I.

Introduction

Australia, island continent located between the Indian and South Pacific oceans south-east of Asia and forming, with the nearby island of Tasmania, the Commonwealth of Australia, a self-governing member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The continent is bounded on the north by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea, and the Torres Strait; on the east by the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea; on the south by the Bass Strait and the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Indian Ocean. The Commonwealth of Australia extends about 4,000 km (2,485 mi) from Cape Byron in the east to Western Australia, and about 3,700 km (2,300 mi) from Cape York in the north to Tasmania in the south. Its coastline measures some 36,735 km (22,826 mi). The area of Australia, including Tasmania, is 7,682,300 sq km (2,966,200 sq mi). The area of the continent alone is 7,614,500 sq km (2,939,974 sq mi), making Australia the smallest continent and one of the largest countries in the world.

The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of six states—New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia—and two territories—the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Australia’s external dependencies are the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands, the Territory of Heard and McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island, the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and the Coral Sea Islands Territory. Canberra is the capital of Australia.

II.

Land and Resources

The remotest of the settled continents, Australia is also the flattest and, except for Antarctica, the driest. The average elevation is about 300 m (987 ft) and only 6 per cent of its area is above 610 m (2,000 ft). The vast interior of Australia, known to white Australians as the Outback, is made up of plains and low plateaux, which are generally higher in the north-east. Low-lying coastal plains, averaging about 65 km (40 mi) in width, fringe the continent. The coastal plains in the east, south-east, and south-west are the most densely populated areas of Australia.

In the east the coastal plains are separated from the interior by the Great Dividing Range, or Eastern Highlands. This mountainous region averages approximately 1,220 m (4,000 ft) in height and runs parallel to the eastern coast from the Cape York Peninsula in the north to Victoria State in the south-east. Subdivisions of the range have many names, including, from north to south, the New England Range, the Blue Mountains, and the Australian Alps, including the Snowy Mountains. In Victoria, where the range extends westward, it is known as the Grampians, or by the name given by the indigenous Aborigines, Gariwerd. The highest peak in the Australian Alps, and the loftiest in Australia, is Mount Kosciusko (2,228 m/7,310 ft), in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales. The Great Dividing Range continues into Tasmania, which was separated from the south-eastern tip of the continent by the shallow Bass Strait between 13,500 and 8,000 years ago when sea levels rose.

The Western Australian Shield occupies more than half of the continent, west of a line running north-south roughly from the eastern shore of Arnhem Land on the Bay or Gulf of Carpentaria to the Eyre Peninsula in the state of South Australia, and skirting to the west of the Simpson Desert in the interior. A huge plateau with an average elevation of between 305 and 460 m (1,000 and 1,500 ft), the shield is fractured into a number of distinct blocks. Some of the blocks have been raised to form uplands; others have been depressed, forming lowlands and basins. The lowlands include the Great Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert, the Great Victoria Desert, and the Nullarbor Plain, which are located in the north-western, central, southern, and south-eastern shield areas respectively. The Nullarbor (from Latin, “no trees”) is an arid, virtually uninhabited limestone plateau. It is characterized by remarkable cave and tunnel systems which contain valuable geological information about ancient Australia.

The uplands include, in Western Australia state, the Hamersley and King Leopold ranges in the western and north-western coastal areas, and the Darling Range inland from Perth in the far south-west. The Macdonnell Ranges lie in the southern part of the Northern Territory, and the Stuart and Musgrave Ranges are located in the north of the state of South Australia. Erosion and weathering have created striking, isolated rock formations, called mesas or buttes, in many parts of the shield, including the Kimberleys and Pilbara districts of Western Australia and Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

Between the Western Australian Shield and the Great Dividing Range is the Great Artesian Basin region, an area of vast plains containing some of the most productive arable and range lands in Australia. It comprises three major basins: the Carpentaria, the Eyre, and the Murray basins. The rolling plains of the Carpentaria Basin form a narrow corridor running inland from the Bay of Carpentaria, between the Isa Highland on the north-eastern edge of the shield and the Great Dividing Range. The Eyre Basin lies to the south of the Carpentaria Basin, occupying almost 1.3 million sq km (500,000 sq mi) of the centre and north of the continent, in south-western Queensland, north-eastern South Australia, and north-western New South Wales. There are rolling plains in the north of the basin. Further into the arid interior, the land becomes flatter and changes into stony desert. There are sand dunes in the Simpson Desert, which lies to the north of Lake Eyre near the western edge of the basin. Lake Eyre, one of the largest of the salt lakes scattered through the interior, occupies the lowest part of the continent and many river systems drain into it. Uluru (Ayers Rock) lies to the west of Lake Eyre on the border between the Eyre Basin and the Western Australian Shield, in the centre of Australia. With a basal circumference of about 9 km (6 mi), and rising sharply from the surrounding plain to about 348 m (1,142 ft), Uluru is believed to be the largest monolith in the world.

The Murray Basin runs inland from the Indian Ocean coasts of South Australia and Victoria into western New South Wales. It is bordered on the west by the Flinders and Mount Lofty ranges in South Australia, and on the east by the Australian Alps of the Great Dividing Range. The Murray Basin contains large areas of fossil sand dunes, and is generally arid; the western Murray Plains are a stony desert. In the east of the basin, however, there are extensive alluvial plains associated with the major tributaries of the Murray, the only permanent river to cross the interior.

The coastline of continental Australia is generally regular, with few bays or capes. The largest inlets are the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north and the Great Australian Bight in the south. The several fine harbours include those of Sydney, Hobart, Port Lincoln, and Albany. Tasmania has a more indented coastline, particularly in the south-east, where postglacial submergence has produced one of the finest drowned coastlines in the world.

The Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage site, extends some 2,010 km (1,250 mi) along the eastern coast of Queensland from Cape York in the north to Bundaberg in the south. Made of coral, it is the world’s largest structure created by a living organism. The chain of reefs forms a natural breakwater for the passage of ships along the coast. See also Kosciusko National Park.

A.

Geology

Australia was originally part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, which had earlier formed part of the supercontinent of Pangaea. Much of it is geologically ancient; the oldest known rock formations have been dated at between 3 and 4.3 billion years old. The great plateau of the Western Australian Shield is underlaid by a vast, stable shield of Precambrian metamorphic and igneous rocks, ranging in age from 570 million to 3.7 billion years. These form the core of the ancestral continent, which, with Antarctica, split off from Gondwana during the Jurassic period, less than 200 million years ago, and began to drift eastwards and northwards (see Plate Tectonics; Continent). Australia emerged as a separate continent about 100 million years ago, when Antarctica broke away and drifted southward. Australia is still moving, northward, away from Antarctica and is in the process of merging with Asia. Its life as a separate continent will be relatively short, in geological time.

