Australia
- smallest continent on the Earth
- on the Southern Hemisphere between the Pacific and the
Inidian Ocean
Geography
- the nearest neighbour is New Guinea separated by Torres
Strait
- oval shape is broken by Gulf of Carpentaria (N) and Great
Australian Bight (S)
- Great Barrier Reef
- along the coast
- bigest coral reef on the Earth
- the nearest islands:
- in the Bass Strait: Tasmania, King Island, Flinders Island
- Mellville Island in the Gulf of St. Vincent
- Groote Eylandt in gulf of Carpentaria
- the surface is mostly flat
- the Great Western Plateau
- occupies nearly half of the continent
- three deserts are there: Great Sandy Desert
Gibson Desert
Great Victoria Desert
- Central-Eastern Lowland - area lower than 100 m
- tropic forests, savannah, with occasional creek and rivers
- lakes: Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens, Lake Gairdner
- rivers: Murray, Darling
- Australian Crodilleras
- along the Eastern coast, begins on the York Penninsula
- consist of (from north): Great Dividing Range, New England
Range, Blue Mountains, Australian Alps
- highest peak: Mt. Kosciusci (2 230 m)
- the biggest cities are along the coast
- south-east coast: Sydney and melbourne
- the capital Canberra is on special territory near A. Alps
History
- Aborigines - native Australian inhabitants
- arrived 40 000 BC
- 13th century informations from Marco Polo (in his literature)
- discovered by Portugese, Spanish and Dutch
- 1606 Spanish navigator Torres sailed trhough the strait
between Papua New Guinea and Australia (now has his name)
- 1642 Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania
- 1770 captain Thomas Cook claimed New South Wales as a British
colony
- 1787 first immigration was special one
- fleet from England
- 700 convicts on teh board (landed in Botany Bay)
- convict system lasted till 1866 - then abolished in WA
- January 1st,1901 queen victoria proclaimed the Commonwealth
of Australia
Political System
- Australia is independent sovereign nation within the
Commonwealth, has constitution since January 1st, 1901
- head of state:
british monarch is represented by General Governor
- goverment - executive power:
Prime Minister and Cabinet, responsible to Federal
Parliament
- parliamnet:
consist of two chambers
- Senate - elcted for six years term
- 76 members, 12 for each of 6 states
2 for each of 2 territories
- House of Representatives
- 148 members, elected by universal suffrage
- serve 3 years
- voting is compulsory
- each state has its own constitution, governor (monarch's
representative), legislative and judicial power
- main parties are: Liberal, National, Labour, Democrats
- last last relics of UK legislative were removed in 1986
States and Terrirtories
- New South Wales (N.S.W, Sydney)
- Victoria (Vic., Melbourne)
- Queensland (Qld., Brisbane)
- South Australia (S.A., Adelaide)
- Western Australia (W.A., Perth)
- Tasmania (Tas., Hobart)
- Northern Territory (N.T., Darwin)
- Australia Capital Teritory (A.C.T., Canberra)
Economy
- highly developed country - high living standard
- mineral deposites: coal, iron, bauxit, gas, gold, silver
- agriculutre:sheep-raising, cattle-raising, crop produciton
- industry: the food (meat butter, cheese, sugar)
textile industry
Engineering, chemical industry
Places of Interest
- Sydney - largest city (3.2 milion)
- The Opera House - Landmark
- Canberra - capital city
- National Galery, War Memorial
- Brisbane - holiday playground, paradise
- Gold Coast - attractions, Sea World is the top one
- koalas
- not far: Great Barrier Reef + Holiday Islands
- Townsville, Port Douglas
- beach resort, best on north
- not far: Great Barrier Reef
- Melbourne - second largest
- park and gardens - Victoria Garden State
- Cook's Cotage, Yorra river
- Australian Open (tennis, grand-slamm)
- Melbourne cup (horse race, winner 1 000 000)
- rich culture, many restaurants, hotels, centre of
fashion, ZOO
- modern and old architecture, large boulevards
- Hobart - in Tasmania
- convict sandstone building from the 1800s
- sea food
- Sydney-Hobart Sailing Race
- Adelaide - South Australia
- Formula One car race
Education
- each state has own system of education
- compulsory from 6 to 15 (16 in Tasmania)
- far living children
- Correspondence School and School of the Air (by radio or
TV)
- Pre-Schools ofr 2.5-3 years - in towns, whole-day care
- Primary schools - till 12 years, folowed by secondary edu
- Secondary schools - last for 3-4 years
- after this children can take a job or study 2 years more
and than to university
- Universities (19)
- Australian National University
- University of Sidney (oldest)
- school year: from end of January or beginning of February to
middle of December