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| Australia |
Australia is located on the Tropic of Capricorn and between the longitudes 110º and 155º east of Greenwich. It is both a country and a continent covering a total area of over 7.6 million sq. km. On its north and east is the Pacific Ocean, to its west is the India Ocean and further down south lies Antarctica.
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Most of the north and the north eastern coast of Australia is covered with tropical rain forest full of pines, ferns, orchids, bunya and many other forms of vegetation. The south Eastern coast is made up of broad leaf forests which have pine and beech trees. Further inland from the tropical forests lie large areas covered with Eucalyptus forests all along the north and north east. As we move further towards central Australia, we come across large areas of grasslands, which ultimately lead us to the central desert and scrubland. A famous physical feature of Australia is the ‘Ayers Rock’ which is located in central Australia this is the largest rock in the world.
All along the north eastern coastline is the Great Barrier reef which is almost 2000 km long and is made up of coral. The highest mountain is Australia in Mount Kosciusko and it is 7,130 feet high from sea level. The longest river in Australia is the Murrey Darling and it is 3,750 km long. Central Australia is a mixture of grassland, scrubland and desert, like the Great Sandy desert, Simpson desert, Gibson desert and the Great Victorian desert. In the deserts we can find snakes, spiders, scorpions and other animals.
Wildlife is found in many forms and in abundance all over Australia. Australia has a very large number of wildlife reserves covering than 75 million hectares of land. Most of the grasslands are inhabited by grazers like kangaroos and wallabies. There are almost no tree living primates in Australia, instead we have phalangers, koalas and opossums.
Australia is rich in minerals like Gold and Iron and it also produces almost one-third of the world’s Uranium. Canberra is the capital of Australia and is located close to the south eastern coast. Australia is divided into six states and two territories. Most of the Australian population lives in the cities like Sydney and Melobourne and most of central Australia is sparsely populated. The interior of Australia is called the outback and is sparsely populated either by the natives called ‘Aborigines’ or by ranchers who own large cattle ranches. The Aborigines are the earliest inhabitants of Australia and their ancestors may have migrated from South-East Asia. There are may industries in Australia and it is also the main occupation of the people.
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