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Australia: Geography & Regions

Geography

Australia is one of the world’s oldest land masses (some of its rock was formed over 3 billion years ago) and its largest island. Separated from other land masses, it evolved in partial isolation, resulting in its unique flora and fauna, and the development of the Aboriginal race, with a culture stretching back between 40,000 and 60,000 years. The country extends 3,200km/1,988mi from north to south and 4,000km/2,485mi from east to west, covering an area of 7,682,300km2 (2,966,144mi2), including Tasmania, with a coastline of 36,738km (22,826mi). It’s the world’s sixth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, China, the USA and Brazil) and is around the same size as the continental USA (minus Alaska), one and a half times the size of Europe (excluding Russia) and more than 30 times the size of the UK. Almost 40 per cent of the country lies north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Australia lies in the southern hemisphere, south-east of Asia and between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Its nearest neighbour is Papua New Guinea (PNG), which is some 200km (125mi) north of Cape York in the north-west. Bali and other Indonesian islands lie off the north-west coast, and the French island of New Caledonia is situated to the north-east. New Zealand is around 1,700km (1,050mi) from the south-east coast, and to the south lies Antarctica. Australia is surrounded by four seas (Arafura, Coral, Tasman and Timor) and three oceans (Indian, South Pacific and Southern).

The Great Barrier Reef lies between 50 and 300km (31 to 186mi) off the north-east coast and stretches from the Torres Strait to Gladstone. It’s the largest coral reef in the world, extending some 2,000km (1,260mi) and encompassing an area of around 200,000km2 (77,226mi2). The reef is the world’s largest living entity and an important marine ecosystem containing many rare life forms (it’s also a World Heritage site).

Australia is the world’s flattest continent, with an average elevation of less than 500m/1,640ft (the world’s average is 700m/2,296ft) and only some 5 per cent of it is more than 600m/1,968ft above sea level. The Great Western Plateau covers most of Western Australia, a large part of the Northern Territory and South Australia, and part of Queensland. East of the plateau are the Central Eastern Lowlands, extending from the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north to eastern South Australia and the western Victorian coast. The Great Dividing Range (or Eastern Highlands) follows the east coast southwards from northern Queensland to southern Tasmania, separating a narrow fertile strip of land on the coast from the arid inland. The vast, flat inland plain is broken only by a few low mountain ranges such as the Flinders and Macdonnell Ranges, the Olgas and Uluru (or Ayers Rock, the largest rock on earth, 9.4km/5.8mi in circumference – if you’re tempted to climb it, bear in mind that it’s Aboriginal sacred ground and many people have died of heart attacks in the attempt!). Other mountain ranges include the Hamersley Range, the Kimberleys and the Stirling Range in Western Australia, and the Snowy Mountains (Australian Alps) in Victoria, where Mount Kosciusko is the highest point (2,230m/7,316ft) in Australia.

Australia has the lowest rainfall of any continent after Antarctica and evaporation exceeds rainfall in 70 per cent of the country. Surface water is scarce and most lakes (with memorable names such as Lake Disappointment) and rivers are dry most of the year. Much of the centre and west of the country consists of desert (some 1.5 million km2/579,195mi2). A third is desert or arid lands, some 55 per cent semi-arid and shrub lands, and only around 6 per cent is cultivated for crops or used for grazing. Australia has three main deserts, the Great Sandy, the Great Victoria and the Gibson, and several smaller ones. Lush forests are found on the east coast, particularly in the far north. The country’s longest rivers are the Murray, Darling, Ord and Swan. The main river is the River Murray which, with the River Darling, has a catchment area covering New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. Severe salting has occurred in recent years due to indiscriminate land clearing for agricultural use, which has reduced irrigation potential and lowered the quality of drinking water (if nothing is done, the Murray-Darling basin will be dead in 40 to 50 years).

Australia comprises six states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia) and two territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). The island of Tasmania (also called the Apple Isle) is larger than Denmark or the Netherlands and was founded by the Dutchman Abel Tasman in 1642 and originally named Van Dieman’s Land (changed to Tasmania in 1856). External territories include the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island (the territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands). Macquarie Island (around 1,600km/994mi south-east of Tasmania) is administered by Tasmania.

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital of South Australia, named after Queen Adelaide, the consort of King William IV. It’s situated on the Fleurieu Peninsula, overlooking Gulf St. Vincent, with the low lying Mount Lofty Ranges sitting to the east. Adelaide is the main interim point of the Indian Pacific railway between Sydney and Perth, and the terminus of the Overland to Melbourne and The Ghan via Alice Springs to Darwin. Its population is 1.2 million, the fifth-largest of Australia’s capital cities, and its inhabitants are known as Adelaideans.

Adelaide is a beautiful city but it has lagged behind Australia’s other cities over the last 20 years or so. Some people regard this as an advantage because it means that the city is less frenetic than most of Australia’s other main centres. Others see it as negative and view Adelaide as a dull place, with few of the cultural and social attractions and little of the vibrancy of Australia’s other cities, which is unfair. Adelaide has long had a reputation as a religious city – it’s called the City of Churches – but this is more a reflection of the past than the present and it’s rumoured that for every church built in the city a pub was also built to see to the needs of the less holy. Adelaide in the 21st century has rather more nightlife than previously and enjoys its fair share of bars, cafés and restaurants. It’s also beautifully situated, with many parks and a backdrop of hills, as well as attractive beaches, galleries, historic houses and museums. In a 2005 survey of the world’s best cities in which to live, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Adelaide was ranked joint fifth with Perth and Sydney.

