Australia

Ce mois ci, les élèves de la 4eme7 vous emmènent en Australie. Ils vous font découvrir la ville de Sydney et son célèbre Opéra en forme de voilier, le célèbre bandit Ned Kelly, le cinéma avec l'acteur Julian MacMahon, le pilote de Formule 1 Mark Webber, les recettes d'une salade fraiche au saumon, des steaks de Kangourou au thym et au miel et la célèbre Pêche Melba, les animaux symboliques comme le Kangourou et l'Ornithorynque et sans oublier l'art Aborigène.

Bonne lecture.

Miss Kahel

AUSTRALIA - Cities

Sydney

 Sydney is located in the southeast of Australia, in New South Wales, on of the southern states, on the shores of the Tasman Sea. With, in 2013, a population of 4,757,083 inhabitants on nearly 12,300 km², Sydney is the most populous city in Australia. Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, or Sydneyites.

Aboriginal settlement existed on the site for several millennia. Aborigines are the original inhabitants of Australia and produce particularly varied rock art, but they were decimated by the colonists and the diseases they brought to the island.

Sydney was founded in 1788.
It is James Cook who saw for the first time the site of the current Sydney. He named it Port Jackson in 1770 in honor of Sir George Jackson, one of the Commissioners of the British Admiralty Lords. In 1788, Captain Arthur Philip gave the place its current name (in honor of the British Home Minister Thomas Townshend, first Viscount of Sydney) that he had chosen to lead the prisoners and establish a penal colony for the convicts (prisoners) brought from Britain. Free settlers followed them and, from 1800 to 1850 their number increased steadily since they were attracted by the richness of New South Wales (gold rush).

The most visited site in Sydney is the Sydney Opera House with five rooms including a large concert hall. The Opera House was built in 1957, its construction lasted 16 years and it was inaugurated in 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II. It is also the 3^rd most active company in the world, the monument is classified world heritage by the UNESCO.

Sydney has a subtropical climate, so it gets pleasant temperatures. There are many beaches located to the east of the city.

A high concentration of skyscrapers and other buildings (including historical buildings such as the Town Hall or the Queen Victoria Building) are interspersed with parks such as Wynyard Park and Hyde Park. Sydney is bounded on the east by a series of parks and public gardens that stretch from Hyde Park to Farm Cove at the edge of the bay, through the Royal Botanic Gardens. The western side is itself bounded by Darling Harbour, a popular tourist destination and mecca for nightlife while Central Station marks the southern limit of the city center. George Street serves as a main north-south lane of communication in the business district.

Guillaume & Loick

AUSTRALIA - Famous People

Ned Kelly

Ned Kelly was born in Beveridge Victoria (Australia) in December 1854 or June 1855 according to some historians. We do not know any more because at that time, in the Australian desert, it is often said that babies were declared several months after their actual birth. He was executed on November 11^th, 1880 in Melbourne. Ned was sentenced to death and hanged. He was famous because he was described as a cold-blooded cop killer.

On March 9^th , 2008, a team of Australian scientists claimed to have identified the place of execution. This was an old abandoned prison in Melbourne, numerous bones were discovered there in August 2011.

His father, John "Red" Kelly came from Ireland, he was sent to a prison in Australia as punishment because he stole pigs. He spent 7 years in prison and was then hired in a farm and married the daughter of the farmer. Together they had eight children, among whom, Ned.

At the age of 8 years old, Ned saved Richard Shelton from drowning, he had fallen into the waters of the "Hughes Creek" behind the small family farm. Ned was a very courageous young boy
The social context was difficult. In these remote and notoriously difficult land, landowners were protected by the police but there were many injustices against living farming populations. Many cattle or horses stealings were suspected.

The Kellys were never condemned until Ned's father, Red, was arrested for a fight with his neighbor over the ownership of a calf. Found innocent of theft, but guilty of having removed the mark on the skin of the nimal, he had the choice between a fine of twenty-five pounds or imprisonment of six months for forced labor. Without money to pay the fine, Red served his sentence in the Kilmore prison, with lethal consequences on his health. While Ned was only eleven and a half years old, he had to leave school when his father died in Avenel, on December 27^th, 1866.

At 14, Ned was charged with assault and robbery on a Chinese worker, he was jailed for 10 days, but the charges against him were dropped. Ihe was however considered from that moment by the police as a bushranger (a bandit from the outback). The following year, in 1870, he was arrested and accused of being the accomplice of Harry Power, a horse thief, but he was released for lack of evidence. In 1871, he was arrested and charged with concealment of a mare "borrowed" by one of his friends. He said they did not know that the horse was stolen, but he was sentenced to 3 years in prison, he was only 16 years old.

