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Australia is the smallest continent in the world,
it is 3,860 km, (2,400 miles) from east to west and 3,220 km (2,000
miles) from north to south. It covers an area of 7,686,810 sq km
(2,967,877 sq miles)
To put this into perspective, Australia is the sixth largest
country in the world after Russia, Canada, China, the US and
Brazil. The Australian Continent is slightly smaller than
the 48 contagious U.S. States. The Australian coastline is
22,812 miles long (36,735 kilometres). |
Australia is the only continent occupied by a
single nation, which is titled the Commonwealth of Australia
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Subdivisions of the Commonwealth of Australia
includes, the offshore island state of Tasmania, and the five
mainland states which includes, Queensland, New South Wales,
Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory,
and the Australian Capital Territory, which contains the city of
Canberra, which is the federal capital. |
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External territories include Christmas Island,
the Cocos Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Norfolk Island, Heard and
McDonald islands, and the Australian Antarctic Territory.
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The population of Australia at December 1999 was
19.1 million, which is more than five times the size of the
population at the time of Federation in 1901 which was only 3.8
million.
Over 7 million people live in the two major Australian
cities, Melbourne and Sydney.
The 0-14 year old age group represents approximately 21% of
the population, 15-64 years of age represents 67% and over
64 years of age group accounts for 12%. The male to female
ratio is approximately 50:50. The average life span is
around 80 years. |
The largest mountain in Australia is Mount
Kosciuszko which is 7,310 feet (2,228 metres) and it is located in
the Australian Alps between the states of New South Wales and
Victoria. There is skiing in Australia as these areas do receive
snow.
Interestingly enough the lowest point in Australia is Lake Eyre
which is -15 metres below sea level.
The longest river in Australia originates in Queensland and flows
into the Murray River which flows between the New South Wales and
Victorian borders and is called the Darling River. It is 1,700 miles
long (2736km).
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