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General Information

• Australia has been inhabited by humans for over 60,000 years.
• The first European settlement was established by Great Britain in 1788
• The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901.
• The golden wattle was proclaimed the official national floral emblem in August 1988.
• Green and gold were proclaimed Australia’s national colours in April 1984.
• ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was officially declared the national anthem on 19 April 1984.
• Australia is the only nation in the world that governs an entire continent.
• The population of Australia in 2011 was over 22,000,000 in 2025/26 that has risen to 27,700,000.
• Australia is around 49.4 percent males and 50.6 percent females.
• Life expectancy for men is 77 years.
• Life expectancy for women is 82 years.
• In 2006, it was ranked the 8th richest nation in per capita terms. In 2026, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report, it now ranks second only to Luxembourg.
• It is the 6th-oldest continuously functioning democracy in the world.
• The World Bank ranks Australia as the second-easiest economy in which to start up a business.
• Australia also ranks second on the United Nations Human Development Index 2011.
• Australia’s top 5 exports are coal, iron ore, education services, tourism services and gold.
• Australia has a population density of 2.6 people per km2

Australian Geography

• Australia is the sixth largest country in the world (At 7617930 km2) and is five percent of the world’s land area (149,450,000 km2).
• Australia is approximately 3700 kilometres long, from its most northerly point to its most southerly point in Tasmania, and it is almost 4000 kilometres wide, from east to west.
• Its ocean territory is the world’s third largest, spanning three oceans and covering around 12 million square kilometres.
• There are 16 Australian properties on the World Heritage List and over 10 percent of mainland Australia’s natural environment is protected by legislation.
• It is one of the worlds most diverse countries being home to more than one million species of plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else in the world.
• Australia has some of the oldest land surface on earth with parts dating more than 3,500 million years old.
• Highest Recorded Temperature was 53 degrees Celcius in 1889 at Cloncurry, Queensland.
• Lowest Recorded Temperature was -23 degrees Celcius in 1994 at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales.
• The lowest annual rainfall occurs at Lake Eyre in South Australia, with an annual mean precipitation of about 100mm.
• The highest annual rainfall occurs at Tully in Queensland, with an annual mean precipitation of 4400mm.
• Only six per cent of the Australian landmass is arable and it is the driest inhabited continent on earth.
• The driest place in Australia is Lake Eyre with an average annual rainfall of less than 125mm.
• Not including Tasmania, Melville Island (5698km2), near Darwin, is the largest Island in Australian Waters.
• The highest point in Australia is the top of Mt Kosciusko in New South Wales (2230 metres).
• The lowest point in Australia is 15 metres below sea level at Lake Eyre in South Australia.
• The largest lakes in Australia include Lake Eyre (9500km2), Lake Torrens (5900km2) and Lake Gairdner (4300km2) which are all in South Australia.
• The largest artificial lake in Australia is Lake Argyle (700km2) which is in Western Australia.
• The Deepest lake in Australia is Lake St Clair.
• The Murray River is the longest river in Australia at 2520km, combining with the Darling and Upper Darling Rivers to form the Murray-Darling basin. The Murray Darling extends over 15% of the continent, and serving 4 States and the ACT with water.
• The largest state is Western Australia with an area of over 2.5 million square kilometres.
• The smallest state is Tasmania.

Sources and More info:
DFAT Gov.au [PDF]
OECD Australia

Australia History Timeline

1770
Captain Cook lands at Botany Bay, and calls the eastern coastline New South Wales.
1788
Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet arrive, with convicts.
1793
The first free settlers arrive.
1803
Matthew Flinders circumnavigates the mainland.
1840
Abolition of convict transportation to New South Wales.
1851
Gold discovered in Victoria and New South Wales.
1897-8
New and separate Australian Constitution prepared.
1899
Constitution approved by ballot of the people.
1900
Federation of Australian Colonies-British approval. Melbourne becomes temporary capital of the new nation.
1901
January 1: Australia declared an independent Commonwealth within the British Empire. Local voting for local parliament.
1908
Canberra (midway between Melbourne and Sydney) chosen as the permanent Federal Capital.
1914
Australia enters World War I.
1915
More than 8,000 Australian soldiers lost in battle of Gallipoli in Turkey, 62,000 Australian lives lost in World War I.
1920
QANTAS (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) founded.
1928
Royal Flying Doctor Service established.
1939
Australia enters World War II.
1942
Darwin bombed by the Japanese on February 19,1943.
1947
Australian government buys all shares in QANTAS.
1956
Olympic Games held in Melbourne.
1965
Australian soldiers sent to the Vietnam conflict.
1967
Referendum sees 90 percent of Australians say “yes” to the right of Aborigines to vote.
1973
Opening of the Sydney Opera House.
1975
Governor-General John Kerr sacks Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.
1983
Australia II wins the America’s Cup yacht race.
1984
Tim MacCartney Snape and Greg Mortimer become the first Australians to reach the summit of Mt Everest.
1986
Lindy Chamberlain is released from jail after 3 years.
1988
Australia celebrates it’s bicentannary and the World Expo is held in Brisbane.
1993
Native Title Act passed to help Aborigines press land claims.
1995
Qantas is privatised by the then Prime Minister Paul Keating.
2000
Olympic Games held in Sydney. GST introduced.
2001
Ansett Airlines, HIH and OneTel collapse. Australia’s cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman dies at 92.
2002
Large parts of NSW, QLD and Victoria declare drought. 85 Australians, are killed after a car bomb explodes outside a Kuta nightclub in Bali.
2003
Australia signs 30-billion dollar gas agreement with China, one of the largest of its kind in the world and Australia’s single biggest export deal.
2004
Australia wins 17 gold medals, 16 silver and 16 bronze in the Athens Olympic Games.