Australia is no less than 185 times larger than the Netherlands. Australia is a huge continent. By the way, Australia is not officially called Australia alone and it is often thought that the capital of Australia is Sydney. But that’s not right. Sydney may be the largest city in Australia, but Canberra is really the capital of the enormous country of the Aboriginal people. And those original inhabitants of Australia? They are not always treated well in the country itself. There are regular problems with the Aboriginal people, mainly because the government has treated them terribly in the past. For example, children were cruelly taken from their parents.
- The official name of Australia
- The capital of Australia
- What language is spoken in Australia?
- The location of Australia
- The area of Australia: 185 times as large as the Netherlands
- How many inhabitants does Australia have?
- The inhabitants of Australia
- Life expectancy of Australians is quite high
- What religion is practiced in Australia?
- The History of Australia
- What is Australia best known for?
- The aborigines
- National parks
- Other National Parks are:
The official name of Australia
The official name of Australia is Commonwealth of Australia
The capital of Australia
Many people think that the capital of Australia is Sydney. Sydney is the largest city in Australia, but not the capital. That’s Canberra. The majority of the approximately 23 million inhabitants live in and near the major cities. The largest cities are:
- Sydney
- Melbourne
- Brisbane
- Perth
- Adelaide.
What language is spoken in Australia?
In Australia the main language is English.
The location of Australia
Australia is part of the continent Oceania. This is located between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In addition to the Australian mainland, Australia includes a large number of islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Tasmania is the largest of these.
The area of Australia: 185 times as large as the Netherlands
Australia has an area of 7.7 million square kilometers. That means it is 185 times the size of the Netherlands.
How many inhabitants does Australia have?
Australia has only over 23 million inhabitants. This is not very much for such a large country and there are many areas where few or no people live. There are a number of very large cities such as Sydney.
The inhabitants of Australia
The vast majority of Australians are white. The rest are made up of Asians who make up 7 percent of the population. The original population, the Aboriginals, only make up a small part of the population, namely less than 1 percent. Relatively many people who originally come from the Netherlands live in Australia.
Life expectancy of Australians is quite high
The life expectancy of Australians is relatively high.
- Men live an average of 79 years
- On average, women reach the age of 84.
What religion is practiced in Australia?
The main religion in Australia is Christianity. Of course, there are also other population groups that have brought their own religion with them, such as Buddhism.
The History of Australia
The first European to discover Australia was Willem Jansz. He did this in 1606, when he sailed along the Cape York Peninsula in northern Australia. Yet the country was not yet taken over or occupied. Many Europeans later also went to Australia, but this part, which was referred to as New Holland, did not become a real colony. In 1770, the English explorer James Cook put an end to this when he found the east coast of Australia and claimed the area in the name of the United Kingdom. At first it was mainly used as a penal colony for English prisoners. Later, non-criminal people also came to live there. When gold was discovered in Australia in 1849, the gold rush started and people from far and wide came to the country in the hope of becoming rich. Then the population also grew very quickly. It was not until 1901 that the colonists formed the Commonwealth of Australia. This made it largely independent of Great Britain. Australia is a very different story when it comes to governance. In addition to a federal parliamentary democracy, it is also a parliamentary (constitutional) kingdom. It is headed by Queen Elizabeth II of Australia (and therefore of GB). Australia also has various states and the Queen is represented by a governor and in the federal government by the governor general. The Governor General of Australia represents the head of state and is appointed on the advice of the Australian Prime Minister. The Governor General and city governors do most of the work, but Queen Elizabeth II herself is also present at many events. The Australians indicated in 1999 that they wanted to remain a kingdom and not become a republic.
What is Australia best known for?
Most people know Australia from:
- The Great Barrier Reef
- Kangaroos
- Koalas
- Backpackers
- Opera house in Sydney
- Ayers Rock
- Aboriginals
The aborigines
The Aboriginals are the original inhabitants of the country. Their customs are mainly based on the love for nature and their own residents. For centuries they have been expressing these things in wall drawings in caves. They show kangaroos, wallabies, birds and emus. The aborigines have lived in the land for 300,000 years and gathered at the waterholes and riverbeds. They turned their rocks into art galleries of sorts. In the country itself, they are not treated very well. Most Australians treat Aboriginal people as second-class citizens. There are many problems with Aboriginal people, which partly has to do with the politics that were applied to them for a long time. For example, Aboriginal children were simply torn from families and placed with whites. Families were completely torn apart as a result. Moreover, Aboriginal people were often no longer allowed to follow their own customs, laws and rules.
National parks
Australia has a number of national parks. Lamington National Park is a popular park for Brisbane residents. In the park they find a cool rainforest that is 600 meters above sea level and that provides them with the cooling in the summer that they do not find in the city. You can continue walking in the rainforest on constructed paths.
Woongolber Creek can also be found on Fraser Island, which is also a rainforest. Lake Wabby is the deepest lake on Fraser Island. The most famous national park is perhaps Uluru. The large golden mountain means a lot to the Aboriginals, but has now become a tourist attraction.
Other National Parks are:
- Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park (containing Uluru or Ayers Rock)
- Kakadu National Island
- Blue Mountains
- Purnululu/Bungle Bungle
- Cradle Mountain Lake St. Clair
- Dorrigo Rainforest National Park
- Bald Rock National Park
- Kanangra Boyd National Park
- Litchfield National Park