Questions for Australians! 

[constellation]

Hey guys!
So I have this idea for a fic, but i need a little more information on Australian schools and such!
When does the school year start/end? And are there any big breaks in the year?

Also, what are words y'all use when you talk, like slang words and stuff, that I probably need to know?

Thank you so much!! Youre absolutely fab if you read this all the way through and I wish i could give you cookies!
-xox Sarah

[flower power jones]

I'm not austrialian...so I don't even know why I'm commenting. But if you ever decide to write a fanfiction with Canadian stuff in it, you can ask me anything :~)

here's a link to their schooling, it's from Wikipedia...but it might work

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Australia

[stephanieluvashton]

Australias school starts in Feb and ends end of december and the holidays are from christmas to end of Jan. This is during the summer period

[keish // qxeens]

I'm a bit late but I'm Aussie and can help you out!

The school year tends to start about Jan 28th - Jan 26th is Australia Day, and we go back very shortly afterwards. For University, it depends on State and University but usually around mid February to March.

As for school holidays, they're structure like this:

First term
- school holidays. 2 weeks. Again, depends on State. For example, I'm in Queensland and my state goes on holidays before everyone else. New South Wales (which includes Sydney, where the 5sos boys are from), goes on holidays a week later.
Second term
- school holidays. 2 weeks.
Third term
- school holidays. 2 weeks.
Fourth term
- school holidays. 6 weeks.

This is our "summer break" and while 6 weeks is standard, grade and state can differ the length. In my school, year 10's get 7 weeks, year 11 gets 8 weeks and year 12? 10. So yeah.


For slang - no one says mate or g'day. Please don't.

If you're okay with swearing, a lot of the "rougher" people say "c*nt" but a lot don't.
"Oi!" Is a commonly found slang word.
But there's a lot of words that we don't realise are slang so if you have any trouble you may have to look it up!
Hope that helps!

[emjay]

Yeah like the other people have said with the schooling!
Age and place changes things but it's usually similar.

With seasons it's kind of the opposite to USA and England. We have summer from December - February, autumn from March - May, winter from June - August and spring September - November.

I think with the slang it changes a lot about where you've grown up.
I say mate a lot but wouldn't consider myself at all rough ahah I live in the inner city. Lots of people use it ironically I suppose.
We shorten a lot of words, like, every word really. I will write a list of some common ones.
Present: prezzie
Mosquito: mozzie
Afternoon: arvo
Barbeque: barbie (YES THIS IS REAL BUT NO ONE EVER SAYS 'LETS PUT A SHRIMP ON THE BARBIE')
Naked: nuddy
Biscuit: bikkie
Candy floss/cotton candy: fairy floss
Beer/alcohol: grog
Lipstick: lippy
Breakfast: Brekkie
McDonald's: macca's
Thrift shop: op shop
Petrol station: servo
Flip flops: thongs
Thong: g string

Then there are heaps of random phrases we use all the time
Bored shitless: this means to be very very bored
Dag: a goof or an idiot
Bloody: as in 'very'. like, 'i was working bloody hard'.
Rock up: to turn up somewhere 'we rocked up at the party late'
Wagging: truancy, playing hooky 'i wagged school today'

Yeah so that's a lot of stuff that people say.
Most Australians speak so very bogan (look it up ahah) but they don't realise because it's just a social norm here.

Anyway, I hope this helped

[korra]

So just for future reference, how do politics/government work in Australia? Does it work differently than it does in the USA/Canada/UK or is it the same/pretty similar? (It may sound like a stupid question but I want to make sure that I don't get anything wrong in any of my fics and you know, different cultures, different systems and stuff.)

[jasmine]

Aug 19, 2014 5:37:00 GMT korra said:

So just for future reference, how do politics/government work in Australia? Does it work differently than it does in the USA/Canada/UK or is it the same/pretty similar? (It may sound like a stupid question but I want to make sure that I don't get anything wrong in any of my fics and you know, different cultures, different systems and stuff.)

