Are ‘starters’ a purely American thing?

Been playing golf for about 12 months here in Australia, played maybe 20 courses to date. Not a single starter.

In Aus you go into the pro shop, tell them you’re there for your tee time, they tell you who they’ve paired you with (always 4 to a tee time) and make sure to be at the tee at your time.

You get to the tee box, if there is another group standing around you just ask what tee time they have and everyone goes in order. Though anyone playing through from playing 18 gets right of way.

Closest thing I’ve seen here is that at some courses (pretty rare) the pro shop will announce over a loud speaker 5-10 mins prior to each tee time which group is on the tee box next. (Eg. “Johnson group next up on hole 1”). But there is never anyone at the tees regulating things or inspecting your bags for drinks.

How common are starters? Are they purely an American thing?