Chapter 33, Student Web Activities, Glencoe World Geography, Glencoe, 2003

Chapter 33: The Cultural Geography of Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica
"Australia"

Introduction
Immigrants from many different countries live and work in Australia, and others continue to make the journey. These new cultural influences have encouraged changes in Australia's policies toward multiculturalism. In this lesson you will learn about the people who migrate to Australia, recent immigration trends, and the Australian government's efforts to encourage cross-cultural understanding.

Destination Title: Australian Department of Immigration & Multicultural Affairs

Directions
Start at the home page of the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Web site.

Under "Multicultural Australia," click on Living in Harmony and follow the link at the top of the page to Community Grants. Read through this page, taking notes as you go.
Click on Media centre and then Fact Sheets. Under the first heading, "Background Information," review the three fact sheets titled "Immigration—The Background," "Key Facts in Immigration," and "The Evolution of Australia's Multicultural Policies."

Using the information you gathered from this site, answer the following questions.

1. What are Australia's three immigrant categories, or "streams," and their selection criteria?

2. How have Australia's multicultural policies demonstrated changing attitudes toward cultural diversity?

3. How does the Australian government's "Community Grants" program support Australia's goal of living in harmony?

4. What trends appear in Australia's net permanent migration figures for the periods 1991—1994 and 1995—1998?

5. Numerical information such as immigration statistics often shows trends over time. Using the data available for settler arrivals by region of birth, create circle graphs that show the data for 1988—1989 and 1998—1999. Include a chart that lists the regions with declining percentages and those with increasing percentages.