In addition, Australia administers six external territories: Norfolk Island, Coral Sea Islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and Heard Island and McDonald Islands. The country also includes two internal territories: the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, which contains Canberra, the country’s capital. The United Kingdom’s monarch remains the head of state, though that is a largely ceremonial post.Īustralia contains six states: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania. Politically, Australia may be variously described as an independent Western democracy, a liberal welfare state, a federal parliamentary democracy, or a constitutional monarchy. The eastern states are 10 hours ahead of Greenwich (London) time.
Because of its immense size, Australia has three standard time zones. The most distant of those islands is Macquarie Island, about 915 miles (1,470 kilometers) southeast of the mainland. The state of Tasmania also has jurisdiction over numerous small islands. Tasmania’s farthest coast is another 310 miles (500 kilometers) to the south. The latitudinal (north-south) distance between the two points is about 1,975 miles (3,180 kilometers). The southernmost point is South Point, on Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, at 39☈′ S. The northernmost point on mainland Australia is Cape York, Queensland, at 10☄1′ N. Mainland Australia stretches more than 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) from east to west. state of Texas and less than two -fifths the population of the United Kingdom.Ī coastline of more than 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) encircles the mainland. Australia’s population is less than the population of the U.S. Yet only some 25 million people inhabit this vast area. Australia’s land area is 32 times that of the United Kingdom and more than twice that of India. Although it is not a large continent, it is the world’s sixth largest country, after Russia, Canada, China, the United States, and Brazil. Australia’s northern coasts are separated from the archipelagoes of Southeast Asia by warm, shallow tropical seas.Īustralia is the flattest, most arid, and least populated of the inhabited continents. Australia’s southern coasts are washed by the cold Southern, or Antarctic, Ocean. Population (2022 est.) 25,801,000.Īustralia is sometimes called “the land down under” because it lies in the Southern Hemisphere almost halfway around the world from Great Britain, which was its mother country in the colonial era. Australia’s nearest neighbors are the countries of Indonesia and East Timor to the northwest Papua New Guinea, a short distance across the Torres Strait to the north and New Zealand, more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) to the southeast. Tasmania, a much smaller island off the southeast coast of Australia, is also considered to be a part of the continent. It is an island continent and, like the island continent of Antarctica, it is located entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. Wedged between the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia is the only continent occupied entirely by a single country. English is widely considered the de facto nationalĪustralia: national anthem Courtesy of Government of Australia (1) There is no official language designated in the Australian constitution.Literacy: percentage of population age 15 and over literate Male: not available Female: not available.Head of government Prime Minister: Anthony Albanese.Head of state British Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Governor-General: David Hurley.Form of government federal parliamentary state (formally a constitutional monarchy) with two legislative houses (Senate House of Representatives.Official name Commonwealth of Australia.