Australia

The island of Australia lies in the Southern Hemisphere, south of Indonesia and north of Antarctica. The eastern half of the world's smallest continent is surrounded by the South Pacific Ocean, and the western half by the Indian Ocean.

The sixth-largest country in the world, the Commonwealth of Australia is known for its strong market economy, aided by significant natural resources, and enjoys a worldwide reputation as a tourist destination. Many travelers visit the country for its natural wonders, which include the Great Barrier Reef.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: Population density in Australia is only about 3.3 people per square kilometer (about 8.5 people per square mile), making it the most sparsely populated continent after Antarctica and one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, at the opposite extreme of densely populated nearby Asian neighbors such as India. Australia's land area nearly equals that of the contiguous United States, but its population is only a fraction of the US population.

Australia is divided into six states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia) and two territories (Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory). There is also the Jervis Bay Territory, which is a non-self-governing territory; although the Jervis Bay Territory is not part of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), ACT laws apply there.

About 86.6 percent (2023 estimates) of Australia's population lives in urban centers, predominantly along the coast. Large cities on the country's east coast include Brisbane, in Queensland, and Sydney, in New South Wales. Other major cities are Melbourne, in Victoria; Adelaide, in South Australia; Perth, on the southwest coast of Western Australia; and the capital, Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

Australia’s population is ethnically diverse, shaped by waves of migration over many decades. People of European heritage continue to form a substantial share of the population, reflecting earlier settlement patterns. Over time, migration from Asia has grown steadily, particularly from South and Southeast Asian regions, contributing significantly to the country’s multicultural character. At the same time, the proportion of overseas-born residents with European origins has gradually declined. Despite this diversification, ancestral ties to the British Isles, especially English heritage remain commonly reported, highlighting the coexistence of long-established identities alongside newer migrant communities.

In 2021 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up an estimated 2.9 percent of the population, up from 2.5 percent in 2011.

According to 2021 data, Australians were approximately 18.1 percent Protestant and 20 percent Catholic. Buddhists made up 2.4 percent of the population, and 3.2 percent were Muslim. Approximately 38.4 percent of Australians were affiliated with no religion.

English is the principal language spoken in Australia. The next most commonly spoken languages are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, and Italian.

Indigenous People: Australia has been inhabited for approximately fifty thousand years. The continent's Indigenous people are Aboriginal Australians, who are thought to have migrated from Southeast Asia across a land bridge, and Torres Strait Islanders. These two distinct groups are sometimes collectively referred to as Indigenous Australians.

Australia was first sighted by Europeans in 1606. The Dutch called the island New Holland. In 1770, Captain James Cook claimed the island, which he called New South Wales, for Great Britain. The name "Australia" is derived from the Latin word australis, meaning "southern"; usage of this name dates to the late eighteenth century.

Before Australia was settled by Europeans, the Indigenous population numbered around 350,000. This number was greatly reduced by introduced diseases, forced removal, and genocide. As European settlers established large livestock operations in the Australian Outback, Aboriginal peoples were forced into virtual slavery as their lands shrank and their living conditions declined.

In 1967, Indigenous Australians were granted the right to be counted in the census, receiving greater political and legal representation at the same time. Today, quality of life among Aboriginal peoples, including life expectancy, health, poverty, employment, and education, is significantly lower than that of the White Australian population. Starting in the late twentieth century, Aboriginal Australians began a concerted effort to fight for wider recognition of their land claims and acknowledgment of their mistreatment at the hands of European colonists.

Aboriginal Australians live mostly in rural areas of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Most of Australia's Torres Strait Islanders live on the islands off the coast of the Cape York Peninsula.

Education: About half of Australian children begin their education with preschool. State-run schools provide compulsory primary education, although a significant percentage of school-age children attend private Catholic schools and a slightly smaller percentage are enrolled at independent schools.

Australia boasts nearly 100 percent literacy, thanks to an emphasis on creative solutions for reaching children who live in remote areas. Various forms of communications, such as two-way radios and video or online classes, are used in order to teach these students in what are called Schools of the Air. Australia placed 7th among 193 countries and territories in the 2023 United Nations Human Development Index rankings.

