Lasting Impacts of British Influence on Australia
The colonization of Australia by Britain left a great impact on the land that is still present today. The national language of Australia is English due to the British colonization, and a large portion of the Australian population consists of white individuals descended from British ancestry. Australia currently functions on a constitutional monarchy because the British monarch is still recognized as the head of state of Australia, but the position does not hold any real power over the governing affairs of the country. Today, a quarter of the Australian population practices Roman Catholicism. Of the rest of the population, 17% are Anglican, about 19% are some kind of other Christian and 7% are non-Christian. The remainder either have no religion or have not stated their religion. The presence of Roman Catholicism in Australia can be credited to the British colonization since the British insisted on spreading Christianity to all of its colonies. The Aboriginal population that once numbered over 750,000 is scarce today, and the remaining Aboriginal people nearly all speak English. Most of the Aboriginals today live among the descendants of the white settlers in Australia. Awareness of the injustices against the indigenous Australian people is being raised across modern Australia and the rest of the world. Many museums feature galleries dedicated to ancient Aboriginal art, and National Sorry Day is an Australian holiday that began on May 26, 1997, that commemorates the mistreatment against the indigenous Australians.