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Australia has long defined itself culturally as a Western -- and more specifically British -- country and has remained blind to its own specificity, notably regarding the Aborigines, while also cultivating a real phobia toward Asia. Yet, for a few decades, under the influence of political, economic and demographic changes, it has come to term with its geographic reality and has accepted to incorporate in its own culture the non British components it had rejected for so long (mainly the Aborigine and Asian elements). By becoming cosmopolitan and composite, Australian culture has greatly gained in vigor and diversity. Adapted from the source document.

This article presents a brief overview of Australian history. First, it stresses the time-old presence of the Aborigines so as to recall that the history of the continent-island did not start with the arrival of Captain Cook in 1770. Then, it considers the formation, in the 19th century, of a British settlers' colony and its transformation, in the 20th century, into an English-speaking nation state. It also criticizes a certain historiographical trend that tends to relegate the Aborigine people to the pre-colonial past. Adapted from the source document.

Multiculturalism was introduced in 1973 by Gough Williams' Labour government. It follows the Canadian model and advocates an active and welcoming acceptance of immigrants and a consideration of the specific needs of ethnic communities, including the Aborigines. It has become one of the driving force in the construction of Australian national identity. Although criticized, it is always presented as a priority by all the right wing or left wing governments. Yet, it seems to have lost much of its original substance and even to be on the verge of being abandoned. Adapted from the source document.

O. Iu. Artemova, Traditional society of Australian Aborigines in Soviet anthropology.
Data on Australian traditional Aboriginal culture were and still are frequently used in Soviet anthropology as one of the main sources for reconstruction of early stages of human history (prehistory). In the early 1920's-carly 1950's, the research tradition traceable back to the nineteenth century centered mostly on such issues as systems of kinship, kin groups, family and marriage patterns. The 1930's and 1940's were the years of decline in the Soviet Australian Aboriginal studies mostly because of the dogmatic approach to L.H. Morgan's scheme of early social evolution.
The early 1970's saw a renewal of scholarly interest in kinship systems and in uni lineal kin structures with the resultant discussion of the so-called Australian "controversy."
In 1970's-1980's the themes of Soviet Australian Aboriginal studies grew more varied; they included Aboriginal religion, arts and folklore, as well as the role of personality, the correlation between individual behavior and traditional normative system.
Today, the picture of traditional social life of Australian Aborigines as reflected in Soviet anthropology appears to be much more complicated than in the previous years. In particular the concept of primitive egalitarianism is replaced by the recognition of some forms of status differentiation (group and individual) and status hierarchy as well as certain forms of individual specialization.