Some of the largest of Australia's more than forty public colleges and universities include Monash University (founded in 1958) in Melbourne, Victoria, with more than 70,000 students; the University of Sydney, established in 1850; and the University of Melbourne, founded in 1853. Schools with an emphasis on technology, such as Queensland University of Technology and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University, also enjoy high enrollment.

Colleges receive substantial tax-funded assistance from the Australian government, although that funding has declined since the 1980s. During that period, many schools came to rely heavily on enrollments from Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries.

Health Care: Every Australian is eligible for state-funded health insurance. Australians have a high life expectancy, averaging about 83.5 years overall, with women living longer on average at approximately 85.7 years and men at about 81.3 years (2024 estimates). The infant mortality rate is low, at 2.9 deaths per 1,000 live births (2024 estimates).

The government's Royal Flying Doctor Service provides health care in remote areas of Australia. It uses radio or telephone services to coordinate care, in concert with air ambulance services.

Food: Australia is not known for a distinctive cooking style, other than an emphasis on meat and seafood. However, traditional British-type meat-and-potatoes dishes, such as meat pies, are being supplanted by a more modern and international cuisine. Sometimes called "Mod Oz," contemporary Australian cooking borrows heavily from Asian styles and seasonings, such as stir-fry, to cook traditional Australian meats and vegetables.

Uniquely Australian foods include kangaroo, a red meat similar to venison; and barramundi, a prized sport fish that moves between fresh and salt water. It is typically barbecued and is very expensive due to its elusive nature.

Australian is known worldwide for its wine production, particularly its chardonnay (white) and shiraz (red) varieties.

Arts & Entertainment: Australians strongly promoted the arts throughout the twentieth century, aided by increased personal wealth and government subsidies for the arts, as administered by the Australia Council.

The crown jewel among the country's arts venues is the Sydney Opera House, first opened in 1973 after nearly twenty years of work on its design, funding, and construction. Its five halls host touring groups, in addition to serving as home to the Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Australia. The unique architecture of the Opera House, on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbor, features white granite tiles set into sail-shaped swooping shells, making it one of Australia's most recognized landmarks and a favorite tourist attraction.

Sydney's Australian Museum, opened in 1827, features natural history and anthropology exhibits, as does the Art Gallery of New South Wales, opened in 1874. Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria, opened in 1859, showcases the country's visual arts. Other museums include the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide, the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, and the Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth.

The late nineteenth-century Heidelberg School was Australia's first well-known group of painters, including Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin, and Sir Arthur Streeton. Other famous nineteenth-century Australian painters include Arthur Boyd, Sir William Dobell, George Russell Drysdale, Sidney Nolan, and Frederick Ronald Williams.

Aboriginal Australian arts have become increasingly popular in Australia. Aboriginal music is famous for its unique instruments, including a wooden tube-shaped horn called the didgeridoo. Popular music in Australia is dominated by Western styles.

Australians have been spectacularly successful in the American-dominated film industry. Famous Australian actors include Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe (born in New Zealand), Portia de Rossi, Errol Flynn, Hugh Jackman, and Geoffrey Rush. Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman were raised in Australia.

Australians excel at sports such as tennis, cycling, rugby, golf, track and field, and auto racing. Famous tennis players include Lleyton Hewitt, Margaret Smith Court, Evonne Goolagong (of Aboriginal descent), Patrick Rafter, Rodney Laver, and John Newcombe. Famed golfer Greg Norman is joined by modern players Adam Scott, Mark Hensby, and Stuart Appleby. Cathy Freeman, an Australian runner of Aboriginal descent, won gold in the 400-meter event in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Holidays: Official holidays observed in Australia include Australia (National) Day (January 26) and ANZAC Day (April 25), commemorating Australia's entry into and participation in World War I (1914–8). Christian holidays such as Easter and Christmas are also widely celebrated.

Festivals often coincide with holidays; the Montsalvat Jazz Festival is held in Eltham, Victoria, during the Australia Day weekend. The Mount Isa Rodeo takes place in August in Queensland. The Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne is held in November, and the three-day Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race begins on Boxing Day (December 26).

Environment and Geography

Topography: The continent of Australia is a low plateau at about 300 meters (1,000 feet) above sea level, broken by the higher Great Dividing Range running north to south along the heavily populated eastern coastal plain. The highest point of this range is Mount Kosciusko in New South Wales, at an elevation of 2,228 meters (7,310 feet).

