Australia

Australia: population and cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, Australia has around 22.5 million people.

In Australia, around 430,000 people from other countries are enrolled as students at universities, colleges or technical and language schools. Most of the students come from China and the second most at around 90,000 from India. This educational import brings the country around 9.5 billion euros annually due to the student fees and the expenses of guests.

Ethnic groups

92% white, about 6-7% Asians, about 1-2% Aborigines

Religions

About 71% Christians (22% Anglican Church, 27% Catholics, 8% United Church of Australia, 14% other Christians); 3-4% non-Christian religions, 25-26% non-religious or without information.

Languages spoken

English, Aboriginal language and a range of dialects.

Capital, other cities

The capital of Australia is Canberra, with a population of around 340,000.

Other big cities are:

• Sydney with a population of 4.09 million
• Melbourne with a population of 3.47 million
• Brisbane with a population of 627,000
• Perth, with a population of 1.38 million
• Adelaide, with a population of 1.1 million. The city was named after the German wife of the British King Wilhelm IV.

Australia: geography, general map

Defined by DigoPaul, the continent of Australia and thus the state of Australia - including the 68,401 km² island of Tasmania - covers a total area of 7,686,850 km². Thereof:

• Land area: 7,617,930 km² (99%)
• Water body: about 76,179 km² (1%)

Natural resources

The country has numerous natural resources that are becoming an increasingly important economic factor. So you can find coal, iron ores with up to 60% iron, aluminum, nickel and gold. And about 200 km off the northwest coast in the "Gorgon Field" - in the Carnarvon Basin - there are large gas deposits.

The main buyers of the mineral resources are China, Japan and South Korea. The proximity of Australia to the main customer countries, where a ship trip only takes around 10 days, is particularly advantageous.

Coastline

Australia has km of coastline with a length of around 25,760.

States and Territories

Australia is divided into the following six states and two territories and the dependent areas:

Dependent areas

Longitude and latitude

Australia extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal times

Due to the size of the country, there are three time zones in Australia:

• The Western Standard Time in Western Australia: CET + 7 h
• Central Standard Time in the Northern Territories and South Australia: CET + 8.5 hours
• Eastern Standard Time in the Australian Capitol Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria: CET + 9 h

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Sydney

Sydney is located at a latitude of around φ = 34 ° south.

If the sun, or its image point, is at the southern tropic, i.e. at δ = - 23.5 °, summer begins in Sydney, this is December 21st. Accordingly, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

- 34 ° = - (90 ° - h) + -23.5 °

so:

At 79.5 °, the sun in Sydney is the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (more precisely: above the horizon).

Sun and moon

In all of Australia the sun at noon is not in the south, as in our latitudes, but in the north. So the sun moves here - from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.

And the moon, which with us in the sky - if it is waning - forms a small "a", increases in contrast to the same sight in the sky in the southern hemisphere!

Mountains, Ayers Rock

Mount Kosciuszko

The highest mountain in the country is Mount Kosciuszko, with a height of 2,229 m in the state of New South Wales.

Ayers Rock

Another not so high but world famous mountain is Ayers Rock, called Uluru in the native language. The mountain has a height of 867 m and is considered sacred by the indigenous people.

Other high mountains in Australia are:

• Mount Bogong (in Victoria) with a height of 1,986 m
• Mount Bartle Frere (in Queensland) with a height of 1,622 m
• Bimberi Peak (in the Australian Capital Territory) with a height of 1,913 m
• Mount Ossa (in Tasmania) with a height of 1,614 m
• Mount Zeil (in the Northern Territory) with a height of 1,531 m
• Mount Woodroffe (in South Australia) with an altitude of 1,435 m
• Mount Meharry (in Western Australia) with a height of 1,253 m

Rivers

Murray River

The longest river in the country is the Murray River, with a length of around 2,375 km.

Other major rivers in Australia are:

• Murrumbidgee River with a length of 1,485 km
• Darling River with a length of 1,472 km
• Lachlan River with a length of 1,339 km
• Cooper Creek with a length of 1,113 km
• Flinders River with a length of 1,004 km
• Diamantina River with a length of 942 km
• Brisbane River with a length of 345 km
• Swan River as a de facto extension of the Avon River, both rivers together have a length of 275 km

Bigger lakes

The lakes of Australia can be divided into the following two categories, whereby there are still - mostly dried up salt lakes - or also coastal lakes and lagoons:

Artificial lakes, reservoirs

Lake Argyle

Lake Burley Griffin

Lake Burragorang

Lake Burrinjuck

Lake Dartmouth

Lake Eildon

Lake Eucumbene

Lake Glenbawn

Lake Gordon

Lake Hume

Lake Jindabyne

Lake Moondarra

Blowering Dam

Burrendong Dam

Carcoar Dam

Copeton Dam

Keepit Dam

Talbingo Dam

Wyangala Dam

Natural freshwater lakes

Lake Bennett

Lake George

Great Lake

Lake Pedder

Lake St Clair

Big islands

Australia are the following large islands offshore or belong elsewhere to the state:

Tasmania

The largest island is the state of Tasmania with an area of 67,800 km² and around 516,000 residents. The capital is Hobart.

Melville Island

The second largest island is Melville Island, which lies off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territories and covers an area of 5,786 km². Only around 1,050 residents live on the island with the main town Milikapiti

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island is located in front of the state of South Australia and is the third largest island with an area of 4,405 km². Around 4,300 people live on the island with the main town of Kingscote

Fraser Island

Fraser Island is located east of the state of Queensland just a few kilometers from the mainland - about 180 km north of Brisbane. It is the largest sand island in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.

The island with an area of 1,840 km² is approx. 180 km long and 25 km wide. The highest point of the dunes measures 260 m. There are extremely pure freshwater lakes (approx. 200) on the islands.

Due to the lack of food in the water filtered through the sand, there are virtually no fish in the lakes.

Sub-Antarctic Islands

The following sub-Antarctic islands are administered by the "Australian Antarctic Division of the Department of the Environment and Heritage" and can therefore not be assigned to any state in Australia.

Heard and McDonald Islands

The islands are located within the Antarctic Convergence and thus belong to the sub-Antarctic islands. They are located in the southern Indian Ocean, about 53 ° south and 72 ° east about 1,000 km north of Antarctica and about 4,000 km south-west of Western Australia. The islands are of volcanic origin. The Heard Islands are home to Australia's only active volcano, Big Ben. This is also the highest mountain on the island with a height of 2,745 m. It is also the only active volcano on a sub-Antarctic island.

Heard Island

The Heard Island covers an area of 390 km². 70% of it is covered by glaciers. James Cook sighted the island in 1773. Heard Island was discovered on November 25, 1853 by Captain John Heard, who was on a voyage from Boston to Melbourne. In 1947 the British handed the island over to Australia. In 1997 it became a World Heritage Site.

MacDonald Islands

The MacDonald Islands cover an area of 412 km². The country abbreviation and internet code are HM. Since the islands do not have a port, ships arriving have to anchor off the stormy coast. Therefore, the island is rarely visited by visitors even today.

The Pacific

Australia borders the Indian Ocean in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east, and its tributaries are the Tasman Sea in the southeast and the Coral Sea in the northeast. You can find a detailed description of these seas at Goruma under the following links:

- Pacific

- Indian Ocean

- Tasmanian Sea