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Welcome to the Commonwealth of Australia, the land down under. The world's sixth largest country, Australia measures some 4000 km east to west and 3200 km north to south. Much of the interior of the country is flat, barren and extremely sparsely populated. Australia is a vast island continent situated south of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. |
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| Australia has much in the way of wildlife. Its distinctive plants include the ubiquitous gum tree or eucalypti. Animals include the famous kangaroo, koala and emu, and the platypus, echidna, possum, wombat and dingo. Animals to be careful of include Australian spiders (especially the red back and funnel-web), snakes (notably the venomous brown, tiger, death adder, copperhead and red-bellied black varieties) and both salt and freshwater crocodiles. |
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| Australia is a multicultural society. Large immigrations from Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Lebanon and Turkey followed the war and have been supplemented by more recent influxes of immigrants from Asia.. Australia also has a rich artistic heritage and a vibrant contemporary art scene. Aboriginal rock carvings and paintings date back at least 30,000 years. European settlers began to produce distinctively Australian art forms towards the end of the 19th century. There are also many 20th century figures as well. Ranging from music to writers the mix is very large. This gives Australia a very large cultural following. With a wealth of museums and music clubs there is something for everyone. |
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The Olympic Games were held in Sydney in 2000. This is no surprise since sports are the Australian religion. Aussies are world beaters in cricket, rugby league, rugby union, swimming and cycling. Other popular sports are basketball, yachting, soccer and Aussie Rules - a unique Australian sport, similar to Gaelic football.
Most people harbor a particular image of Australia, such as the Opera House or Ayers Rock, yet these famous icons do scant justice to the richness of Australia's natural treasures and its cultural diversity. Australia offers a wealth of travel experiences, from the drama of the outback and the spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef, to the cosmopolitanism of Sydney and arguably the best beaches in the world. Australia is an enormous country, and visitors expecting to see an opera in Sydney one night and meet Crocodile Dundee the next will have to re-think their grasp of geography. It is this sheer vastness, and the friction between the ancient land steeped in Aboriginal lore and the New World culture being heaped upon it, which gives Australia much of its character. |
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| Full country name: |
Commonwealth of Australia |
Area:
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7,682,300 sq km |
| Population: |
19.5 million |
| Capital city: |
Canberra (pop: 313,000) |
| People: |
94% European descent, 4% Asian, 1.5% Aboriginal |
| Languages: |
English, Aboriginal languages (plus numerous other European, Arabic and Asian languages) |
| Religion: |
75% Christian, 1% Muslim, 1% Buddhist, 0.5% Jewish |
| Government: |
Independent member of the British Commonwealth |
Prime Minister:
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John Howard |
Governor-General:
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Dr Peter Hollingworth |
| GDP: |
US$418 billion |
GDP per head:
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US$22,000 |
| Annual growth |
4% |
Inflation:
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2% |
| Major industries: |
Minerals, oil, coal, gold, wool, cereals, meat, tourism. |
| Major trading partners: |
Japan, ASEAN, South Korea, China, New Zealand, US and the EU. |
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