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Basic information

• Area: 8 mil. km², Population: 21 mil. people
• Smallest continent, largest island (poz.aut: not island at all)
• Currency – Australian Dollar
• Parliamentary democracy – Br. Queen -> Governor-General
• States – New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia
• Territories – Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory
• Name from Terra australis incognita (= The unknown land at the south)
• Export to Japan – gold, coal, meat, wool, aluminium

History

• 48 000 BC – first inhabitation – from Papua New Guinea
• 15. century – discovered by Dutch explorer Jans
• 1770 – rediscovered by James Cook
• 1788 – first colony
• 1901 – federation proclaimed
• 1999 – referendum – still constitutional monarchy

Population

• Indigenous – Aborigines
  • 1,5 % population, musical instrument – didgeridoo
• Settlers’ descendants – prisoners, guards – language Cockney
• Immigrants
• English used as official language, but there isn‘t any official language
• Different cultures
• Sports – cricket, football, rugby, surfing
• Nonofficial anthem – Waltzing Matilda
• Population around the coastline

Cities

• Sydney – famous Opera, major port
• Canberra – modern city, built as a capital city
• Alice Springs, Adelaide, Darwin, Perth, Melbourne – largest Greek speaking city

Nature

• Indo-Australian plate
• The Great Barrier Reef – Tasman sea; 700 beaches
• Monolith Mount Augustus – worshipped
• Australian Cordilleras, Alps – Mount Kosciusko – 2228m
• 80 % area – deserts – Great Sandy, Victoria, Simpson
• Rivers – Murray (longest), Darling, Ashburton; Lakes – Eyre, Torrens, Gairdner
• Plants – Eucalyptus (= coolibah tree) – endemic species
• Animals – Marsupials (vačnatci) – Platypus, Echidna (ježura), Koala, Kangaroo, Sulphur Crashed Cockatoo (kakadu žlutočečelatý), Inland Taipan (taipan menší), Southern Casuary Bird (kasuár přilbový), Tasmanian Devil, Emu

Přiřazené tagy: angličtina, austrálie, maturita