Australia is an Island continent lying southeast of Asia between the Indian Ocean on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the east. It is the smallest continent. It was explored in 1770 by James Cook.
Australia is divided into four topographic regions: the low narrow plain along the coast, the eastern highlands, the central plains and the arid western plateau. There are two big deserts here, namely, the Great Sandy Desert and Great Victoria Desert. The western area is the Swanland, which has a Mediterranean climate. The country has two big rivers: the Murray and the Darling.
Australia has a population only about 18 million people, mostly of British origin. Australia is as large as the USA. But large territories are difficult to live in; there is little rain and some areas are completely dry. A majority of people lives on the south-east coast. The principal religion is Christianity (Roman Catholic and Anglican). The official language of Australia is an Australian English and the unit of currency is one Australian dollar.
There are six states: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania and there are also two territories: Northern Territory and Australia Capital Territory.
The Commonwealth of Australia is an independent self-governing federation within the British Commonwealth. Queen Elisabeth II, represented by a governor-general, is Head of State. But the actual head of the executive power is the Australian Prime Minister. The capital, Canberra, is the seat of the Federal Parliament, which consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The largest cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. The oldest universities are in Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia is an important wool growing country and is one of the leading producers of meat and dairy products. Mining is also important. The most important minerals are gold, lead, copper, silver and zinc. At high levels are metallurgical products, steel, heavy equipment, electric and electronic equipment, chemicals, textiles, petroleum refining.
