Australia

The land down under

Basic geography of Australia

Australia consists of two
landmasses, Australia itself and an
island off it coast known as
Tasmania. It has four oceans, the
Pacific to the east, Indian Ocean on
its west, Afarura sea to the north
and simply the southern ocean to its
south. It is very isolated with its
closest neighbours being New
Zealand, Papua new Guinea and
Antartica. Australia covers an area
of over 7,600,000 square kilometres
which is 24 times Ireland and the
United Kingdom combined, almost
bigger than Europe.

nimals of Australia
Australia has many unique animals
with over 80% of animals living in
Australia being unique to the
continent. Another odd fact about
Australia is that it has no large
predatory animals. The largest
predator on the continent would be the
dingo or wild dog. There are a few
other species of predators but none of
them are larger than the average
house cat. One of the most famous
mammals in Australia is the kangaroo,
a native on the continent. Kangaroos
hop as their main form of movement,
but can walk on all fours. They cant

Marine life
Australian waters contain many
species of marine life, from the
fearsome great white shark, to
the lowly marine turtles,
it is one of the most diverse
marine area in the world. The
coasts of Australia are even
home to 10 species of seal,
although
3 of these are threated species.
There are also many species of
whales and dolphins in
Australian waters, most of them

e Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier reef is well known across
the world as one of the 7 natural wonders of
the world. It consists of
over 3000 individual reef systems along
with beautiful beeches and hundreds of
small tropical islands. It is one of the worlds
most sought out tourist destinations with
many activities available such as
snorkelling, boat and helicopter tours and
scuba diving. It is also a well known area
due to its diverse wildlife including over a
thousand species of fish, 133 species of
sharks and rays, 30 species of whales and
dolphins and 215 species of birds. It is also
the only living thing that can be seen from

Climate of Australia
Australia is so large that its
climate varies. The greater part
of the continent is desert or
semi-arid. Only the south-east
and south-west corners have a
temperate climate and
moderately fertile soil. The
northern part has a tropical
climate, varied between tropical
rainforests, grasslands, and part
desert.

Ayers rock
Ayers Rock is a massive
sandstone landmark in
Australia, also known as
Uluru to the tribes that lived
there up to 10,000 years
ago. Uluru is a massive
landmark which stands 348
metres high compared to the
surrounding area with most
of its bulk lying
underground, like an
iceberg. The natives that
lived there previously,
known as Aborigines believe
this to be of great

Aborigine People
The Aboriginal people were the
original inhabitants of Australia
numbering at about 750,000
when James Cook first founded
the continent. They were
plunged into a horrific new
world after Europeans started to
settle the new found land,
bringing disease and death with
them and taking their land.
Today only 1% of the population
are Aboriginal, which is a
dramatic change from a time
long ago.

The Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera house is
Australias most well known
tourist site. It was first opened
on the 20th of October 1973 by
Queen Elizabeth the second.
It is composed of multiple
performance venues which put
on over 1500 performances a
year. The four key companies
that perform there are Opera
Australia, the Australian Ballet,
the Sydney theatre company
and the Sydney Symphony

Video on Australia