Australia General Things: Official Name: Commonwealth of Australia Size: 7.682.300 km² Population: 19.358.000 Biggest Cities: Sydney - 3,7 Mio, Melbourne - 3 Mio, Brisbane - 1,3 Mio, Perth - 1,2 Mio, Adelaide - 1 Mio, Newcastle - 429.000, Canberra (Hauptstadt) - 310.000 Einwohner. Official National Language: Englisch. Population groups: Australien people with european origin 91,4%, Asien people 6,4%, Aborigines 1,5%, Other 0,7% Religions: Christianity 70,9%, Moslems 1,1%, Buddhisms 1,1%, Jews 0,4%, Hindus 0,4%, Religionless 16,6%, Andere 9,5% Cities: 85% of all Australiens live in cities. Canberra: Canberra is the capital of Australia but it isn't a big city. Canberra was founded in 1913. Its population is something about 300,000 people. A lot of people say that Canberra is just boring and they are right because there aren't big sights like in Sydney or Melbourne. The people who are living in Canberra love the nature which is all around their little city. Sydney: Sydney was founded in 1788 by Captain A. Phillip They named it Sydney after a British minister. At first there were only convicts, but later farmers and other people arrived in great numbers. The most immigrants were from Britain and Ireland. Now it size is 1580 sq km (it is as big as London) and its population is about 3,500,000 people. Tourists think that Sydney is one of the best cities in the world. The city has got more than 40 beaches. A big sight in Sydney is the Opera House in the harbor. Melbourne: Melbourne is the biggest city in Australia behind Sydney. Its population is about 3,6 million. It was founded in the middle of the 18. century because of the gold which was there. The people who are living in Melbourne love sports like football, cricket and tennis. But they love also the Formula 1. In Melbourne are a lot of immigrants. Most of them are from Southeurope, for example from Greece. Brisbane: Brisbane is the capital of Queensland. It was founded in 1825 and it became Queenslands capital in 1859. Its population is about 1,4 million people. They haven't got big sights. In the 80's there was the EXPO in Brisbane. Adelaide: Adelaide was founded in 1836 from William Light. Now its population is about 1,1 million people. There are living a lot of immigrants in Adelaide who are from Europe. Adelaide calls itself a "Festival City" because of the big culturefestivals which were there. Nature: The nature of Australia is very colorful. Australiens nature is famous for her strange and very colorful trees and plants. There are about 2000 kinds of plants, 300 kinds of birds and numerous mammals, baganimals etc.. Deserts: Name: State Size (km²): in % Great Victoria Desert WA / SA 348 800 4,5 Great Sandy Desert WA 267 300 3,5 Tanami Desert WA / NT 184 500 2,4 Simpson Desert NT / QLD / SA 176 500 2,3 Gibson Desert WA 156 000 2,0 Little Sandy Desert WA 111 500 1,5 Strzelecki Desert SA / QLD / NSW 80 250 1,0 Animals: The Australian world of animals is unique. Over 50 million years long the baganimals, the eggssettle mammals and a lot of other different animals lived undisturbed. Because Australia is an island, they were isolated from enimies. But 200 years ago the immigrants from Europe brought their pets with them. Between a few years, the Australian animals were reduced. Illness was the biggest problem in this time. A lot of Australien animals died out. Most upseted are still the Koalas. i n 16 kg). Aborigines: The Aborigines are one of the oldest cultures all over the world. They are living in the Outback, the Uluru. The word Aborigine is derived from Latin and means 'from the beginning'. This is the name given to the native Australians by the Europeans. This is not the name they called themselves. They prefer to call themselves: Koori. The aborigine people had never seen white people until Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay in 1770. They were shocked to see these white people in their strange clothes.When the aborigines first saw the ships of the First Fleet enter Botany Bay in 1778 with so many white skinned people they thought they were the spirits of their dead ancestors (after all they were so white). In actual fact these were the first European settlers led by Captain Arthur Phillip.At first the Aborigines were friendly towards the visitors but were very confused at the way white foreigners behaved: When the Europeans came to Australia, they brought a lot of illness and alcohol. That was the biggest problem for the Aborigines. Apart from the fact from the last 200 years they never had any contact to the world outside of their one. Scientists believe that the at time were the Europeans came to Australia 750,000 to 3 million Aborigines lived in the Outback. Great Barrier Reef: The Great Barrier Reef is the biggest reef all over the world. It size is about 345,000 km² and often people call it the 8th wonder of the world (you can see it from space). It is over 10,000 years old. A lot of people like to go diving there. The water is very clearly so that you can see the "floor" of it. There are living. .400 different kinds of coral .500 species of seaweed .215 species of birds .15 species of seasnake .6 species of seaturtle ..and a lot of other animals in the Great Barrier Reef. Corals are chalky skeletons of very very small animals in the water which are living in an lifecrew with algas. Corals are carnivorously animals. In the Great Barrier Reef are about 400 kinds of corals in every imagineable color. They need a temperature between 20° and 25° Celsius and they are growing up in 40 metres depht. They need water which is clean and oxygenrich. The Great Barrier Reef is the biggest living system all over the world.
