Geography of Australia – The Ultimate Free Guide 2021
The Geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of bio geographic regions being the world’s smallest continent, while comprising the territory of the sixth-largest country in the world. The population of Australia is concentrated along the eastern and south-eastern coasts.
- The geography of the continent is extremely diverse, ranging from the snow-capped mountains of the Australian Alps and Tasmania to large deserts, tropical and temperate forests, grasslands, heath lands and woodlands.
Geography of Australia
Region:
Oceania
Area:
Ranked 6th
Demonym:
Australian
Population:
39,000,000
Countries:
- Micronesia,
- Fiji,
- Kiribati,
- Marshall Islands,
- Nauru,
- New Zealand,
- Palau,
- Papua New Guinea,
- Samoa,
- Solomon Islands,
- Tonga,
- Tuvalu and
- Vanuatu.
Total Size:
7,686,850 km2
Geographical Coordinates:
24.4042° S, 132.5510° E
World Region or Continent:
Australia
Land:
99%
Geographical Low Point:
Lake Eyre, −15 m
Geographical High Point:
Mount Kosciuszko – 2,228 m
Climate:
- Largest part of Australia is arid or semi-arid.
- A total of 18% of Australia’s mainland consists of named deserts,while additional areas are considered to have a desert climate based on low rainfall and high temperature. Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil.
- The northern part of the continent has a tropical climate: part is tropical rainforests, part grasslands, and part desert.
- Rainfall is highly variable, with frequent droughts lasting several seasons.
- Occasionally a dust storm will blanket a region or even several states and there are reports of the occasional large tornado.
- Australia’s tropical/subtropical location and cold waters off the western coast make most of western Australia a hot desert with aridity, a marked feature of the greater part of the continent.
Major cities:
- Sydney
- Melbourne
- Brisbane
- Perth
- Adelaide
- Gold Coast
- Newcastle
- Canberra
Major Land forms:
- The Coastal Plains,
- The Eastern Highlands,
- The Central Lowlands and
- The Western Plateau.
Major Rivers and Lakes:
Major Rivers:
- Murray River
- Murrumbidgee River
- Darling River
- Lachlan River
- Warrego River
- Cooper Creek
- Paroo River
Major Lakes:
- Lake Burley Griffin
- Lake Garnpung
- Lake Amadeus (salt)
- Lake Dalrymple
- Lake Eyre (salt)
- Lake Gordon
- Lake Corangamite
- Lake Mackay
Famous Places:
- Sydney Opera House.
- Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
- Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
- Sydney Harbour Bridge.
- Blue Mountains National Park.
- Melbourne.
- Bondi Beach.
- Daintree National Park.
Natural Resources:
- Gold,
- Iron ore,
- Lead,
- Nickel,
- Rutile,
- Uranium,
- Zinc,
- zircon,
- Bauxite,
- Cobalt,
- Copper,
- Ilmenite,
- Niobium,
- Silver,
- Tantalum and
- Thorium.
Major Geographical Features:
Biomes & Ecosystems:
Temperate broad leaf and mixed forests
Topography:
The continent of Australia is divided into four general topographic regions:
- A low, sandy eastern coastal plain;
- The eastern highlands, ranging from 300 to more than 2,100 m (1,000–7,000 ft) in altitude and extending from Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland southward to Tasmania;
- The central plains, consisting largely of a north-south series of drainage basins, including the Great Artesian Basin, which underlies about 1,751,480 sq km (676,250 sq mi) of territory and is the most extensive area of internal drainage in the world; and (
- The western plateau, covered with great deserts and “bigger plains” (regularly spaced sand ridges and rocky wastes), rising 300 to 600 m (1,000–2,000 ft) high and constituting most of the western half of the continent
Oceans:
- Pacific Ocean,
- Southern Ocean and
- Indian Oceans
Islands:
- Kangaroo Island
- Lord Howe Island
- Fraser Island
- Phillip Island
- Rottenest Island
- Bruny Island
- Hamilton Island
- Magnetic Island
- Moreton Island
Mountains:
- Mount Kosciuszko
- Mount Ossa
- Mount Bartle Frere
- Mount Zeil
- Legges Tor
- Bellenden Ker
- Mount Bogong
- Mount Elliot
- Mount Bowen
- Brumlow Top
Countries of Australia :
- Australia,
- New Zealand,
- Melanesia,
- Micronesia,
- Polynesia.
Facts about Europe:
- It is the only continent covered by a single country with truly unique landscapes, natural wonders and extraordinary experiences for travelers.
- Melbourne was the capital city of Australia for 26 years between 1901 and 1927 before the capital shifted to Canberra
- There are three times as many sheep than people living in Australia
- Platypus are highly poisonous, and have enough poison to kill a dog or make a human seriously ill
- Two native Australian animals, Platypus and Echidnas, are the only two mammals in the world that lay eggs to give birth
- It has a larger population of camels than Egypt
- While Kangaroos are considered a national icon, with over 40 million estimated throughout the country, they can also be considered a pest in some locations and are sometimes culled
See Also:
