AUSTRALIA Martin Saar
1. General Data Australia is the smallest continent in the world. It is often called the island continent. Australia is a big country – 7,686,848 square kilometres. The country is divided into six states and two territories. The states are Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. The territories are the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Australia is a constitutional monarchy. Australia is a constitutional monarchy (parliamentary democracy in practice) 2. Location Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere between the latitudes of 10 S and 40 S. The tropic of Capricorn cuts Australia almost in the centre. 3. The Surrounding Seas, Islands Australia is an island and, therefore, it is surrounded by seas. The southern and western coast is washed by the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean washes the eastern coast, the Coral Sea the north-western, the Arafura Sea the northern and the Timor Sea the north-western coast. The biggest island is Tasmania. 4. Relief, Waterbodies, Natural zones Most of the country is low and flat, only five per cent of the land is above 600 metres. The mountainous part is in the east. There is the Great Dividing Range. This long line of mountains divides the green, wet coast of eastern Australia from the hot, dry lands in the centre. The Australian Alps are situated in the south-west. There is also the highest point Mt. Kosciusko (2,228 m high) The wet forests run parallel to the eastern coast. In the west they give place to grasslands with some trees – savannahs. Father west the trees disappear and the savannahs give place to the bushlands. Two-thirds of Australia is covered with deserts (the western and the central part). There are also some mountains in the west F.E the Darling Range and the Hammersley Range. The biggest lake is the Lake Eyre. It was dry for hundred years until 1950. There are very few rivers, mostly creeks. Creeks are temporary rivers that are full of water after occasional rains only. The longest river is the Murray Darling (2,700km). It was South Australia’s main road in the past. People travelled along those rivers. There are no deserts in Tasmania, but there are some mountains. The flat, hot centre of Australia is called the "outback". It takes up more than 2/3 of Australia but the population is less than 100,000 people. People live in sheep or cattle stations there and travel by small aeroplanes. Children there get educated by talking to their teacher on the radio and sending their works by post. There are many strange rocks in the desert. The most famous of these, Ayers Rock, is the largest piece of stone in the world. It is 335 metres high and you can see it from many kilometres away. It is 600 million years old. The world’s longest coral reef – The Great Barrier Reef – runs parallel to the eastern coast. It is 15,000 years old and 1,500 kinds of fish live there. It is just like a garden under the water. Another extraordinary place is Coober Pedy, which is about 960 kilometres north-west of Adelaide. Most people live underground there. A lot of opals are found there. 5. Flora and Fauna Tasmania is covered with big forests, but so is New South Wales. There are many eucalyptus trees in New South Wales. Australia has another unique tree too – the great mountain ash. It can grow up to 120 metres. Those trees do not die when there are forest fires. There are also many other unique trees and flowers. For instance amazingly tall gum trees, grass trees with flowers that attract little nectar-feeding parrots, bottle trees in the savannahs and tree-ferns in the tropical forests and many others. The national flower of Australia is the golden wattle. (and Australia has more than 600 kinds of acacias too). Australia is known for its extraordinary animals. The animal, most easy to find, is the possum. It looks like a cat and lives in the urban areas, in trees, roofs, bird nesting boxes, etc. You can see possums up close and personal in Great Keppel Island. The possums there are friendly but it is not very wise to feed them. Kangaroos are animals with pouches (for their babies). They live in small farming areas, grasslands and larger farming districts. They have strong upper limbs and hind legs and a dangerous middle claw. One of the most popular animals is the koala. It lives high in the trees, sleeps 18 hours a day and eats eucalyptus leaves (1 kg a day) but they drink almost nothing. The emu, a large flightless bird, lives in remotish areas between towns or in farming districts. It has very powerful legs and a large centre claw. An animal found in the outback areas, is the dingo. It looks like a dog or a fox. There are also two very unique animals in Australia, the echidna and the platypus. Their babies are born from eggs, but drink milk from their mothers. No other animal in the world does that. An animal that is best to avoid close contact with is the crocodile. They are very dangerous. There are many wonderful plants and animals in Australia. 6. History The first people in Australia were the Aborigines. They came there 40,000 years ago. Chinese sailors visited the island 2,500 years ago and then in 1606 the Dutch – William Jansz came. In 1642 Australia was visited by Abel Tasman and in 1770 by the British sailor James Cook. On May 13th, 1787, the British Government sent out the first colony. It consisted of 1,500 people. Many of them were convicts. The first colony was established in Port Jackson (now Sydney) in 1788. Gold was discovered in south-eastern Australia in 1851 and there was a great gold rush. On 1 January 1901 the six states were united. After 1945 people from European countries began coming to Australia. 7. Climate In the northern part, half of the year is wet and half is dry. From November to April, there is much rain. Water fills the rivers, makes big lakes. From May to October it is sunny and dry. It sometimes snows in the south-east and Tasmania. The south and the east of Australia has warm summers and cooler winters. Tasmania is cooler and wetter than the rest of the country. 8. Population There are not many people in Australia – 17-18 mln. Most of them live on the south and south-east coast. Actually 60% of all Australians live in the six biggest cities. Aborigines When the British came to Australia, there were about 300,000 Aborigines who belonged to more than 300 different groups. They travelled to different parts to find water and food. They ate plants, fish and animals. Their houses were made of branches and leaves. The Aborigines believed that a long time ago the world was made by humans, animals and plants. They called that time "Dreamtime". The life of the Aborigines began to change in 1788 because of the British army and the diseases brought from Europe. In 1804 there were about 7,000 Aborigines in Tasmania. In 1831 there were only 1980 and in 1876 there were none. Now the Aborigines own 28 % of the Northern Territory. 9. Economy Australia is a rich country. There are many minerals. In the western part there is mined gold, manganese ore, uranium and nickel ore. Australia is also rich in precious and semiprecious stones. Black opals and pink diamonds are especially valuable. Another important branch of industry is manufacturing of different goods. Agriculture is also important to Australia. In the tropical parts sugar cane, peanuts and fruits are grown. In Queensland bananas, apples and grapes are grown. Eastern Australia is the biggest farming region. In the wetter parts of Central Australia they breed marino sheep. 25% of world’ s wool comes from Australia. Tasmania is famous for its fruits, especially apples. Western Australia and New South Wales grow a lot of wheat. 10. Towns The biggest town is Sydney (the capital of New South Wales). It is also the oldest. There live 3.7 mln people. There is a beautiful building in Sydney – the Sydney Opera House. It was opened in 1973. The second biggest city is Melbourne (the capital of Victoria). It used to be the capital (1901-1927) There are many old buildings and it is also an important place for sport. Brisbane (the capital of Queensland), Adelaide (the capital of South Australia) and Perth (the capital of Western Australia) are new modern cities. Darwin (the capital of the Northern Territory)is the oldest big city on the northern coast. There are many low houses because of the storms. The capital of Australia is Canberra. It was designed in 1912 by Walter Griffin and became the capital in 1927. The capital of Tasmania is Hobart. 11. Famous Australians The most famous robber in Australia was Ned Kelly. In the 1870s they robbed many banks. In 1880 Ned Kelly was caught (he was only 25 then) and killed. There are many famous tennis-players from Australia. F.E Rod Laver, Pat Cash, Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong. The most important businessmen are Kerry Packer who owns newspapers and television stations and Rupert Murdoch who started the first daily newspaper for all Australia. Patrick White who won the Nobel Prize and Thomas Keneally are famous writers. Dame Nellie Melba was an international opera star and Mel Gibson is a famous actor. Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan are also from Australia. The most famous television star is Edna Everage (actually a man called Barry Humphries) who has his/hers own show. |