AUSTRALIA is an island that is also a continent. It consists of two land masses: the mainland and Tasmania. In area it is the 6th largest country and the smallest continent. Its area is 7,682,300 square km. It is about the size of the mainland states of the United States, excluding Alaska, and approximately 24 times the size of the British Isles.
Australia is one of the oldest continents, the effects of over 250 million years of erosion have turned it into a flat, low lying and stable land mass. It has a wide variety of landforms. Much of the flat inland is desert. At one time this was a fertile area with many lakes and marshes.
Australia's deserts are as vast as the Sahara, the snowfields huge and picturesque. Our surfing beaches are among the best in the world. Australia is a land of unique flora and fauna.
Capital - Canberra, specifically built as a capital city.
Australia is a country of migrants. Until the 1960s most of the migrants came from UK and Ireland but today a growing percentage come from Europe and Asia.
In 2006 almost one quarter of the population was born overseas, with migrants coming from over 200 countries.
Interesting things that you may not know about Australia:
- The first official world surfing championships were held in Sydney in 1964.
- The oldest newspaper in Australia is the Sydney Morning Herald, published in 1831.
- Over 90% of the world's opals are mined in Australia.
- Tasmania was once part of mainland Australia, before the melting of ice caps 12,000 years ago
- A resident of Sydney is called Sydneysiders.
- In 1926, New South Wales became the first government in the world to pay pensions to women.
- Eucalyptus was first used as a medicine by Aborigines, to treat coughs, fevers and asthma.
- Australia is the only continent without an active volcano.
These pictures was on Caversham Wildlife Park, the park is the premiere development of its kind in Western Australia, attracting visitors from all over the world.
