Australia

Country encompassing the continent of Australia and the island of Tasmania. It is the sixth largest country in the world. It became an independent member of the British Commonwealth in 1931.
Languages: English.
Currency: Australian dollar.
Capital: Canberra.
Population: 21,262,641 (2009 estimate).
Area: 7,692,024 sq km (2,969,907 sq mi)
Official Name: Commonwealth of Australia.
Major Cities:
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest Australian city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east of Melbourne. The site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being an entirely planned city. Following an international contest for the city's design, a blueprint by the Chicago architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. The Griffins' plan featured geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, and was centred around axes aligned with significant topographical landmarks in the Australian Capital Territory. The city's design was heavily influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title "bush capital". The growth and development of Canberra were hindered by the World Wars and the Great Depression, which exacerbated a series of planning disputes and the ineffectiveness a sequence of bodies that were to oversee the development of the city. The national capital emerged as a thriving city after World War II, as Prime Minister Robert Menzies championed its development and the National Capital Development Commission was formed with executive powers. Although the Australian Capital Territory is now self-governing, the federal government retains some influence through the National Capital Authority. As the seat of the government of Australia, Canberra is the site of Parliament House, the High Court and numerous government departments and agencies. It is also the location of many social and cultural institutions of national significance, such as the Australian War Memorial, Australian National University, Australian Institute of Sport, National Gallery, National Museum and the National Library. The Australian Army's officer corps are trained at the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the Australian Defence Force Academy is also located in the capital. As the city has a high proportion of public servants, the federal government contributes the largest percentage of Gross State Product and is the largest single employer in Canberra. As the seat of government, the unemployment rate is lower and the average income higher than the national average, while property prices are relatively high, in part due to comparatively restricted development regulations. Tertiary education levels are higher, while the population is younger. In spite of the high income levels, the city has typically leaned strongly towards the centre-left Australian Labor Party in elections.
______________________________________________________________________________ Sydney
Sydney is the largest and most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. With an approximate population of 4.5 million in the Sydney metropolitan area the city is the largest municipality in Oceania. Inhabitants of Sydney are called Sydneysiders, comprising of a cosmopolitan and international population of people from many places around the world. The site of the first British colony in Australia, Sydney was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, commodore of the First Fleet as a penal colony. The city is built on hills surrounding Port Jackson which is commonly known as Sydney Harbour, where the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are featured prominently. The hinterland of the metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and the coastal regions feature many bays, rivers, inlets and beaches including the famous Bondi Beach. Within the city are many notable parks, including Hyde Park and Royal Botanical Gardens. Sydney is classified as a Alpha World City+ according to the Loughborough University group data inventory of GaWC research, which reflects its reputation as an international centre for commerce, arts, fashion, culture, entertainment, education and tourism. Sydney has hosted major international sporting events, including the 1938 British Empire Games, the 2000 Summer Olympics, the final match of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, as well as the 2008 World Youth Day. The main airport serving Sydney is Sydney Airport.
______________________________________________________________________________ Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and also the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre (also known as the "Central Business District" or "CBD") is the hub of the greater geographical area (or "metropolitan area") and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of late 2009, the greater geographical area had an approximate population of 4 million. A resident of Melbourne is known as a "Melburnian". The metropolis is located on the large natural bay known as Port Phillip, with the city centre positioned at the estuary of the Yarra River (at the northern-most point of the bay). The metropolitan area then extends south from the city centre, along the eastern and western shorelines of Port Phillip, and expands into the hinterland. The city centre is situated in the municipality known as the City of Melbourne, and the metropolitan area consists of a further 30 municipalities. It was founded in 1835 (47 years after the European settlement of Australia) by settlers from Van Diemen's Land. The early settlement was originally known as "Bearbrass". It was renamed "Melbourne" in 1837, in honour of William Lamb—the 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Melbourne was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847. In 1851, it became the capital city of the newly created colony of Victoria. During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the world's largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it then served as the interim seat of government of the newly created nation of Australia until 1927.
______________________________________________________________________________ Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital of the Australian state of Queensland and is the largest city in that state. The statistical division of Brisbane has a population estimated at 2 million by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. With its Local Government Area (LGA) registering a bit over a million, it is the third most populous city in Australia. The city is situated on the Brisbane River on a low-lying floodplain between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range in southeastern Queensland. The local indigenous people knew the area as Mian-jin, meaning 'place shaped as a spike'. Brisbane is named after the river on which it sits which, in turn, was named after Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. Brisbane's demonym is a Brisbanite. The first European settlement in Queensland was a penal colony at Redcliffe, 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of the Brisbane central business district, in 1824. That settlement was soon abandoned and moved to North Quay in 1825. Free settlers were permitted from 1842. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales in 1859. Brisbane also borders the Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Somerset, Logan and the Redland Areas. At a municipal level, the city is governed by the Brisbane City Council. In 1925, the City of Brisbane Act was passed by the Queensland Government, abolishing 20 local government authorities in the city and forming the largest local authority in Australia. The city played a central role in the Allied campaign during World War II as the South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur. Brisbane has hosted many large cultural and sporting events including the 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo '88 and the final Goodwill Games in 2001. In 2008, Brisbane was classified as a gamma world city+ in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University. It was also rated the 16th most liveable city in the world in 2009 by The Economist.
