1. Political & Physical Features of Australia

2. Australia’s Political Features

3. Australian Territories and States (8 total)
States: Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland
Territories: Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory

5. Tasmania Island off the southeast coast of the mainland
Almost half of Tasmania is unspoiled land that is protected by the government

7. Tasmanian Devil?

9. Victoria
State closest to Tasmania in the Southeast part of the mainland
Capital is Melbourne; it’s the most urban state in Australia!
The many rivers of the region are a good source of fresh water for farming

12. South Australia State in south-central Australia
The Great Victoria Desert is located here…

15. Western Australia Largest state; makes up 1/3 of the mainland
Most of Western Australia is desert (Great Victoria Desert & Great Sandy Desert are located here)

16. Great Sandy Desert

17. New South Wales North of Victoria, on the eastern coast
Has more people than any other Australian state. The capital, Sydney, is the most populated city in Australia – 3.5 million people live there!
Australian Capital Territory is located here

18. Sydney, New South Wales

19. Queensland Second largest state; 7 times the size of England!
In the northeastern part of the mainland
Great Barrier Reef is located off its coast in the Coral Sea
More than half of Queensland’s population lives in the capital: Brisbane

20. Brisbane

22. Northern Territory
Northern coast of the mainland, between Western Australia and Queensland
Largest population of Aborigines in Australia

25. Australian Capital Territory
Located in New South Wales
The national capital, Canberra, is located here

26. Canberra (Australia’s Capital)

27. Australia’s Physical Features

28. Australia…
The only country on the world’s smallest and flattest continent
Has Earth’s oldest and least fertile soils
Includes Tasmania, an island south of the mainland
Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific Oceans

29. Huge desert plains stretch across the country’s middle--central Australia’s climate is hot and dry (Only Antarctica get less rainfall per year!)
Milder climates along the southeastern and southwestern coasts
Most Australians live in the southeastern coastal region

30. Great Barrier Reef World’s largest coral reef!
Lies off the northeast coast of Queensland--over 1,200 miles long
Contains an amazing variety of marine life including:
400 types of coral
1,500 species of fish
4,000 mollusks (snails, clams, octopi, & squid)
Also includes rare species like the sea cow and the large green turtle

31. Great Barrier Reef from satellite

34. Coral Sea An important source of coral for the Great Barrier Reef
Part of the Pacific Ocean
Off the northeast coast of Australia
When the earth’s crust moved millions of years ago, it created the Coral Sea and the Great Dividing Range (largest mountain range in Australia)
Coral Sea islands are scattered over thousands of miles of ocean where no one lives except for a small group of weather specialists

36. Ayers Rock A huge, reddish rock located in the center of Australia
It’s a monolith, which is a single, large rock sticking out of the earth
Appears reddish because its iron content “rusts” at the surface
Nearly 12 stories high and almost 6 miles wide!

38. Ayers Rock Aborigines call it “Uluru”, which is its official name
European surveyor visited the rock in 1873 and named it after Sir Henry Ayers, an English government official in South Australia
In 1950, Australia created Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park around Ayers Rock in the southwest corner of the state called Northern Territory

40. Great Victoria Desert
Stretches through the states of South Australia and Western Australia
Receives only 8 to 10 inches of rain each year, and it never snows!
Some grasslands in the desert along with sandhills and salt

42. Great Victoria Desert
First Europeans to cross the desert named it after British Queen Victoria in 1875
160,000 miles long protected wilderness area
Very few Australians live here because it’s too hot and dry