Australia

1. Australia (/ə ˈ streɪ ljə /), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere. Australia's landmass of 7, 617, 930 square kilometres (2, 941, 300 sq mi) is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent and sixth largest country by total area, Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the " island continent", and is sometimes considered the world's largest island.

2. For at least 40, 000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.

3. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The federation comprises six states and several territories. The population of 22.9 million is heavily concentrated in the Eastern states and is highly urbanised.

4. A highly developed country, Australia is the world's 13th-largest economy and has the world's sixth-highest per capita income. Australia's military expenditure is the world's 13th-largest. With the second-highest human development index globally, Australia ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political rights. Australia is a member of the WTO, UN, Commonwealth of Nations and others.

5. The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning " southern". The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century. Aussie is a common colloquial term for " Australian". In neighbouring New Zealand the term " Aussie" is sometimes applied as a noun to the nation as well as its residents.

6. Australia's national flag comprises the Union Jack, the Commonwealth Star, and the Southern Cross. Australia has six states—New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia—and two major mainland territories—the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

7. The federal government is separated into three branches:

• The legislature: the bicameral Parliament, defined in section 1 of the constitution as comprising the Queen (represented by the Governor-General - Quentin Bryce), the Senate, and the House of Representatives;

• The executive: the Federal Executive Council, in practice the Governor-General as advised by the Prime Minister (Julia Gillard) and Ministers of State;

• The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Council.

8. There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party (centre-left), and the Coalition (centre-right) which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party.

9. Australia's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with subtropical rain forests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east areas, and a dry desert in its centre. It is the flattest continent. The population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, is among the lowest in the world, although a large proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline. All of Australia's major cities fare well in global comparative livability surveys; Melbourne reached first place on The Economist's 2011 World's Most Livable Cities list, followed by Sydney, Perth, and Adelaide in sixth, eighth, and ninth place respectively. Canberra is the capital of Australia.

10. Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests, and is recognised as a megadiverse country. Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions, wattles replace them in drier regions and deserts as the most dominant species. Among well-known Australian fauna are the monotremes (the platypus and echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, koala, and wombat, and birds such as the emu and the kookaburra. Australia is home to venomous snakes and the dingo.

11. Australia is a wealthy country with a market economy with high GDP per capita and a low rate of poverty. The Australian dollar is the currency for the nation. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, particularly wheat and wool, minerals such as iron-ore and gold, and energy in the forms of liquified natural gas and coal. Australia is the world's fourth largest exporter of wine.

12. The people of Australia are mainly a mixture of British and Irish ethnic origin. In the 2011 Australian census, the most commonly nominated ancestry was English (36.1 per cent), followed by Australian (35.4 per cent), Irish (10.4 per cent), Scottish (8.9 per cent) and others.

13. Although Australia has no official language, English is so entrenched that it has become the de facto national language. Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon. According to the 2011 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for close to 81% of the population.

14. Australia has no state religion. In the 2011 census, 61.1 per cent of Australians were counted as Christian, including 25.3 per cent as Roman Catholic and 17.1 per cent as Anglican. About 22 per cent of the population stated " no religion" (which includes humanism, atheism, agnosticism and rationalism). The largest non-Christian religion in Australia is Buddhism (2.5 per cent), followed by Islam (2.2 per cent), Hinduism (1.3 per cent) and Judaism (0.5 per cent).

15. School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia. Education is the responsibility of the individual states and territories so the rules vary between states, but in general children are required to attend school from the age of about 5 up until about 16. In at least some states (eg, WA) children aged 16–17 are required to either attend school or participate in a state-based system of vocational training, such as an apprenticeship, known as TAFE. The University of Sydney is Australia's oldest university, having been founded in 1850, followed by the University of Melbourne three years later.

16. Cricket has been an important part of Australia's sporting culture since the 19th century. Australia has strong international teams in cricket, field hockey, netball, rugby league, and rugby union, having been Olympic or world champions at least twice in each sport in the last 25 years for both men and women where applicable. Australia is also powerful in track cycling, rowing, and swimming, having consistently been in the top-five medal-winners at Olympic or World Championship level since 2000. Swimming is the strongest of these sports.