The thick sedimentary rocks of the Great Dividing Range were deposited in a great north-south trending geosyncline during an interval that spanned most of the Palaeozoic era, ending some 245 million years ago. Compressive forces buckled these rocks at least twice during the era, forming mountain ranges and chains of volcanoes.

B.

Rivers and Lakes

Two thirds of Australia is desert or semi-desert and experiences very high rates of evaporation; only about 10 per cent of rainfall survives as surface run-off to feed the rivers. As a result, permanent rivers are limited, with one exception, to the wetter eastern and south-western margins of the continent, and to Tasmania. The Great Dividing Range is the watershed for the eastern half of Australia. On its eastern flanks, permanent rivers flow to the Coral Sea and South Pacific Oceans; the most important are the Burdekin, the Fitzroy, and the Hunter. Of the rivers which flow westward from the Great Dividing Range across the interior, only the Murray is permanent. Fed by melting snow at its source in the Mount Kosciusko region, and by large tributaries like the Darling and Murrumbidgee rivers, the Murray gains enough volume to cross the dry plains which bear its name. It meets the sea on the south coast, east of Adelaide. The Murray-Darling-Murrumbidgee network is the most important river system in Australia. It drains more than 1.1 million sq km (415,000 sq mi) in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, and waters some of the country’s most important arable and grazing lands. Much of the network is also navigable during the wet season. The Murray forms most of the border between New South Wales and Victoria.

The other rivers of central Australia, like those of the western part of the continent, flood adjacent, low-lying land when it rains. At other times they are dry channels, or at best a series of water holes; the central plains region is sometimes known as the Channel Country. The Victoria, the Daly, and the Roper rivers drain a section of the Northern Territory. In Queensland the main rivers flowing north to the Gulf of Carpentaria are the Mitchell, the Flinders, the Gilbert, and the Leichhardt. Western Australia has few significant rivers. The most important are the Fitzroy, the Ashburton, the Gascoyne, the Murchison, and the Swan rivers.

The natural lakes of the interior of continental Australia are salinas, or salt lakes. Fed by ephemeral or intermittent streams and rivers, they receive water rarely and are normally reduced by evaporation to salt-encrusted swamp beds or salt pans. The large salinas in the centre and south of the Great Artesian Basin—lakes Eyre, Torrens, Frome, and Gairdner—are the remains of a vast inland sea which once extended south from the Gulf of Carpentaria.

C.

Water Resources

The Nullarbor Plain and great areas of the western interior have no surface drainage. However, underneath the surface there are underground streams and artesian water reserves which have been vital to the economic development of the country. Artesian water reserves underlie some 2.5 million sq km (965,000 sq mi) of continental Australia. About 70 per cent of total reserves are located in the Great Artesian Basin, which is the largest of its type in the world. There are other artesian basins in the north-west and south-east, and along the coast of the Nullarbor Plain on the Great Australian Bight.

The need to provide adequate water supplies to support farming and Australia’s predominantly urban population has led to the damming of several rivers. Ambitious schemes have been built to provide water for irrigation, for domestic and livestock use, and for the generation of electricity. The most famous is the Snowy Mountains Scheme, a multi-purpose scheme located in the Australian Alps in New South Wales. One of the world’s largest engineering projects, it was built between 1949 and 1972, and provides additional water for irrigation along the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers, as well as electricity for the heavily populated south-eastern seaboard. The Ord River Scheme, a huge irrigation scheme in the Kimberleys region of north-western Western Australia, was begun in 1960 with the aim of opening up Australia’s “empty” northern frontier. The scheme was criticized by economists, environmentalists, and agricultural scientists while it was being built, and questions still remain about its economic and ecological viability. Pest and other problems mean that only a small percentage of the potentially arable area is cultivated; the scheme’s principal benefit has been the creation of Lake Argyle, Australia’s biggest artificial lake and its largest body of fresh water.

D.

Climate

Although the climate of Australia varies from tropical (monsoonal) in the north to cool temperate in Tasmania, the majority of the country is hot and dry; the sea exerts little moderating influence beyond the coast, and the highland area is too small and low to have more than local effect. More than two thirds of continental Australia, in the west and centre, receives less than 500 mm (20 in) of rain a year, and one third is desert with less than 250 mm (10 in) of rain annually. Only 10 per cent of the land, in the north, along the east and south-western coasts, and in Tasmania receives more than 1,000 mm (40 in) of rain a year. The tropical northern coastal region has two main seasons: a hot, wet season with summer rains falling mainly in February and March, when the north-western monsoons prevail; and a warm dry winter season characterized by the prevalence of south-easterly trade winds. The monsoon reaches inland for varying distances, extending furthest in Arnhem Land and the Cape York peninsula. Many points on the northern and north-eastern coast have an average annual rainfall of 1,524 mm (60 in); in northern Queensland, around Cairns, average annual rainfall exceeds 2,540 mm (100 in). On the fringe of the monsoonal region there are drier savannah grasslands, where low, unreliable rainfall is supplemented by artesian water. In western, central, and northern Australia average summer temperatures range between 26.7° and 29.4° C (80° and 85° F), but can frequently exceed 38° C (100º F).

The warm, temperate regions of the southern coast of continental Australia have four seasons, with cool winters and hot summers. January and February are the hottest months, with average temperatures varying between 18.3° and 21.1° C (65° and 70° F). June and July are the coldest months, with an average July temperature of about 10° C (50° F), except in the Australian Alps, where temperatures of 1.7° C (35° F) occur; snowfields exist in the Mount Kosciusko area. The eastern coastal lowlands receive rain in all seasons, although mainly in summer. The warm, temperate western and southern coasts receive rain mainly in the winter months, usually from prevailing westerly winds. Tasmania, lying in the cool temperate zone, receives heavy rainfall from the prevailing westerly winds in summer and from cyclonic storms in winter. In addition to the Australian Alps in southern New South Wales, snow also falls during the winter in the northern part of Victoria, and in Tasmania. All of the southern states are exposed to hot, dry winds from the interior, which can suddenly raise the temperature considerably. In most years, drought affects some part of Australia, and localized floods and tropical cyclones are common. South-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, has the highest incidence of bushfires in the world, along with California in the United States and Mediterranean Europe. In 1994 bushfires swept through New South Wales, destroying hundreds of homes in suburban Sydney. In late December 1997 and early January 1998 a series of bushfires burnt out of control in New South Wales and Victoria causing an emergency to be declared. The fires in Victoria were the worst in over a decade. In the Northern Territory a state of emergency was declared in late January 1998 due to the severe flooding of the Katherine River, which passed its previous highest level, recorded in 1957, to reach 19.5 m (64 ft) in full flood.

