🌀 The Australia Problem

Is Australia really the country we think it is?

Phase 1 of 5

Duration ≈ 20 min

Skill First impressions & critical viewing

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👀 Five glimpses of Australia

Before you read a single fact, look at these five glimpses. They all claim to show "Australia" — but they don't agree with each other.

Sunset over Uluru, a classic Australian postcard image

Australia in the brochure "Endless red centre, endless sunshine." A typical tourism image.

Firefighters battling a bushfire at night

Australia in the news During the 2019–2020 "Black Summer," bushfires burned an area roughly the size of the United Kingdom.

“ Australia in one document

"In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard."

From the Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017), written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders.

💬 Australia in slang Arvo (afternoon), servo (petrol station), Maccas (McDonald's), heaps (a lot), no worries. Everyday English — not the English in your textbook.

Australia in numbers 3 in 10 people living in Australia today were born overseas — one of the highest shares of any country.

💭 First reactions

Don't look anything up yet. This is about what's already in your head.

Task

Write down 3 stereotypes or clichés about Australia you've heard before (from ads, films, memes, anywhere).

Which of the five glimpses above surprised you the most, and why?

Write down 2 questions this raised for you — things you now want to find out.

🚀

Ready for your mission

Once you're finished here, gather your name and class below and submit. Then move on to Phase 2 and pick your team's mission.

Enter your name and class to save your first reactions.

🎓

Onwards

Good — you now have a baseline. Keep your stereotypes in mind; you'll come back to them in the Critical Thinking Lab and check which ones held up.

Continue to Phase 2: Team Missions →