AUSTRALIA
The LUCKY Country!
What Is It?
Australia is a Country. A country is an expanse of land, a nation with its own government. Australia is part of the continent known as Australasia. It has 6 states and 2 territories. They are New South Wales, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Location
Australia is located on the planet Earth. It can be found in the Southern Hemisphere, just south of the Equator, in the continent Australasia. Australia’s neighbouring countries include New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. The waters that surround Australia are the Arafura and Timor Seas to the north and the Indian Ocean to the west. To the east of Australia are the Pacific Ocean and the Coral Sea. To the south of Australia are the Southern Ocean and the Great Australian Bight.
Population
The population of Australia is approximately 24,151,300 and surprisingly about 12,000,000 is male and 12,000,000 is female. The largest city is Sydney, New South Wales with about 4,627,345.
More Population Information
Australians come from over 200 different birthplaces. The majority of the population are Australian born with 2% from indigenous backgrounds. 43% of Australians have at least one parent who was born overseas and 30% of the populations were born in another country. The major countries of birth are England, New Zealand and China.
Collectively, Australians speak over 200 languages. Other than English the most common spoken languages are Chinese, Italian, Greek and Arabic and over 50 Indigenous languages are spoken.
Religion
The major religion in Australia is Christianity. The other major religions include Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism. About 7,361 Australians practise Aboriginal traditional religions. 22% of Australians have no religion.
Climate
Australia is a large country with a varied climate. It has 4 seasons which are Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Summer ranges from December to February, Autumn is from March to May, Winter goes from June to August and Spring ranges from September to November. There are wet and dry seasons in the north.
More About Climate
In Australia it rains occasionally in most places but is sunny most of the time. It only snows only on the mountains. The temperature ranges from the lowest temperature of -5 degrees Celsius to the highest temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. It is the hottest in the North West and the coldest in Snowy Mountains.
Environment
Australia is the sixth largest country on Earth which covers around 12 million square kilometres. Its ocean territory is the world's third largest, spanning three oceans. There is a variety of different environments including rainforest, bushland, desert, reef, coastal, beach, mountain areas and more. Some examples of the environments include the Daintree rainforest, The Outback (Uluru), Kakadu, Great Barrier Reef, Bondi Beach, Blue Mountains, Sydney and more.
Daintree
Outback
Great Barrier Reef
Fauna
More than 80 per cent of our plants, mammals, reptiles and frogs are unique to Australia. Marsupials like koalas, kangaroos and many others can be found nowhere else in the world. Australia’s two egg laying mammals, the platypus and the echidna are the only monotremes in world. Other unique Australian animals include the emu, dingo and frilled neck lizard.
Flora
Significant Sites
There are many unique and famous icons in Australia. Some natural icons are Uluru (monolith, also known as Ayres Rock), Great Barrier Reef (lively with sea animals and coral), 12 Apostles (limestone rocks, only 8 left) and more. The man built icons include, the Sydney Opera House (lots of amazing performances, many rooms), Harbour Bridge (really big bridge) and more.
Uluru
Uluru is located in the dead centre of Australia or in the Northern Territory. It is the largest monolith in the world! Uluru is also known as Ayres Rock since it is very old. It has been in Australia even before the aboriginals were born. It is around 600,000,000 years old. Uluru used to be at the bottom of a sea. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are said to originate from a similar time, they are thought to be one massive monolith. Uluru covers about 3.33km2.
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney. (Hence the name.) In 1957 the Sydney Opera House was being started to build and in 1973 it was finished which makes it 57 years old to this day. The Opera House takes up 1.8 Hectares! (About 18000 square meters.) The Sydney Opera House was actually designed by a Danish architect named Jørn Utzon, not an Australian and it opened on October 20th 1973 by Queen Elizabeth II.
The 12 Apostles
The 12 Apostles are located along the coast of Victoria, near the Great Ocean Road. Sadly there are only 8 Apostles left because they are falling into the water and washing away into the vast ocean. At sunrise the rocks turn a sandy yellowy orange. The cliffs next to the 12 Apostles have sunk more than 80 ships, most of them were transporting workers to the Victorian gold fields, but they never made it past Shipwreck Coast! The cliffs are being eroded by 2cm each year. The Ocean the 12 apostles sit in is about 20.327 km2. About 1.7 million people come and view the Apostles each year!
Some Interesting Facts About Australia
There are many interesting facts about Australia. About 91% of Australia is covered by native vegetation. The largest population of Greek people, beside Greece, can be found in Melbourne, Victoria. The wattle was chosen as the national emblem in only 1912. Over 200 languages are spoken in Australia and about 25% of Australian were born overseas. It has 16 world heritage listed sites. Australia was the 2nd country to allow women to vote. Kevin Rudd’s apology to indigenous Australians in 2007 is still viewed by many people. Australia has the world’s largest cattle station which is as big as Belgium!