AUSTRALIA

My Lovely Arina


Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Its official name is the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia is the sixth biggest country in the world by landmass.

22 million people Australia's landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometers is on the Indo-Australian plate.^[1] The continent of Australia, including the island of Tasmania, was separated from the other continents of the world many millions of years ago. Because of this, many animals and plants live in Australia that are not found anywhere else. These include animals like the kangaroo, the koala, theemu, the kookaburra, and the platypus.

People first arrived in Australia more than 50,000 years ago. These native Australians are called theAustralian Aborigines. For the history of Australia, see History of Australia.

Most of the Australian colonies, having been settled from Britain, became mostly independent democratic states in the 1850s and all six combined as a federation on 1 January 1901. The first Prime Minister of Australia was Edmund Barton in 1901. Australia is a member of theUnited Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations. It is a parliamentary democracy and aconstitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia and Head of State and aGovernor General who is chosen by the Prime Minister to carry out all the duties of the Queen in Australia. live in Australia. About 60% live in and around the mainland state capitals ofSydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Australia's capital city is Canberra.

The continent of Australia and the islands of New Zealand are called Australasia. The islands nearby are Oceania.