Off the northeast coast is the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef at about 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) long. The entire Australian coastline stretches more than 25,500 kilometers (16,000 miles).

The centrally located Lake Eyre Basin is the country's lowest point, at 15 meters (50 feet) below sea level. Normally a dry salt lake, during exceptionally rainy years it becomes Australia's largest lake at 9,690 square kilometers (3,741 square miles).

From Lake Eyre, other dry lakes and deserts stretch to the western coastal plains, including nearby Simpson Desert (145,039 square kilometers/56,000 square miles), Tanami and Gibson Deserts (310,799 square kilometers/120,000 square miles) in central Australia, and the Great Sandy (388,498 square kilometers/150,000 square miles) and Great Victoria (647,497 square kilometers/250,000 square miles) Deserts to the west, the latter famed for its red sand dunes. About 40 percent of Australia is desert.

Near the town of Alice Springs, at the geographic center of the country, is Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, one of the best-known Australian landmarks. Believed to be the largest free-standing rock in the world, its red sandstone creates a striking image against its flat surroundings.

The Murray River is the longest river in Australia, running 2,508 kilometers (1,558 miles) from the Great Dividing Range to the southern coast at Spencer Gulf. The 1,867-kilometer (1,160-mile) long Darling River flows into the Murray at Wentworth. Both are major sources of irrigation.

Among Australia's numerous islands, the largest is Tasmania at 67,800 square kilometers (26,000 square miles). Lying 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Victoria, it is nicknamed Apple Isle for its fruit harvest.

Natural Resources: Australia is the world's largest net coal exporter. Other abundant resources include bauxite, copper, tin, iron ore, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, and zinc. Oil and natural-gas reserves are limited. Gemstone deposits include diamonds, opals, topaz, and sapphires. Most of the country's mining takes place in Western Australia and Queensland.

Due in part to a reliance on fossil fuels for a significant share of its power generation, Australia has a high level of greenhouse-gas emissions. Deforestation has been slowed, however, helping to reduce some pollutants.

Plants & Animals: Eucalyptus trees from the southern coast and pine trees from the east coast are Australia's principal lumber cash crops. Less common trees include oak, ash, and cedar. Australia's floral emblem is the golden wattle, a small tree with large, fragrant, yellow spring flowers.

Nearly half of all Australian wildlife is endemic (found only in Australia). Its fifty species of marsupials include the koala, the kangaroo, and the Tasmanian devil, a doglike carnivore found only on its namesake island.

Australia's two distinctive monotremes (mammals that lay eggs) are the platypus, a small furry animal with webbed paws for swimming and a duck-like bill, and the echidna, which resembles a porcupine due to its coat of sharp spines. Baby echidnas are called puggles.

The emu is native to Australia. One of the world's largest birds, it grows up to two meters (six feet) tall. The thousands of species of fish in Australian waters include more than fifty shark species.

Climate: Climate change is intensifying weather extremes across Australia, contributing to rising temperatures, longer heatwaves, shifting rainfall patterns, and more severe bushfire seasons. These changes have heightened risks along the coasts and in the interior, amplifying the impacts of droughts, floods, tropical cyclones, and large-scale wildfires.

The north coast lies at a latitude comparable to Guatemala and experiences a tropical humid climate, with the heaviest rainfall occurring during the summer wet season from January through March. Average temperatures are around 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) in winter and about 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in summer, while daytime highs frequently exceed 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

Rainfall along the eastern and western coasts averages roughly 100 centimeters (40 inches) per year, while much of the interior remains extremely arid, often receiving less than 50 centimeters (20 inches) annually. Southern coastal regions have a temperate climate, with average summer temperatures near 20 degrees Celsius (67 degrees Fahrenheit) and winter averages around 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit). Snowfall is rare outside high elevations and the island of Tasmania.

Tropical cyclones commonly affect the northeastern and northwestern coasts, particularly Queensland and Western Australia. Dry winds from the interior can sweep across the southeast and southwest, at times fueling destructive wildfires. Notable examples include a major blaze near Melbourne in 1983 that destroyed about 3,700 buildings and caused seventy-six deaths, and fires near Sydney in 1994 that destroyed more than 200 homes and claimed four lives.