During his imprisonment, his brothers Jim and Dan, 12 years old and 10 years old, were arrested with a horse that did not belong to them, yet paid by a farmer for which they had done some work, they spend a night in the cells before the misunderstanding was settled. Jim was again banned 2 years later for cattle theft, but not pursued by the owner, he was not condemned. When he came out of prison, Ned worked with George King, a Californian with whom his mother remarried later. Ned describe him as an intelligent horse thief. Ned and his family continued being suspected of theft and arrested quite regularly until his execution.

Anna & Chloé

AUSTRALIA - Cinema

Julian McMahon

 

Julian McMahon was born on July 27^th, 1968 in Sydney, Australia. He is 46 years old. He was a model before becoming an actor. He was married to Dannii Minogue, Brooke Burns, with whom he has a daughter named Madison Elizabeth, born on June 9^th, 2000. He also had a relationship with his partner in Charmed, Shannen Doherty, while ha was still married.

He is a big fan of the Australian beer and he is also an excellent cook. He is very athletic, he plays football, tennis, surfing and cycling. At the moment Julian McMahon has been married to Kelly Paniagua since June 2014.

He is passionate about the law. He studied it at the University of Sydney, but soon enough, Julian was spotted by a modeling agency which decided to hire him. At 17, after abandoning his law studies, he became a model and was noticed by a commercial for Levis jeans brand that allowed him to play in the Australian soap opera Summer Bay where famous actors such as Guy Pearce, Heath Ledger or Naomi Watts also made their debuts.

Discovering a new passion for acting, McMahon started a new carreer on the stage, performing both in Australia and the United Kingdom or the United States. If he appeared in a second time in teen movies such as Wet and Wild Summer or Magenta Thriller, it is on television that he was spotted and started to break into the business.

He then left to settle in Los Angeles. He joined the team in 1992 of the American soap Another World. With a brief participation in the comedy Will and Grace, the NBC network hired him for the role of inspector John Grant in the series Profiler and is was a success. In 2000, Aaron Spelling offered him the role of the demonic Cole Turner for three seasons in Charmed. It is this series that he was revealed to the public and the doors of the cinema were open for him.

In 2003, he reached the peak of his career by playing Christian Troy, a cynical and arrogant surgeon in Nip / Tuck, one of the most daring and best known of the decade TV series.

After this time he played the husband of Sandra Bullock in Prenomition, a fantastic movie that took place in a temporal space.

Julian Mcmahon then played the legendary Victor Von Doom aka Doctor Doom, who is a super villain in Marvel Fantastic Four (2005) and the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer (2007). Victor Von Doom was an American researcher who proposed a trip into space to Richard Reed.

Human	Discovery of his powers
Complete transformation

In 2010, he accepted to play in RED for the role of the US vice president with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman and in 2011, he played in a thriller Unknown Faces by the French director Julien Magnat, with Milla Jovovich.

Morgand L & Grégoire

AUSTRALIA - Sport

Mark Webber

He was born on August 27^th, 1976 in Queanbeyan in Australia. He is an Australian racing driver who raced for the Formula 1 world championship from the 2002 season to 2013. He is now dedicated to endurance with Porsche. Having started on two wheels.

Mark Webber started his driving carreer in karting in 1991. In 1994, at the age of 18, he competed in the Formula Ford Championship of Australia and had good results which allowed him to make the great leap towards England. In 1996 for his second season, he finished second in the British Formula 1 Ford championship and won the Formula 1 Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, a sort of unofficial world cup of the specialty. In 1997 Mark Webber accessed to the renowned British Championship Formula 3. Despite good results, he soon found himself confronted with the lack of budget. During the summer he was at the point of having to end his career, when he received a providential assistance from David Campese, the Australian rugby legend. This support allowed him to finish fourth in the overall standings and to be spotted by Mercedes making of him one of their official drivers in the FIA ​​GT Championship for the 1998 season. Associated with Bernd Shneider, Webber won five races but lost in the championship behind the other Mercedes duo consisting of Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta. In 1999, Mercedes withdrew from the FIA ​​GT championship to concentrate its efforts on the 24 Hours of the Mans. During his participation in Le Mans, Webber failed to conclude, due to an aerodynamic defect, the Mercedes Benz CLR ended in a series of loops, during practice on the Saturday morning.

