Australia In Brief

Australia, the name is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern". The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century. Australia is the land for kangaroo's. Australia encompasses a wide variety of bio-geographic regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country in the world. It is a country, an island, and a continent. It is located in Oceania between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean.

Ancient heritage, modern society

The first inhabitants of Australia were the Aborigines, who migrated there at least 40,000 years ago from Southeast Asia. There may have been between a half million to a full million Aborigines at the time of European settlement; today about 350,000 live in Australia

In fifteenth century Europe there was a increase in exploration and the hunt for the controversial great southern land was on. The Dutch were aggressively searching for riches such as gold in the southern hemisphere. William Jansz, a Dutch ship captain, discovered the Cape of York in 1606 and found the land inhospitable and moved on. Other Dutch explorers discovered the west coast of Australia and found the dry, arrived land of no economic value to their homeland.

The British had an overcrowded prison population in the mid 18th century and they required a new penal colony. In 1768, Captain James Cook set sail for Australia and found the more desirable east coast. In 1770, King George III claimed the east coast and named it New South Wales. In 1788, the first fleet arrived carrying 750 convicts. This was the first penal colony that is now the Sydney area. The second penal colony developed was to the south in Tasmania. This colony was called Port Arthur which is a tourist attraction now. Over the following decades, these colonies grew. Australia grew into a productive farming land and a major wool producer. In the 1850's there was a gold rush in Victoria and New South Wales. Australia remains a major producer of mining products to this day.

On January 1st 1901, Australia became it's own nation. The six colonies were federated to form one nation. Over the following decades, Australia continued to expand and after World War 2, there was a mass immigration from Europe. At one point in time, Melbourne became the largest Greek populated city outside of Athens. More recently, the immigration has come from Asian neighbors.

Time Line

• >70,000 BC: Aborigines are thought to have immigrated to Australia.
• 42,000 BC: Aboriginal engravings are found in South Australia dating back to this time.
• 1300 AD: Marco Polo discusses an great unexplored southern land.
• 1616 AD: Dirk Hartog, a Dutch explorer, sails to Western Australia.
• 1688 AD: William Dampier, English explorer, arrives on the west coast of Australia.
• 1770: Captain James Cook lands on the more hospitable east coast of Australia and claims it for Britain.
• 1833: Port Arthur opens as a penal settlement in Tasmania.
• 1851: The gold rush begins near Bathurst in New South Wales.
• 1901: The Commonwealth of Australia becomes a reality.
• 1914-1918: Australian troops fight in World War 1.
• 1927: The first Federal Parliament is held in Canberra.
• 1932: Sydney Harbour Bridge opens.
• 1939-1945: Australian troops fight in World War 2.
• 1948: The first all Australian car is produced-the Holden.
• 1956: Melbourne hosts the Olympics.
• 1965: Australian troops sent to the Vietnam War.
• 1971: Neville Bonner becomes the first Aboriginal to be a Member of Parliament.
• 1973: The Sydney Opera House opens.
• 1988: Bicentenary: The new Parliament House opens in Canberra.
• 2000: The Sydney Olympics held

Geography & Climate

Location

Australia is a continent  between the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean.Mainland Australia, with an area of 7.69 million square km, is the Earth’s largest island but smallest continent. It stretches about 3700 km from north to south and 4000 km from east to west.

In area, Australia is the 6th largest nation after Russia, Canada, China, the United States and Brazil. It is about twice the size of the European Union or the ten nations that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Its ocean territory – the third largest in the world – spans three oceans and covers around 12 million square km.

Australia’s average elevation is only 330 meters, the lowest of all the continents. Its highest point, Mount Kosciuszko, is only 2228 meters.