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 The population of Canberra is about 300,000 people

Sydney is 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?