A little over 200 years ago Australia was sparsely inhabited by the aboriginal people. In 1788 the first European settlers arrived in the First Fleet. From that small party we now have a population of around 21 million. The 2006 June census recorded 19.85 million people. The last population projection by the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated there were 21,181,000 people in Australia on the 31st December 2007, an increase of 1.6% from the 31st of December 2006. The population is ageing with an average age of 36.6 years, with 13% aged 65 years and over. Of all people, 85% were Australian born and of those born elsewhere, 36.2% came from the United Kingdom. New Zealand or Ireland, with the majority of the remainder coming from Italy, Vietnam, Greece, China and Germany. People of aboriginal descent increased by 11% from 410,013 in 1991 to 455,031. Of these, over half, 55.8% were counted in New South Wales and Queensland. In the Northern Territory the indigenous proportion of the population was 23.7%. The average wage for people 15 years and over was $466.00, up from $375.00 in 2001. Around 40% of the occupied dwellings in Australia are owned by their occupants with 25.5% being purchased and 28.7% rented. There are more women (50.5%) than men (49.5%) in all areas except the Northern Territory. These figures were obtained from a news-sheet issued from the Bureau of Statistics home page. (See Below) AUSTRALIAN POPULATION BY STATE The figures below show all persons living in the Australian States and Territories at census time in 2006. There is also a projected list from the Bureau of Statistics for the year 2050. 289,5007,960,400234,3005,744,1001,538,500335,4006,191,200 STATE 1986 1990 1992 1996 2001 2006 2050 Projected A.C.T Canberra 259,000 282,000 295,000 308,000 314,171 324,024 New South Wales 5,532,000 5,834,000 5,961,000 6,204,000 6,532,459 6,549,177 Northern Territory 154,000 164,000 168,000 182,000 197,590 193,828 Queensland 2,625,000 2,899,000 3,029,000 3,339,000 3.627.816 4,228,300 South Australia 1,383,000 1,432,000 1,457,000 1,474,000 1.502.397 1,904,532 Tasmania 446,000 462,000 470,000 475,000 470.272 476,481 Victoria 4,161,000 4,379,000 4,455,000 4,561,000 4,828,968 4,932,422 Western Australia 1,383,000 1,432,000 1,457,000 1,474,000 1.909,751 1,959,088 3,578,600 Bureau of Statistics Home Page THE GEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALIA Australia is the earth's largest island and its smallest continent. The mainland comprises 5 states and 2 territories. The sixth state, Tasmania, is 200 kilometres south of Victoria and separated from the mainland by Bass Strait. To the east, Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands are governed from Australia, as is the Antarctic holding based around Mawson. It is the driest inhabited continent on earth with around 1/3rd considered desert (The antarctic is considered the driest continent). It is approximately 3,700 km. long (north to south) and 4,000 kilometres wide. The mainland section is roughly divided in the east by the Great Dividing Range which lies inland from the eastern seaboard and runs from the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland to Melbourne in Victoria. Included in the range is Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciusko (2,229 metres) near the New South Wales- Victoria border in the snow capped alpine region of the Great Dividing Range. West of the dividing range the land is mainly flat with a few low ranges including the Flinders Ranges in South Australia and the MacDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs. The centre of the continent is mainly desert and sparsely populated. Around 80% of the Australian population lives within the eastern seaboard or the coastal fringes of the continent. Massive salt lakes, often dry for long periods, will be found in the mid-north of South Australia and these are fed by a large river system which carries water for hundreds of kilometres to fill them. The largest of these, Lake Eyre (9,475 sq km.), was filled this year (1994) for the first time in over a decade. What water does not evaporate from these lakes is fed into the Central Australian Artesian Basin, a vast natural underground series of aquifers from which occasional springs bubble in the most remote desert areas, and from which Alice Springs draws its water supply. AUSTRALIAN STATES The figures below show the area, coastline and border length of all Australian states and the islands off their shores. STATE Total main- land Area (sq km.) Island Area Coastline (km) Borders (km) Australia 7,659,861 32,163 59,736 N/A A.C.T Canberra 2,358 none none 327 New South Wales 800,628 14 2,137 4,635 Northern Territory 1,335,742 13,387 10,953 3,179 Queensland 1,723,936 6,712 13,347 3,339 South Australia 978,810 4,672 5,067 3,185 Tasmania 64,519 3,882 4,882 none Victoria 227,010 406 2,512 2,541 Western Australia 2,526,786 3,089 20,781 1,862 EXTERNAL TERRITORIES External Territories are those remote from the mainland Australia and governed by it. TERRITORY Total Area (sq km.) Australian Antarctic Territory 6,100,000 Coral Sea Islands Territory 780,000 Territory of Heard and MacDonald Islands 370 Christmas Island 135 Macquarie Island (Administered by Tasmania) 128 Norfolk Island 35 Lord Howe Island (Administered by N.S.W.) 15 Cocos (Keeling) Islands 14 Ashmore and Cartier Islands 2 SOME INTERESTING FACTS AND STATISTICS Some of the highest, lowest, oddest and interesting facts about Australia. Highest Mountain: Mainland: Mount Kosciuszco 2,229 metres. The highest point is Mawson Peak on Heard Island at 2,754 m. Australia is the lowest continent in the world with an average of only 330 metres. and the lowest point is Lake Eyre in South Australia at 15 m. below sea level. The most southerly mainland point is South Point, on Wilson's Promontory south of Melbourne. South East Point in Tasmania is the most southerly point of the main continent excluding the Antarctic. The longest river is the Murray River and its tributary the Darling River, which joins it at Wentworth in the south-west corner of New South Wales. Together totalling 3,370 km. their drainage basin comprises more then 1 million square kilometres or around 14% of Australia. The largest state is Western Australia with an area of over 2.5 million square kilometres. The largest island is Australia itself, followed by Tasmania, but offshore the largest is Melville Island of 5,786 sq km. near Darwin. The smallest state is Tasmania. The hottest temperature recorded in Australia was 53 degrees celsius at Cloncurry in Queensland in 1889. The coldest temperature recorded was at Charlottes Pass in the snowfields of the Great Dividing Range near Mt. Kosciuszko of -23 degrees celsius in 1994. The highest rainfall ever in Australia was 907mm. of rain at Crohamhust in Queensland on February 1893. The highest average rainfall recorded was at Bellenden Ker in Queensland where 11,251 mm. fell in 1979. The driest place in Australia is Lake Eyre with an average annual rainfall of less than 125mm. The most extreme range of temperature has been recorded at White Cliffs, an opal mining centre in Western New South Wales with extremes of 57.2 degrees between below-zero winter nights and hot summer days.