Australia

Understand

The sixth largest country in the world by area, Australia has a relatively small (but growing) population of 25 million. A G20 member, it has high quality of life and is constantly ranked among the world's most livable countries. It is a significant player in the economic and political spheres of the Indo-Pacific region.

History

Aboriginal people have been living in Australia for at least 65,000 years. They arrived in successive waves from South and Southeast Asia. With rising sea levels after the last Ice Age, Australia became largely isolated from the rest of the world and the Aboriginal groups developed a variety of cultures, based on a close spiritual relationship with the land and nature, and extended kinship. For thousands of years Australian Aboriginal people maintained a hunter-gatherer culture, or (in some areas) a semi-sedentary culture, in association with a complex artistic and cultural life, including a very rich tradition of story and song. The modern impression of Australian Aboriginal people is largely built around an image of the "desert people" who have adapted to some of the harshest conditions on the planet (equivalent to the bushmen of the Kalahari), but many others lived in forested and well-watered regions. Australia provided a comfortable living for the bulk of the Aboriginal people among the bountiful flora and fauna on the Australian coast – until the arrival of Europeans. Although a lucrative Chinese market for shells and bêche de mer (sea cucumber) had encouraged Indonesian fishermen to visit the north coasts of Australia for centuries, it was unknown to Europeans until the 1600s, when Dutch traders to Asia began to "bump" into the northwestern coast. The Makassan contact from Sulawesi also brought many Indonesian cultural elements to th

Getting there

Entry requirements Everybody (except New Zealanders) requires a visa in advance of travel. If you are visiting for a holiday of less than 90 days, there are three types of visas you may apply for, depending on your nationality.

Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) subclass 601 is available to nationals of many countries, and you must apply using the Australian ETA app with a service fee of $20. It is valid for 12 months. eVisitor (subclass 651) is for citizens of the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and a few European microstates. These visas are free, but otherwise effectively identical to the ETA. You must apply online. Visitor Visa (subclass 600) Citizens of most other countries can make an application online by creating an ImmiAccount; some may need to visit an embassy or visa processing centre as part of the process. Like the ETA and eVisitor, a Visitor 600 is by default issued for a three month stay. Unlike the other options however, a 600 visa can be issued for a longer stay of up to one year. For more than a three month stay, you will likely be asked for supporting documentation about the reason for your visit and your ties to your country of origin and may need to attend an interview. Depending on your nationality, the embassy or visa processing centre may also require you to have an Australian sponsor before issuing the visa. The fee is $190 in 2024. ETAs and eVisitors are valid for multiple entries within a 12-month period. If you're eligible for either, it may be easier to stay the three months you're allowed, go to New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand or some other country reachable by a low cost airline for a few days and come back - restarting the 90-day clock. Doing this more than once, however, may cause immigration authorit

Getting around

Australia is huge but sparsely populated over much of its area and is larger than the contiguous U.S. You can sometimes travel many hours before finding the next trace of civilization, especially once you leave the south-eastern coastal fringe.

Quarantine There are restrictions on carrying fruit and vegetables (including honey) between states, and special agricultural quarantine zones within states that have additional restrictions. If you are driving over 100-150 km outside large metropolitan areas or interstate, or fly