arranged within common areas for shared activities.

Communal living, or co-housing, is a revival of the village model that arguably served our ancestors better than our current individualism is serving us. As we push deeper into the century, and our population ages, co-housing, or versions of it, are likely to become a mainstream housing form.

Not all loneliness is involuntary, and my own suffering at 22 arose because I chose to isolate myself. But for old people, loneliness mostly accrues over time. When combined with grief, it can be hard to break out of the isolating bubble. As a society, we are not skilled at knowing what to say to grieving, lonely people.

Interestingly, a research paper on loneliness by the pioneering German psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann refers to the way loneliness following a bereavement is often counteracted by a process of “incorporation and identification”. In this defensive behaviour, a person mourning the loss of a loved one comes to develop a likeness “in looks, personality, and activities” to the lost beloved. In this way, they fight their loneliness.

I read this with a ping of recognition. After my mother’s death, I clung to the things that had belonged to her. On most days, I carried with me one of the soft cotton handkerchiefs she favoured. I wore her hand-knitted jumpers, spritzed her perfume. I found comfort in the steady tick of her wristwatch and bedside clock, and the fact I was so often told how much I look like her.

My mother used to say four days at home alone was about her limit. I like to think we never allowed her to reach the four-day mark. But as her hearing deteriorated, the daily phone calls became more problematic. Visual impairment and impaired hearing are both factors in social isolation for all age groups. Many of the old people I’ve spoken to have mentioned hearing loss as presenting significant difficulties.

Eighty-year-old Philippa, now living voluntarily in aged care following her recovery from a serious stroke, explains how she prefers to watch movies with subtitles. “But sometimes they’ll say that the subtitles can be really confusing for the people with dementia. So [I say] what about doing it for me, or people like me? And there’ll be a little bit of silence there.”

COVID only increased the difficulties for Philippa, and for countless others with diminished hearing, since most care-home staff have English as a second language and mask-wearing inhibits lip-reading. “Deafness is the hidden disability, and people are impatient,” Philippa says. “They get irritated when you ask them to repeat something.”

Blindness is perhaps even more isolating than hearing loss. But any disability or serious illness can set people apart. A diagnosis, such as cancer, leaves you feeling alone with your body, knowing no one can go through it for you.

Of course, we sometimes choose to enter states of constructive loneliness. These are usually temporary, and often looked forward to, such as retreats of various kinds, or creative residencies. Nearly all creative works are begun and finished during periods of productive aloneness. For writers and artists, solitary toil is the norm, but solitude lacks loneliness’s razor edge.

Outsiders in other lands

A side-effect of my loneliness in those far-off days was that it was when I began to write. But although I later returned to Australia, I never again lived in Sydney. I was right to have sensed the collapse of that world, and though I have been back, it was never as someone returning home.

There is a loneliness to these losses of time and place that we can only absorb.

That no one, living or dead, shared my 22nd birthday is a grief with no possibility of resolution. It is related to the way our younger selves are forgotten with the passage of years. And to the fact children will never quite be able to believe in their grey-haired grandmothers’ existence as young women in miniskirts and skinny-rib jumpers, with painted-on “Twiggy” eyelashes and platform shoes. Not even when we show them the photographs.

These are states of irredeemable loneliness, when what we mourn is who we once were.

My second period of great isolation was a long stretch of years from my mid-thirties, when I agreed to move to an island on the other side of the world, into a culture very different to anything I knew. We shared a common language, but the local accent was so strong that every time I opened my mouth I was identified as “foreign”.

In The Lonely City, Olivia Laing, who is British, writes of being misunderstood in New York because of her “different inflection”. Laing quotes Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, who she describes as speaking for all exiles: “The silent adjustments to understand colloquial language are enormously complicated.” As both Laing and I discovered, failing to make those adjustments marks one out as “a non-native, an outsider”.

I described my emotional state during those years as “ homesick ”, but I see now that homesickness is only another facet of loneliness. Like loneliness, which abates with connection, homesickness fades as soon as the sufferer reconnects with home.