______________________________________________________________________________ Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. With a population of 1,659,000 (2009), Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average. Perth was founded on 12 June 1829 by Captain James Stirling as the political centre of the free-settler Swan River Colony. It has continued to serve as the seat of government for Western Australia to the present day. Its port, Fremantle, is a city in its own right and slightly older than Perth. The metropolitan area is located in the south-west of the continent between the Indian Ocean and a low coastal escarpment known as the Darling Range. The central business district and suburbs of Perth are situated on the Swan River. Perth is tied for ninth place in The Economist's 2010 list of the World's Most Livable Cities. Perth became known worldwide as the "City of Lights" as city residents lit their house lights and streetlights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth on Friendship 7 in 1962. The city repeated its feat as Glenn passed overhead on the Space Shuttle in 1998.
______________________________________________________________________________ Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia, with a population of more than 1.28 million. It is a coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St Vincent, on the Adelaide Plains, north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, between Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges. The suburbs reach roughly 20 km (12 mi) from the coast to the foothills but sprawl 100 km (62 mi) from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south. Named in honour of Queen Adelaide, the German-born consort of King William IV, the city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for a freely settled British province in Australia. Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide's founding fathers, designed the city and chose its location close to the River Torrens in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people. Light's design set out Adelaide in a grid layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares, and entirely surrounded by parkland. Early Adelaide was shaped by religious freedom and a commitment to political progressivism and civil liberties, which led to world-first reforms. As South Australia's seat of government and commercial centre, Adelaide is the site of many governmental and financial institutions. Most of these are concentrated in the city centre along the cultural boulevard of North Terrace, King William Street and in various districts of the metropolitan area. Today, Adelaide is noted for its many festivals and sporting events, its food, wine and culture, its long beachfronts, and its large defence and manufacturing sectors. It continues to rank highly as a livable city, being in the Top 10 in The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities index.
______________________________________________________________________________ Gold Coast
The Gold Coast is a city in the Australian state of Queensland. It is the second most populous city in the state and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is also the most populous non-capital city in the country. Gold Coast City is known for its sunny subtropical climate, surfing beaches, waterways and canal systems, a skyline dominated by high-rise apartment buildings, a rainforest hinterland in the west of the city, nightlife and its tourist attractions.
______________________________________________________________________________ Newcastle
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas. It is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area which includes most parts of the Local Government Areas of City of Newcastle, City of Lake Macquarie, City of Cessnock, City of Maitland and Port Stephens Council. Situated 162 kilometres (101 mi) NNE of Sydney, at the mouth of the Hunter River, it is the predominant city within the Hunter Region. Famous for its coal, Newcastle is presently the largest coal exporting harbour in the world, exporting 90.5 Mt of coal in 2008-09. Beyond the city, the Hunter Region possesses large coal deposits.
______________________________________________________________________________ Wollongong
Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres (51 mi) south of Sydney. With a population of 284,169 Wollongong is the 3rd largest city in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle, and the 9th largest city in Australia. The metropolitan area extends from Helensburgh in the north to Gerroa in the south, and is administered by the Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama councils. Known affectionately as "the Gong", Wollongong is a city with a long history of mining and industry, having coal mines, a steelworks and an industrial port. The city also attracts numerous tourists each year, and is a regional centre for the South Coast fishing industry. The local University of Wollongong has around 22,000 students[4] and is internationally recognised. Wollongong is noted for its numerous surfing beaches, scenic lookouts and botanic gardens. It has two regional cathedrals, churches of many denominations and the Nan Tien Temple, one of the largest Buddhist temples in the southern hemisphere. The name Wollongong is believed to mean "sound of the sea" in the local Aboriginal language, although other explanations have been offered, such as "great feast of fish", "hard ground near water", "song of the sea", "sound of the waves", "many snakes" and "five islands".
______________________________________________________________________________ Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1803 as a penal colony, Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2008, the city had a greater area population of approximately 219,287. A Resident of Hobart is known as a "Hobartian". The city is the financial and administrative heart of Tasmania, and also serves as the home port for both Australian and French Antarctic operations. The city is located in the state's south-east on the estuary of the Derwent River. The skyline is dominated by Mount Wellington at 1,271 metres high.
