(CONTAINS DESCRIPTION)

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 Introduction ::Australia
Background:
Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before
the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were
made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name of Great Britain. Six
colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the
Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural
resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major
contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has
transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy. It boasted
one of the OECD's fastest growing economies during the 1990s, a performance due in large
part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s. Long-term concerns include climate-change
issues such as the depletion of the ozone layer and more frequent droughts, and management
and conservation of coastal areas, especially the Great Barrier Reef.

Geography ::Australia
Location:
Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean

Geographic coordinates:
27 00 S, 133 00 E

Map references:
bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands,
lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum
note: Australia is the world's largest net exporter of coal accounting for 29% of global coal
exports

Land use:
Irrigated land:

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
25,760 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

Climate:
generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north
Terrain:
mostly low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Lake Eyre -15 m
highest point: Mount Kosciuszko 2,229 m

Natural resources:

NATURE RESOURCE

bauxite,
25,450 sqcoal,
km iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands,
(2003)
lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum
note: Australia is the world's largest net exporter of coal accounting for 29% of global
coal exports
Total renewable water resources:
G.D.P
398 cu km (1995)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 24.06 cu km/yr (15%/10%/75%)
This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and
per capita: 1,193 cu m/yr (2000)
services produced within a nation in a given year. A nation's GDP at purchasing power
parity
Natural(PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the
hazards:
country
cyclones along at
valued theprices
coast;prevailing in the United
severe droughts; forest States.
fires This is the measure most
economists prefer when looking at per-capita welfare and when comparing living
conditions
Environment or use of resources
- current issues: across countries. The measure is difficult to compute, as a
US
soil dollar
erosionvaluefromhas to be assignedindustrial
overgrazing, to all goods and services urbanization,
development, in the country regardless
and poor of farming
whether these goods and services have a direct equivalent in the United States (for
practices; soil salinity rising due to the use of poor quality water; desertification; clearing for
example,
agriculturalthepurposes
value of threatens
an ox-carttheor non-US militaryofequipment);
natural habitat many unique as aanimal
result,and
PPPplant species;
estimates for some countries are based on a small and sometimes different
the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast coast, the largest coral reef in the world, set of goods
is threatened
and
by increased shipping and its popularity as a tourist site; limited natural fresh waterBank's
services. In addition, many countries do not formally participate in the World resources
PPP project that calculates these measures, so the resulting GDP estimates for these
countries
Environment may- lack precision.agreements:
international For many developing countries, PPP-based GDP measures
are multiples
party of the official exchangeProtocol,
to: Antarctic-Environmental rate (OER) measure. The differences
Antarctic-Marine between the
Living Resources, Antarctic
OER- and PPP-denominated GDP values for most of the wealthy
Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto industrialized countries
Protocol,
are generally much smaller.
Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law
GDP
of the- per
Sea,capita
Marine (PPP)Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
This entry shows GDP
Pollution, Tropical Timber on a83,
purchasing
Tropicalpower
Timberparity basis divided
94, Wetlands, by population as of 1
Whaling
July for the same year.
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

AGRICULTURE
Geography - note:
world's smallest continent but sixth-largest country; population concentrated along the
wheat,
eastern barley, sugarcane,coasts;
and southeastern fruits, cattle, sheep, poultry
the invigorating sea breeze known as the "Fremantle Doctor"
affects the city of Perth on the west coast and is one of the most consistent winds in the world

AREA

77,41,220 sq km
Country comparison to the world- 12
Natural Resourses :
Bauxite,coal,iron,copper,tin,gold,silver,uranium,mineral sands,diamond