But for those who become permanently displaced – through war, or natural disaster – what is lost with their migratory loneliness is not only the familiar faces and places of the past, but the identities that have been evolving over their entire life spans. They have to begin again to create their narratives, and there is acute loneliness in not being known for who we are, and for where we’ve been.

Jean Rhys and art forged in loneliness

Jean Rhys’s autobiographical-leaning novels reek of the migratory loneliness she endured after being sent from Dominica, aged 16, to live with an aunt in England. Rejected from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art after two terms because of her inability to speak “proper English”, Rhys became a sometime chorus girl. She drifted into the same rootless, damaged and damaging existence – eked out in rooming houses and seedy hotels – as the heroines of her novels.

Wide Sargasso Sea , published when Rhys was 76 and all but forgotten in literary circles, was the culmination of her talent. A work both of genius and of long hard labour, it was also a complex fusion of Rhys’s life with literature: a lushly imagined prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre . In it, Rhys channelled her experience of the particular suffering of exile into the character of the young Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway, the first Mrs Rochester.

Following an arranged marriage to an unnamed Englishman who is desperate for her dowry, Antoinette’s journey from post-slavery Jamaica to incarceration in the attic at Thornfield Hall is only marginally more dramatic than Rhys’s own trajectory from Dominica to Devon. It was a route that took her via Paris, London, and latterly Cornwall, with a brief stay in Holloway Prison, charged with assault.

During the writing of her masterpiece, Rhys was living a lonely, poverty-stricken, alcohol-fuelled existence in the Devon village of Cheriton Fitzpaine. Continually at odds with her neighbours, she was thought by local children to be a witch. Daily life could hardly have been more bleak.

But as Olivia Laing observes in The Lonely City, “many marvellous things have emerged […] things forged in loneliness, but also things that function to redeem it”. With the publication of Wide Sargasso Sea, Rhys’s life did change for the better, just when she needed it most, despite her bitter response that success had come too late.

So what measures can we take to shore up our lives against future loneliness? Is forewarned forearmed? By looking ahead and accepting the possibility loneliness might come knocking, we could work harder at building new friendships. We could introduce more sociability into our lives before we even really need it: by volunteering, or embracing a group activity such as a walking club, a choir, or by taking a class.

Recently, delivering a bundle of bedding to the Salvos, I was directed to a receiving area, where all the people in sight within the cavernous warehouse were elderly. A small army of them was receiving and sorting donations. In another part of the building, other elderly volunteers were selling clothing and bric-a-brac. It is the same when I visit the Oxfam secondhand bookshop.

Voluntary labour largely goes unnoticed, but without it, most charities couldn’t function. By doing good for others, we could also be doing good for ourselves.

It helps, too, to remember there are people all around us who doubtless feel the same. We never know what is going on in the background of the lives we brush up against. A greeting and a smile could go a long way towards making someone feel that the world is not an entirely hostile place.

The company of books

I’ve managed my own lonely times by reading. A good book offers a world one can sink into and become part of. Books – and public libraries – can be places for the lonely to shelter. But reading is a solitary pastime. Ideally, if looking to treat loneliness through reading, one would join a book club or discussion group, so the activity can be shared.

Perhaps the surest antidote is to develop, if not a love of solitude, then at least a tolerance for it, and find ways to make our alone-time fruitful. As we age, we’d be wise to cling fiercely to the skills acquired over a lifetime and continue to develop them. We should also consider taking up new ones.

With typical melancholy and pragmatism, Murakami insists

the older a person gets, the lonelier he becomes. It’s true for everyone. That being the case, there’s no reason to complain. And besides, who would we complain to, anyway?

Only ourselves, I suppose. But while recent statistics appear not to support Murukami’s assertion, there exists the possibility that older people are just more stoic, more habituated to their solitude and less comfortable revealing loneliness, even in an anonymous survey.

I ask myself as I write this: Am I ever lonely? The answer is, sometimes. Because writing is a solitary practice. It takes me out of the world for hours and days at a stretch. But I write in a house I live in with two other people, who I can go to at any time for company and conversation.

What if I were to lose them? The dark reality that shadows our small household’s happiness is that one day, I will – or they will lose me. What is to become of the one of us who remains?

