Australia

Geography:
Australia is smallest, youngest continent, with the lowest population density. It is a lonely and it is often said that Australia lies at the edge of the world, divided from other continents by long distances. We also sometimes called this Australia as a country of antipodes, but this is a mistake because a country of our antipodes does not exist in reality. Australia is allocated in south-east from Asia. The Indian Ocean is west and south the Pacific (Coral and Tasmania Leas) is east. Tasmania lies 240 km south. Nearest is Indonesia, Papua New Guinea on north, Solomon, Fiji and New Zealand are on east. It is area is 7.7 million sq. k. Australia is an island continent. The Great Dividing Range along the eastern coast (The Australian Alps) has the highest Australian mountain Mt. Kosciusko. The western plateau rises to 607 m with arid areas in the Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts. The north-east have heavy rainfalls (it is an area often visited by destructive hurricanes) and Cape York Peninsula has jungles. Rivers that flow permanently are to by found only in the north, east, and in Tasmania. The Murray Rivers flows from New South Wales to the Indian Ocean, the second longest river is the Darling. There are three big lakes here: Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner. The Australian climate varies from warm to subtropical. Australia has summer when we have winter and vice versa. The tropical forests in the north and north-east are displaced by savannah or grassland. The south-east is covered with forests of eucalyptus and other evergreen trees. The animals of Australia are numerous and some of them, like the kangaroo, koala bear, dingo, platypus, Tasmanian devil or barking lizards can?t be found elsewhere.
People:
The population of Australia is some 16 million. Around 85% people live in urban areas mainly along the south-east coast. Deserts and the tropical northern part are predictably uninhabited. 95%of inhabitants are of British origin, 3% are made by other European ethnic groups and 1.5% are aborigines. Australian English and aboriginal languages are spoken here.
History:
People lived there at a Stone Age level. They did not know of how to work the soil nor how to rear livestock. They had no plants suitable for cultivation and no original Australian animals were suitable for domestication. Thus, the Australians never became farmers or herdsmen. They made their tools and weapons only of wood and stone. The sole source of food was hunting and gathering. Men used to catch birds, snakes, crocodiles, and women with children used to pick fruits, caterpillars, ants, eggs and dig for roots. The dingo wild dog was the sole animal that became domesticated. The Australians were divided into about 650 tribes that spoke about 500 different languages. Each tribe usually had its own dialect, name and customs, its own territory and hunting grounds. Captain James Cook explored the eastern coast in 1770 when the continent was inhabited by a variety of different tribes. It became a convict colony in around 18th century when immigration increased because gold was found here. The Commonwealth was proclaimed in 1901.
National Economy:
Main industries are iron, steel, textiles, electrical equipment, chemicals, cars, aircraft, ship and machinery. Australia belongs to the top exporters of beef, lamb, wool and wheat, although only 9% of land is arable. Other agricultural items are barley, oats, hay, sugar, wine, fruit and vegetables. Natural riches contain mainly bauxite, coal, copper, iron, lead, nickel, silver, tin, uranium ands zinc ores. Among the main trading partners belong Japan, the USA, the UK, New Zealand. Currency used in Australia is Australian Dollar. In Australia there are many big cities. Sydney is the oldest. Brisbane is the third largest. Adelaide lies in the southern part of the country. There are two universities and car-manufacturing factory here. Melbourne is one of the most beautiful cities. There are a lot of museums, galleries and parks. Perth is the important industrial city. Other important cities are Darwin, Alice Springs and Hobart.
Government type and administration:
The official title is The Commonwealth of Australia and it is a British dominion. It has a democratic, federal system and the head of state is Queen Elizabeth II. represented by the Governor ? General. The head of government is the Prime Minister. The Commonwealth of Australia consists of six states: New South Wales (capital Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), Qeensland (Brisbane), South Australia (Adelaide), Western Australia (Perth), Tasmanian (Hobart) and two territories: The Australian Capital Territory (a part of the country surrounding Australia?s capital Canberra) and Northern Territory (thinly populated).
The Federal Parliament has its seat in Canberra and is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives. Australia is a member of the important international organisations: UN, OECD and the Commonwealth.

AUSTRALIA

HISTORY
Australia is the smallest and least densely populated continent on the Earth. The population of Australia is about 17 million of inhabitants and extens about 8 milion km2. The official language is English
It was discovered by the Dutch explorer W. Jansz. He landed on the west coast of the Cape York Penunsula. During the 17th century Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji. It was called New South Wales. In 1788 the British government established the first convict colony. In 19th century many setllers went there because of gold. The second huge wave of Europian setllers came to Australia since 1945 because of war. But the first and original inhabitants of Australia are called ?Aborginies? speaking hundred languages, who are famous with their boomerangs. Many Aborginies died in 18th century protecting their land before first white settlers. Today only about 100 000 survive. Australian government has recently given them some land back. It lies between the Pacific Ocean in the east and the Indian Ocean in the west.
Its nearest neighbour in the north is New Quinea, in the east New Zealand; Tasmania in the south is an island of the same size as England. Along the east coast we can see the Great Barrier Reef, the biggest coral reef on the Earth, one of the greatest tourist atraction in Australia.