______________________________________________________________________________ Cairns
Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns (then Governor of Queensland). It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was discovered from Port Douglas. It later developed into a railhead and major port for exporting sugar cane, gold and other metals, minerals and agricultural products from surrounding coastal areas and the Atherton Tableland region. The city is rapidly expanding, with a population of 122,731 at the 2006 census. Tourism is the largest income producer for the region, followed closely by the sugar industry. An intercensal estimate for the resident population the Local Government Area as of June 2008 was 158,700. Cairns is located about 1,700 km (1,056 mi) from Brisbane, and about 2,420 km (1,504 mi) from Sydney by road. It is a popular travel destination for foreign tourists because of its tropical climate and proximity to many attractions. The Great Barrier Reef can be reached in less than an hour by boat. Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation, about 130 km (81 mi) north of Cairns, are popular areas for experiencing a tropical rainforest. It also serves as a starting point for people wanting to explore Cooktown, Cape York Peninsula, and the Atherton Tableland. Various parks and attractions take advantage of the city's natural surroundings. Among them are Rainforestation Nature Park, Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, and Kuranda Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, which extends for 7.5 km (4.7 mi) over World Heritage rainforest. A notable feature of the Cairns esplanade is a swimming lagoon with adjoining barbecue areas. In May 2003, the then Cairns Mayor Kevin Byrne declared that topless sunbathing is permitted here, as the area is a gathering point for people from around the world who may wish to do so. A boardwalk allows pedestrians and cyclists to move along the foreshore from the lagoon.
______________________________________________________________________________ Geelong
Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, 75 kilometres (47 mi) south-west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Geelong is the second largest city in the state of and is the largest regional centre in Victoria. With an urban population of 160,991 people, Geelong is the fifth largest non-capital city in Australia. It is covered by the City of Greater Geelong municipality. The urban area runs from the plains of Lara in the north to the rolling hills of Waurn Ponds to the south, with the bay to the east and hills to the west. The climate is temperate, with four distinct seasons. The city is the home to car manufacturer Ford Australia and the Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats. Geelong was named in 1837 by Governor Richard Burke, with the name derived from the local Wathaurong Aboriginal name for the region, Jillong, thought to mean 'land' or 'cliffs'. The area was first surveyed in 1838, three weeks after Melbourne, and the Post Office was open by June 1840 (the second to open in the Port Phillip District). The first woolstore was erected in this period and Geelong became the port for the wool industry of the Western District. The gold rush in Ballarat saw the population of Geelong increase to 22,000 by the mid 1850s. The city then diversified into manufacturing, rivalling Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne as wool mills, ropeworks, and paper mills were established, but the next few decades saw the population stay relatively constant until the 20th century. Geelong was proclaimed a city in 1910, with industrial growth from this time until the 1960s establishing the city as a manufacturing centre for the state, and saw the population grow to over 100,000 by the mid 1960s. Population increases over the last decade were due to growth in service industries, as the manufacturing sector has declined. Redevelopment of the inner city has occurred since the 1990s, as well as gentrification of inner suburbs. Geelong now has a population growth rate higher than the national average, and is the 12th largest city in Australia.
______________________________________________________________________________ Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census population of 143,328, and a 2008–2009 estimated population of 181,743. Considered the unofficial capital of North Queensland, Townsville hosts a significant number of governmental, community and major business administrative offices for the northern half of the state. Popular attractions include 'The Strand', a long tropical beach and garden strip; Riverway, a riverfront parkland attraction located on the banks of Ross River; Reef HQ, a large tropical aquarium holding many of the Great Barrier Reef's native flora and fauna; the Museum of Tropical Queensland, built around a display of relics from the sunken British warship HMS Pandora; and Magnetic Island, a large neighbouring island, the vast majority of which is national park.
______________________________________________________________________________ Albury
Albury is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located on the Hume Highway on the northern side of the Murray River. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of Albury Local Government Area. Albury is the second major city of the Riverina and the second largest inland city in New South Wales, behind Wagga Wagga.Albury has a urban population of 43,787 people. It is separated from its twin city in Victoria, Wodonga by the Murray River. Together the two cities form an urban area with a population of approximately 74,000. It is approximately 588 kilometres (365 mi) from the state capital Sydney, but only 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Victorian capital Melbourne.
______________________________________________________________________________ Darwin
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 124,800, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities. It is the smallest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities, and acts as the Top End's regional centre. Darwin has grown from a pioneer outpost and small port into one of Australia's most modern and multicultural cities. Its proximity to Asia makes it an important Australian gateway to countries such as Indonesia and East Timor. The Stuart Highway begins in Darwin, ending at Port Augusta in South Australia. The city itself is built on a low bluff overlooking the harbour. Its suburbs spread out over some area, beginning at Lee Point in the north and stretching to Berrimah in the east — past Berrimah, the Stuart Highway goes on to Darwin's satellite city, Palmerston, and its suburbs. The region, like the rest of the Top End, has a tropical climate, with a wet season and a dry season. It receives heavy rainfall during the Wet, and is well-known for its spectacular lightning. The original inhabitants of the greater Darwin area are the Larrakia people. On 9 September 1839, HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin harbour during its surveying of the area. John Clements Wickham named the region "Port Darwin" in honour of their former shipmate Charles Darwin, who had sailed with them on the ship's previous voyage which had ended in October 1836. The settlement there became the town of Palmerston in 1869, and was renamed Darwin in 1911. Having been almost entirely rebuilt twice, once due to Japanese air raids during World War II and again after being devastated by Cyclone Tracy in 1974, the city is one of Australia's most modern capitals.
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