| One of the most beautiful countries of the world. | | | | speak English, it is the national language. It is a |
| The name Australia was derived from the Latin word | | | | country that has a sign language called Auslan which |
| that means "Southern"; it is an apt name for this | | | | is used by about 6,500 deaf people residing in the |
| country that lies in the southern hemisphere. People | | | | country. The most common religion in is Christianity |
| around the world also refer to it as Aussie which is | | | | with 64% people following it, 26% of the people are |
| pronounced as Oz. The first signs of habitation in the | | | | Roman Catholics and 19% are Anglican and 5% of |
| country date back to 42,000 to 48,000 years ago | | | | the population is Non Christian. The largest and most |
| and were hunter gatherers who have been known to | | | | populous city is Sydney with a population of |
| arrive through land bridges from South-East Asia. The | | | | 4,336,374 and an area of 4,689.1 sq mi; it is also the |
| Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first | | | | capital. The other big cities in are Melbourne with a |
| European who had sighted the Cape York Peninsula | | | | population of 3,806,092 and an area of 3,400.0 sq mi, |
| near Australia in 1606. | | | | Brisbane with a population of 1,867,594 people and an |
| Modern day Australia or the Commonwealth is | | | | area of 2,279.9 sq mi. |
| constituted of the six states of Queensland, New | | | | The most popular sports played in are field hockey, |
| South Wales, Tasmania, South, Western, Victoria and | | | | cricket, rugby, soccer, horse racing and motor racing. |
| the two major mainland territories Australian Capital | | | | They have international teams in sports such as field |
| Territory, Northern Territory. The total area of is | | | | hockey, cricket, rugby, netball and football. The |
| 2,941,300 sq mi, of which it has a coastline of 21,262 | | | | Australian cricket team led by Captain Kevin Petersen |
| mi and an exclusive economic zone of 3,146,060 sq | | | | is one of the strongest cricket team in the world. |
| mi. It is the flattest continent of the world with the | | | | They have always participated in every |
| least fertile and oldest soils, it is also the driest | | | | Commonwealth Games and summer Olympic Games. |
| inhabited continent. They also have the world's | | | | The people of Australia love theatre, ballet and music. |
| largest monolith Mount Augustus in Western Australia | | | | There have been many international rock bands from |
| that lies 1105 m above sea level and stretches over | | | | here such as Silverchair, INXS and AC/DC and |
| an area of 47.95 km². The world's largest coral | | | | international singers like Kylie Minogue and Olivia |
| reef The Great Barrier Reef that comprises of over | | | | Newton-John. There have been many famous movie |
| 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretches for | | | | actors like Hugh Jackman, Judith Anderson, Geoffrey |
| 2,600 kms and covers a total area of 133,000 sq mi. | | | | Rush, Russell Crowe, Errol Flynn, Naomi Watts, Heath |
| Australia is a multicultural country with a total | | | | Ledger, Nicole Kidman, and Toni Collette who have |
| population of 21,370,800 people. Every year | | | | called it their home. |
| thousands of people migrate there. The people of | | | | |