GEOGRAPHY
Australia lies in southern hemisphere. The Australian climate varies from warm to subtropical. Two fifths of Australian continent lie within the tropical belt and three fifths of Australia lie in the subtropical belt. About 80 % of Australian areas suffer from drought, so that?s why are many deserts there. There are 4 great deserts in central Australia: the Great Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert, Great Victoria Desert and Simson Desert.
There is one special desert with with red sand ? Ayers Rock, the largest piece of the stone in the world. The North East suffers from heavy rainfalls and Cape York Peninsula is covered with jungles. The tropical forests in the north and north ? east is covered with foersts of eucalyptus and other evergreen trees. In the Pacific Ocean there is the Great Barrier Reef. It is on the east of the north coast. The east coast is bordered by Australian Cordilleras. Its highest point is Mt. Kosciusko (2.228 m) which lies in the Australian Alps. In the cenral Australian Lowlands there are Great Artesian Basin and the Lake Eyre Basin. In the Lake Eyre there is the lowest point of the continent. It is 16 metres below the sea ? level. This lake is the largest in Australia. The second largest lake is the Lake Torrens and then Lake Gairdner. The largest Australian river is Murray and the second one is the Darling, flows to the Murray.

FAUNA + FLORA
Australian continent was isolated by oceans for many years and it had developed its own unique flora and fauna:
The spectrum of Australia?s native flowers is enormous and nowadays is a huge interest in their cultivation (= pěstování) and conservation (= ochranu) with National parks and Reserves troughout the country growing. Australia?s best known native trees are the gum= eucalypt and the wattle = acatia.
Australian eucalypts are growing in many other countries: e.g. Central Asia, California. One species, jarrah (= blahovičník), is among world?s hardest woods and is used for railway ties (= pražce). The word ?ecucalypt? is derived from the Greek: EU = well, KALYPTO = I cover.
The wattle or acacia is loved and has become recognized as Australia?s national floral emblem. There are more than 600 species of wattle, most of them native to Australia and all produce striking golden blossom.

unique animals for Australia:
Kangaroo is regarded (= považován) as the National Emblem.There are about 45 million kangoroos in Australia.
Koala bears is the most popular marsupial(= vačnatec) in the world. The koala sleeps a great deal in the day and in between its snaps (= spánek) it eats about one kilogram of eucalyptus leaves a day.
Platypusys (= ptakopysk) a small furry animal which has brak and feet like a duck and a flat tail, it is adapted for life in the water where it feeds mainly on insects, worms (= červ).
Kookaburras (= ledňáček) is the world?s largest kingfisher and everyone?s favourite bird. It is well ? known for its extraordinary laughing call, taken over as the signal of Radio Australia. Othe Australian animals are phalangers (= kuskus), wombats, dingos, gliders (= vakoplšík), echidnas (= ježura), emus parrots, black swans, etc. Some animals were brought to Australia. They are sheep and rabbits. Now rabbits are a big danger for Australian farmers.

The official title of Australia is The Commonwealth of Australia and it is a British dominion. It has a democratic, federal system and the head of state is Queen Elizabeth II. She is represented by the Governor General.
Australia is divided into six states: New South Wales (Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland (Brisbane), South Australia (Adelaide), Western Australia (Perth), Tasmania (Hobart); and three territories: Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, Coral Sea Islands territory. The capital of Australia is Canberra. Canberra is the seat of the Federal Parliament. It is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Australian national flag consists of the British flag symbol and a larger blue field where is 6 stars. But in Australia there are much larger cities than Canberra. They are for example:
Sydney is the oldest city in Australia and the capital of New South Wales. It is the largest Australian city, a major port in the South Pacific and major trading centre. Sydney?s best-known landmark is The Sydney Opera House, which stands on the harbour surrounded by water on three sides. It was designed by danish architect Utzon. Opera House was completed in 1973. It contains a concert hall for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a large theathre for Australian Opera and Ballet and a small theathre for plays, a cinema, a library and exhibiton halls. It is a real centre of art.
Another very famous thing in Sydney is steel arch bridge designed by Ralph Freeman and completed in 1932. It is also to climb the Bridge with professional team to the top.
Other cities: Darwin, Alice Springs, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart etc.
Austalia belongs to hihgly developed countries of the world. It is rich in gold, silver, iron, oil, coal etc. It is also the greatest producer of wool in the world.