Commonwealth of Australia

The Land Down Under

Australian Political Map

States • Western Australia • South Australia • Queensland • New South Wales

(NSW) • Victoria • Tasmania Territories • Northern Territory • Australian Capital

Territory (ACT) – Capital is Canberra

Australia Physical Map

Biomes of Australia

Australia Size Comparison

Australia Population Density

The Great Dividing Range

• 3rd Largest Mountain range in the world

– Stretches for 3500 km

• Runs from Northern Queensland to western Victoria

The Outback

• Generally a term to refer to anything outside the cities

• Combination of Desert and Desert Scrub

Ayers Rock

• The world’s largest monolith

• Sacred for the aborigines who call the site Uluru

The Great Barrier Reef

• Covers 344 square kms

• Home to 1500 different types of fish, 360 types of coral, 4000 mollusks, and 400 types of sponges

• Only living thing visible from space

The Great Barrier Reef

Geographically Secluded

• Broke away from Gondwana super-continent 50 million years ago

• Developed flora and fauna that is unique to area.

– Kangaroo

– Koala

– Platypus

– 25000 types of plants

The People: Aborigines

• Term for the native inhabitants of Australia

• Came to Australia about 60,000 years ago

• Second class citizens: Right to vote 1967

The People: Post-Aborigines

• Between 1788 and 1868 about 160,000 men and women came to Australia as prisoners

• Gained independence from Great Britain in 1901

• Melting pot: over 266 different languages

Major Cities

• Sydney – 4.5mil

• Melbourne – 4.07mil

• Brisbane – 2.04mil

• Perth – 1.69mil

• Canberra – 356k

– Capital