Facts
Our Landscape
A wide, brown land
Australia is the sixth largest country in
the world. It's about the same size as the
48 mainland states of the USA and 50 per
cent larger than Europe, but has the lowest
population density in the world - only two
people per square kilometre.
Beach paradise
Australia’s coastline stretches almost
50,000 kilometres and is linked by over
10,000 beaches, more than any other country
in the world. More than 85 per cent of
Australians live within 50 kilometres of the
coast, making it an integral part of our
laid-back lifestyle.
Our island home
Australia is the only nation to govern an
entire continent and its outlying islands.
The mainland is the largest island and the
world’s smallest, flattest continent.
Our exports
Opals in our eyes
Australia produces 95 per cent of the
world's precious opals and 99 per cent of
its black opals. The world’s opal capital is
the quirky underground town of Coober Pedy
in South Australia. The world’s largest
opal, weighing 5.27 kilograms, was found
here in 1990.
Gold galore
Kalgoorlie in Western Australia is
Australia's largest producer of gold. It
also embraces the world's largest political
electorate, covering a mammoth 2.2 million
square kilometres.
Merinos and cattle calls
Australia's 85.7 million sheep (mostly
merinos) produce most of the world's wool.
With 25.4 million head of cattle, Australia
is also the world's largest exporter of
beef.
Our Record-Breakers
Natural legends
Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef is home to
the world’s largest oyster, weighing up to 3
kilograms, while the world’s longest
earthworm, stretching up to 4 metres, is
found in Gippsland in Victoria. The heaviest
crab, weighing up to 14 kilograms, is found
in Bass Strait near Tasmania. Australia’s
tallest mountain is Mt Kosciuszko, which is
2,228 metres above sea level.
Longest road, rail and fence
The world’s longest piece of straight
railway track stretches 478 kilometres
across South Australia’s vast, treeless
Nullarbor Plain. Australia’s longest stretch
of straight road - 148 kilometres – is on
the Eyre Highway in Western Australia. It’s
just a tiny portion of the 2,700 kilometre
sealed road that takes travelers from Perth
to Adelaide. The world's longest continuous
fence – the dingo fence – was built to keep
sheep safe from Australia's native dog and
runs for 5,531 kilometres through central
Queensland and South Australia.
Our Flora and Fauna
A hopping icon
The iconic kangaroo is unique to Australia
and one of our most easily recognised
mammals. There are an estimated 40 million
kangaroos in Australia, more than when
Australia was first settled.
Unique wildlife
Australia developed a unique fauna when it
broke away from the super-continent Gondwana
more than 50 million years ago. Today
Australia is home to a wealth of wildlife
not found anywhere else in the world. We
have around 800 species of birds, half of
which are unique to this country. Our marine
environments contain more than 4,000 fish
varieties and tens of thousands of species
of invertebrates, plants and
micro-organisms. About 80 per cent of
Australia's southern marine species are
found nowhere else in the world.
Flourishing flora
Australia also supports at least 25,000
species of plants, compared to 17,500 in
Europe. That includes living fossils like
the Wollemi pine and the grass tree, and
brilliant wildflowers. There are over 12,000
species in Western Australia alone!
Our People and Culture
An ethnic melting pot
Since 1945 more than six million people from
across the world have come to Australia to
live. Today, more than 20 per cent of
Australians are foreign born and more than
40 per cent are of mixed cultural origin. In
our homes we speak 226 languages - after
English, the most popular are Italian,
Greek, Cantonese and Arabic.
Big country, big ideas
Australians invented notepads (1902), the
surf lifesaving reel (1906), aspirin (1915),
the pacemaker (1926), penicillin (1940) the
Hills Hoist clothesline (1946), the plastic
disposable syringe (1949), the wine cask
(1965), the bionic ear (1978), dual-flush
toilet flush (1980) anti-counterfeiting
technology for banknotes (1992) and
long-wearing contact lenses (1999).
Aboriginal advances
Believed to be the world’s oldest
civilization, Aboriginal people have lived
and thrived on this continent for more than
50,000 years. Aboriginal societies made many
unique advances long before the Europeans
arrived. They invented the aerodynamic
boomerang and a type of spear thrower called
the woomera. They were also the first
society to ground edges on stone cutting
tools and the first to use stone tools to
grind seeds, everyday tools developed only
much later by other societies.
