Australia

The Australian landscape, situation and population

Australia, Australis or "the unknown land of the south" is the fifth continent.

The Australian territory occupies the whole continent of Oceania besides the islands of New Zealand and other surrounding archipelagoes and it is the sixth largest country of the world.

Estimations indicate that its inhabitants ascend to more than 20 millions distributed in a territory that occupies more than 7,5 million km² . Therefore the density of population is very low and it is concentrated mostly in the main cities of the country: Canberra, the capital of the country with more than 300.000 inhabitants as well as the cities of of Melbourne and Sydney.

Australia is divided in six states and several internal and external territories. The six states of Australia are:

• New South Wales
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Tasmania
• Victoria
• Western Australia

The two internal territories are the Australian capital territory apart from several external territories such as Norfolk.

For many years it was only allowed the immigration of English, Greek and Italian settlers, though nowadays the policies have changed and other groups, also of Asian origin, contribute to a major variety and cultural richness of the country.

The climate of Australia

Due to the climate of Australia a big part of the Australian landscape is marked by the desert. In areas close to the coast we find also other landscapes of Australia of more humid and tropical climates. Anyhow one works from the environment to preserve its own ecosystems, the species that are living there and its splendid landscapes as Coral's Barrier, though unfortunately the incident of the deterioration of the ozone layer shows its effects both in the continent and in the whole planet.

The different climate zones of Australia can be classified in:

• Equatorial climate: Queensland's north end.
• Tropical climate: north cornice of the whole country.
• Subtropical Climate: coast southwest and part of the north-east coast.
• Desert climate: the whole middle and Midwest of the country.
• Tropical Savanna climate: areas surrounding the desert areas, close to the coastal areas
• Moderate climate: south-east coast of the country and the island of Tasmania.