Hot place

Australia is one of the least comfortable continents in the world, mainly because it is hot, sometimes hot enough to kill. During the heat wave that baked southern Australia in January 1939 a total of 368 people died, and 145 deaths were attributed to the Melbourne heat wave in January and February 1959.

Australia's officially recognized maximum temperature is 53.1C, recorded at Cloncurry, Queensland, on 16 January 1889. The explorer Charles Stuart claimed to have recorded 57.2C in 1845. " The lead dropped out of our pencils", Stuart reported, " Our hair, as well as the wool on the sheep seased to grow, and our nails had become as brittle as glass." Stuart's reported temperature comes close to the officially recognized world record of 58C, measured in Libya on 13 September, 1922.

The area around Marble Bar is the hottest place in Australia, with a summer average of 41C. The world's record for the greatest number of hot days in one year goes to Wyndham, in the north of Western Australia. In 1946 the town's inhabitants sweltered through 333 consecutive days of temperatures that equalled or exceeded 32.2C

Apart from Antarctica, Australia is the driest continent. In the arid outback, where it takes 40 acres to graze a single sheep (1 acre = 0, 4 ha), are the world's largest stations (farms), including Anna Creek station in South Australia, at 12 000 sq miles.

The driest place in Australia is on the southern edge of the Simpson Desert, where an area of about 470 000 square kilometres around Lake Eyre, South Australia, has an average annual rainfall of 100-150 millimetres. Mulka Bore, to the west of Lake Eyre, is officially Australia's driest spot, having had an average annual rainfall of 100 millimetres during the 30 years that records have been kept.

Water

The lowest point on the flattest continent is near its center, on the floor of the largest lake in Australia Lake Eyre in South Australia. Lake Eyre is between 11 and 15 m below the sea level.

Lake Eyre is usually dry. A thick salt crust covers the lake bed for a large part of the time, but it dissolves quickly when the lake is filled. The salinity of the water in the lake can reach up to 57 grams per kilogram.

Australia's largest freshwater lake is artificial. It was created by the damming of the Ord River in the North of Western Australia. The resulting Lake Argyle has a surface area of 740 sq km.

Australia's largest natural freshwater lake is the Great Lake in Tasmania, which measures 25 km north to south and 5-8 east to west.

Most of Australia's natural lakes are dry for months or years at a time. Dry lakes called playas are common in South Australia and Western Australia. Most of the time, a playa is simply a dry bed of salt or clay. It fills with water only after heavy rains. The largest playas are in South Australia. They include Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens, Lake Gairdner, and Lake Frome.

Rivers

The Murray River is Australia's longest permanently flowing river. The Murray River starts in the Snowy Mountains and winds west 2, 589 kilometers.

During the southern dry season, the Murray is fed by the country's longest river, the Darling. The Darling River begins in the central part of the Eastern Highlands and flows southwest 2, 739 kilometers to the Murray.

Australia has fairly plentiful underground (artesian) water. Most of it is too salty for people to drink or for use as irrigation water. However, on many large cattle and sheep stations, underground wells supply all the drinking water for the animals.

Artesian water is trapped under such great pressure that it gushes to the surface through any opening. The water can thus be brought to the surface merely by digging a well. It does not have to be pumped.