Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands.
Australia has an area of 7,741,220 square km.
Canberra is the capital and largest city of Australia.
English is national language of Australia.
Australian dollar (AUD) is official currency of Australia.
Australia has no land bordering countries.
Australia is both a country and a continent.
The name Australia comes from the Latin, ‘Terra Australia Incognito’, which means the Unknown Southern Land.
Australia is often described as a sports-loving nation, with a large share of the population taking part in recreational activities or organized sport each week.
Australia is home to many of the world’s most venomous snakes, including the inland taipan, which is considered the most venomous snake in terms of toxicity.
Australia is the only country that is also a continent and is the smallest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent on Earth.
Australia Day is celebrated every year on 26 January as the national day.
The kangaroo is Australia’s national animal and is found only in the wild in Australia and nearby regions.
Aboriginal cultures in Australia are among the oldest continuous cultures in the world, dating back at least 40,000 years and possibly longer.
Australia is home to the Dingo Fence, the longest fence in the world, built to protect farmland from dingoes.
Australia’s first police force included former convicts, organized in the late eighteenth century under Governor Arthur Phillip.
Some of the world’s most dangerous spiders, including funnel-web spiders, live in Australia. Their venom is used to produce antivenom through carefully controlled milking programs.
Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world’s largest steel arch bridge and one of Australia’s most famous landmarks.
The Nullarbor Links is recognized as the world’s longest golf course, stretching across the Nullarbor Plain between South Australia and Western Australia.
The platypus and the echidna are the only mammals that lay eggs. Both are native to Australia and New Guinea.
Vegemite and the black box flight recorder were developed by Australians, and important advances were also made in medical science such as the pacemaker and ultrasound imaging.
Australians consume millions of meat pies each year, making it one of the country’s most popular foods.
Australia is home to Migaloo, a famous white humpback whale that migrates along the east coast.
Australia is a highly multicultural society, with people from nearly every country in the world and hundreds of languages spoken across the population.
The Australian Alps receive more snowfall each year than Switzerland, even though the ski season is shorter.
Australia was one of the first countries to grant women the right to vote at a national level, doing so in 1902.
A significant portion of Australians speak a language other than English at home.
Australia has many natural salt lakes, including pink-colored lakes caused by algae and minerals, such as Lake Hillier in Western Australia.
Lord Howe Island limits tourist numbers to protect its fragile environment, allowing only a small number of visitors at any one time.
There is a town in Queensland named 1770, marking the year Captain James Cook first landed there.
The Canning Stock Route is one of the longest and most remote historic stock routes in the world, running through Western Australia.
Much of Australia’s land is covered by vegetation, ranging from tropical forests to grasslands and shrublands.
Australia controls one of the largest maritime zones in the world, spanning parts of the Indian, Pacific, and Southern Oceans.
Australia has more than 10,000 beaches, more than any other country.
Wi-Fi technology was developed by Australian scientists working with their national research agency.
Deaths from spider bites in Australia are now extremely rare due to effective antivenoms.
Australia has some of the oldest fossils ever discovered, with microbial life dating back over three billion years found in Western Australia.
Australia has one of the world’s highest rates of gambling participation per person.
Sheep farming has long been important to Australia’s economy, and at times sheep have outnumbered people by several times.
Melbourne has frequently ranked among the world’s most livable cities in international surveys.
The word “selfie” originated in Australia and later became an international term.
Victoria was the first place in the world to make seat belts compulsory by law, in 1970.
Swimming was once restricted at Australian beaches during the nineteenth century, before surf lifesaving became established.
In 1967, Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming and was never found.
Australia was one of the early countries to successfully launch satellites into orbit during the space age.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system on Earth and can be seen from space.
Australia has dozens of kangaroo species and thousands of spider species.
Queensland is home to the Australian lungfish, often called a “living fossil” because it has existed in similar form for hundreds of millions of years.
Melbourne has one of the largest Greek populations outside Greece.
The lyrebird is famous for its ability to imitate natural and artificial sounds, including other birds and human-made noises.
Canberra was chosen as Australia’s capital as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, and a new city was специально planned for that purpose.
The term “digger” is used for Australian soldiers and dates back to the gold-mining era of the nineteenth century.
Most Australians work in the service sector rather than in manufacturing or agriculture.
“Bludger” is Australian slang for someone considered lazy or unwilling to work.
Adelaide is sometimes called the “City of Churches” because of its many historic religious buildings.
In 1969, television images of the Moon landing were transmitted to much of the world through tracking stations in Australia.
Australia has some of the longest straight railway tracks in the world, crossing its vast interior.
Anna Creek Station in South Australia is the largest cattle station in the world by land area.