Convicts sent to Australia came mostly from large English cities and included a significant proprtion of Cockneys from London. They were joined by free settlers, military personnel and administrators, often with their families.
The early form of Australian English would have been first spoken by the children of the colonists born into the early colony in Sydney. This very first generation of children created a new dialect that was to become the language of the nation.
The children in the new colony would have been exposed to a wide range of different dialects from all over England but mainly the south east, particularly from London. They would have created the new dialect from factors present in the speech they heard around them in response to their need to express peer solidarity. Even when new settlers arrived, this new dialect of the children would have been strong enough to deflect the influence of new children.
Three main varieties of Australian English are spoken according to linguists: broad, general and cultivated. They are part of a continuum, reflecting variations in accent. They often, but not always, reflect the social class or educational background of the speaker.
Broad Australian English is recognisable and familiar to English speakers around the world because it is used to identify Australian characters in non-Australian films and television programmes (often in the somewhat artificial "stage" Australian English version). Examples are film/television personalities Steve Irwin and Paul Hogan. Slang terms ocker, for a speaker, and Strine, a shortening of the word Australian for the dialect, are used in Australia.
The majority of Australians speak with the general Australian accent. This predominates among modern Australian films and television programmes and is used by, for example, Eric Bana, Dannii Minogue and Hugh Jackman.
Cultivated Australian English has some similarities to British Received Pronunciation, and is often mistaken for it. Cultivated Australian English is spoken by some within Australian society, for example Kevin Rudd, Cyril Ritchard, Errol Flynn, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis.
Whilst the standard Australian English is the main dialect of Australian-born citizens, it is also used by the majority of migrants who arrive during childhood or early adolescence when local companion influence is at its greatest. The children of immigrant families generally adopt the majority speech patterns of the adopted country rather than those of their parents due to children's need to conform to their peer group.
Over the past 20 years, there has been extensive sociopolitical change in Australia. Multiculturalism as a governmental policy has led to substantial immigration from Asia and the Middle East and has contributed to a large increase in cultural diversity and the desire for individuals to freely express their cultural identity within the Australian context. This has resulted in an increase in the variety of dialects spoken by young people in Australia. Today there is a growing trend for Australian-born children of migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds to embrace their cultural heritage and express their niche identities by using new Australian Ethnocultural dialects.
Ethnocultural varieties of Australian English are minority dialects. They contain features of Standard Australian English combined with some non-English language features. Ethnocultural varieties are Australian English dialects and should not be considered foreign accented English. They may be spoken by Australian-born people who have English as their first language but many speakers of ethnocultural varieties also speak a language other than English. There are potentially many different varieties of Ethnocultural Australian English however few have been the subject of extensive research.
Australian English has many words that some consider unique to the language. One of the best known is outback, meaning a remote, sparsely populated area. Another is The Bush, meaning either a native forest or a country area in general. 'Bush' is a word of Dutch origin: 'Bosch'. However, both terms have been widely used in many English-speaking countries. Early settlers from England brought other similar words, phrases and usages to Australia. Many words used frequently by country Australians are, or were, also used in all or part of England, with variations in meaning. For example, creek in Australia, as in North America, means a stream or small river, whereas in the UK it means a small watercourse flowing into the sea; paddock in Australia means field, whereas in the UK it means a small enclosure for livestock; bush or scrub in Australia, as in North America, means a wooded area, whereas in England they are commonly used only in proper names (such as Shepherd's Bush and Wormwood Scrubs). Australian English and several British English dialects (for example, Cockney, Scouse, Glaswegian and Geordie) use the word mate.
The origins of other words are not as clear or are disputed. Dinkum (or "fair dinkum") can mean "true", "is that true?" or "this is the truth!” among other things, depending on context and inflection. It is often claimed that dinkum dates back to the Australian goldrushes of the 1850s, and that it is derived from the Cantonese (or Hokkien) ding kam, meaning, "top gold". But scholars give greater credence to the conjecture that it originated from the extinct East Midlands dialect in England, where dinkum (or dincum) meant "hard work" or "fair work", which was also the original meaning in Australian English. The derivative dinky-di means 'true' or devoted: a 'dinky-di Aussie' is a 'true Australian'. However, this expression is limited to describing objects or actions that are characteristically Australian. The words dinkum or dinky-di and phrases like true blue are widely purported to be typical Australian sayings, even though they are more commonly used in jest or parody than as authentic slang.