During the race, the Scottish driver Peter Dumbreck experienced the same misadventure on another car brand. Webber came out every time without the slightest injury.

Cooled by his experience at Le Mans, Webber decided to return to the classic racing. In 2000, he joined the team Fomula 3000 Eurobet Arrows. He was regarded as the junior driver of the Arrows F1 team, led by his compatriot Paul Stoddart. Mark Webber took a little time to find his endurance place, after more than ten years of absence in the discipline.

After the Formula 1 (Red Bull) at WEC (Porsche) in 2014, he won three podiums with the help of Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, he began the 2015 season quite brilliantly, he also made his first laps in Formula1 as a test driver.

Third in the final standings in his first season in the discipline, Mark Webber appears as the revelation of the championship and became a test driver for Benetton Formula 1 at the end of the year 2014. This position was not in question when, a few months later, Renault bought Benetton. Flavio Briatore even took him under his wing into signing a long-term management contract.

Morgan D. , Matthieu and Dylan

AUSTRALIA - Animals

Australian Animals

The Kangaroo

 The kangaroo is a Marsupial. Their female has a pouch, also called the marsupium in which she carries her baby after birth where it will continue to grow until it can get out of its mother's pouch. Legend has it that the kangaroo name would come as an error of understanding from Captain Cook. The Captain asked a resident of Australia the name of this animal. The man answered “kangaroo” which meant “I did not understand” and Captain Cook baptized the animal “kangaroo”.

The “kangaroo” name designates one of the members of the four largest living species: the red kangaroo, the giant kangaroo, the antelope kangaroo and gray kangaroo.

The Red Kangaroo:
Red kangaroos are the most famous males, measuring at least 1.80 m high, it can weigh up to 80kg. Females are smaller than the males and measure around 1.10 meters high and weigh 35kg. They live in groups.

The red kangaroo is the largest of all the kangaroo. It is found across mainland Australia, avoiding only the more fertile areas in the south, the east and the northern rainforests.
This is an omnivore or herbivore. They can remain 2 to 3 weeks without food, water feeds him enough for his needs.

The Giant Kangaroo:

The giant kangaroo is a marsupial widespread in southern and eastern Australia with a population of several millions.
These are herbivorous animals that live in wet meadows (unlike the red kangaroo that lives in areas bordering the desert) in the surroundings of agricultural fields (so it eats mainly grass).
These are animals that live at night and sleep during the day in holes dug in the ground and enjoy fresh hours of the night to feed. They live in small groups with an male that dominates several groups that can graze together.

The Gray Kangaroo:
The gray kangaroo is a great macropus across southern Australia. It looks great . In 1996 they were about 3 millions.
It feeds on grass but also bark, branches and tree roots. It is able to live with very little water.
It is a nocturnal animal that lives in bands of fifteen individuals.

Kangaroos in general have three predators: The dingo, snake, and poachers.

The Wallabies: it is the smallest of the kangaroos. It is herbivorous.
Females weigh 8 to 15 kg and males weigh 15 to 22 kg. Females are 50-75 cm high whereas males are 65-90 cm high.

Kangaroos move with successive jumps and cant walk up to 4 or 5 km/h. Depending on the species, they can go as fast as 60km/h and can jump to a maximum of 7 meters long, with an maximum jump of 1,5 meter high.

Duck-billed Platypus

The platypus is a semi-aquatic animal. It lives mainly in Eastern Australia. Only mammal that lays eggs instead of giving birth to fully formed babies.

Its original appearance has been used in many circumstances, especially in its country of origin, Australia. It is so rare that it was used as a mascot for many events. It appears even on the tail of the coin of 20 Australian cents.

According an Aboriginal myth, the platypus results of the disobedience of a young cane (female duck). The cane was living with others of its species in a pond. All were afraid of the Devil On the Water and had never been away from their pond. But one day, against the advice of her elders, the cane ventured downstream and eventually found a patch of grass on the bank. Not knowing that it was the territory of the Water Rat, she moved there. Hearing the cane, the Water Rat appeared, threatened her, and, dragging her into his burrow, forced her to mate with him. The baby that was born from that event was the first Platypus. It is sometimes said that the platypus is proof of God's sense of humour.

The Platypus reaches sexual maturity around the age of 2 years old. When the platypus was first discovered, it was not known that females laid eggs. The male does not participate to the care of the eggs. The female lays one to three eggs.

