Go Travel Australia is one of Australia’s leading  tour companies. We assist both local and international travellers experience the many great experiences & regions of Australia. Go Travel Australia has a complete understanding of the needs and expectations of the traveller in order to make your Australian  vacation a memorable experience. Our specialty revolves around putting together a personilised itinerary unique to your wants and needs.

Please contact us for a no obligation quote. We will promptly put together an itinerary for you to review and refine as required.

Go Travel Australia Director - Mr Simon Cummins

TOUR LOCATION OF THE MONTH —-MELBOUNRE

 

Whether you are travelling for business, pleasure - or both - it is hard not to fall in love with Melbourne.

With its gardens, art galleries, museums, and outdoor eateries, Melbourne has a distinctly European feel, which is tempered with a liberal dose of the vibrant Australian way of life.

The people of Melbourne are not only passionate about the city’s flourishing arts culture - they are also passionate sports fans.

Indeed, Melbourne is viewed as the spiritual home of Australian sports events, and many international corporate meetings and conferences in Melbourne coincide with the Australian Open Tennis or the Formula One Grand Prix.

As the nation’s second largest city, Melbourne is recognised as a leading conference and convention destination. It offers a range of hotels to suit every requirement.

The city’s rich multicultural heritage means that it is home to a large number of top-class restaurants serving a wide variety of cuisines. It is also a fashion haven, making it an ideal place to shop for the latest designer clothing.

 

ABOUT AUSTRALIA

Australia is a truly unique country with animals and native plants set apart from every other continent. You may not see our kangaroos jumping down the main streets of our cities but you won’t have to travel too far, our nature is easily accessible. Possums that find their way into domestic houses and kookaburras and lorikeets that feed in our gardens, to kangaroos, emus, eagles and giant lizards that live in our bush. Steamy rainforests in NSW and Northern Queensland contrast our vast country.

Kakadu National Park, the world’s largest national park is a wonder of bird species and wildlife. The Great Barrier Reef  is a natural wonder with coral covering 2000 km, the largest living organism on earth. These are just a few of the treasures on this the biggest island continent on earth.

ABORIGINAL HISTORY

For over 50,000 years before European settlement the aborigines lived and thrived in Australia’s challenging natural environment and with these skills are believed to be the world’s oldest civilisation. Aboriginal culture is a rich and timeless tradition.The Dreamtime is the sacred ‘time before time’ of the world’s creation. According to Aboriginal belief, totemic spirit ancestors emerged from the earth and descended from the sky to awaken a dark and silent world. They created the sun, moon and stars, forged mountains, rivers, trees and waterholes and changed into human and animal forms. Spirit ancestors connect this ancient past with the present and future through every aspect of Aboriginal culture. Rock art, craft and bark painting reveal Dreamtime stories, mark territory and record history, while songs tell of Dreamtime journeys, verbally mapping water sources and other essential landmarks. Their special lyrics have been passed down virtually unchanged for at least 50,000 years, and are often accompanied by clapsticks or the deep throb of the didgeridoo. Similarly, traditional dances reveal creation myths, enact the deeds of Dreamtime heroes and even recent historical events.

SETTLEMENT

Australia was the last land mass discovered by the Europeans with the British finally taking claim when Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay in 1770.  Botanist Joseph Banks recommended New South Wales as a penal colony as a possible solution to England’s overcrowded prisons — and Australia was born.

Life was tough for both settlers and convicts but the Aboriginal people displaced by the new settlement suffered even more. The dispossession of land and illness and death from introduced diseases disrupted traditional lifestyles and practices.

SQUATTERS PUSH ACROSS THE CONTINENT

By the 1820s, many soldiers, officers and emancipated convicts had turned land they received from the government into flourishing farms. News of Australia’s cheap land and bountiful work was bringing more and more boatloads of adventurous migrants from Britain. Settlers or ’squatters’ began to move deeper into Aboriginal territories - often with a gun - in search of pasture and water for their stock.

In 1825, a party of soldiers and convicts settled in the territory of the Yuggera people, close to modern-day Brisbane. Perth was settled by English gentlemen in 1829, and 1835 a squatter sailed to Port Phillip Bay and chose the location for Melbourne. At the same time a private British company, proud to have no convict links, settled Adelaide in South Australia.

GOLD FEVER BRINGS WEALTH, MIGRANTS AND REBELLION

Gold was discovered in New South Wales and central Victoria in 1851. Gold fever hit and young men and some women from the colonies were attracted to Australia in the hope of becoming wealthy and free. They were joined by boat loads of prospectors from China and a chaotic carnival of entertainers, publicans, illicit liquor-sellers, prostitutes and quacks from across the world. In Victoria, the British governor’s attempts to impose order - a monthly licence and heavy-handed troopers - led to the bloody anti-authoritarian struggle of the Eureka stockade in 1854. Despite the violence on the goldfields, the wealth from gold and wool brought immense investment to Melbourne and Sydney and by the 1880s they were stylish modern cities.

