Viewing Australia
Features
Essence
Time Line
Peace & Quiet
Famous People
Natural Features
Australia is the world's smallest and flattest continent and, after Antarctica, the driest. Australia's coastline is an incredible 36,700km. Australia's highest point is Mount Kosciuszko in southern New South Wales - a mere 2,228m high. The lowest point is 16m below sea level at Lake Eyre in Outback South Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living, growing structure - it is composed primarily of coral polyps and algae, and stretches for over 2,000km along the Queensland coast. Make-up and People
Australia is made of six states - New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia; two territories - the Australian Capital Territory (the location of Canberra, the national capital) and the Northern Territory; and external territories, including Norfolk Island and Christmas Island. Although of a similar size to the United States (population over 250 million), and 24 times the size of Britain, Australia is home to only 19.2 million people. Just under 4 million live in Sydney, the largest city. Over 228,000 people migrated to Australia from 1995-99. Of these, 17.1 per cent were from New Zealand, 12.3 per cent from Britain, and 89 per cent from China. Road and Rail
Australia has more than 810,000km of roads, but only 35 per cent are sealed with bitumen or concrete. The world's longest straight stretch of railway is in Outback Western Australia - it is 478.4km long. Odds and Ends
Although shark attacks do occur, fewer than 100 people have been killed by these creatures since 1791. Australia's highest recorded temperature is 53.1°C, measured at Cloncurry in Queensland in January 1889. Between 1788 and 1856, 157,000 convicts were transported to Australia. Surveys have revealed that Australia's top tourist attraction is Sydney's shopping.
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