E.

Natural Resources

Australia is rich in mineral resources. The most commercially notable include: bauxite (found in Queensland and Western Australia); bituminous coal (Queensland and New South Wales); iron ore (Western Australia and Tasmania); nickel and gold (Western Australia); lead, zinc, and silver (all found in Queensland, New South Wales, and Tasmania); brown coal, or lignite (Victoria); offshore oil (Victoria); and offshore natural gas (Western Australia and Victoria). Australia’s famous deposits of gem minerals include the white opals of Andamooka and Coober Pedy, South Australia, and White Cliffs, New South Wales; and the unique black opals of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, and Mintabie, South Australia. Huge diamond deposits were first discovered in the Kimberleys in 1976 and have made Australia the world’s leading supplier by volume, and the sixth largest in terms of value. Topaz and sapphires are found in Queensland and New South Wales. Australia also has some of the world’s largest known uranium reserves, located in northern Queensland, the Northern Territory, New South Wales, and South Australia. However, they have been minimally developed because of the lack of domestic demand and strong objections from the environmental movement.

Australia has both fossil and renewable energy resources. The country’s coal reserves, which are used to generate about 75 per cent of electricity, are easily worked and enormous; known reserves are sufficient to last for almost 400 years at present production rates. Natural gas production is located mainly off Western Australia, and known reserves should last 55 years. However, oil production in the Bass Strait, which met about two thirds of domestic demand in the late 1980s, is expected to begin declining shortly. In terms of renewable resources, Tasmania, the most mountainous part of Australia, has used its considerable hydroelectric power potential to meet most of its electricity needs. Continental Australia has less hydroelectric power potential because of its generally low relief. However, a number of schemes have been built in the Great Dividing Range. In addition to the Snowy Mountains Scheme, they include the Burdekin Falls Dam in Queensland. Australia has considerable wind power potential, and windmills were widely used during the pioneering days of white settlement. However, today they tend to be used only on remote outback sheep stations.

F.

Soils

All soil types are found in the continent, but poor and mediocre soils predominate, with low organic content. Notwithstanding this, and the fact that large areas of the interior are desert or at best suitable only for light grazing of sheep, soil resources are a significant factor in the Australian economy. Agricultural products constitute upwards of 20 per cent of export earnings today, and in the past dominated exports. Phosphate additives have been used extensively as soil fertilizers for many years; large areas of marginal land have been made more productive by the use of trace elements, such as zinc, copper, and manganese, and some new lands have been opened up to production. However, since the 1970s there has been growing concern about the side-effects of phosphate use. These include soil acidification, and the periodic outbreaks of toxic blue-green algal blooms in the vital Murray-Darling river system, fed by the phosphate-rich run-off from fertilized soils. Wind erosion and in some areas overgrazing in the semi-arid pastoral and agricultural regions, and water erosion in the wetter, deforested south-eastern region are major problems.

Concern over such problems has led to the growth of a grassroots “Landcare” movement, which has won considerable official support; the federal government has declared the 1990s to be the decade of Landcare. The ecological and economic threats of soil erosion, soil and water salinization, and soil acidification are being countered by technical programmes, scientific research, education, and measures such as restrictions on grazing and reforestation programmes.

G.

Plants

Australia has a distinctive flora, comprising some 22,000 species of plants. More than 90 per cent are indigenous, and many species are not found elsewhere. Predominantly evergreen, vegetation ranges from the dense bushland and eucalyptus forests of the coast to the mulga and mallee scrub and saltbush of the inland plains. Australian plant life is distributed in three main zones. The tropical zone runs along the northern margins of the continent and half way down the eastern coast. The temperate zone covers the south-eastern coastal area, including Tasmania, and runs up the eastern coast to meet the tropical zone. The eremian zone occupies the whole of the arid centre and west of the continent.

The tropical zone, with its monsoonal climate and high temperatures, is heavily forested, mainly with deciduous trees. Along the north-east coast of Queensland, including the Cape York Peninsula, there are rainforests. Palms, ferns, and vines grow prolifically among the oaks, ash, cedar, brush-box, and beeches. Mangroves line the mud flats and inlets of the low-lying northern coastline. The crimson waratah, golden-red banksiass, and scarlet firewheel tree add colour to northern forests. Further inland there is savannah with low trees, mainly of the distinctive sclerophyll (hard-leaved species), which are characteristic of much indigenous flora. Many of the species of plant found in the tropical zone are also found in the Malay archipelago to the north-east.

The temperate zone is characterized by sclerophyll, temperate, and savannah woodlands, by mallees, scrub, and sclerophyll heath, by temperate rainforests, and by alpine vegetation in the Australian Alps and the mountains of Tasmania. More than in the tropical zone, the vegetation is typically “Australian”. Along the eastern coast and into Tasmania there are stands of pine. Largely introduced, these pines rank second only to the eucalyptus in terms of economic importance; the Huon and King William pines are particularly valuable for their timber. However, the Huon pine is now considered rare and is largely protected. In the forest regions of the warm, well-watered south-eastern and south-western sectors, eucalyptus predominates; more than 500 species are found, some reaching a height of 91 m (300 ft). The south-western coast is particularly noted for the richness of its plant life. The mountain ash, blue gums, and woolly butts of the south-east mingle with undergrowth of wattles and tree ferns. Tasmania is noted for its southern beech forests and for its links with the flora of New Zealand.

In the Eremian Zone there are semi-arid shrub savannahs, shrub steppes, semi-arid grasslands, and sclerophyll grasslands, as well as large areas virtually devoid of vegetation. The vegetation is adapted to the arid conditions, and acacias tend to displace eucalyptus, although the jarrah and karri species of eucalyptus, which yield timber valued for hardness and durability, are peculiar to Western Australia. So too are several species of grass tree. The wildflowers which appear after rain are varied and spectacular. In the less dense regions of the interior slopes grow red and green kangaroo paws, scented Boronia, wax flowers, bottlebrush, and smaller species of eucalyptus, such as the coolabah, red gum, and ghost gum. There are more than 650 species of acacia which are indigenous to Australia; the scented flower of one acacia, the golden wattle, has been chosen as the national flower of Australia and appears on the official coat of arms. In the interior characteristic plants are saltbush and spinifex grass, which provide fodder for sheep, and mallee and mulga shrubs.

