AUSTRALIAN CULTURE

The Main Art Festival is held in Adelaide one time per two years.  Annually in February the festival of arts is conducted in Perte, and in January – in Sydney.

Literature. Poetry.    The early Australian poetry was under the strong influencing of the English romantic poetry of XVIII century. Hereupon, as a result, the first lyric poets, for example Barron Fild (1786 – 1846), William Charles Ventvort ( 1790-1872) and Charles Kherpar (1813-1868). The first considerable poets are natives of Australia: Henry Kendol (1839-1882) and Edam Lindsey Gordon (1833-1870) – popularized ballads about rural life in Australia. However not many poets could surpass Kennet Slessor (1901-1971), whose “Five bells” occupy an unique place in Australian literature. Thomas Kenilly, one of the most hard-working authors, purchased fame because of his novel "Shindler Ark" (1982г.).

Executive art. Theater. The first play, shown in Australia, is "The Recruiter of Soldiers", a comedy, which was written in times of Restoration, and created by George Farker. It was carried out by the group of convicts in 1789. In the XIX century the standard English repertoire held out with predominance of popular melodramas. Presently there are some theatrical companies in Australia, and also small troupes, such as The Australian Shakespearian Company and Melbourne theatre "La-Mama".  

Opera. Australian Opera in Sydney and state opera of Victoria state in 1996 were united into a large company called «Opera Australia». Its basic stage is the Sydney opera theatre.  

Ballet and choreography. The "Australian ballet" group, founded in 1961, shows plays mainly in Sydney and Melbourne. The Australian Theater of Dance was founded in 1965 in Adelaide, he is headed by Meril Tankart, a famous  choreographer. The Sydney choreographic company organizes presentations in the Opera theatre, conquering wide confession in the country.

Fine art. The first considerable Australian artists were Tom Roberts, Arthur Striton, Charles Konder, John Longstaff. After testing the influencing of the European art in 1880th, they were instrumental in penetration this art to Australia. Among the young artists we can see James Glison, the surrealist; Donald Frend, a founder of difficult landscape styles; Sydney Nolan, who developed the special method of presentation the Australian mythology. Albert Namadzhira is an aboriginal artist, he became famous because of his talent to draw Central Australian landscapes. Among the known modern Australian artists we will mark Bret Whitely, Pro Khard and John Olsen.

Architecture. At the beginning of the history of Australia its architecture had an utilitarian character. William Wardell (1823-1899) and Edmund Blecket (1817-1883) were the main defenders of revival the gothic style in Australia.  The modern leading architectures are Dig Grounds and Harry Sadler.  

Libraries. The library of the Victoria state (Melbourne), The National library (Canberra),  The Library of the New South Wales state (Sydney) and The Fisher Library at the Sydney university. They contain more than two million different volumes and books. The Mitchell library in Sydney is a basic source on history of Australia.