One of Adelaide’s major attractions for potential immigrants is its inexpensive property. This is a particular draw for people working in vocational (and modestly paid) professions such as nursing and teaching, who can enjoy a higher standard of living in Adelaide than in Melbourne or Sydney. Adelaide’s climate is also reputed to be one of the best of Australia’s cities. The city is on the same latitude as Sydney, but its weather is quite different, more classically Mediterranean, with cooler, wetter winters, and hotter, drier summers – ‘proper’ weather.

Adelaide (and the rest of South Australia) was hamstrung financially following the 1992 collapse of the State Bank, which led to a debt of around $4 billion. This has recently been reduced, making the economic outlook for the next decade better than for the last. The major components of Adelaide’s economy are the defence, manufacturing and research industries. The city has General Motors Holden and Mitsubishi car manufacturing plants and the main government research institution, DSTO (the Defence Science and Technology Organisation). Other industries include electronic component production and ore refining.

Adelaide hosts a number of annual events (as well as being called the Wine State, Australia’s best-known wine region – the Barossa Valley – is located just outside the city, South Australia is known as the Festival State) including the Adelaide Festival of Arts, the Adelaide Film Festival, the Barossa Music Festival and the Fringe Festival. It’s also a respected seat of learning, with Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia all noted research and teaching institutions.

Alice Springs

Alice Springs lies at almost the exact centre of Australia, around 1,500km (935mi) from the nearest major cities, Adelaide and Darwin. Often called simply ‘Alice’, it’s the second-largest settlement in the Northern Territory, with a population of around 30,000. Alice is best-known for two things: its proximity to Uluru (Ayers Rock), one of Australia’s best-known landmarks, and as the setting for Nevil Shute’s novel A Town Like Alice.

Alice was established as a frontier settlement for the north-to-south camel trains that trekked across Australia’s desert interior, and today it’s the mid-point of the Adelaide to Darwin railway. During the ’60s, Alice became an important defence centre with the establishment of the joint Australian/USA Pine Gap satellite monitoring base, 19km (12mi) south-west of Alice. The base gives the city an American air (with a population of around 2,000 Americans).

By far the major industry is tourism, which developed because of Alice’s proximity to Uluru, 400km (250mi) to the west. But with the creation in the ’80s of Yulara resort and airport near Uluru, some tourists no longer visit Alice, heading straight for Yulara. However, it has plenty of other attractions including an arts centre, ballooning, camel tours, a casino, the Desert Park wildlife centre, a museum, plenty of nightlife and a number of tourist resorts. To serve its 500,000 visitors per year, Alice has plenty of backpacker lodges, caravan parks and hotels.

The economy of Alice is booming and it’s one of Australia’s wealthiest cities, its major sources of income including tourism, Pine Gap and high government funding directed towards the local Aboriginal population (Aborigines make up 17 per cent of Alice’s population and 29 per cent of the Northern Territory’s).

Alice’s climate is extreme with summer temperatures often reaching 40 to 42°C (and sometimes 48°C) and winter lows dropping to -7°C. There are also the large diurnal ranges (differences in temperature within a period of 24 hours) typical of deserts, with hot days and cold nights. There’s often little or no rain in Alice Springs, but the amount received can vary greatly from year to year.

Brisbane

Brisbane (pronounced BRIZ-buhn, with locals called Brisbanites) lies in the south-east corner of Queensland, an hour’s drive north of the Gold Coast. The city straddles the Brisbane River and its eastern suburbs look out over Moreton Bay. The greater Brisbane region sits on the coastal plain east of the Great Dividing Range, although parts of the city are very hilly.

Brisbane has a population of around 975,000, and 1.85 million people live in the greater metropolitan area. It has a lower population density than most Australian cities because much of the housing is detached homes on large plots of land, often with lush gardens. Pre-1950 houses are often built in the Queenslander architectural style, with large verandahs and built on stilts to maximise the circulation of cool air in this nearly tropical city (it’s situated just a few degrees south of the Tropic of Capricorn). An important consideration for those thinking of buying property in Brisbane is the discovery in 2001 of an infestation of fire ants in some suburbs. The state government is trying to eradicate the insects, but property in affected areas can prove difficult to sell.

Brisbane used to be regarded as a backwater, but is currently one of Australia’s major growth cities. It attracts a lot of migrants, both from within Australia and internationally, many drawn by its balmy, dry winter climate, when temperatures rarely drop below 21°C (70°F). On the downside, summers and autumns can be humid, rainy and stifling, with conditions particularly steamy between November and April. Summer thunderstorms are common and Brisbane is also prey to cyclonic winds and hailstorms. However, despite the usually humid summers with violent rainstorms, recent years have seen sometimes severe summer droughts.

Brisbane used to be seen as a ‘branch office’ city, as many major financial institutions and businesses have their headquarters in Sydney or Melbourne. To compensate for this, the Queensland state government has been developing science and technology industries throughout the state (particularly in Brisbane) as part of its ‘Smart State’ campaign. Brisbane has a diverse economy, with a wide range of blue and white collar industries. The former include metalworking, paper milling, petroleum refining and stevedoring, while the latter encompass financial services, higher education, information technology and public sector administration. Tourism is also important.

As well as its wide range of employment opportunities, Brisbane offers competitively-priced property (it has the lowest cost of living of any Australian city) and an attractive street café scene, but its most obvious drawback is its rather shabby city centre, which is well below the standard of Australia’s other major cities. Some people also consider parts of Brisbane to be tacky, particularly some of the tourist arcades, but the city also boasts some elegant architecture and impressive galleries, museums and parks.

In a 2005 survey of the world’s best cities in which to live, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Brisbane was ranked joint eleventh.

More pages

Page 1: Geography
Page 2: Cairns
Page 3: The Gold Coast
Page 4: Newcastle
Page 5: Wollongong
Page 6: Queensland
Page 7: Western Australia

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