Will they be as desolate as Eleanor Rigby? Will they listen through the too-long nights for Hank Williams’s lonesome train? Or will they mourn for a time, and then, sensibly, find ways to forge new connections?

• Friday essay
• Wide Sargasso Sea
• Haruki Murakami

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By the river: youth homelessness in Tasmania

Young people aged 12–24 make up a quarter of Tasmania's growing homeless population. Chloe Hume and Trent Kiely are two of them.

The banks of the Tamar River, flowing through Launceston in Tasmania, are lush and green.

On one side sits Trevallyn, a hilltop suburb with some of Launceston's most beautiful views and houses dating back to the late 1800s.

On the opposite side, a cluster of homeless people sleeping in cars and caravans have taken over a stretch of land near a $25-million redevelopment, the Silo Hotel.

One of the caravans has been home to 20-year-old Chloe, 23-year-old Trent, their cat Dexter and dog Rocky since May last year.

It might seem like a rough way to live, but for Chloe and Trent, it's the most stability they've had in a long time.

"It's our healing chapter," Chloe says.

"Our whole lives, both of us have been through hell and back pretty much, both in our own ways," she says.

"And now it's just really recovering so we can have a good rest of our life and just be happy. We're going to take it easy and get our mental health better.

"This is our paradise."

Last year, Chloe and Trent became homeless when their rental was sold. The couple found themselves priced out of the rental market with nowhere else to go.

Trent is recovering from a motorbike accident, still needing surgery to walk properly.

Chloe, who grew up in and out of foster care, had become homeless when she ran away from a group home as a teenager.

"If no one wants you, you just get put into a home with lots of other kids that no one wants.

"I really hated it."

Finding the caravan meant Chloe and Trent could finally have their own space after being rejected for multiple rental units, a chance to get back on their feet.

They pay $200 a week in rent to the caravan's owner, and spend $12 a day on petrol for a generator and $20 a fortnight on diesel for heating.

The only support they can lean on is Trent's family, where help is exchanged back and forward between parents, children and siblings.

"It helps out very well. We do it for the whole family," Trent says.

For Chloe, living in the caravan has been a positive change from her past.

"I like my life now," she says.

"[Trent] is the only person I've ever felt comfortable around. I've never really felt like I could be myself with anyone."

The biggest worry now is whether the Tamar River will one day flood their sanctuary.

"The most unstable part of living here. Isn't that funny," Chloe says.

That anxiety was at its peak during the cold and rainy Tasmanian winter.

"Every time it was pouring down, cloudy, it was like, 'it's getting higher, I don't want it'. Oh, my heart was sinking a lot," Chloe says.

Because Chloe and Trent have had no luck with rental applications, they decided to focus on making the caravan as much of a home as possible.

At first, they had no way to store food and had to carry water to the caravan in buckets.

"We'd eat noodles every night, and packet pasta and stuff. Lost all our weight," Chloe says.

With a fridge and a garden hose extension to get water straight to the caravan, life is much more comfortable.

There's one addition that they are especially happy to have: a washing machine.

Before having their own washing machine, the pair had to haul their clothes to the laundromat in taxis, and sometimes the cab would drive off on them.

"I felt unhygienic as a chick being here," Chloe says.

Chloe feels there is a stigma attached to homelessness and people assume most homeless people must have substance abuse issues.

"We don't necessarily want to live in a caravan or next to a river, but this is what we have.

"It sucks because people probably think we're just, like everyone else, junkies or something, you know?

"It makes it hard, because people don't want to reach out. They're probably too scared.

"It's not even that bad down here. People actually have to give us a chance."

Words: Nelli Saarinen and Abigail Varney

Production: Nelli Saarinen

Photographer: Abigail Varney

The Great Crumbling Australian Dream

This photo essay is part of a larger photojournalism project examining Australia's housing crisis.

The Great Crumbling Australian Dream is a collaboration between Oculi photographers and ABC News, with support from National Shelter.

The series was made possible with a Meta Australian News Fund grant and the Walkley Foundation.

Oculi is a collective of Australian photographers that offers a visual narrative of contemporary life in Australia and beyond.