STATES AND TERRITORIES

Australia is made up of six states and two territories. Each state and territory has it’s own parliament and the federation was formed in 1901, bound by one parliament and flag. The parliamentary system follows that of England with upper (Senate) and lower houses (house of representatives). A figure head Governor General provides the historical link to the mother land but Australia is effectively a stand- alone democracy with proud ties to its heritage but equally proud of its independence.

AUSTRALIANS GO TO WAR
The First World War had a devastating effect on Australia. There were less than 3 million men in 1914, yet almost 400,000 of them volunteered to fight in the war. An estimated 60,000 died and tens of thousands were wounded. During the Second World War, Australian forces made a significant contribution to the Allied victory in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. The generation that fought in the war and survived came out of it with a sense of pride in Australia’s capabilities.

NEW AUSTRALIANS ARRIVE TO A POST-WAR BOOM
A boom of immigration occurred post war with hundreds of thousands of migrants from across Europe and the Middle East arriving  in Australia, many finding jobs in the booming manufacturing sector. Many of the women who took factory jobs while the men were at war continued to work during peacetime. The culture of Australia was transformed with a combination of traditional Aussie culture merging with Europe and Asia, creating a melting pot of different cultures, ultimately making Australia unique in the world.

Australia’s economy grew throughout the 1950s, providing the work for all the new immigrants with major nation-building projects such as the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme in the mountains near Canberra. International demand grew for Australia’s major exports of metals, wools, meat and wheat and suburban Australia also prospered. The rate of home ownership rose dramatically from barely 40 per cent in 1947 to more than 70 per cent by the 1960s.

Like many other countries, Australia was swept up in the revolutionary atmosphere of the 1960s. Australia’s new ethnic diversity, increasing independence from Britain and popular resistance to the Vietnam War all contributed to an atmosphere of political, economic and social change.  In 1967, Australians voted overwhelmingly ‘yes’ in a national referendum to let the federal government make laws on behalf of Aboriginal Australians and include them in future censuses. The result was the culmination of a strong reform campaign by both Aboriginal and white Australians.

In 1972, the Australian Labor Party under the idealistic leadership of lawyer Gough Whitlam was elected to power, ending the post-war domination of the Liberal and Country Party coalition.  Over the next three years, his new government ended conscription, abolished university fees and introduced free universal health care. It abandoned the White Australia policy, embraced multiculturalism and introduced no-fault divorce and equal pay for women. However by 1975, inflation and scandal led to the Governor-General dismissing the government. In the subsequent general election, the Labor Party suffered a major defeat and the Liberal-National Coalition ruled until 1983.

AUSTRALIA TODAY
Between 1983 and 1996, the Hawke-Keating Labor governments introduced a number of economic reforms, such as deregulating the banking system and floating the Australian dollar. In 1996 a Coalition Government led by John Howard won the general election and was re-elected in 1998, 2001 and 2004. The Liberal-National Coalition Government enacted several reforms, including changes in the taxation and industrial relations systems. In 2007 the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd was elected with an agenda to reform Australia’s industrial relations system, climate change policies, and health and education sectors.

Australia Statistics

Our Landscape

A wide, brown land
Australia is the sixth largest country in the world. It’s about the same size as the 48 mainland states of the USA and 50 per cent larger than Europe, but has the lowest population density in the world - only two people per square kilometre.

Beach paradise
Australia’s coastline stretches almost 50,000 kilometres and is linked by over 10,000 beaches, more than any other country in the world. More than 85 per cent of Australians live within 50 kilometres of the coast, making it an integral part of our laid-back lifestyle.

Our island home
Australia is the only nation to govern an entire continent and its outlying islands. The mainland is the largest island and the world’s smallest, flattest continent.

Regions of Australia:

Tropical North Queensland - A holiday paradise, palm fringed beaches lapped by crystal waters and stunning tropical rainforest. Plus - the wonder of the Great Barrier Reef.

South Queensland - Known as Australia’s holiday playground, Surf and theme parks of the Gold Coast, the sophisticated charm of the Sunshine Coast and the modern capital Brisbane.

Sydney - Australia’s most exciting city set on a beautiful natural harbour. See the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Darling Harbour, Bondi Beach and much more.

New South Wales - Delightful country towns, deserted beaches and natural forests, the Hunter Valley wineries and the spectacular Blue Mountains provide an ideal touring destination on Sydney’s doorstep.

Perth and Western Australia - Superb coastline, beautiful beaches and forests, spectacular desert scenery and a fine modern capital on the Swan River.

Northern Territory - Tropical rainforests and stunning nature parks of the Top End and the amazing desert scenery of the Red Centre - so much to see and do.

Adelaide - A relaxed elegant city with a warm Mediterranean climate, renowned for its fine wines and superb cuisine plus beaches, mountains and vineyards to explore.

Melbourne - The sporting capital, a city of tree-lined boulevards, quaint trams, elegant Victorian architecture, superb restaurants and stylish boutiques.

Tasmania - A diverse island with lots to see. From white sand beaches to majestic snow capped mountains, lush forest to moorland and a mild climate ideal for touring.