AUSTRALIA

It is a country that is also a continent. It lies in the southern hemisphere. It is about three-quarters of the size of Europe, but Europe has 56 times as many people. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Several islands lie around the coast. The largest and most important of these is Tasmania, which is south of the mainland of Australia. The Great Barrier Reef on the north-eastern coast is a 1,200 mile chain of coral reefs and islets.

Most of the western and central part of Australia is a large, flat plateau. Few people live there. Close to the east coast is a long range of mountains called the Great Dividing range.

The Northern part of Australia lies in the tropics, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Along the coast, it is hot and wet, with heavy rains every year. South-eastern and south-western Australia has climates similar to those of California and the French Mediterranean coast, with hot, dry summers and warm, moist winters. 

The east coast also has enough rain for farming. Most of central Australia has very unreliable rainfall.

Australia is rich in minerals, including bauxite, coal, copper, gold, iron, lead, nickel, silver, uranium and zinc. Huge underground stores of water lie under parts of the country called Atresians Basins. The underground water is trapped in rocks deep under the surface.

Forest, particularly in the south and east, contain eucalyptus trees, which provide timber and oils. Australians call them gum trees.

Australia has only a few kinds of animals of its own. They include marsupials, which are animals with pouches. The biggest are the kangaroos. Others are koalas, wallabies, and wombats. The duckbilled platypus, a mammal which lays eggs is another Australian mammal.

Most of the people of Australia are of British origin. Since World War 11 more than two million people from Europe have emigrated to Australia. In addition, there are about 40,000 Aborigines, a dark skinned people whose ancestors were the first inhabitants of Australia.

More than half of the people of Australia live in cities. The rest live in small town or villages, or in lonely farms called stations. Some stations are mainly miles from other farms, and the people use radios and aircraft to keep in touch. Large parts of the interior are uninhabited.

Mining and manufacturing provide more than two-thirds of Australia's wealth. The rest is provided by farming. The country exports great quantities of wool and wheat. It also has many cattle and produces much butter and cheese.

Australia has a federal form of government. This means that it is a federation or group of separate states, with a central government linking them together. Australia has six states; New South Wales, Queens Land, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. Each state has its own parliament.

Two areas called territories come under the direct rule of the central government. They are the Northern Territory, much of which is desert, and the Australian Capital Territory, a small area around Canberra, the federal capital.

The first people to occupy Australia were the Aborigines. They arrived in the continent about 20,000 years ago.

Australia was visited by Dutch explorers such as Tasman in the early 17th century, and at first it was called New Holland. Then in 1770 the British explorer Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay, on the south-eastern coast, and claimed the great unknown land for Britain.

The British decided to use the new territory as a penal settlement- a kind of open prison where criminals could be sent, guarded by a few soldiers. In 1788, 750 convicts and their escort arrived to setup a colony at Sydney, in the south-eastern part of Australia. During the next 70 years, a steady stream of people arrived in Australia to settle.

Gold was discovered in New South Wales and Victoria in 1851. During the next ten years about 700,000 people flocked to Australia to look for gold. The transportation of convicts had ceased by 1852, except to Western Australia where it continued until 1867. Australia became an independent country in 1901 as the Commonwealth of Australia.

During World War1, Australian troops fought in Europe against the Germans as part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (the Anzacs). Their bravery in attacking Germany's allies, the Turks, at Gallipoli in 1915 won them undying fame. During World War 11, Australian forces fought in northern Africa and against the Japanese in New Guinea.

Before and after World War 11, Australia grew both in population and wealth. More and more gold, wool and other Australian products were sold to other countries, and more people came to settle there. In 1965, Australian troops went to fight in the Vietnam War.