Most people don't know how big Australia is so above is a map of Australia with Europe overlaid.
You will note how much space is left.
You need some form of directory to assist you and this is it.
You have come to the right place!
The map below will give you a general idea of the states and major towns
Photo courtesy of www.worldatlas.com
Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of
Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of
the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller
islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Neighbouring countries include
Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast and New Zealand to the southeast.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the
late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who
belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by
Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Britain in
1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New
South Wales, formally founded on 7 February 1788 (although formal possession of
the land had occurred on 26 January 1788). The population grew steadily in
subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five
self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies became a federation and
the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since Federation, Australia has
maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and is a Commonwealth
realm. The population is 22 million, with approximately 60% concentrated in and
around the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and
Adelaide. The nation's capital city is Canberra, in the Australian Capital
Territory.
A prosperous developed country, Australia is the world's
thirteenth largest economy. Australia ranks highly in many international
comparisons of national performance such as human development, quality of life,
health care, life expectancy, public education, economic freedom and the
protection of civil liberties and political rights. Australia is a member of
the United Nations, G20, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, OECD, APEC, Pacific
Islands Forum and the World Trade Organization.
Etymology
Pronounced [əˈstɹæɪljə, -liə] in Australian English, the name
Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern".
The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th
century.N5 Aussie is a common, colloquial term for
"Australian".
Legends of Terra Australis Incognita—an "unknown land
of the South"—date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval
geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of the continent.
Following European discovery, names for the Australian landmass were often
references to the famed Terra Australis.
The earliest recorded use of the word Australia in English
was in 1625, in "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Master
Hakluyt" and published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus, a
corruption of the original Spanish name Austrialia del Espíritu Santo for an
island in Vanuatu. The Dutch adjectival form Australische was also used by
Dutch East India Company officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered
land to the south in 1638.[citation needed] Australia was later used in a 1693
translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage
de la Terre Australe, a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny, under the
pen-name Jacques Sadeur. Referring to the entire South Pacific region,
Alexander Dalrymple used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and
Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean in 1771. By the end of the 18th century,
the name was being used to refer specifically to Australia, with the botanists George
Shaw and Sir James Smith writing of "the vast island, or rather continent,
of Australia, Australasia or New Holland" in their 1793 Zoology and Botany
of New Holland, and James Wilson including it on a 1799 chart.
The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew
Flinders, who pushed for it to be formally adopted as early as 1804. When
preparing his manuscript and charts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis,
he was persuaded by his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, to use the term Terra Australis
as this was the name most familiar to the public. Flinders did so, but allowed
himself the footnote:
"Had I permitted myself any innovation on the original
term, it would have been to convert it to Australia; as being more agreeable to
the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the
earth."
This is the only occurrence of the word Australia in that
text; but in Appendix III, Robert Brown's General remarks, geographical and
systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis, Brown makes use of the
adjectival form Australian throughout,—the first known use of that form.
Despite popular conception, the book was not instrumental in the adoption of
the name: the name came gradually to be accepted over the following ten years.
Lachlan Macquarie, a Governor of New South Wales, subsequently used the word in
his dispatches to England, and on 12 December 1817 recommended to the Colonial
Office that it be formally adopted. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the
continent should be known officially as Australia.
History of Australia
Exploration by Europeans till 1812
1606 Willem Jansz
1606 Luis Váez de
Torres
1616 Dirk Hartog
1619 Frederick de
Houtman
1644 Abel Tasman
1696 Willem de
Vlamingh
1699 William Dampier
1770 James Cook
1797-1799 George
Bass
1801-1803 Matthew
Flinders
Human habitation of Australia is estimated to have begun
between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago, possibly with the migration of people by
land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now Southeast Asia. These
first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. At
the time of European settlement in the late 18th century, most Indigenous
Australians were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual
values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The
Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturalists
and hunter-gatherers.
