6._AUSTRALIA

AUSTRALIA

* BASIC FACTS – LOCATION, AREA, CLIMATE, POPULATION, ORIGINAL INHABITANTS, LANGUAGES…

Australia: Oz, “Down Under”

location

- it is the smallest continent and the biggest island in the world

-it is situated between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans in the southern hemisphere

area

- a total area of Australia is over 7.5milion km2, including Tasmania

- capital city is Canberra

climate

- Australia has many different kinds of climate

- huge central desert, surrounded by semi desert zone

- far north always hot, with heavy summer rainfall

- south-west and Adelaide hot, dry summers, mild winters

- summer starts in December, autumn in March, winter in June and spring in September

population

- Australian = Aussie

- there is about 24 million inhabitants

- the majority are of British origin and most of them live on the eastern coast where the density is the highest

- in the “outback” are practically uninhabited

original inhabitants

- the original inhabitants in Australia are called the Aborigines

- they arrived from Asia about 40 000 years ago when Australia wasn’t a separate island, they arrived on foot

before the Ice Age

languages

- official language: English

- the other languages: Indigenous languages, Italian, Greek

- Australian Slang: Strine (Aussie - Australian, bloke - man, chook - chicken, Hooroo - Good Bye, roo- kangaroo,

tucker - food, boozer - inn, unit - flat, Barbie - barbecue, Chookie - chocolate,

G’Day - Good Day, Oz - Australian, togs - swimsuit)

Australian flag

- the flag is dark blue with the flag of the UK “Union Jack” in the top left corner and the large seven-pointed star

“the Commonwealth Star” in the lower left side

- the star has a point for each six states and one for the territories

- on the right side of the flag is the “southern cross” star constellation

* GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES,NP, FLORA AND FAUNA, PLACES OF INTEREST

geographical features

- there are two great deserts in AU: the Great Sandy Desert and the Great Victoria Desert

- Ayers Rock: the largest piece of rock in the world

- two big rivers: the Murray and the Darling (in the south-east), many creeks

- three great lakes: Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens, Lake Gairdner

- the highest mountain is Mount Kosciusko

- land: the Australian Alps, the Great Diving Range (a long line of mountains in the east, it divides the wet coast of

eastern Australian from the dry lands in the centre)

national parks

-Kakadu National Park - the only place on earth where you can see both crocodiles and aboriginal rock art

- east of Darwin

- water Birds, kakadu

- Uluru National Park - Ayers Rock - located in central Australia, it is the world biggest rock

- huge sandstone rises 450 metres above desert floor

- Nambung National Park - is the place that combines the ocean with outstanding rock formations

flora and fauna

- Australia has more than 2000 national parks and nature reserves, protected wilderness areas of natural and

environmental importance that range from desert landscape to high mountains to coastal dunes and rainforests