The most valuable indigenous fodder grasses, including Flinders grass, are found in Queensland and northern New South Wales. During occasional seasonal floodings, rapid and luxuriant growth of native grasses and desert wild flowers occurs, and water lilies dot the streams and lagoons.

As well as the native flora, Australia also has some 2,000 introduced species of plants. Most have been associated with the development of agriculture and grazing, or with the establishment of large plantations of commercial softwoods.

Although Australia is rich in plant species, the area they cover has been hugely reduced since the arrival of the first European settlers in 1788. At that time it is estimated that up to one quarter of the country may have been covered by forests, savannah woodlands, and scrub. However, only a small proportion had commercial potential, and in the subsequent 200 years much of the indigenous flora was cleared to make way for agriculture and settlement. According to rough estimates produced by government scientists in the late 1980s, loss of indigenous cover ranges from more than two thirds in Victoria to around one third in Western Australia; only in the Northern Territory has clearance been negligible.

The result has been not only an increase in erosional problems, but also the extinction of 83 known indigenous plant species. There are, in addition, 840 known species threatened with extinction. The spread of weeds and other aggressive introduced plants into areas of original vegetation is also a serious environmental problem. Australia’s wildlife has been detrimentally affected by the loss of habitat, which has pushed a number of species to the verge of extinction (see Animals below). However, since the 1980s there has been a considerable increase in public awareness of the need for conservation and pressure to contain further loss of natural vegetation—strongly resisted at times by some economic interests.

H.

Animals

Australia is thought to have up to 300,000 different species of animal life, of which only about 100,000 have been described. There are some 280 known species of mammals, more than 700 species of birds, 680 species of reptiles, more than 150 species of frogs, and almost 200 species of freshwater fish; the remainder are invertebrates. The fauna of Australia is distinctive, deriving mainly from the time when the continent formed part of Gondwana. It has most in common with the wildlife of New Guinea, which falls within the Australian faunal zone, and with that of South Africa, which also formed part of Gondwana. Many species are unique to Australia, however, reflecting its long isolation from other land masses. They include seven families of mammals, as well as four families of birds comprising about 70 per cent of known species. It is also estimated that about 88 per cent of reptile species and 94 per cent of frog species are unique to the continent.

The Gondwanan origins of Australia’s fauna are most striking among the mammals because of the absence of representatives of most of the orders found on other continents. The world’s only egg-laying mammals, the primitive monotremes—the platypus and echidna (which is also found in New Guinea)—are Gondwanan. The platypus, a zoological curiosity, is an aquatic, furred mammal with a bill like that of a duck and with poisonous spurs. It lives in the streams of south-eastern Australia. The echidna is also known as the spiny anteater.

The most characteristic native mammals are marsupials, the young of which are nourished in an external marsupium, or abdominal pouch. Although also found in South America, marsupials in Australia have evolved to virtually all mammalian niches. The best-known Australian marsupial is the kangaroo, of which there are about 50 species found in both the temperate and tropical zones. The kangaroo is vegetarian and can be tamed. The large red or grey kangaroos stand as high as 2.1 m (7 ft) and can leap 9 m (30 ft). Originally a creature of the forests and semi-arid shrub lands, it is one of the few native animals to have benefited from the extension of pastureland. Numbers have exploded, and hunting is used as a control measure. The wallaby, kangaroo rat, and tree kangaroo are smaller members of the kangaroo family. The phalangers are herbivorous marsupials that live in trees; they include the possum and the koala. Feeding only on the leaves of certain species of eucalyptus, the koala has been endangered by loss of habitat and is protected throughout Australia. Other well-known marsupials are the burrowing wombat, bandicoot, and pouched mouse. Of the marsupial carnivores, the native cat or quoll (including the tiger cat) and the Tasmanian devil are found only in Tasmania, while the numbat is found in dwindling numbers in south-western Australia. The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, became extinct in the 1930s.

The only native placental mammals—rodents, bats, and the dingo, or warrigal—are Asian in origin, entering Australia by island hopping or accidental drifting. The Aborigines, however, probably introduced the dingo, a dog-like night hunter and sheep-killer; it does not bark, but howls dismally.

The continent’s reptiles include two species of crocodiles, the smaller of which is found in inland fresh waters. The larger, salt-water saurian crocodile has been known to eat people and is found in the northern coastal swamps and estuaries; it reaches 6 m (20 ft) in length. The many species of lizards include the gecko, skink, and the giant goanna. As many as 100 species of venomous snakes are found in Australia. The most dangerous are the taipan of the far north, the death adder, the smooth snake, and the brown snake. Other venomous species include the tiger snake of southern Australia, the copperhead, and the blacksnake.

The waters surrounding Australia support a wide variety of fish and aquatic mammals. Several species of whales are found in southern waters, and seals inhabit parts of the southern coast, the islands in Bass Strait, and Tasmania. The northern waters supply dugong, trepang, trochus, and pearl shell. Edible fish and shellfish are abundant, and the oyster, abalone, and crayfish of the warmer southern waters have been exploited commercially. Australian waters contain some 70 species of shark, several of which are dangerous to humans. The Queensland lungfish is among the most ancient Australian animal species, its evolution pre-dating the formation of Gondwana. Sometimes called a “living fossil”, it is a fish that breathes with a single lung instead of gills.

Pre-Gondwanan species are also well represented among the invertebrates, including some insects, spiders, and earthworms. Most insect types are represented in Australia, including flies, beetles, butterflies, bees, and ants. The giant termites of northern Australia build huge, hill-like nests up to 6 m (20 ft) in height. Australia has earthworms in abundance, including the giant earthworms of Victoria, which range from 0.9 to 3.7 m (3 to 12 ft) in length, the longest in the world. Many of Australia’s spiders are poisonous; the funnel-web and red-back spiders are the best known.

Australia’s birds range from primitive types, such as the giant, flightless emu and cassowary, to highly developed species. The fan-tailed lyrebird has great powers of mimicry. The male bowerbird builds intricate and decorative playgrounds to attract females. The kookaburra, or laughing jackass, is noted for its raucous laughter. Many varieties of cockatoos and parrots are found; the budgerigar is a favourite of bird fanciers. The white cockatoo, a clever mimic, is more common than the black cockatoo. Black swans, spoonbills, herons, and ducks frequent inland waters. Smaller birds include wrens, finches, titmice, larks, and swallows. Gulls, terns, gannets, muttonbirds, albatrosses, and penguins are the most common seabirds. The muttonbird, found mainly on the islands of Bass Strait, is valued for its flesh.

