  We analyse emission-line properties of the bj-selected Stromlo-APM spectra
(<z> = 0.05). Because this is a representative sample, we can study the global
spectral properties of the local galaxy population. We classify spectra
according to their H_alpha emission, which is closely related to massive star
formation. This study gives a comparative local point for analysis of more
distant surveys. We show that in the local universe, faint, small galaxies are
dominated by star formation activity, while bright, large galaxies are more
quiescent. Obviously this picture of the local universe is quite different from
the distant one, where bright galaxies appear to show a rapidly-increasing
activity back in time.