From July 2019 to March 2020, the country experienced the worst wildfire season recorded to that point, with approximately 46 million acres burned and nearly three billion animals affected, underscoring the growing scale and severity of climate-driven disasters.

Economy

Australia has a robust market economy. In 2024 the gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) was estimated at US$1.635 trillion, and per capita GDP was estimated at US$60,100. Unemployment in 2024 was estimated at 4.1 percent.

In the early 2020s some of Australia's largest trading partners, in terms of imports and exports, included China, Japan, the United States, South Korea, Thailand, and India.

Industry: Australia's economy has a large service sector, which accounted for an estimated 65.5 percent of GDP in 2024 led by property and business services. Industry, including manufacturing, made up 26 percent of GDP at that time.

Commodities account for more than 50 percent of exports. Coal is the leading export by value, followed by iron ore, gold, meat, wool, and aluminum. Australia is among the world's top producers of gold and the largest volume producer of diamonds.

The mining industry during the 1970s and 1980s relied on Japanese investment and demand, particularly for iron ore. Expansion of China's economy starting in the 1990s again increased demand for raw materials.

Agriculture: While agriculture makes up a relatively small part of Australian GDP, Australia is a world leader in wool exports. Agricultural products include wheat, sugarcane, barley, milk, rapeseed, cotton, sorghum, beef, oats, chicken. Australian agriculture includes a strong viticulture sector, with grape production playing a key role in supporting the country’s wine industry and contributing significantly to overall agricultural revenues. Other important agricultural products include sugar, honey, cotton, and lamb.

Tourism: The 2000 Olympic Games, held in Sydney, boosted the direct contribution of travel and tourism to a peak of about 3.4 percent of GDP. Australia received 8.8 million international visitors from March 2019 to March 2020, at which point tourism largely stopped due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector began to recover by the end of 2021 and over 2 million tourists visited Australia in 2022, a 1200 percent increase over the previous year's number of tourists.

Many tourists stay at beachside resorts in Cairns in order to visit the Great Barrier Reef. Other resorts line much of the east coast. The central desert region, known as the Outback, is also popular with more adventurous tourists. Major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne also draw significant numbers of visitors, as well as business travelers and international students.

Government

Australia's six states are organized under a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament. The British monarch's appointed governor-general serves as the symbolic head of state.

The prime minister is the leader of the majority elected party in the Parliament of Australia. The Senate is made up of twelve elected senators per state and two each from ACT and the Northern Territory, for a total of seventy-six. The House of Representatives contains about twice as many elected representatives as the Senate, according to the population of each state. Senators serve six-year terms. House members serve three-year terms. The prime minister selects Parliament members to form the cabinet, which includes ministers of defense, education, finance, and foreign affairs.

In 2023 Australian voters rejected a proposal, known as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which would have established a permanent advisory body in Parliament comprised of elected Indigenous representatives from all of Australia's Indigenous people.

State governments are also generally bicameral parliamentary systems, while local governing falls to shire councils, borough councils, and city and town councils.

The High Court of Australia consists of a chief justice and six other justices who are appointed by ministers on the Federal Executive Council.

Interesting Facts

The Sydney Opera House is 186 meters (611 feet) long, 116 meters (380 feet) wide, and weighs 161,000 tons.

Famous Australian pop stars include Natalie Imbruglia, Kylie Minogue, and Olivia Newton-John (born in the United Kingdom). Hard-rock band AC/DC was formed in Sydney in 1973.

Australia, the driest inhabited continent in the world, also hosts 10 percent of the world's biodiversity.

The platypus and echidna, both native to Australia, are the only two mammal species in the world that lay eggs to give birth.

Bibliography

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Givetash, Linda. "Australian Wildfires Declared Among the 'Worse Wildlife Disasters in Modern History.'" NBC News, 28 July 2020, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/australian-wildfires-declared-among-worst-wildlife-disasters-modern-history-n1235071. Accessed 31 Aug. 2020.

Visontay, Elias. "Australia Rejects Proposal to Recognise Aboriginal People in Constitution." The Guardian, 14 Oct. 2023, www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/14/australia-rejects-proposal-to-recognise-aboriginal-people-in-constitution. Accessed 26 Oct. 2023.