The future of many native species is a matter of growing concern. In all, 20 species of mammals and 16 bird species are known to have become extinct since European settlement. Another 15 species of birds and 38 species of mammals are endangered or vulnerable. They have been put at risk by the clearance of their habitat or by the introduction of foreign species, which compete for food with native species, destroy their habitat, or prey upon them. The main culprits include rabbits, foxes, feral cats, pigs, sheep, goats, cattle, horses, camels, and the Asian water buffalo.

Probably the most destructive has been the European rabbit. Rabbits accompanied the First Fleet to Australia in 1788, but their modern introduction is normally dated to 1859, when Thomas Austin shipped in 24 wild rabbits for hunting, and released them on his property near Geelong, Victoria. In Australia’s favourable environment, and with few native predators, the rabbit population quickly reached plague proportions; in the early 20th century the rabbit population was estimated at some 500 million. The virus myxomatosis, which kills rabbits, was deliberately introduced in 1951 as a control measure. It was effective for about 20 years, but the rabbits began to gain immunity and their numbers rapidly recovered; today the rabbit population is estimated at 300 million. In addition to destroying the habitat of native species, they also cause soil erosion and huge damage to commercial rangelands and crops. Foxes and cats have also been targeted for biological control programmes and regional eradication schemes. In the monsoonal areas of northern Australia there has been a large increase in the number of water buffalo. Their grazing is causing soil erosion and they are disrupting delicate swamp habitats.

The extinction of species is not something that has occurred solely since the arrival of Europeans, however. Australia was once home to a number of outsize animals, the megafauna. They included the giant wombat and kangaroo, the marsupial lion, and giant flightless birds. They became extinct over a period of up to 19,000 years, beginning some 27,000 years ago. Aboriginal hunting and burning of vegetation to encourage the growth of preferred plant species may have played a part in their demise. However, climatic changes between 22,000 and 18,000 years ago, when the deserts reached their maximum extent and the weather was cold, are considered to be equally, if not more, important causes of their extinction.

I.

Environmental Concerns

Dozens of Australia’s species have been driven to extinction since the beginning of European influence in the late 18th century. Most wildlife is now protected on federal land and, to an extent, on private land. The detached nature of Australia's endemic species and biomes has made them fragile and vulnerable to destruction by invading species. Overuse by tourists and divers and increased industrial shipping in the nearby waters of the Great Barrier Reef have threatened its future. The wet tropical forests of northern Queensland are another storehouse of biodiversity. They are coveted by the timber industry and tourist developments. Preservation of tropical forests remains an active and sensitive environmental issue in Australia. Australia has an extensive system of terrestrial national parks and reserves, which are administered by the individual states. A number of marine and estuarine reserves have also been designated, including the massive Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The system includes 11 World Heritage Sites and 12 biosphere reserves designated under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere Program. Australia's protected land comprises about 7 per cent (1997) of the country’s total.

Australia has few permanent rivers, and a great deal of farm water comes from wells that tap a few large artesian basins, most of which supply saline water of marginal quality. Salinization and alkalization of soil is common. Soil erosion and desertification due to poor farming practices occurs, especially on overgrazed land. The country has developed as a major industrial power with a high standard of living and has thus experienced the accompanying problems of water pollution, soil pollution, and air pollution near its cities. It is a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions. Many environmental policies are quite stringent, however, such as those governing the recycling and disposal of household waste. The country's greatest environmental asset is its relatively low population.

Internationally, Australia has ratified the Antarctic-Environmental Protocol and the Antarctic Treaty as well as various treaties on biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, environmental modification, hazardous wastes, law of the sea, marine dumping, marine life, nuclear testing, ozone layer, ship pollution, tropical timber, and wetlands. Regionally, Australia cooperates with other South Pacific nations in protection of the marine environment. Agreements to protect migratory birds have been made with Japan and China.

III.

Population

Australia’s indigenous Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders today make up less than 1 per cent of the country’s population. Almost 95 per cent of Australians are of European descent. The majority have British or Irish heritage but about 18 per cent have other European origins. Asians, including people from the Middle East, account for about 4 per cent of the population. There has been a significant change in population structure since 1945. Before World War II, more than 95 per cent of the population was of British or Irish origin. However, a post-war immigration drive brought not only a large number of immigrants from the British Isles, but also many from continental Europe. Since then more than 2 million other Europeans have migrated to Australia.

During the 1960s the “White Australia” policy, which had underpinned both colonial and federal immigration policies for 100 years (see History below), began to be relaxed, and was formally abandoned in 1973. Initially most non-European immigrants were from Latin America and the Middle East, notably Lebanon. However, since the late 1970s, there have been increasing numbers of immigrants from Asia, especially South East Asia and China; many early South East Asian arrivals were refugees. The 1991 census underlines the changes. Figures on Australians born overseas show 22.5 per cent were born in Great Britain or Ireland, 30 per cent were born in other European countries, and 21 per cent were born in Asia and the Middle East.

A.

Population Characteristics

Australia is the most sparsely populated of the inhabited continents. It has a population of 20,600,856 (2008 estimate). The average population density is 2.7 people per sq km (7 per sq mi). The average figure is very misleading, however. For climatic and other environmental reasons, Australia’s settlement is one of the most heavily concentrated in the world; some 90 per cent of the population lives in about 3 per cent of the land area.

In all, 93 per cent of the population is classified as urban, and lives in the towns and cities along the eastern, south-eastern, and south-western seaboards, and in Tasmania. In addition, the majority of the 15 per cent of the rural population is settled in a narrow “fertile crescent”, running from about Brisbane in Queensland to Adelaide in South Australia and bounded in the interior by the western edge of the Great Dividing Range. The fastest-growing region is the east coast of Queensland, boosted by its nearness to the booming economies of South East Asia. The coastal zones around and between the mainland capitals in the east, south-east, and south-west are also growing rapidly.

The remaining 97 per cent of Australia is uninhabited or virtually so, with an average population density of less than 0.03 people per sq km (0.09 per sq mi). Average densities only begin to approach 0.3 people per sq km (1 per sq mi) in the semi-arid grazing lands of the interior of Queensland, New South Wales, and South Australia, where the huge cattle and sheep stations are located; and in the areas around the few settlements of the interior and western and northern coasts. They include Alice Springs and Darwin in the Northern Territory, and, in Western Australia, Kalgoorlie and Boulder, the western coast between Dampier and Port Hedland, and the diamond mining area of the Kimberleys.

