Australia was a founder
member of the Commonwealth in 1931 when its independence was recognised
under the Statute of Westminster.
It is one of 28 island nations in the association; the mainland of
Australia is the largest island in the world.
Of the many internationally acclaimed Australian writers, 11 have won
overall Commonwealth Writers’ Prizes, eight for Best Book and three for
Best First Book.
Key facts
Joined Commonwealth: 1931 (Statute of Westminster)
Population: 23,343,000 (2013)
GDP: 1.8% p.a. 1990–2013
UN HDI: World ranking 2
Official language: English
Timezone: GMT plus 8–11hr
Currency: Australian dollar (A$)
Geography
Area: 7,682,395 sq km
Coastline: 25,800km
Capital city: Canberra
Population density (per sq. km): 3
The term ‘Australia’ is derived from Terra Australis, the name given to
a southern landmass whose existence geographers deduced before it was
discovered. Papua New Guinea (to the north) and New Zealand (to the
east) are Australia’s closest neighbours. To the south lie the Southern
Ocean and Antarctica.
The Commonwealth of Australia is a Federation with six states – New
South Wales (state capital Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland
(Brisbane), South Australia (Adelaide), Western Australia (Perth) and
Tasmania (Hobart) – and two territories, Northern Territory (capital
Darwin) and the Australian Capital Territory, where the federal capital,
Canberra, is situated. Australia also has external territories
(described in the profiles following this one). These have small
populations or are uninhabited and, apart from the vast Australian
Antarctic Territory, are small islands.
Main towns:
Canberra (capital, Australian Capital Territory, pop. 356,586 in 2011),
Sydney (New South Wales, 3.9m), Melbourne (Victoria, 3.7m), Brisbane
(Queensland, 1.87m), Perth (Western Australia, 1.62m), Adelaide (South
Australia, 1.1m), Gold Coast – Tweed Heads (Queensland, 533,659),
Newcastle (New South Wales, 308,307), Hobart (Tasmania, 204,951) and
Darwin (Northern Territory, 78,467).
Transport:
There are 825,500 km of roads, 44 per cent paved; Australian road design
is known for the long, straight roads in rural areas. Some roads may be
impassable after heavy rain.
Rail services link main towns across the country and the total system
extends to 8,615 km. The 4,000 km Indian–Pacific from Sydney to Perth
takes three days. The 3,000 km north–south line, linking Adelaide in the
south with Alice Springs in the centre and Darwin in the north was
completed in 2003.
The country has 25,800 km of coastline and many deep-water harbours.
International airports are at Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth,
Darwin, Brisbane, Hobart, Townsville and Cairns.
International relations:
Australia is a member of Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation, Indian Ocean
Rim Association for Regional Cooperation, Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, Pacific Community, Pacific Islands Forum,
United Nations and World Trade Organization.
Topography:
Australia is the largest link in the chain running between South-East
Asia and the South Pacific. Much of central Australia is desert. The
main mountain chain, the Great Dividing Range, runs down the east coast,
rising to Australia’s highest point at Mt Kosciusko (2,230m).
Consequently, many of the rivers draining to the east are short; those
flowing to the west, of which the Murray-Darling river system is the
most considerable, tend to flow only after heavy rains and end in lakes
which are often dry with a salt-bed.
Climate:
The Tropic of Capricorn almost bisects the continent, running just north
of Alice Springs, Australia’s central settlement. The subtropical areas
north of this line have summer rainfall and dry winters. South of the
Tropic, the rest of the continent and Tasmania are temperate.
Continental considerations affect this basic pattern, most coastal areas
having some rainfall, whereas a large tract of central Australia has
less than 300mm p.a. Drought and consequent bushfires are a serious
problem.
This pattern of rainfall will be dramatically affected by occasional La
Niña events which occur in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean causing
the sea to cool and increasing the probability that strong cool onshore
winds will bring heavy rains to the eastern regions of Australia, as
occurred from November 2010, when there were devastating floods first in
Queensland, then in Victoria.
Environment:
The most significant environmental issues are soil erosion and
desertification; loss of the natural habitat of many unique animal and
plant species due to increases in agricultural and industrial
production; and damage to the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef
in the world, due to increased shipping and tourism.
Vegetation:
A wide range, from the tropical jungle of Queensland to the sparse
flowers of the desert, with many unique species which evolved in the
continent’s long geological isolation. Over 500 species of eucalyptus
and over 600 species of acacia (wattle). The main fertile areas are in
the south and east in New South Wales and Victoria – arable land
comprises 6% of the total land area, while the north-east has tropical
forest and bush – forest covers 19% of the country.