Following sporadic visits by fishermen from the Malay
Archipelago, the first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland
and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent were
attributed to the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape
York Peninsula on an unknown date in early 1606, and made landfall on 26
February at the Pennefather River on the western shore of Cape York, near the
modern town of Weipa. The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern
coastlines of "New Holland" during the 17th century, but made no
attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer/privateer landed on
the northwest coast of Australia in 1688 and again in 1699 on a return trip. In
1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he
named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. Cook's discoveries
prepared the way for establishment of a new penal colony. The British Crown
Colony of New South Wales was formed on 26 January 1788, when Captain Arthur
Phillip led the First Fleet to Port Jackson. This date became Australia's
national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was
settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom
formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1828.
Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales:
South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern
Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South
Australia was founded as a "free province"—it was never a penal
colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but
later accepted transported convicts. A campaign by the settlers of New South
Wales led to the end of convict transportation to that colony; the last convict
ship arrived in 1848.
Port Arthur, Tasmania was Australia's largest gaol for
transported convicts. The indigenous population, estimated at 350,000 at the time
of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement,
mainly due to infectious disease. The "Stolen Generations" (removal
of Aboriginal children from their families), which historians such as Henry
Reynolds have argued could be considered genocide, may have contributed to the
decline in the Indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal
history are disputed by conservative commentators such as former Prime Minister
John Howard as exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.
This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars. The Federal
government gained the power to make laws with respect to Aborigines following
the 1967 referendum. Traditional ownership of land—native title—was not
recognised until 1992, when the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2)
overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius ("land belonging to no
one") before European occupation.
A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the
Eureka Stockade rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early
expression of civil disobedience. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies
individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs
while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London
retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence, and
international shipping.
The Last Post is played at an ANZAC Day ceremony in Port
Melbourne, Victoria. Similar ceremonies are held in most suburbs and towns. On
1 January 1901 federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of
planning, consultation, and voting. The Commonwealth of Australia was
established and it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The Federal
Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed
in 1911 as the location for the future federal capital of Canberra. Melbourne
was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was
constructed. The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the
South Australian government to the federal parliament in 1911. In 1914,
Australia joined Britain in fighting World War I, with support from both the
outgoing Liberal Party and the incoming Labor Party. Australians took part in
many of the major battles fought on the Western Front. Of about 416,000 who
served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded. Many
Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
(ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation—its first major military
action. The Kokoda Track campaign is regarded by many as an analogous
nation-defining event during World War II.
Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of
the constitutional links between Australia and the UK. Australia adopted it in
1942, but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation
passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II. The shock of the UK's
defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to
turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia
has been a formal military ally of the US, under the ANZUS treaty. After World
War II Australia encouraged immigration from Europe. Since the 1970s and
following the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia
and elsewhere was also promoted. As a result, Australia's demography, culture,
and self-image were transformed. The final constitutional ties between
Australia and the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986,
ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and closing
the option of judicial appeals to the Privy Council in London. In a 1999
referendum, 55% of Australian voters and a majority in every Australian state
rejected a proposal to become a republic with a president appointed by a
two-thirds vote in both Houses of the Australian Parliament. Since the election
of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus in
foreign policy on ties with other Pacific Rim nations, while maintaining close
ties with Australia's traditional allies and trading partners.
Politics
Parliament House, Canberra was opened in 1988, replacing the
provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.Australia is a
constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It uses a
parliamentary system of government with Queen Elizabeth II at its apex as the
Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the
other Commonwealth realms. The Queen resides in the United Kingdom, and she is
represented by her viceroys in Australia, (the Governor-General at the federal
level and by the Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the
advice of her Ministers. The Governor-General's powers are not delegated by the
Sovereign but conferred in right by the Constitution of Australia. The most
notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside a Prime
Minister's request was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the
constitutional crisis of 1975.
The federal government is separated into three branches:
The legislature: the bicameral Parliament, comprising the
Queen (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, and the House of
Representatives;
The executive: the Federal Executive Council, in practice
the Governor-General as advised by the Prime Minister and Ministers of State;
The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal
courts, whose judges are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the
Council.
