Explore Australia in Oceania - Australia Tourism Info

Description and Basic Information

Australia with its capital Canberra is located in Oceania (Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean). It covers some 7,686,851 square kilometres (slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states) with 20,600,000 citizens. English is the language spoken by people in Australia.

Australia is the only country that has a whole continent itself. World famous for its natural wonders and wide open spaces, its beaches, deserts, "the bush", and "the Outback", Australia is actually one of the world's most highly urbanised countries. It is also well known for the cosmopolitan attractions of its large cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. As a large continent a wide variation of climates are found across Australia. The north is hot and tropical, while south tends to sub-tropical and temperate. Most rainfall is around the coast.

Pictures from Canberra (Capital)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Australia

The topography features mostly low plateau with deserts with fertile plain in southeast. The average density of population is about 2 per km². The climate in can be described as generally arid to semiarid with temperate in south and east, tropical in north. Potential natural disasters are cyclones along the coast or severe droughts or forest fires.

To reach someone in Australia dial +61 prior to a number. There are 9,020,000 installed telephones. And there are 24,220,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900, 1800 MHz and 3G. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".au". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 230V - 50Hz.

The country consists of 8 regions/states which are listed below.

Regions/States of Australia

Australian Tourism Information

Official Tourism Office

Website: Australia Tourism

Level 4, 80 William Street
Woolloomooloo NSW 2011
Australia

Phone: +61 2 9360 1111
Fax: +61 2 9331 6469

Unesco World Heritage Properties

Australia has 14 more world heritage locations. To see all of them, visit the Australia Unesco Heritage location overview.

Australian Convict Sites

The property includes a selection of eleven penal sites, among the thousands established by the British Empire on Australian soil in the 18th and 19th centuries. The sites are spread across...

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh / Naracoorte)

Riversleigh and Naracoorte, situated in the north and south respectively of eastern Australia, are among the world’s 10 greatest fossil sites. They are a superb illustration of the key stages...

Fraser Island

Fraser Island lies just off the east coast of Australia. At 122 km long, it is the largest sand island in the world. Majestic remnants of tall rainforest growing on sand and half the world’s...

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia

This site, comprising several protected areas, is situated predominantly along the Great Escarpment on Australia’s east coast. The outstanding geological features displayed around shield...

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia. It contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral,...

Demographic Information

Age Distribution in Australia

Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Natural Population Growth

Population, Migration and Growth: The population in Australia is growing at an rate of 1.17% (or by 251,949 citizens). Each year 131,892 people enter this country (or 6.10 per thousand citizens) - making it an immigration country. This leads to an absolute natural increase rate of the population of 0.56%. Or an total increase of 120,058 citizens.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.