Title: Countries ofthe worldCountry:Australia

By:Claudia 7B

ContentsPopulation pg1

Ethnic groups pg2

Physical geography pg3-4

Natural geography pg4-5

Natural resources pg6

Industrial activity pg7

Farming pg7-8

Climate pg8-9

Population

The following figures are ABS estimates for the resident population of Australia, based on the 2001and 2006 Censuses and other data.21,262,641 (July 2009 - CIA World Fact book)Country comparison to the world: 55

21,180,632 (end December 2007 - preliminary)20,848,760 (end December 2006 - preliminary)20,544,064 (end December 2005)20,252,132 (end December 2004)20,011,882 (end December 2003)19,770,963 (end December 2002)19,533,972 (end December 2001)

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Ethnic groupsThese are the main ethnic groups of Australia:

-African Australian-Anglo Celtic Australian-Asian Australian-European Australian-Italian Australian-Greek Australian-Latin American Australian-Macedonian Australian-Bosnian Australian

Physical geography

Australia is a country, an island, and a continent.It is located in Oceania between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean at 27°S 144°E. It is the sixth largest country in the world with a totalarea of 7,686,850 square kilometers (2,967,909 sq. mi) (including Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island), making it slightly smaller than the contiguous 48 states of the United States and 31.5 times larger than the United Kingdom.Australia has a total 25,893 kilometers (16,007 mi)of coastline and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometers (3,146,057 sq. mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory. Australia has the largest area of ocean jurisdiction of any country on earth.[1] It has no land borders.The western half of Australia consists of the Western Plateau, which rises to mountain heights near the west coast and falls to lower elevations near the continental center. The Western Plateau region is generally flat, though broken by various mountain ranges such as the Hamersley Range, the MacDonnell Range, and the Musgrave Range. Surface water is generally lacking in the Western Plateau, although there are several larger rivers in the west and north, such as the Murchison, Ash Burton, and Victoria rivers.The Eastern Highlands, or Great Dividing Range, lies near the eastern coast of Australia, separating the relatively narrow eastern coastal plain from the rest of the continent. The Eastern Highlands have the greatest relief, the most

rainfall, the most abundant and varied flora and fauna, and the densest human settlement.Between the Eastern Highlands and the Western Plateau lie the Central Lowlands, which are made upof the Great Artesian Basin and Australia's largestriver systems, Murray-Darling Basin and Lake Eyre Basin.Off the eastern coast of Australia is the world's largest coral reef complex, the Great Barrier Reef.The large and mountainous island of Tasmania lies off the southeastern coast of Australia.

Natural geographyThe geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeography regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country inthe world. The population of Australia is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts. The geography of the country is extremely diverse, ranging from the snow capped mountains of the Australian Alps and Tasmania to large deserts, tropical and temperate forests.Neighboring countries include Indonesia, East Timorand Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the French dependency of New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast. AIW is a premier visitor attraction and education resource, featuring a unique combination of experiences focused on the port and its surrounding heavy industry.

Included within the 1200 hectares of AIW are world class coal, fertilizer, grain, port activities, steel and transport industries. A large number of related businesses providing IT, engineering, construction, logistics, materials and a range of other services support these. AIW is a premier visitor attraction and education resource, featuring a unique combination of experiences focused on the port and its surrounding heavy industry.

A unique combination of heavy industry with education and tourism, Australia's Industry World brings together heritage, culture, safety, environment, education and industry.

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Natural resources-Minerals in Australia have had a tremendous impact on the country's human history and patterns of settlement.-Coal reserves, over one-quarter of which (7 billion tons/6 billion ton) is anthracite or black coal deposited in Permian sediments in the Sydney Basin of New South Wales and in Queensland.-Natural gas fields are liberally distributedthroughout the country and now supply most ofAustralia's domestic needs. There are commercial gas fields in every state and pipelines connecting those fields to major cities.-Uranium ore, which is refined for use for fuel for the nuclear power industry. -L ead and zinc mines as well as vast reservesof bauxite (aluminum ore), namely at Weipa onthe Gulf of Carpenteria and at Gove in ArnhemLand.

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Industrial activity The question is: what are Australia’s major industries?These are some of the major industries in Australia….-Agriculture-Mining-Tourism-Industrial manufacturing

FarmingDifferent types of farming are mainly concentrated in the areas that suit them best, depending on water availability and climatic conditions.

Livestock grazing activity, mainly sheep and cattle, takes up the most land in Australian agriculture. Sheep are mostly found in New South Wales, Western Australia and Victoria.

About ninety per cent of all cattle are used for beef. Queensland and New South Wales are Australia's main beef cattle producers, with the Northern Territory contributing to ten per cent of the beef cattle market.

Most dairy cattle farming is found in the southern states, predominantly in Victoria.

Crop growing contributes to over fifty per cent of the value of Australian agriculture every year. Wheat and other grain crops are spread fairly evenly across New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland.

Sugar cane is a major crop in Queensland and New South Wales.

Fruit growing is spread across all Australian states and vegetables are grown in all states and territories.

ClimateMain article: Climate of AustraliaBy far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil. The northern part of the country has a tropical climate: part is tropical rainforests, part grasslands, and part desert.Rainfall is highly variable, with frequent droughts

lasting several seasons thought to be caused in part by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Occasionally a dust storm will blanket a region or even several states and there are reports of the occasional large tornado. Rising levels of salinityand desertification in some areas is ravaging the landscape.Australia's tropical/subtropical location and cold waters off the western coast make most of western Australia a hot desert with aridity, a marked feature of the greater part of the continent. Thesecold waters produce precious little moisture neededon the mainland. A 2005 study by Australian and American researchers [1] investigated the desertification of the interior, and suggested thatone explanation was related to human settlers who arrived about 50,000 years ago. Regular burning by these settlers could have prevented monsoons from reaching interior Australia. The outback takes up 70 percent of the continent.

Australia’s map of climate