Delve further into the series

Coming home to Country

Photojournalist Rachel Mounsey follows Warumungu traditional owners in Jurnkkurakurr (Tennant Creek) as they tell stories of generational housing displacement — and their ambitious plan to reclaim their home.

Read the story

The Goode fight

Louise Goode's fight for the place of "emotional comfort" she called home lasted a quarter of a century, until it was demolished in front of her as she screamed for help.

A new way forward

Photographer Aishah Kenton looks at three households embracing communal living to see if Australians can adapt their way of life as housing becomes ever more unaffordable.

Pets in the park

Pets in the Park is a national charity focused on the health of companion animals whose owners are experiencing homelessness. Photographer Abigail Varney documented the volunteers and the animals and owners they encountered in Tasmania, Victoria and the ACT.

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Photo essay: Middle East Area of Operations Commemoration 2024

Highlights from an inaugural commemoration service for veterans of 21st-century conflicts, and why young veterans are embracing the day.

By Lachlan Haycock

At a glance

• The Middle East Area of Operations Commemoration, initiated by members and hosted by RSL NSW, was the first of its kind in the country.
• The commemoration was held three years to the day after it was announced that all of Australia’s Defence personnel had withdrawn from Afghanistan.
• Services were also held across the state by RSL sub-Branches.

RSL NSW is committed to commemorating and supporting veterans of all conflicts.

The inaugural Middle East Area of Operations Commemoration , the first of its kind in the country, was held on 11 July. Initiated by members and hosted by RSL NSW, it is designed to foreground the remembrance of veterans of recent conflicts, and the concurrent and ongoing sacrifice of their families.

Check out a selection of photos from services in Sydney and elsewhere in NSW below.

Sydney CBD commemoration

Corporal Ron Schultz (below), RAAF Base Richmond Indigenous Liaison Officer, provided an Acknowledgement of Country.

Major Sarah Winter (above) of the Australian Army’s 2nd Health Battalion, illustrated the scope of challenges faced by personnel during deployment.

“Our job was intense and stressful, but equally essential to the lives of those [we protected].”

Present at the event were Her Excellency The Hon Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of NSW; The Hon Chris Minns MP, Premier of NSW; and RSL NSW President Mick Bainbridge, who read The Ode.

“Each veteran here today and across our state will hold different memories [and] reasons to commemorate,” said Bainbridge. “Please leave today carrying the memory of our fallen comrades with you. We will never forget their commitment or their legacy.”

Junior Legatee Ziggy Till (above, second from right) recited This Ode , a poem by Rupert McCall that mentions the name of every Australian who did not return home – including that of his father Brett Till, who was killed in Afghanistan in March 2009.

The day prior, Minns had announced a $2 million investment by the NSW Government to build a new war memorial dedicated to honouring the service and sacrifice of those who served in the Middle East area of operations, and their families.

While there are often resources spent commemorating wars with no living veterans, RSL NSW is committed to directing resources to returned veterans and their families.

Kane Hall (above left) laid a wreath representing the ex-service personnel who have died by suicide .

“It’s great to see RSL NSW and other organisations coming together to support my cohort of veterans,” Hall said after the event. “It was also great to see a modern service with its roots in older commemorations.”

“We need to continue looking towards the future.”

“It was the first time I’d heard This Ode by Rupert McCall,” said RSL NSW member Nathan Murphy, who served alongside RSL NSW President Mick Bainbridge. “Hearing those names being read by Tilly’s son was something else.

“It was very poignant.”

The service also featured a performance of Sappers Lullaby by Fred Smith, accompanied by Royal Australian Navy Band Sydney.

Sub-Branch services

Whether you’ve served for a single day or decades, RSL NSW welcomes veterans of any service length and background to join the organisation. Access support services and become part of a like-minded community of peers by becoming a member of RSL NSW .

Together we stand: Craig Greenhill and Daniel Chapman

“I learnt how good our friends are”: The wife of a veteran shares the impact of service on family

Reveille – June 2024 issue

Two veterans on the life-affirming power of City2Surf

New Veteran Entitlements’ Legislation Welcomed

RSL Calls for Action Against Cowardly Vandals

RSL Anger at Desecration at Australian War Memorial