17 Australia and New Zealand

AUSTRALIA

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi), Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania, situated between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, but it´s also the smallest continent in the world.

History

Australia was settled by Aboriginals about 50,000 years ago. Their culture was mostly hunter-gatherer and about 250 languages were spoken in Australia at the time. The Dutch were the first Europeans to discover Australia in the 17th century. In 1788 the first colony was established in today's Sydney Harbour. Australia was originally settled as a penal colony. In the 1850s gold was discovered and many people moved to Australia. The country became an independent nation in 1901 when the six colonies agreed to become a federation. Canberra was declared as the federal capital in 1927.

Government type and administration

The official title is The Commonwealth of Australia and it is a British dominion. It has a democratic, federal system and the head of state is Charles III represented by the Governor-General. The head of government is the Prime Minister.

The Commonwealth of Australia consists of 6 states and 2 territories: New South Wales (capital Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland (Brisbane), South Australia (Adelaide), Western Australia (Perth), Tasmania (Hobart) and Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. The capital of whole country is Canberra.

The Australian flag is blue and Includes the flag of the UK, the Southern Cross constellation, and a large seven-pointed star known as the Commonwealth or Federation Star, which represents the federation of the colonies of Australia in 1901.

Official language Is English. Currency used in Australia is Australian Dollar. The native people are Aboriginals. Nowadays 26 million people live in Australia and more than 85% of them live by the coast.

Climate, geography, nature

Australia has many different kinds of climate: tropical in the north, continental in the interior, sub-tropical or temperate in the rest of the continent.

There are two great deserts: The Great Sandy Desert and The Great Victoria Desert. They are red, orange and brown, and strange rocks can be found there. The most famous landform Uluru/Ayers Rock, which is the largest piece of rock in the world, is one of them. It is 335 m high. There are two big rivers: Australia's longest river – the Murray River and the Darling River. Australia's lakes are for ex.: Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Gardner. The highest mountain is Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) discovered by a Polish scientist in the Australian Alps (the south-east of New South Wales). Along the coast of Queensland, we can admire the world's largest coral reef – the Great Barrier Reef.