Australia is the only country that is also a continent. In area, it ranks as the sixth largest country and the smallest continent. Australia is often referred to as being "down under" because it lies entirely within the Southern Hemisphere. The name Australia comes from the Latin word Australis, meaning southern. The country’s official name is the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia’s two largest cities - Sydney and Melbourne - lie in the South Eastern coastal region. Canberra, the national capital, lies only a short distance inland. The huge interior of Australia is mostly desert or dry grassland and has few settlements.

Canberra, the national capital, lies only a short distance inland. The huge interior of Australia is mostly desert or dry grassland and has few settlements. Australia is famous for its vast open spaces, bright sunshine, enormous numbers of sheep and cattle and unusual wildlife.

The country was once a British colony and most of the Australian people are of British ancestry. When people moved to Australia from Great Britain, they carried with them many British customs. For example, Australians drive on the left side of the road, tea is a popular hot drink in Australia, as it is in Britain and English is the official language. However, since Australia has a warm, sunny climate the people of Australia have developed a way of life of their own. Australians love outdoor sports and outdoor living.

Australia is one of the world’s leading industrialized countries. It has busy cities, modern factories and highly productive farms and mines. Australia is the leading producer and exporter of wool and bauxite. It also produces and exports other minerals and farm goods. Great Britain was Australia’s most important trading partner. Today, Australia trades more with Japan and the United States. The first Australians were dark-skinned people known as Aborigines. The Aborigines had lived in Australia for at least 40,000 years before the first white settlers arrived in the country.

Australia has a population of about 18,000,000. Approximately 80 per cent of the people live in the southeastern quarter of the country, especially in large cities along with coast. Most of the rest live along the northeast and the extreme southwest coasts.

Most Australians are European immigrants or descendants of European immigrants. Aborigines make up about 1 per cent of the population. Traditionally, Australia has relied heavily on immigrants to build up its labour force. Millions of immigrants have been attracted to Australia to partake of the vast opportunities it offers to old and young alike.

Australia has admitted about 4 ¾ million immigrants. Since the 1970s, the number of immigrants from New Zealand and Southeast Asia has increased rapidly. Australia has a large foreign-born population because of the high rate of immigration since World War II. About 20 per cent of all Australians were born abroad.


Australia’s federal government and the governments of the Six States and two self-governing Territories share the responsibilities of governing such a vast land area.

European settlement began in New South Wales in 1788, at Sydney, the nation's largest city and host of the 2000 Olympic Games. Sydney's Harbour Bridge and Opera House are national icons, and its airport is the country's major international gateway.

Victoria is the smallest of the mainland States but the second most populous and the most densely populated. Its capital, Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, hosted the Olympic Games in 1956. Victorians' enthusiasm for sport is legendary and the nation stops each November for the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s premier horse race.

Queensland stretches from the tropical rain forests of Cape York into the Temperate Zone. The Great Barrier Reef fringes its northeastern coastline. The capital of Queensland is Brisbane. Three international airports, in Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville, service visitors from overseas.

South Australia was established by a private Colonisation Commission and received no convicts. The Adelaide Festival, held in the capital every two years, is an international cultural event.

Western Australia is about the size of Western Europe. Almost three-quarters of the State's population of 1.85 million live in its capital, Perth.

Separated from the continent by the waters of Bass Strait, Tasmania and its many companion islands form the smallest Australian State. Hobart, the capital, is the destination for the nation's premier blue water sailing classic, the annual Sydney-Hobart yacht race.

The Northern Territory has more than twice the land area of France but only a population of less than 200,000. Darwin is the capital and Alice Springs the principal inland town. The Territory contains the Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Kakadu national parks.

The Australian Capital Territory was established within New South Wales in 1911 as the site for the national capital, Canberra. It is home to a number of national institutions including the federal Parliament, the National Library, the National Gallery of Australia, the High Court and the Australian War Memorial.


Much of the Australia, about 70%, is arid or semi-arid, and a large part of the centre is unsuitable for settlement. More than one-third of the continent is virtually desert owing to its low rainfall.

The national average annual rainfall of 465 mm varies greatly year by year, and is distributed unevenly around the continent. The driest area is the Lake Eyre drainage basin, which averages less than 125mm annually. The wettest regions are in the tropical north-east and in the south-west of Tasmania.

However, Australia does have well-watered fertile areas close to the coast, where the bulk of the population is settled. Here Australians experience a range of climates from wet and humid tropical conditions in the far north, through warm and temperate on the central east and west coasts, to cooler conditions in the southern coasts and Tasmania.

All parts of Australia enjoy warm summers and relatively mild winters, and it seldom snows in or near the large centres of population.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Australia was at Cloncurry, in the north-eastern inland, which registered 53°C in 1889, while the coldest was -23°C at Charlotte Pass, in the snowfields near Mount Kosciuszko, in 1994.