Australia’s population grew at an annual rate of 1.4 per cent during the early 1990s. The principal reason for this growth has been the continued high level of immigration, which has maintained the numbers of younger people in the childbearing and childrearing age groups. In 2008 the population growth rate was 1 per cent. Average life expectancy is about 84 years for women and 78 years for men. However, life expectancy among the Aborigine population is generally much lower. In particular, Aborigines who still live in the more remote Outback areas often have to endure living conditions more associated with the developing nations. This is reflected in a disease profile that includes trachoma, leprosy, tuberculosis, and intestinal illnesses, as well as diabetes.

B.

The Aborigines

The first Australians were the Aborigines. Although the modern population shows considerable genetic diversity, Aborigines are quite distinct from any group outside the continent. Aboriginal traditions assert that they were always in Australia. However, anthropologists believe that they emigrated from somewhere in Asia and first arrived in Australia approximately 60,000 years ago, at a time of lowered sea levels which created an almost continuous land bridge between the two continents. Rising sea levels subsequently disrupted this relatively easy means of migration, and some 13,500 to 8,000 years ago separated Tasmania from the mainland. The island’s Aborigine population subsequently developed in a somewhat different cultural way from the Aborigines of continental Australia.

These original Australians were primarily nomadic hunter-gatherers, who survived and multiplied through the development of an intimate knowledge of the location, distribution, and characteristics of Australia’s flora and fauna, and of its climatic conditions. Fire was used by the Aborigines as a tool to encourage the growth of grasses attractive to kangaroos and other game animals. There is also evidence that they harvested and dispersed seeds to encourage the development of grasslands, and dammed and redirected streams, swamps, and lake outlets for fishing.

Technologically, their life was simple; the main tools used were digging sticks, spears and spear throwers, boomerangs, needles, bobbins, wooden dishes, skin water carriers, and plaited grass mats and bags. Aborigines also used bark canoes and rafts, and dug-out log canoes, sometimes with woven grass sails. Division of labour tended to be gender-based: men and older boys hunted large game; women collected vegetable food and hunted small game. Notwithstanding this, the exigencies of the environment meant that all adults had all the skills required to make a living.

In contrast to the simplicity of their economic life and technology, Australia’s Aborigines developed a complex social organization and one of the world’s richest belief systems, which encompassed all aspects of their lives. Their world view centred on The Dreaming or dreamtime, a complex and all-embracing concept embodying the past, present, and future, including the creative era at the dawn of time when mythic beings shaped the land, populated it with plants, animals, and people, and laid down the blueprint of social life. These dream beings eventually withdrew from the physical to the spiritual world, where they retained control of fertility and other life-giving powers. These they would release to the physical world as long as humans followed the blueprint, including religious observances. The spirits communicated to humans through dreams and other altered states of consciousness, while special features in the landscape also confirmed their presence. A complex of myth, ritual, dance, and objects developed which bound the human, spiritual, and physical worlds tightly together, and gave the Aborigines a strong sense of self and a religiously based confidence in their ability to control their world.

Fundamental Aboriginal values were unselfishness and the dutiful discharge of kinship and religious obligations. Status was not linked to possessions, which were valued either for their sacred role, or kept for their practical usefulness. Trade was important, with networks stretching across the continent. The goods involved were normally scarce and of social or religious significance, the aim being mainly to promote inter-group harmony and alliance.

By the time of the first European settlement in 1788, the Aborigines had long occupied and utilized the entire continent, adapting to environments ranging from tropical rainforests, through wet temperate lands, to arid deserts. The population is estimated to have ranged between 300,000 and 1 million, and more than 200 different languages were spoken; most Aborigines were bilingual or multilingual. The largest entities recognized were some 50 land-associated, language-named groups. The Europeans often referred to them as “tribes”, but although they shared cultural traits, they were not economic or political entities and there was no consciousness of a shared national identity. Individual identity was grounded rather in family and local affiliations and groupings.

The arrival of the Europeans was an unmitigated disaster for the Aborigines. Communication between the two groups was minimal, and the culture gap almost total. From initial uneasy coexistence, the Aborigines were quickly forced off the more fertile coastal lands, into the interior. Attempts at resistance met with “pacification by force”, in which large numbers of Aborigines were killed. Many more died of introduced diseases. In Tasmania and the south-east the indigenous population rapidly became almost extinct, and there were dramatic declines in the number of Aborigines in all parts of the continent during the first century of white settlement. Those who survived were often subject to brutal mistreatment, or efforts to “civilize” them by missionaries and others. Put on to reserves and denied legal existence in their native land, the Aborigines were physically and spiritually impoverished. It was widely believed after the mid-19th century that, as a race, they were destined for quick cultural, if not physical, annihilation. This belief was supported by the figures: by 1920, there were estimated to be only 60,000 Aborigines surviving.

Until the 1960s, the Aboriginal population was mainly rural. Over the next two decades, Aborigines began moving in greater numbers to urban areas. The state capitals and larger provincial cities were particular magnets. Often viewed negatively by the European majority, the incomers tended to be concentrated in small, but highly volatile, ghetto-like communities, which were the breeding grounds of the more aggressive political awareness among the Aboriginal community that emerged in the 1960s. The social and political status of Aborigines was so low at this period that they were not even included in the national census until 1971; a 1967 referendum gave the federal government the power for the first time to legislate for the Aborigines and to include them in the census count. Initial concerns over wage and civic equality were quickly overtaken by demands for land rights over territories with special cultural and religious significance (see History below).

In the 1991 census, 238,492 Australian residents were counted as of Aboriginal descent; another 26,902 as Torres Strait Islanders, a group which is often not clearly distinguished from the Aborigines and subsumed within them. This spectacular recovery in numbers compared with the 1920s, is a result partly of higher birth rates but also of the rediscovery of Aboriginal pride. Only a small minority of those classified as Aborigines were of pure descent; most were of mixed origin reclaiming their heritage.

The greatest concentrations of people of Aboriginal descent today are in New South Wales and Queensland (26.4 per cent each of the national total population of Aborigines), Western Australia (15.7 per cent), and the Northern Territory (15 per cent). More than 70 per cent live in urban areas, and traditional ways of life are under threat, notwithstanding a resurgence of interest in the richness of Aboriginal life, and the teaching of Aboriginal culture in schools. In the early 1990s it was estimated that only about 10,000 Aborigines had had direct experience of traditional life, concentrated primarily in the Northern Territory where the rural population is still predominant.

