Learning objectives

On completion of this chapter, the reader will be able to:

Key words

Chapter overview

This chapter provides background to the text. The Australian population, legislative frameworks and policies, health challenges and health priorities are described. A profile of the health workforce in Australia is included.

Background

Australia is an ancient island continent covering 7 682 300 square kilometres (Australian Government, 2013b and is the world’s sixth largest country (Tourism Australia, 2013a). The traditional peoples of this land arrived approximately 50 000 years ago from South-East Asia during the last Ice Age (Tourism Australia, 2013b). These peoples dispersed across the land, adapting their ways of life to accommodate the bounty offered and developing unique languages and cultures (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2013a). The Indigenous peoples established tribal lands and trade partners with neighbouring groups. Kinship ties were formalised as members of the neighbouring groups established relationships that bound tribes and clans together (Indigenous Australia, 2013).

Archaeological evidence suggests that the northern borders of Australia were regularly visited by traders from South-East Asia who contributed to the diversity of the Indigenous populations (ABS, 2013a). European sailors also visited Australia prior to Captain James Cook claiming Australia for England in 1778. Willem Janszoon travelled from Indonesia to Cape York Peninsula in 1606, and Dirk Hartog, another Dutch explorer, came ashore on the west coast of Australia in 1615 and probably interacted with local peoples. Hartog’s discovery of the ‘Great Southern Land’ led to its inclusion in world maps of the time and facilitated increased expeditions by other European sailors (Australian history, 2013).