GeoFroggy

View Large Map

Background

Prehistoric settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia at least 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 of the east coast in the name of Great Britain (all of Australia was claimed as British territory in 1829 with the creation of the colony of Western Australia). 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 Allied effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has become an internationally competitive, advanced market economy due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s and its location in one of the fastest growing regions of the world economy. Long-term concerns include aging of the population, pressure on infrastructure, and environmental issues such as floods, droughts, and bushfires. Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth, making it particularly vulnerable to the challenges of climate change. Australia is home to 10 per cent of the world's biodiversity, and a great number of its flora and fauna exist nowhere else in the world. In January 2013, Australia assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2013-14 term.

Location

Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean

Climate

200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

Natural Hazards

1,152 cu m/yr (2010)

Environment Current Issues

Cyclones along the coast; severe droughts; forest fires volcanism: volcanic activity on Heard and McDonald Islands

Environment International Agreements

party to: Soil erosion from overgrazing, industrial development, urbanization, and poor farming practices; soil salinity rising due to the use of poor quality water; desertification; clearing for agricultural purposes threatens the natural habitat of many unique animal and plant species; the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast coast, the largest coral reef in the world, is threatened by increased shipping and its popularity as a tourist site; limited natural freshwater resources

signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

Geography Note

none of the selected agreements

Year	2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000

Map Reference

Oceania

Irrigated Land

93.79% (2011)

Area 2014

total

7,741,220 sq km
land

7,682,300 sq km
water

58,920 sq km
note

includes Lord Howe

Coastline

0 km

Geographical Coordinates

27 00 S, 133 00 E

Land use 2014

Arable Land
bauxite,
Permanent Crops
6.16%
Other
0.05%

Terrain

Generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north

Natural Resources

Mount Kosciuszko 2

229 m

Australia