The Commonwealth of Australia

Do you know....?Australia is washed by

• The Pacific Ocean• The Indian Ocean• The Timor Sea• The Arafura Sea• Torres Strait• The Tasman Sea• The Coral Sea• Bass Strait

• In the North

• In the East

• In the West

• in the South

Australia   has got six states:

• New South Wales, • Victoria, • Queensland, • South Australia,• Western Australia, • Tasmania • two internal territories.

The flag of Australia

The flag of Australia has six white stars.

Coat of arms

Coat of arms was introduced in 1912.

• The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal state within the Commonwealth.

• The official language is English.

The area

The area of Australia is 7,7 mln sq. km

From the history

• Australia was discovered by J. Cook in 1770;

• The new constitution was introduced on January 1, 1901;

• The birth of the new nation was celebrated on January 1, 1901;

The population

The population of Australia is 20,4 mln people

• The first people in Australia were the aborigines.

• Ayers Rock is one of their

sacred places. • It’s a huge rock in the

desert. • Ayers Rock is very

beautiful, and changes colour during the day as the sun moves round it.

• The continent is mostly a great plain with mountains in the east and south-east.

• The western part of the continent forms a plateau which occupies half of the continent.

• The Central Lowlands is very dry.

Climate• Australia has several

different climatic regions, from warm to subtropical and tropical.

• The winds from the sea bring heavy rainfalls, especially in tropical summer.

• The climate in the west is very dry and more than half of Australia gets very little rain.

• In the south-west and east the winds bring rain in winter.

• The tropical forests in the north and north-east are displaced by savanna or grassland.

• In the south-east and on the sides of the mountains there are forests of eucalyptus and other evergreen trees.

Deserts There are two hot

deserts in the central and western parts of the continent.

Strange and unusual world of animals. Echidna and platypus

Australia was separated from the other continents and her animals developed differently. Of these, the strangest of all are the water-loving platypus and the echidna

Kangaroo

The kangaroo is one of Australia’s national

animals. Some of them are two metres tall and can jump nine metres.

Koala

The koala is a tree-loving, comical-looking animal that lives on the leaves of eucalyptus trees. It will eat nothing more.

Emu

The native birds of Australia are very interesting. The emu, for example, which with kangaroo, is represented on the Australian coat-of-arms, is the next-tallest bird in the world after the ostrich.

The wild dog (Dingo)

The dingo (the wild dog) is the only killer among the native animals. Most of them now live in mountains or hills.

Spider

• Australia has two of the most poisonous

spiders in the world – the black widow

and the Sydney funnel web.

• All children

learn first aid for spider bites at school.

Water system

Main rivers • the Murray • the Darling

The greatest lakes• Eir• Torrens• Gerdner

Australia – an industrial and agricultural country

• Coal• Nickel• Zink• Gold• Wool products• Meat• Fruit• sugar• Metals• Minerals

The capital - Canberra

• The city became the capital in 1927.

• The population of Canberra is about 300,000 people

Sydneyis one of the biggest cities of

Australia

Melbourne

• Formally the head of the state is the king or queen of England represented by the Governor-General.

• The Federal Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

• The federal government of the country is headed by the Prime Minister.

Questions• By whom was Australia discovered and

when was it happened?• When was the birth of the new nation

celebrated?• What is the official name of Australia?• What landscape is typical of Australia?• Name the greatest rivers of Australia?• What animals live in Australia?• Name big cities of Australia.• What is the capital of Australia?