Wildlife:
Many indigenous animal species are unique to the continent. The most
distinctive are the marsupials, of which there are 120 species from the
kangaroo to the tiny desert mouse, and the monotremes, the rare order of
mammals which lay eggs, such as the duck-billed platypus and the
echidna. There are also several species of flightless birds – the emu,
second only to the African ostrich in size, and the cassowary
History:
Fifty million years ago the Australian continent broke away from the
great southern landmass of Gondwanaland, which comprised South America,
Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica. Apart from a period during the
last Ice Age when the sea level was 100 metres lower than it is today,
Australia existed in isolation. This resulted in the evolution of
vegetation and wildlife which is substantially unique.
It was thought that the Aboriginal population may have lived in
Australia for 50,000 years. However, recent evidence from the Kimberley
region of Western Australia suggests much older human habitation. When
European explorers arrived, the Aboriginal peoples lived by hunting and
gathering and using stone tools. Estimates of the historical size of the
population range up to 750,000 people. Aboriginal society, though
technologically undeveloped, had complex cultural and religious forms,
and some 500 languages, in 31 basic groups. There was a rich oral
tradition of songs and stories, and many different styles of rock art.
The first known Europeans to land were Dutch. In 1606, William Jansz
landed on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, and thereafter various
landings were made. The Dutch named this land New Holland, but showed no
interest in further exploration.
In April 1770, Captain James Cook in HMS Endeavour with the botanist Sir
Joseph Banks landed in Botany Bay (in what is now New South Wales) and
claimed the east coast for the English Crown. Having just lost the
American colonies, England needed new penal colonies, and the first
shipload of Australian settlers were convicts, arriving with Governor
Arthur Phillip in 1788. They moved to Port Jackson (now part of Sydney
Harbour) on 26 January, now Australia Day. However, even before
transportation to New South Wales was abolished in 1840, free settlers
were arriving in increasing numbers. Further exploration, often
dangerous, revealed that the land known as New Holland and the English
colony were one and the same large island.
In 1831, Western Australia became the second colony, followed by South
Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, Tasmania in 1856, and Queensland in
1859. The Northern Territory was, for some time, part of South Australia
and later the responsibility of the federal government, achieving
self-government in 1978.
The settler population in early years lived mostly in coastal areas,
deploying large tracts of land for sheep and cattle. The annexation of
land was often accompanied by brutal treatment of the Aboriginal
population, who were forced into the interior. Gold was first discovered
in Victoria in the 1850s and prompted Australia’s gold rush with a
consequent opening up of the interior and more displacement of the
Aboriginals. Wheat farming developed, and the country rapidly became a
leading exporter. With the invention of refrigeration, export trade in
mutton and dairy products began. An extensive railway system was built.
Between 1860 and 1890, immigrants, and capital, mostly from Britain,
contributed to a long economic boom. In 1891, the country had a
population of 3 million, and was exporting wool, mutton, dairy products
and wheat.
The colonies, all of which had Westminster-style representative
institutions by 1890, became one nation on 1 January 1901. The
Commonwealth of Australia, with a federal structure, was established. By
the time of World War I, Australian politics emphasised social policy,
industrial development, and protectionism to cushion local industries
and maintain full employment. The development of the steel industry
after 1915 and advances in mining assisted development, so that by 1939,
industry was responsible for 40 per cent of GDP. Sophisticated
industries such as car manufacture developed in the 1950s. By the latter
1980s, Australians enjoyed one of the world’s highest living standards.
Australia’s political party system traditionally consisted of the
Liberal Party, National Party (originally known as the Country Party)
and Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal and National parties were frequently
in coalition. A new party, the Australian Democrats, was formed in the
1970s as a breakaway group from the Liberal–National coalition. The
Liberal–National coalition was in office from 1949 until 1972, and again
from 1975 to 1983, under Malcolm Fraser. The Labor Party, under Bob
Hawke and then Paul Keating, was in office from 1983 to 1996, when the
Liberal–National coalition led by John Howard returned to power.
Howard’s conservative coalition’s majority was reduced in an early
general election in October 1998, in the face of a strong showing by the
Labor Party led by Kim Beazley.
In February 1998, the Constitutional Convention voted by 89 votes to 52
for Australia to become a republic by 2001, and by 73 votes to 57 to
replace the British monarch with a President. It was agreed that there
would be a referendum on the issue.
Despite evidence from opinion polls that most Australians were in favour
of a republic, in the referendum of November 1999 – when asked if they
supported ‘an act to alter the constitution to establish the
Commonwealth of Australia as a republic, with the Queen and
Governor-General being replaced by a President appointed by a two-thirds
majority of the members of the Commonwealth Parliament’ – almost 55 per
cent registered a ‘No’ vote. The result was widely attributed to
widespread dissatisfaction about the right of parliamentarians to choose
a President.
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