Want to know something about Australia, the most basic geography, customs, what climate do you belong to?

Country name: Commonwealth of Australia.

Capital: Canberra

Area: 7.692 million square kilometers

Population: 29.56 million (65,438+20091October)

Language: English, the indigenous language, the official language of Australia is English.

Currency: Australian dollar

Ethnic composition: 95.2% are descendants of immigrants from Britain and other countries, 1.3% are Asians, 1.5% are aborigines, and 2% are others.

Religion: 25% people have no religious belief, Anglican 2 1%, Roman Catholic 27%, other Christian 2 1%, and other religious believers 6%.

Head of State: Australia's nominal head of state is the head of the Commonwealth, that is, the King (or Queen) of England, who appoints the Governor-General of Australia as his representative. The current king of England is Elizabeth II.

The attached picture shows the Australian flag, map and national emblem, as well as the Sydney Opera House (with the Sydney Harbour Bridge as the background), which is usually regarded as Australia's landmark.

Human development index: ranked third in the world, index: 0.957.

[Edit this paragraph] National symbol

National Flag: The national flag is dark blue, and the British flag pattern is in the upper left corner of the national flag, indicating the traditional relationship between Australia and Britain. Below is a huge white seven-pointed star, symbolizing the six states and the federal government that make up the Commonwealth of Australia. There are five white stars on the right side of the flag land, one of which is pentagonal and the others are heptagons. Five small stars represent the Southern Cross (the constellation that Australia can see most clearly).

National emblem: The national emblem of Australia is kangaroo on the left and emu on the right. These two animals are unique to Australia, with a shield in the middle. There are six groups of patterns on the shield, symbolizing the six states of the country. The red St. George's Cross (with a lion and four stars on it) symbolizes New South Wales; The southern cross under the crown represents Victoria; The blue cross represents Queensland; Shrike stands for South Australia; The black swan symbolizes Western Australia; The red lion symbolizes Tasmania. Above the shield is a seven-pointed star, symbolizing the six states and the federal government that make up the Commonwealth of Australia. The ribbon below has the English word "Australia".

National Day: 65438+1October 26th (1788)

National flower: Acacia (Acacia, Latin name: Acacia)

Many misinformed materials say that the national tree of Australia is eucalyptus and the national bird is Qin bird, which are all incorrect. The Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated through its official website that up to now (2008), there are no officially recognized national trees, birds or animals in Australia. The Australian government didn't declare acacia as the national flower until August 1988. So far, there are no animals or birds as national symbols.

[Edit this paragraph] Historical overview

The word Australia originally meant "southern continent", and Australia came from the Latin terra australis. As early as 40,000 years ago, aborigines lived and multiplied in this land of Australia, and now the total number of aborigines in Australia is 413,000 (according to the 2006 5438+0 census data). According to relevant historical records, on 1606, the Spanish navigator Luis Vaez de Torres sailed through the strait between Australia and New Guinea (Irian Island); In the same year, Duyfken of the Dutchman William Jane set foot in Australia, which was the first recorded foreigner to actually land in Australia. 1770, the British navigator Captain james cook discovered the east coast of Australia, named it "New South Wales" and declared this land as British territory.

The British first used Australia as a place to exile prisoners. 1788 65438+1October 18 A fleet of six ships led by captain Philip *** 1530 arrived in Botany Bay, Australia, including 736 prisoners. Eight days later,178865438+1October 26th, they formally established the first British colony in Port Jackson, Australia, which later became the largest city with a growing population in Australia. This name is in memory of the then British Home Secretary Sydney. Now, 65438+ every year1October 26th is Australia's National Day.

1790, the first batch of British freemen moved to Australia, with Sydney as the center and gradually developed inland. By 1803, the colonial area had expanded to today's Tasmania. The early colonies only depended on agriculture to survive, and then used natural conditions to develop animal husbandry. By 18 19, animal husbandry in Australia has made great progress. At that time, Captain McCarthy and his wife * * * bred the earliest Australian snail horn sheep. The total number of sheep in their pasture is 6000. The wool produced by the colonies was not only self-sufficient, but also exported to Britain in exchange for daily necessities for Australia. By 1850, the sheep industry in Australia had developed, and the total number of sheep was180,000. At that time, more than half of the total wool imported by Britain came from Australia. Sydney and Melbourne have replaced Hamburg, Germany, as the most famous wool distribution centers in the world.

In 1950s, gold mines were discovered in New South Wales and Victoria. A large number of gold prospectors from Europe, America and China flocked to China. The population of Australia has soared from 400,000 in 1850 to10,000,000. Since then, many important gold mines have been discovered one after another, and a large number of mineral deposits have been discovered at the same time. These discoveries made Australia rich and developed rapidly.