Every region of Australia is represented by its own Aboriginal Land Council, and most regions run centres and festivals celebrating Aboriginal culture. Aboriginality is now widely expressed in art, popular music, literature, politics, and sport, and the community has won some important legal victories, particularly over land rights. Aborigines have regained ownership and control over large areas of northern and central Australia in recent years, but at the same time they still face significant social and economic disadvantages. It is not only in life expectancy that Aborigines fare much worse than the Australian population as a whole. Unemployment, family income, welfare dependence, and infant mortality levels are all still much worse than the average, despite positive action in recent years, giving additional funds to Aborigine education, training, and health services. However, the Mabo Judgement on native land title (see Aboriginal Land Rights below) and the legislation resulting from it seem likely to revolutionize the relationship between the Aboriginal community and the white population.

C.

Political Divisions

The Commonwealth of Australia comprises six states and two territories. The states and their capitals are New South Wales (Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland (Brisbane), South Australia (Adelaide), Western Australia (Perth), and Tasmania (Hobart). The territories and their chief cities are the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra) and the Northern Territory (Darwin).

D.

Principal Cities

In terms of its urban communities, Australia is very much a country of suburbs. Its cities are extensive, and about 60 per cent of Australians live in the metropolitan areas of the six state capitals and Canberra. Sydney was Australia’s first city and remains its largest, with a population of 4,119,190 (2006). It is the country’s leading financial and commercial centre, and one of its most important ports. It also contains the world’s largest area of suburbs, and is twice the area of Beijing and six times that of Rome. Australia’s other major cities (with their populations) are: Melbourne, 3,592,591 (2006), Brisbane, 1,763,131 (2006), Perth, 1,445,078 (2006), and Adelaide, 1,105,839 (2006). Canberra, the purpose-built national capital and the only one of Australia’s largest cities located inland, has a population of 324,021 (2004 estimate).

E.

Religion

Australia has no established Church and its constitution guarantees freedom of worship. Although the majority of the population characterizes itself as Christian, most individuals are not active in that faith and Australian society is predominantly secular. The largest Christian denominations are the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, each with 26 per cent of the total population. Approximately 24 per cent more belong to other Christian denominations, predominantly Nonconformist and Protestant, but also including Eastern Orthodox communities. There are small Jewish, Buddhist, and Muslim communities. The number of Buddhists and Muslims has increased sharply since the 1970s, in keeping with changing immigration patterns.

F.

Language

The official language is English, used by the majority of the population. Over 235 languages are spoken in Australia, many of which are Aboriginal languages (including Martu Wangka, Pitjantjatjara, and Walmajarri), some spoken by very small numbers. Kriol, an English-based creole language, is spoken by 20,000 or more in various parts of Australia including Roper River, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. Another English-based creole, Torres Strait Creole, is spoken by around the same number on Torres Strait Islands, Cape York, and northern Queensland. On Cocos Islands and Christmas Island, Malay, an Austronesian language, is spoken by around 1,000 people. In addition, many immigrant languages are heard, including Italian, Arabic, Chinese, and Greek.

G.

Education

Education is primarily the responsibility of the six states and the Northern Territory. In each the training and recruitment of teachers are centralized under an education department. The federal government is responsible for the provision of education in Australia’s external territories, and for the funding of universities and colleges of advanced education. It also has special responsibility for student assistance, and education programmes for the Aboriginal community as well as for children from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15 in all except Tasmania, where the upper age limit is 16. Most children, however, start school at five. State schools provide free secular education; students may attend religious classes provided by the clergy of various denominations. About 72 per cent of children attend state schools, which are normally co-educational and comprehensive in structure. In addition to the state school system there are private schools, which are usually denominational, often single sex, and charge tuition fees. A number of private schools, which in some states are called public schools, as in the United Kingdom, accept day students and boarders. Special arrangements are made for children living in the remote outback, or otherwise isolated from the school system, including extension learning schemes, and radio tuition through the Schools of the Air. Schooling is provided at kindergartens and pre-schools for children from 2 to 6 years of age. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts special schools’ programmes from lower primary to upper secondary level. Most children transfer from the primary to the secondary school level at the age of 12. Secondary schools, known as high schools and secondary colleges, provide five- or six-year courses, which enable final-year students to take state examinations for university entrance. In 1997 Australia had 8,123 state and private primary schools, with an annual enrolment of around 1.91 million students. The secondary school roll numbered 2.59 million in 1996. In the mid-1990s, around 5 per cent of the gross national product was spent on education.

The federal government maintains the Australian Defence Forces Academy, based in Canberra, with federal funding also supporting the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, and the National Institute of Dramatic Art—both in Sydney. The Australian National University, based in Canberra, and the Australian Maritime College, located in Launceston, Tasmania, were established under Commonwealth legislation.

In 1996, Australia had 36 public and 2 private universities, with a total enrolment of 686,000 students. A 2001 election pledge by the prime minister was to increase the number of university places by 28,000. There is also a large number of Colleges of Technical and Further Education (TAFE), which provide vocational education and training, as well as non-vocational courses. In 1998, enrolments at TAFE colleges exceeded 1.5 million students. Among the leading universities are the Australian National University (founded in 1946), in the Australian Capital Territory; Macquarie University (1964), the University of New South Wales (1948), and the University of Sydney (1850), in New South Wales; the University of Queensland (1910); the University of Adelaide (1874), in South Australia; the University of Tasmania (1890); La Trobe University (1964), the University of Melbourne (1853), and Monash University (1958), in Victoria; and the University of Western Australia (1911).

H.

Culture

Initially the dominant way of life in Australia substantially reflected the heritage of the British settlers. Customs were modified as the settlers adapted to the new country and its exceptionally fine climate. A culture evolved that, although based on British traditions, is peculiar to Australia. Since the 1960s, the arrival of large numbers of immigrants from continental Europe and Asia has led to the development of a more multicultural society in which the Aborigines, marginalized since the arrival of Europeans, have also begun to play a larger part.

Australia produced noted writers and painters from the earliest days, and Nobel laureates like the author Patrick White. However, a much wider cross-section of society now participates in the arts, thanks to government subsidies and the provision of greatly improved facilities. State capitals and provincial towns alike have built or expanded art galleries and performing arts centres. The architecturally stunning Sydney Opera House is the best known of the modern venues. The biennial Adelaide Festival is a renowned focus for the performing arts, bringing together the best artists and companies in the world, including the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Kirov Ballet. Opera, ballet and dance companies, orchestras, artists, playwrights, and writers are supported by the Australia Council. The federally funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation is also a notable patron of the arts. Australia has many other media companies as well as a wide range of newspapers and magazines that contribute to local culture (although some are now foreign owned) and a flourishing film industry.

