About Australia
Size
Australia is the largest island in the world. The largest state, Western Australia, is bigger than Germany, France and Italy combined. The smallest state, Tasmania, is a little bigger than Switzerland.
Geography
In the centre of Australia are hot, flat desserts, while in the north there are millions of kilometres of tropical forests, and in the south there are hills and mountains; you can even go skiing in the Southern Alps.
Population
Australia has 20,000,000 citizens. Most people live in the big cities: Sydney (4.2 million), Melbourne (3.6million), Brisbane (1.7 million), Perth (1.5 million), and Adelaide (1.2 million).
People
 Aboriginal Australians have lived here for at least 50,000 years, while the modern era started 220 years ago with English settlement in 1788. More than 50% Australians have ancestors from England, Scotland or Ireland, but millions more people came from other countries, particularly: Italy, Greece, Germany, China and Vietnam.
Industry
The major industries of Australia are farming, mining, science & technology, steel & metal production, food processing, chemical manufacture, machinery & transport production and financial services. Australia's major trading partners are Japan, the USA, China, Sth Korea, New Zealand and the UK. Its major imports are electrical goods, vehicles, clothing, oil and luxury goods.
Facts About Australia
- The Great Barrier Reef is about 2,000 km long.
- The longest river in Australia is the Murray/Darling River, it's 3,370 km long.
- There are about 25,000,000 kangaroos in Australia,
- There are about 500,000 koalas in Australia.
- The highest mountain in Australia is Heard Island, it's 2,754 metres high.
- The lowest place in Australia is Lake Eyre, it's -15 metres below sea level.
- The wettest place in Australia is Bellenden Kerr, it recorded 11, 251 mm one year.
- The driest place in Australia is Mulka Bore, it often records no rain in a year.
- The hottest temperature ever recorded was 53 Celsius at Cloncurry.
- The coldest temperature ever recorded was -23 Celsius at Charlottes Pass.
- 4,100,000 Australians can speak a second language.
- 3,000,000 Australians speak a second language at home.
- Number of people killed in NSW between 1985 and 2005 by sharks: 1.
- Number of people killed in NSW between 1985 and 2005 by cows: 6.
- Australians drink 2,500,000,000 litres of alcohol each year.
- Australians have invested US$451,000,000,000 in mutual funds (world's 4th largest amount).
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