[Edit this paragraph] Federal political system

After the continuous immigration of the British, Australia gradually established six independent colonial areas (now it has become six Australian States, which can be understood as six provinces). After the establishment of colonial areas in New South Wales and Tasmania, 1829, 1836 and 18565438 successively established Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. Before 1900, the six places used the same currency (pound and penny), but they were all independent, and even issued stamps, just like the six countries. The colonial areas live in harmony and their ties are constantly strengthened, so it is imperative to establish a unified federation.

1900, residents of all six colonies held a referendum of one person, one vote to decide whether to unify the six colonies into a federal country. The result of the vote is that the six places should be unified and a single Australian Federation should be established. 190 1 year 1 month 1 day, six colonies were unified into a federation, and the Australian federation was established, and the first constitution was adopted at the same time. The first six colonies became six states under the union.

1927, the Australian capital moved to Canberra. 193 1 year, the British Parliament passed the Westminster Act, which made Australia independent in domestic and foreign affairs and became an independent country in the Commonwealth.

Australia's nominal head of state is the King (or Queen) of England, and the Queen appoints the Governor as her representative, but the Australian Governor does not actually interfere in the operation of the government. The Australian government is a federal system, which consists of six states and two territories (Northern Territory and Capital Territory). Every state has a governor in charge of internal affairs. The Australian government consists of a majority party or a Coalition of political parties in the House of Representatives, with a term of office of three years. The Cabinet is the highest decision-making organ of the government, and now there are thirty ministers. The highest executive leader of this country is the Prime Minister.

There are dozens of political parties in Australia, large and small. The main political parties are the Labour Party and the Liberal Party. The Australian Labor Party was founded in 189 1 and is the largest political party in Australia. It is closely related to trade unions and mainly represents the interests of the working class. Since 1940, it has been in power for 12 times. Kevin Rudd, the current leader, is also the current Australian Prime Minister. The Liberal Party was founded in 1944, and its predecessor was the Australian Unity Party, which was founded in 193 1. Mainly represents the interests of industrial and commercial owners, and has been in power for many times. From 1996 to 2007, the Liberal Party has been in power for eleven and a half years, successfully leading Australia from the economic recession of 1990 to economic prosperity. Other small parties include National Democratic Party, Green Party, Family First Party, Nuclear-Free Australia Party, Progressive Alliance Party and Australian Producers Party.

[Edit this paragraph] Interesting history of the capital.

When the Federation was established, Australia was not sure about the location of the capital. From 190 1 to 1927, Melbourne is the temporary capital of Australia. The Federal Parliament meets in Melbourne, and many government agencies are located in Melbourne. For 26 years, Melbourne has actually played the role of the capital of Australia. As early as when discussing the establishment of a unified Federation, Melbourne and Sydney were actively striving to become capitals. /kloc-In the middle of the 9th century, Melbourne was a more prosperous metropolis than Sydney. Later, with the increasing prosperity of Sydney, Sydney citizens very much hoped that Sydney would become the capital of Australia. 1908, the seventh year after the Commonwealth was founded, the Australian government decided to build a new city Canberra between Sydney and Melbourne as the new capital. Because the construction of Canberra takes time, Melbourne will continue to be the temporary capital.

1927 in may, with the opening of the temporary parliament building in Canberra, the office of the Australian government was moved from Melbourne to Canberra. Interestingly, the new capital is not located in the center of Sydney and Melbourne. It is about four hours' drive from Sydney and seven hours' drive from Melbourne. As Canberra is a new city, the planning is very good. The urban design of Canberra was adopted through an open international competition. A total of 137 designs were received in the competition, and the result was obtained by American architect Walter Burley Griffin. The street map of Canberra originally drawn by this designer was drawn by him and his wife (also an architect) on a piece of cotton cloth. This precious original is still kept in the Australian National Archives.

1911110, Canberra and its surrounding areas were declared as Australian Capital Territory.

[Edit this paragraph] Geography and climate

Australia is the best in the world geographically: it is the smallest land in the world. Australia is located in the southern hemisphere, ranking sixth in the world, only next to Russian, Canadian, China, USA and Brazil, and equivalent to four fifths of China. It borders the Pacific Ocean in the east and the Indian Ocean in the west, with a coastline of 37,000 kilometers.

The topography of Australia is very distinctive. There are rugged rock areas, vast deserts and lush Pingdingshan mountains in the west and middle, continuous plateaus in the east, and narrow beach gentle slopes near the sea, which gradually incline to the west and become plains. The coastal areas are full of wide beaches and lush vegetation, and there are various landforms here: the cliffs of the Blue Mountains in the west of Sydney, the tall, beautiful and eroded volcanic neck in the Glasgow Mountains in the north of Brisbane, and the flat Yuan Ye on the south coast of Adelaide.

Murray river and Darling River are the two longest rivers in Australia. These two water systems constitute the Murray-Darling Basin, with an area of about 1 10,000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to 14% of the total area of the mainland. Lake Aier is a huge salt lake near the center of the mainland, covering an area of over 9,000 square kilometers, but it often dries up for a long time.