Australian English is the form of the English language as spoken in Australia. Australian English began diverging from British English shortly after the foundation of the Australian penal colony of New South Wales in 1788. British convicts sent there came mostly from large English cities. They were joined by free settlers, military personnel and administrators, often with their families. However, a large part of the convict body were Irish, with at least 25% directly from Ireland, and others indirectly via Britain; estimates mention that possibly 60% of the convicts were Irish.
Some elements of Aboriginal languages and Torres Strait Island languages have been adopted by Australian English – mainly as names for places, flora and fauna and local culture. Many such are localised, and do not form part of general Australia use, while others, such as kangaroo, boomerang, budgerigar, wallaby and so on have become international.
Australian spelling generally follows conventions of British English. As in British spelling, the ‘u’ is retained in words such as honour and favour and the -ise ending is used in words such as organise and realise, although -ize is not considered incorrect.
As in most English speaking countries, there is no official governmental regulator or overseer of correct spelling and grammar. Dictionaries such as the Macquarie Dictionary and the Australian Oxford Dictionary have provided a compendium of words and spellings, but often include variants of spellings for certain words regardless of their commonality. This can lead to confusion about what is correct or acceptable spelling in Australian English.
As we are an Australian owned and managed translation agency, we are renowned for our Australian English translation services and Australian English localization services, and have a reputation for being an industry leader in this field.