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The island continent

Caption below Adelaide: paddle boats on the Torrens River
David Simmonds/Tourism Australia

Mainland Australia, with an area of 7.69 million square kilometres, is the Earth’s largest island but smallest continent. It stretches about 3700 kilometres from north to south and about 4000 kilometres from east to west.

In area, Australia is the sixth-largest nation after Russia, Canada, China, the United States and Brazil. Its ocean territory—the third-largest in the world—spans three oceans and covers around 12 million square kilometres.

Australia’s average elevation is only 330 metres, the lowest of all the continents. Its highest point, Mount Kosciuszko, is only 2228 metres. The lack of height is more than compensated for in landscape variety. The giant monolith Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) in the Northern Territory and the striking beehive mountains of Purnululu (the Bungle Bungles) in Western Australia attract visitors from every corner of the world, as do the country’s beaches and rainforests.

Caption below

Kangaroos on Red Hill, Canberra with Parliament House in the background
Michael Jensen

States and territories

The responsibility for governing this vast continent is shared between three levels of government—the federal Australian Government, the governments of the six states and two territories, and 722 local government authorities.

Australia is one of the most urbanised and coast-dwelling populations in the world. More than 80 per cent of Australians live within 100 kilometres of the coast. Sydney, the nation’s largest city, is the capital of New South Wales. Sydney’s Harbour Bridge and Opera House are national icons, and Sydney Airport is the country’s major international gateway.

Victoria is the smallest of the mainland states in area but the second most populous and the most densely populated. Melbourne is the capital of Victoria and Australia’s second-largest city. Victorians’ enthusiasm for sport is legendary and the state stops each November for the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s premier horse race. The Australian Open and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix are also held in Melbourne.

The Australian Capital Territory is situated roughly between Sydney and Melbourne. It was established in 1911 as the site of Canberra, the nation’s capital. It is home to important national institutions, including the Australian Parliament, the High Court of Australia, the National Library, the National Gallery and the Australian War Memorial.

Queensland, the second-largest state in landmass, stretches from the tropical rainforests of Cape York in the far north to the more temperate areas in the south-east of the state. The world-famous Great Barrier Reef runs along its north-eastern coast. The capital of Queensland is Brisbane.

Did you know?

Located just off the coast of southern Queensland, Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It measures over 123 kilometres in length and reaches 25 kilometres at its widest point. Landscapes on the island include freshwater lakes, sand dunes, wetlands and rainforest. Fraser Island is also famous for its coloured sands, stained from decayed vegetation leaching into the sand, with deposits up to eight million years old. Fraser Island has a World Heritage listing due to its uniqueness and is a popular tourist destination.

South Australia is known as the ‘Festival State’ with over 500 festivals taking place there every year. The state has 13 wine regions and is a hub for Australia’s food and wine gourmets. Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is probably the best preserved of Australia’s capital cities, with many fine examples of colonial architecture.

Western Australia, the largest state in area, is about the same size as all of Western Europe. The east of the state is mostly desert while to the west the state is bound by 12 500 kilometres of the world’s most pristine coastline. About three-quarters of the population live in Perth, the capital.

Tasmania is separated from mainland Australia by Bass Strait and is the smallest state in Australia. With its unspoilt wilderness landscapes, it is one of Australia’s most popular tourist destinations for both Australians and overseas visitors. Every year on 26 December the keenest of sailors race from Sydney to Hobart, Tasmania’s capital, in the nation’s most hotly contested sailing event.

The Northern Territory is twice as big as France but has a population of about 200 000 people. Darwin, on the northern coast, is the capital and Alice Springs the principal inland town. The Northern Territory is home to the famous Uluru–Kata Tjuta and Kakadu national parks.

Land area and population by states and territories

Area
(square kilometres)

Population
(millions)

Capital

Capital
population (millions)

New South Wales

800 642

6.64

Sydney

4.17

Victoria

227 416

4.87

Melbourne

3.52

Queensland

1 730 648

3.71

Brisbane

1.69

South Australia

983 482

1.52

Adelaide

1.11

Western Australia

2 529 875

1.93

Perth

1.41

Tasmania

68 401

0.47

Hobart

0.20

Northern Territory

1 349 129

0.20

Darwin

0.11

Australian Capital Territory

2 358

0.32

Canberra

0.32

Australia

7 692 024

19.66

 

 

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Year Book Australia 2004.

Note: Population figures are estimated resident population at 30 June 2002; population for Australia includes other territories administered by Australia

The Australian Government also administers Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, the Cocos (or Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Heard Islands, the McDonald Islands and Norfolk Island as territories, and has treaty responsibility for 42 per cent of Antarctica.

Did you know?

Australia maintains four permanent research stations in the Antarctic: Mawson, Davis and Casey on the Antarctic mainland, and Macquarie Island in the sub-Antarctic. All four stations of the Australian Antarctic Division are occupied year-round by scientists and support staff. Davis is the most southerly of the stations and is situated 2250 nautical miles south-west of Perth. Davis supports the largest population of scientists during the summer season and is the staging base for scientific activity elsewhere in the region. Antarctic expeditioners call Davis the ‘Riviera of the South’ because its winters are the mildest of the Antarctic stations.

Landscape and climate

The Australian landscape is both distinctive and varied. In the centre and the west there are vast stony and sandy deserts; in the east, sweeping plateaus and plains flank narrow coastal slopes. Australia’s coast features broad sandy beaches and lush vegetation. These are backed by a great variety of landforms, ranging from the steep cliffs of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney and the eroded volcanic rock of the Glasshouse Mountains north of Brisbane, to flat plains on the southern coast west of Adelaide.

The Murray and Darling rivers are the two longest river systems in Australia. Together they form the Murray–Darling Basin, which covers more than one million square kilometres—14 per cent of the mainland. Lake Eyre, in the centre of the country, is a great salt lake more than 9000 square kilometres in area and is dry for lengthy periods.

About one-third of the mainland lies north of the Tropic of Capricorn with the remainder stretching to 39° south. Much of the country—about 70 per cent—is arid or semi-arid, and a large part of the centre is unsuitable for settlement. Eleven principal deserts make up some 20 per cent of the mainland area. More than one-third of the continent is virtually desert owing to its low rainfall.

The national average annual rainfall of 465 millimetres varies greatly each year and is distributed unevenly around the continent. The driest area is the Lake Eyre drainage basin, which averages less than 125 millimetres annually. The wettest regions are in the tropical north-east and in the south-west of Tasmania.

Despite these erratic rain patterns, Australia has fertile areas close to the coast, where the bulk of the population is settled. Here Australians experience a range of climates, from wet and humid tropical conditions in the far north, through warm and temperate on the central east and west coasts, to cooler conditions in the southern coasts and Tasmania.

All regions in Australia enjoy warm summers and relatively mild winters, and it seldom snows in the capital cities. The highest temperature ever recorded in Australia was in 1889 in Cloncurry, Queensland when the mercury rose to 53 degrees Celsius. The coldest temperature was recorded in 1994 at Charlotte Pass in New South Wales with a cool minus 23 degrees Celsius.

Did you know?

Australia is currently moving north-east at a rate of 73 millimetres per year. Geoscience Australia monitors regional earthquake risk by measuring the movement of tectonic plates. The Australian continent is part of the Indian–Australian tectonic plate, which is slowly moving, carrying the continent with it. Geoscience Australia’s 16 global positioning system (GPS) receivers are located across Australian territory, including three receivers at Australia’s Antarctic bases, one on Cocos Island and one on Macquarie Island south of New Zealand. Each receiver measures horizontal and vertical movement to an accuracy of one millimetre.

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Last update May 2005