Our government is part of the commonwealth (which belongs to England) and we are a democracy which means we are all equal if we are a citizen. So it's a little different from Canada/USA. We vote for what party we want in (Liberal or Labor are the common ones) and what every party gets voted in they have a leader and the opposing leader from the other party is called the leader of the opposition. 
There's not much else to it unless you need further details 

[korra]

Aug 20, 2014 6:04:59 GMT jasmine said:

Aug 19, 2014 5:37:00 GMT korra said:

So just for future reference, how do politics/government work in Australia? Does it work differently than it does in the USA/Canada/UK or is it the same/pretty similar? (It may sound like a stupid question but I want to make sure that I don't get anything wrong in any of my fics and you know, different cultures, different systems and stuff.)

Our government is part of the commonwealth (which belongs to England) and we are a democracy which means we are all equal if we are a citizen. So it's a little different from Canada/USA. We vote for what party we want in (Liberal or Labor are the common ones) and what every party gets voted in they have a leader and the opposing leader from the other party is called the leader of the opposition. 
There's not much else to it unless you need further details 

That sounds pretty simple, thanks for the help!

[Deleted]

Guys, this post is so beyond helpful. Thank you so much.

[daniellesharwoman]

Ooh the number one most Australian thing I can think of is school uniforms - nearly every school has one. For high schools its pretty standard to have a button up shirt and skirt for girls and a button up shirt and either trousers or shorts for boys, and a unisex sports uniform for sports day. And 100% uniform requirement is black leather shoes and I have no words to describe how ugly they all are. Private schools often have compulsory blazers and summer/winter uniforms that they have to wear depending on the term and they can often have strict policies on make-up, while public schools are less serious. Everyone looks bad in school uniform

No school I've ever been to has had a cafeteria either, I think it's pretty standard to eat lunch and recess outside. Most of the time you bring your own food from home and otherwise you go to the canteen/tuckshop to buy food but they usually have a pretty limited range and there's a government approved list of foods categorised as green, orange or red and the menu is supposed to be mostly green (good for you) with some orange (for moderate consumption) and red is only allowed be sold on special occasions (lollies [candy - this is australian, US candy and UK sweets are called lollies], chocolates).

This is all for NSW by the way, which is the state Sydney is in if you didn't know and I am making huge generalisations with no real fact checking so beware.

Slang that is relevant (and I am from a very bogan part of Aus that I think is pretty similar in culture and demographic to the boys but beware)

Bogan - Australian version of the US redneck (not a chav tho, so I'm not sure how to come up with a British reference). Bogans are usually less educated, rough around the edges, have a very stereotypical Australian twang/tone in their voice - think Crocodile Dundee, are synonymous with Southern Cross tattoos and very much believe in straya, footy, beer and goon.
Goon - Cheap wine in a bag (Cask wine). Drink of champions (uni students). Cheap, tastes like shit, mixed with anything as long as it'll still get you drunk
Words for being drunk - maggot, tanked, shitfaced, sloshed, hammered, pissed (Getting drunk = on the piss, also pissed does not equal angry, but pissed off does) (Idk how many of these are used other places but I could go on for years)
Apparently we ask a lot of rhetorical questions to describe our feelings towards things. Instead of saying "This weather's good" people tend to say "How good is this weather?"
Gabba - Can mean two things, either at the Gabba - the Brisbane Cricket ground (idk why) or more importantly, gabba dancing. To gabba is to flail essentially, and is native to Western sydney. You'd have to watch a video
Eshay lads - probably the closest thing to a chav, but only boys. Trademarks include cigarettes behind their ears, bad haircuts, dirty tennis caps, nike/adidas joggers (sneakers), rolled up tracksuit pants (trackies), polo shirts buttoned to the collar. An actual nightmare to encounter, creators of gabbaing. Apparently eshay is derived from pig latin yes. Who knew? People say eshay ironically mostly, unless they are an eshay lad but someone might say "hey mate, look at the new rims on my car" or something equally boring to which you might respond "oh, eshay" and then they know that you dgaf
Durry - cigarette
Yew! - statement of excitement, or what you say to cheer someone on (always needs the exclamation mark)
Gobbies - blow jobs
Pash - to kiss passionately (snogging, making out, frenching)
Derro - derelict. Someone who is a complete loser
Fuckin oath - Oh yeah. Empahtic agreement
Root - have sex
Rack off - piss off
You're shitting me - you're kidding
Sunnies - sunglasses
Swimmers/Cossies/Togs - swimsuit/bathers
Ute - pick-up truck (short for utility vehicle)

Also just a lot of swearing generally. Hope this is helpful!