In the Senate (the upper house), there are 76 senators:
twelve each from the states and two each from the mainland territories (the
Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). The House of
Representatives (the lower house) has 150 members elected from single-member
electoral divisions, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats",
allocated to states on the basis of population, with each original state
guaranteed a minimum of five seats. Elections for both chambers are normally
held every three years, simultaneously; senators have overlapping six-year
terms except for those from the territories, whose terms are not fixed but are
tied to the electoral cycle for the lower house; thus only 40 of the 76 places
in the Senate are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a
double dissolution.
Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting for
all lower house elections with the exception of Tasmania and the ACT, which,
along with the Senate and most state upper houses, combine it with proportional
representation in a system known as the single transferable vote. Voting is
compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction,
as is enrolment (with the exception of South Australia). Although the Prime
Minister is appointed by the Governor-General, in practice the party with
majority support in the House of Representatives forms government and its
leader becomes Prime Minister.
There are two major political groups that usually form
government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party, and the
Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor
partner, the National Party. Independent members and several minor
parties—including the Greens and the Australian Democrats—have achieved
representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.
Following a partyroom leadership challenge, Julia Gillard
became the first female Prime Minister in June 2010. The last federal election
was held on 21 August 2010 and resulted in the first hung parliament in over 50
years. Gillard was able to form a minority Labor government with the support of
independents.
States and territories of Australia
Australia has six states—New South Wales, Queensland, South
Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia—and two major mainland
territories—the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
In most respects these two territories function as states, but the Commonwealth
Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast,
federal legislation overrides state legislation only in areas that are set out
in Section 51 of the Australian Constitution; state parliaments retain all
residual legislative powers, including those over schools, state police, the
state judiciary, roads, public transport, and local government, since these do
not fall under the provisions listed in Section 51.
Each state and major mainland territory has its own
parliament—unicameral in the Northern Territory, the ACT, and Queensland, and
bicameral in the other states. The states are sovereign entities, although
subject to certain powers of the Commonwealth as defined by the Constitution.
The lower houses are known as the Legislative Assembly (the House of Assembly
in South Australia and Tasmania); the upper houses are known as the Legislative
Council. The head of the government in each state is the Premier, and in each
territory the Chief Minister. The Queen is represented in each state by a
Governor; and in the Northern Territory, the Administrator. In the
Commonwealth, the Queen's representative is the Governor-General.
The federal parliament directly administers the following
territories:
Jervis Bay Territory, a naval base and sea port for the
national capital in land that was formerly part of New South Wales
Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Coral Sea Islands
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Australian Antarctic Territory
Norfolk Island is also technically an external territory;
however, under the Norfolk Island Act 1979 it has been granted more autonomy
and is governed locally by its own legislative assembly. The Queen is
represented by an Administrator, currently Owen Walsh.
Traveller’s guide to Australian interstate
quarantine regulations
Enjoy your trip and look after Australia…
Pests, diseases and weeds can spread from one part of
Australia to another through the movement of:
plants or plant products
animals or animal products
soil
agricultural machinery and other equipment
recreational equipment.
The costs
The introduction of a pest or disease into a production area
can result in expensive controls being implemented and loss of markets, which
can cost industries and the community millions of dollars.
The rules
Restrictions apply to each state and territory for the
movement of these items to protect Australia’s valuable local and overseas
markets. These restrictions operate under state and territory legislation.
Your cooperation contributes to protecting Australia’s
valuable agricultural industries from pests and diseases.
Click on your state of destination to check the requirements
for carrying items into that state or into declared quarantine areas within the
state.
Remember, requirements may change as new pests, diseases and
weeds are detected.
For further information, contact your state quarantine
authorities through Quarantine Domestic on Freecall 1800 084 881 during
business hours Monday to Friday.
Check what you’re carrying. Penalties apply.
Please note: This is a general guide for private interstate
travellers.
For full details
Click here