It is carnivorous and feeds on insect larvae or freshwater shrimp, small fish.

A male can have up to seven kilometers of shoreline shared with 3-4 females. When he plunges his heart slows down to conserve oxygen consumption.They have a groove which is closed when the animal swims, which makes it deaf and blind in the water but allows it to remain longer underwater.

. In the nature, the Platypus can live up to ten or fifteen years.

His predators are snakes, Rakalis, Goannas and Raptors. Yet, the greatest threat to the Platypus is the deterioration of its habitat. Because it adapts well to the freshwater environment, the Platypus depends on the availability of its habitat.

MOHAMED & SAMUEL

AUSTRALIA - Food

Typical Australian dishes

Australian Sandrinette Salad

Ingredients:
-12 Prawns
-300g of Smoked salmon
-2 kiwis
-1 Pink grapefruit
-2 endives
-1 Mozzarella
-8 Sprigs of chives
-2 Teaspoons of vinegar
-2 Tablespoons of olive oil
- salt and pepper

Preparation:
1) Peel the grapefruit, taking care to remove the white parts and separate the parts.
2) Peel the prawns.
3) Peel the kiwis and cut them into slices.
4) Cut the mozzarella into cubes.
5) Cut the salmon into cubes.
6) Cut the endives in half, then into slices.
7) In a bowl mix all the items.
8) Add the previously chopped chives.
9) Put the olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper and mix well.
Keep cool until serving.

Kangaroo steak with honey and thyme

Ingredients:

- 4 kangaroo steaks
- 4 tablespoons of honey
- 20g of butter
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon of Brandy wine
- 25 cl of game stock
- 1 dl of sour cream
- salt and pepper
Preparation:
1) Salt and pepper the meat and put the honey on the meat before putting it all in a pan, after the butter is melted and cook the steaks.
2) Add the remaining honey and fresh thyme sprigs, remove the meat from the pan. Cover it with aluminum and let it cool a bit.
3) Deglaze the pan with brandy and game stock, and scratching the cooking juices. Add the cream and let reduce. Serve with chicory or with orange zest or ginger syrup.

The Melba Peach 

Introduction:

The Peach Melba is a dessert created by Auguste Escoffier for the Australian soprano Nellie Melba he admired so much. He knew she loved peaches and created this dessert to please her.

Ingredients:
-3 peaches (not too ripe)
-6 scoops of vanilla ice cream
-whipped cream
-roasted almonds
-For the syrup:
-1 cup of sugar

-2 cups of water
-1 cup of lemon juice
-For the raspberry coulis:
-2 cups of raspberries
-2 cups of lemon juice
-1 cup of sugar

Preparation:

* First, boil the peaches in water for more than 2 min. Peel the fruit, remove the core and plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking process.
* Then make the syrup, bring to a boil the sugar, water, lemon juice (or lemon peel and vanilla). Let the heat on for 10 minutes. Dip the peaches in it and let the whole lot cool.
* Blender all the ingredients for the raspberry coulis.
* Assemble everything, put half a peach on each plate (or in a transparent cup), place a scoop of ice cream and cover with raspberry coulis.
*Finish up with a little whipped cream and some roasted almonds, and why not a wafer.

Laura and Paule 

AUSTRALIA - Street Art

Aboriginal Art

Aboriginal art are sculptures by burning something on wood, or objects, but the Aborigines also make paintings and costumes for ceremonies.

Aboriginal art is what's left of their culture and it is always linked to a territory. They sing dance and mime, make paintings to celebrate the ceremony. They use paint to express themselves in difficult or happy moments.

The ancestral spirits (the gods who first appeared on the Earth) communicate with them by new songs, paintings, dancing, dreams.

The creation of a school of Warmun in the Kimberley region allows Aborigines to exorcise the memory of unpunished massacres perpetrated by white farmers.

Most often described as "Lonka Lonka", wide-pearl shells are carved into figurative or abstract patterns. They can suggest in some cases, sacred routes of Tingari men at the heart of the desert, the zigzags of thunder and rain, dream of the Min-Nimb whale, the movement of water, the effects of tides, traces left on the low-water sand or symbolic movements of a snake on the floor. The use of flint and metal tools with the arrival of Westerners on the continent, has refined the patterns on the nacre. These objects, from the Kimberley region near the coast in Broome, were exported across the continent. The shells were worn around the neck or as a loincloth, all adjusted to the body using a braided hair cord.

Dany and Arthur