Australia
Geography - People - Economy - Government - Communications - Transportation - Military - Transnational IssuesCountry information - Australia
Country name - conventional long form : Commonwealth of Australia
Country name - conventional short form : Australia
Country name - local long form :
Country name - local short form :
Country name - former :
Country code : AS
Government type : federal parliamentary democracy
Capital - name : Canberra
Capital - time difference : UTC+10 (15 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
National holiday : Australia Day, 26 January (1788); ANZAC Day (commemorated as the anniversary of the landing of troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I at Gallipoli, Turkey), 25 April (1915)
Population : 21,007,310 (July 2008 est.)
Nationality - noun : Australian(s)
Nationality - adjective : Australian
Languages : English 79.1%, Chinese 2.1%, Italian 1.9%, other 11.1%, unspecified 5.8% (2001 Census)
Currency (code) : Australian dollar (AUD)
Currency code : AUD
Major infectious diseases - degree of risk :
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Australia is located Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. The climate is generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north. The terrain is mostly low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast.
Background
This entry usually highlights major historic events and current issues and may include a statement about one or two key future trends.Background : Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Capt. James COOK took possession in the name of Great Britain. Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy. It boasted one of the OECD's fastest growing economies during the 1990s, a performance due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s. Long-term concerns include climate-change issues such as the depletion of the ozone layer and more frequent droughts, and management and conservation of coastal areas, especially the Great Barrier Reef.
