The Colours of Australia

Think about this for a second. When the pyramids were new, Aboriginal Australians had already been telling the same stories, on the same land, for 60,000 years. The world's oldest living culture is not in a museum. It's in Australia, still painting, still singing, still here.

Where it all began

The modern chapter starts rough: 1788, eleven ships, and a continent used as a prison. What grew out of that is one of history's better plot twists, a nation of immigrants from every corner of the planet that votes, argues and barbecues in almost 300 languages. Federation came peacefully in 1901. The 1967 referendum, one of the most lopsided "yes" votes ever recorded, moved the country toward counting its First Peoples properly. Uluru was handed back to the Anangu in 1985. The story isn't finished. Australians will tell you that themselves, which is one of their best qualities.

The minds

Australia's inventions have probably touched your life today. Wi-Fi's core technology came out of the CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, patented in the 1990s. The cochlear implant that lets deaf children hear was pioneered by Graeme Clark in Melbourne, first implanted in 1978. Howard Florey shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for turning penicillin into a usable medicine, which has saved a number of lives with more zeros than you'd believe. The black box flight recorder? Australian, David Warren, 1950s. Add the ute, the Hills Hoist and cask wine, and you have a country that invents like it talks: practically, and with a grin.

Made in Australia

The land itself is the industry. Australia is the world's biggest exporter of iron ore, a top producer of gold, lithium and wool (the merino changed textile history), and its wine, from Barossa Shiraz to Margaret River, sits on tables worldwide. And then there's the export nobody invoices: an entire attitude. "No worries" has done more for global stress levels than most medications.

Where to go

Sydney for the harbour, the Opera House sails and the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee, which is free and better than most paid attractions on Earth. Melbourne for coffee that borders on religion, laneway art and four seasons per afternoon. Brisbane and Perth for sun and space.

But the real Australia is out there. Uluru at dawn, when the rock changes colour like it's breathing. The Great Barrier Reef, the only living structure visible from space, put it high on the list while it still dazzles. The Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles. Tasmania, half of it World Heritage wilderness, with air so clean scientists use it as the global baseline. And a thousand kilometres of outback pubs where the barman will call you "mate" within four seconds. He means it.

Culture, on a plate and in the ear

Eat: flat whites, meat pies, barramundi on the barbie, and Vegemite, thinly, we beg you. Listen: the didgeridoo, possibly the world's oldest wind instrument, then AC/DC, INXS, Nick Cave, Tame Impala. Watch a game of Aussie Rules without understanding a single rule; you'll still have the best afternoon of your trip. And on 26 January or any other day, notice how casually this country wears its luck. They call it the lucky country. The secret is they built most of the luck themselves.

Every colour is someone's home. I print it the way memory keeps it: vintage-washed, distressed, made to order.

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P.S. That Southern Cross on the blue? You can only see those stars from the bottom half of the planet. Some things you have to go there for. Find your flag.