Where is Australia?
About Australia
The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media
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Australia is a vast island country in Oceania.
Australia has a border on the Indian Ocean in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east.
The land is mostly low plateau with deserts and a fertile plain in the south east.
The geographical coordinates for the centre of Australia, also known as lines of latitude and longtitude, are:-
Latitude - 27 00S
Longitude - 133 00E
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Check the weather in Canberra now.
This is the time in Canberra now. Australia actually covers 3 different time zones.
The Australian flag is blue with the flag
of The United Kingdom in the top left corner. There is a large 7 pointed star below this flag. In the right hand side of the flag there are 5 more stars
representing the Southern Cross constellation
The capital of Australia is Canberra.
Australia is a parliamentary democracy with a Prime Minister as head of government. The British monarch is Head of State represented by a governor general.
In elections everyone over the age of 18 must vote.
The currency in Australia is the Australian dollar. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth.
English is the official language.
Hear the National Anthem
These are the anthem words
Australia is a parliamentary democracy with a Prime Minister as head of government. The British monarch is Head of State represented by a governor general.
In elections everyone over the age of 18 must vote.
The currency in Australia is the Australian dollar. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth.
English is the official language.
Hear the National Anthem
These are the anthem words
We have already written our own history of England but are asking schools in Australia to provide us with a detailed history of
their own country. Check how here.
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The total land area of Australia is 7,682,300 sq kms which is the largest in Oceania.
Australia has lakes, rivers and canals which total 58,920 sq kms.
Australia has no boundaries with other countries.
Australia has a coastline of 25,760 kms which is the longest in Oceania.
The highest point in Australia is Mount Kosciuszko at 2,228 metres.
The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.
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The total population of Australia is 22.99 million people, making it the largest country in Oceania by population.
Of this number 11.46 million are females and 11.53 million are males.
A person from Australia is called a Australian.
To be a citizen of Australia, one of your parents must be a citizen or a permanent resident of Australia. It is not sufficient to be born in Australia. You have to live in Australia for
4 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.
The largest five cities in Australia, by population are:-
- Sydney 4,627,345 people
- Melbourne 4,246,375
- Brisbane 2,189,878
- Perth 1,896,548
- Adelaide 1,225,235
For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre.
Each little Owlbut is 1 person and
the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as
more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.
89.4% of the people live in cities or towns.
Each little Owlbut is 1 person and
the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as
more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.
89.4% of the people live in cities or towns.
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The birth rate in Australia is 12.1 births per 1,000 of population
The death rate in Australia is 7.2 deaths per 1,000 people.
Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then
the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.
There are 4.0 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 4.6 deaths of boys.
The median age for females is 39.4 and for males is 37.8. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number
of people above the median age as below it.
The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 30.5.
The elderly dependency ratio is 22.6. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).
The potential support ratio is 4.4. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.
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Australia spends 9.4% of its total income on health care.
There are 3.27 doctors per 1,000 people.
There are 3.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
29.0% of the population are estimated as obese.
100% of Australians have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or
protected rainwater collection facility.
100% of Australians have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer. a pit latrine (that is a
permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.
Australia releases 385.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the highest in Oceania.
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Australia spends 5.3% of its total income on education.
Education in Australia is decided by each individual state. Children usually start school at age 5 or 6 in Australia. Primary education is for
five years until age 11 and secondary education must continue till 16 but can go on to 18/19. This may be followed
by further education at a university or college.
Generally the school year consists of 4 terms and starts in the first week of February and finishes in the middle of December. There is usually a 2 week
break between each term, these being at the beginning of April (Easter), the beginning of July and the end of September.
We have no figures for the number of people who are able to read and write by the age of 15.
12.6% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 11.5% are unemployed while with males 13.7% can't find work.
The total number of people available for work in Australia is 12.63 million.
They work in the following sectors.
- Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
- Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
- Services is everything else
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There are 349 paved airports in Australia, which is the highest number in Oceania.
There are 36,967 kilometres of railways in Australia, the longest in Oceania.
There are 823,217 kilometres of roads in Australia, which means Australia is in 1st place for the most kilometres of roads in Oceania.
There are 9 major national newspapers in Australia.
There are 31.77 million mobile phone users.
40% of the people have a fixed landline.
19.24 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).
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