Nursing education in Australia

In 2019, according to the United Nations estimates, the Australian population reached 25 million. While a vast land mass – the world’s largest island, and the sixth largest country after Russia, Canada, China, Brazil and the USA – the continent of Australia has many parts that are sparsely populated because of its arid climate. Indeed, 35% of Australia receives so little rain it is effectively desert. As a result, most of the population lives along the coastline in urban areas, particularly the large cities such as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. The country of Australia has been inhabited for over 50,000 years. It became a British colony in 1788, and a Federation in 1901 – with the right to govern in its own right. At this time, Australia was referred to as the Commonwealth of Australia. The federation still consists of six states and two territories. Indigenous Australians, who comprise about 4% of the population, are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who are descended from groups that existed in Australia and surrounding islands before this colonisation. At the time of European settlement, over 250 languages were spoken. Today, about half these languages remain, as a result of an explicit policy of cultural assimilation (Langton, 2018). This attempt to erase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture has resulted in much grief and loss for the original Australians and there continue to be social and health disparities that result in unacceptably high morbidity and early death that need to be resolved (Pascoe, 2018).