Australia
By Raymond and Nathan :D
Classification
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
Australia has a population that is estimated to be 24,151,300. Approximately 12,000,000 are males and 12,000,000 are females. The largest city in Australia is Sydney with an approximate population of 4,627,345.
Australians come from over 200 different birthplaces. The majority of the population are Australian born with 2% from an indigenous background. 43% of Australians have at least one parent who was born overseas and 30% of the population were born in another country. The other major countries of birth are England, New Zealand and China.
Collectively, Australians speak over 200 languages. Other than English the most common languages spoken are Chinese, Italian, Greek and Arabic. There are over 50 indigenous languages also spoken.
The major religion in Australia is Christianity. The other major religions include Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism. 7,361 Australians practise Aboriginal traditional religions whilst 22% of the population have no religion.
Climate
Australia is a large country with a varied climate. It has 4 seasons unlike other countries which don’t have 4 seasons. The summer season starts in December and ends in February whereas Autumn begins in March and finishes in May. After Autumn the winter season opens in June and will stop in August and then spring comes on September and will last until the end of November. Australia has wet and dry seasons only in the North.
In Australia it rains occasionally in most places but is sunny most of the time. It snows only in the mountains but the highest temperature is 40 C and is hottest in the NW whereas the lowest temperature is -5 C and is lowest in the Snowy Mountains.
Enviroment
Australia is the sixth largest country and covers around 12 million square kilometres. Its ocean territory is the world’s third largest is, spanning three oceans. Its variety of different environments including: rainforest, bushland, desert, reef, coastal, beach, mountain areas.
Fauna
Flora
91% of Australia is covered by a native vegetation and most of its deserts are covered by native flora. Australia has a incredible 24,000 different species of native plants. There are 954 species of Acacia including the wattle and 700 Eucalypt species. A plant of the Grevillea types is a Banksia and a plant from the Melaleuca species is a paperbark tree.
Significant Sites
Australia has many significant sites. Uluru is the largest monolith and is located in the centre of Australia and is in Northern territory. It is important to the indigenous people of Australia because it carries many stories and rock paintings. The Sydney Opera House was built in March the second 1959. It is in Sydney and is also in the state NSW. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef in the world and is located in the state QLD and is in up the coast of Brisbane.
Interesting Facts
Some interesting facts about Australia is that it was colonised in the year 1788 and is the only isolated country. Australia is also the biggest island in the world. It has 3 oceans and is where the gold rush started. Australia is the only country where you will be able to find opals. It has the world’s largest monolith and the world’s largest reef.