Australian

1. Австралия

2. Population

• Until the end of the 18th century, the Australian population was made by
Australian aborigines, Torres Strait Islanders and Tasmanian aborigines (between
these three groups there are cultural and even external differences that came 4050 thousand years ago).
• The majority of the Australian population are descendants of immigrants of the
19th and 20th centuries, with most of these immigrants coming from the UK and
Ireland. The settlement of Australia by immigrants from the British Isles began in
1788, when the first consignment of exiles was landed on the eastern coast of
Australia and the first English settlement of Port Jackson (the future of Sydney) was
founded. Voluntary immigration from England took considerable dimensions only
in the 1820s, when sheep breeding began to develop rapidly in Australia. After the
discovery in Australia of gold here from England and partly from other countries, a
lot of immigrants arrived. For 10 years (1851-61) the population of Australia has
increased almost threefold, having exceeded 1 million people.

3. Live nature

• Although most of the continent is occupied by semi-deserts and deserts, Australia has
a variety of landscapes: from similar alpine meadows to tropical jungles. Due to the
considerable age of the continent (as well as low soil fertility), a wide variety of
weather conditions and long geographical isolation, Australia's biota is rich and
unique. Flora and fauna of Australia in total include about 12 thousand species, about
9 thousand of them are endemic [112]. Among flowering plants, 85% of endemic
plants, 84% of mammals, 45% of birds, 89% of coastal fish [113]. Many of Australia's
ecological regions and their flora and fauna are threatened by human activities and
introduced species of plants and animals.
• The main legal document regulating the protection of endangered species in Australia
is the 1999 Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (English
Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999). In order to protect
and preserve the unique Australian ecosystem, a large number of protected areas
have been created in the country: 64 marshlands were included in the Ramsar List of
wetlands of international importance, 16 sites on the World Heritage List. For such an
indicator as the index of environmental sustainability, Australia in 2005 ranked 13th

4.

Animals

5. Geographical position

• The Australian Union is a state in the Southern Hemisphere with an area of ​7,692,024 km² [89].
Australia is the sixth largest country in the world after Russia, Canada, China, the United States and
Brazil, occupying about 5% of the Earth's land surface [90]. It includes: mainland Australia (including
the island of Tasmania) covering an area of ​7,659,861 km² [89] and other coastal islands of 32,163 km²
[89]. Under Australia's control, there are several outer territories: the Cocos (Keeling) Islands with an
area of ​14 km² [91], Christmas Island with an area of ​135 km² [92], Ashmore and Cartier Islands with an
area of ​199 km² [93], the Coral Sea Islands area of ​7 km² [94] (an area of ​about 780,000 km²), Heard
Island and McDonald Islands, covering an area of ​372 km ² (part of the Australian Antarctic Territory)
[95], Norfolk Ploschadiau Island 35 km² [96] and the Australian Antarctic Territory of 5,896,000 km²
[97] ( Australia's sovereignty over this territory is not a prize aotsya most countries) [98]. The total area
of ​all external territories is 5 896 762 km ² (without the Antarctic territory 762 km ²).
• The northern and eastern coasts of Australia are washed by the seas of the Pacific: Arafura, Coral,
Tasman, Indian Ocean - Timor; the western and southern - the Indian Ocean. Near Australia are large
islands of New Guinea and Tasmania. Along the north-eastern coast of Australia, the world's largest
coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef, stretches for more than 2000 kilometers [99].
• Australia extends from west to east by almost 4000 kilometers, and from north to south by about 3860
kilometers [100]. The extreme points of the continent are: in the north - Cape York (10 ° S), in the south
- Cape South East Cape (43 ° S), in the west - Cape Steep Point (114 ° E. d. .), in the east - Cape Byron
(154 ° E) [100].
• The length of Australia's coastline is 59,736 km (of which the mainland is 35,877 km, the island part is
23,859 km) [101], and the area of ​the exclusive economic zone is 8,148,250 km² [102]

6.

7. Climate

• The climate of Australia is under considerable influence of ocean currents,
including the dipole of the Indian Ocean [en] and El Niño, which create
periodic droughts [en] and seasonal tropical low pressure, which leads to
the formation of cyclones in northern Australia [103] [104] ]. These factors
cause a significant change in the amount of precipitation from year to year.
Most of the north of the country has a tropical climate with predominantly
summer precipitation [105]. Almost three quarters of Australia are deserts
and semi-deserts [106]. In the south-western part of the country the
climate is Mediterranean [107]. In most of the southeast of the country
(including Tasmania), the climate is temperate [105]. The aridity of the
region is affected by the cold West-Australian current, which does not give
energy for the formation of the cyclone. Something similar is happening in
the west of South America, but everything changes with the appearance of
El Niño.

8. Relief

• Most of the country's territory is occupied by vast deserts and low-lying areas.
The most famous deserts are the Great Sandy Desert, the Great Victoria Desert.
In the east of the Victoria desert is the semi-desert of the Great Artesian Basin. In
the east of the mainland there are strongly destroyed, low mountains of
Hercynian folding - the Great Dividing Range with the maximum height in the
south (Kostsyushko Mountain, 2228 m, Townsend, 2209 m). Rifts and river valleys
dismember the mountains into separate massifs. The tops of the mountains are
domed. The eastern slopes of the mountains abruptly cut off to the sea, the
western slopes are more gentle. Australia is the only continent where there are
no active volcanoes and modern glaciation.
• The lowest point of Australia is Lake Eyre (-15 m) [108] [109], the area of ​which is
about 15 000 km ².
• Mount Kosciusko - the highest point of the Australian continent. The highest
point of the country (the Mawson volcano) is on the subantarctic island of Heard

9. The end