THE LAND DOWN UNDER.

Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere (that is the bottom half of the world). This is why it is sometimes referred to as the Land Down Under.
It is the smallest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent in the world. It is also the only country which occupies a whole continent. Australia occupies 5% of the world's landmass (149,450,000 km2) and is the world's largest island. The official name for Australia is the Commonwealth of Australia. It is a stable, culturally diverse, democracy following the Westminster form of government (the British model). It is the 6th oldest democracy in the world

English is the national language of Australia. But you may not always be able to make sense of some of the things you hear Australians say. That's because Australian slang is different from American slang.

See if you can figure out what these sentences mean using TFK's own Aussie Glossary below.

"Hey, mate! Come along to our barbie this arvo. We've got some charcoal chook, and Grandpa's going to cook the snags."

I don't mean to grizzle, but I was feeling pretty crook during Chrissie. That, and there weren't enough lollies!
Now get the hang of Aussie slang!

(Note: A few of the words below are old-fashioned and are no longer spoken by most Aussies.)

arvo: afternoon ; barbie: barbecue ; billabong: waterhole in a dry riverbed; chook: a chicken ; Chrissie: Christmas; crook: broken or sick ; drongo: a foolish person ;
grizzle: to complain ; jumbuck: sheep ; lollies: candy, sweets ; mate: a best buddy; mozzie: mosquito ; snags: sausages