I.

Libraries and Museums

The development of library services after World War II was facilitated by state subsidies to local authorities. The establishment of library schools by the National Library of Australia, the Library of New South Wales, and the State Library of Victoria has raised the level of professional training of librarians.

The National Library of Australia in Canberra serves as the library of the nation, the library of the federal parliament, and the national copyright-depository library. In the early 1990s its holdings exceeded 4.5 million volumes. It has extensive collections of both Australiana and general research materials, and provides bibliographical and reference services to the federal government departments. The State Library of New South Wales (1826) is the oldest and largest of the state public libraries and contains a noted collection of Australiana. The State Library of Victoria (1854) includes collections on painting, music, and the performing arts. All states maintain public libraries that are, in effect, state reference libraries. Rural areas have been relatively well served by international standards, except in the most remote locations. However, the economic recession which began in the late 1980s led to cutbacks in state spending that reduced many rural services. Each state parliament is served by a library, and important research collections are maintained at the various university libraries. The major scientific libraries are run by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). Important special libraries are maintained by industrial concerns and by national and state government departments.

Australia has a variety of museums. The Australian Museum (founded 1827), in Sydney, features notable natural history and anthropology collections. The National Maritime Museum (1985) is also in Sydney. The National Gallery of Victoria (1859) in Melbourne houses excellent exhibits of European and Australian paintings, as do the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1874) in Sydney, the Queensland Art Gallery (1895) in Brisbane, the Art Gallery of South Australia (1881) in Adelaide, and the Art Gallery of Western Australia (1895) in Perth. Also of note are the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (1880) and the Nicholson Museum of Antiquities (1860), both in Sydney; the Queensland Herbarium (1874); the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (1852) in Hobart; and the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne, incorporating the former National Museum of Victoria (1854) and Science Museum of Victoria (1870). Melbourne’s renowned Botanic Gardens houses the National Herbarium, a research centre with specimens and documents dating from the mid-19th century. The Australian National Gallery opened in Canberra in 1982, and the federal capital is also the site of the National Museum of Australia, opened by the prime minister, John Howard, in March 2001.

J.

Literature and Art

Australia’s Aborigines had a rich oral tradition. It included not only sacred mythology, but also ordinary tales and stories—some oral history, or presumed to be so. A number of the stories existed in several versions; the version used depended on the situation and the storyteller. (See Australian Literature).

Long before the arrival of Europeans, the Aborigines had developed unique and highly distinctive art forms, usually associated with sacred ritual. Sand, rock, and cave painting and the carving of wood and other materials were widespread. Ochre bark painting was predominantly associated with Arnhem Land; the style of western Arnhem Land was particularly naturalistic, showing figures against an open background. Body decoration was also used; the ritual body painting of central Australia was particularly elaborate.

The value of early paintings by European immigrants lies primarily in their importance as a record of the settlement of the country. Not until the 1880s did the first generation of white Australian artists, unhampered by the restrictions of European discipline, capture the unique Australian scenery, its light, and atmospheric colour. It included Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin, and Sir Arthur Streeton. From the early 1940s the work of Australian artists reflected a gradual transition from the generally accepted traditional school to the modern style. Australian painters of the 20th century include Sir William Dobell, known for his portraits; Sir George Russell Drysdale, noted for depictions of the isolated inhabitants of the interior of the country; and Frederick Ronald Williams, whose landscapes and seascapes were notable for their quality of light. The work of Sir Sidney Nolan, based on themes derived from Australian history and folklore, has achieved world renown, as has that of Brett Whiteley and Arthur Boyd. Aborigine artists, drawing on traditional styles and themes, have found receptive audiences in Europe and North America in recent years. (see Aboriginal Art; Australian Art and Architecture.)

K.

Music, Dance, and Film

The oldest music in Australia is that of the Aborigines. Music plays a central role in both their social and sacred life. During social gatherings called corroborees, singing and dancing provide the major form of entertainment. In sacred ceremonies, songs serve as the vital link with the realm of the dreamtime spirits who fashioned the Earth and created all living things on it. These songs, sung in sacred ceremonies, ensure the survival and propagation of all plant and animal life. In the north of Australia, accompaniment was provided by the didgeridoo and by clapping sticks. In southern and central regions, boomerangs or clubs were used to provide a rhythmic beat, while in south-eastern Australia women used skin beating-pads. Tunes and rhythms varied from region to region.

The history of European-based music in Australia begins with the British settlers of the country, who were influential in initiating public concerts. Today, each major city has a symphony orchestra, affiliated with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distinguished artists and conductors from many countries regularly tour Australia. Australia has made notable contributions to the world of music through the sopranos Dame Nellie Melba and Dame Joan Sutherland, the composer-pianist Percy Grainger, and the composers Arthur Benjamin, John Antill, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, and Peter Joshua Sculthorpe. Classical ballet was brought to Australia by the famed native-born dancer and choreographer Sir Robert Helpmann, who was one of the founders of the Australian Ballet Company.

There was a vibrant Australian film industry during the “silent” era, which catered for the domestic market and provided Errol Flynn with his first taste of screen acting. However, the coming of sound, with its associated costs, the economic depression, and growing competition from the US industry, had brought about its decline by the 1930s. Film-making then became primarily a state activity, based on the production of documentaries and propaganda. The Australian Commonwealth Film Unit (established 1958), however, proved a vital training ground for the film-makers who, supported by state funding, emerged in the 1970s to bring about a renaissance of the Australian feature film. They included directors like Peter Weir, whose Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) was one of the first films of the new generation to garner an international audience.

Since the 1970s Australian films have proved remarkably successful, both at home and abroad. They include George Miller’s Mad Max series (1978, 1981, 1985), which made a Hollywood star of Mel Gibson; the first Mad Max film was also the first Australian feature to gain a mainstream release in the United States. Crocodile Dundee (Peter Faiman; 1985) was also a huge hit in the United States. More recent successes include: Strictly Ballroom (Baz Lurhmann; 1991), released internationally in 1992; Muriel’s Wedding (P. J. Hogan; 1993) and The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (Stephen Elliot; 1993), both released internationally in 1995; and Shine (Scott Hicks; 1997). Apart from Errol Flynn and Mel Gibson, Australian actors who have gained Hollywood success include Judy Davis and Nicole Kidman. (See Australian Cinema.)

IV.

Economy

Australia is a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of the leading industrialized nations and its people generally enjoy one of the world’s highest standards of living. In 2004 Australia’s gross national product (GNP) was US$544 billion, equivalent to US$35,860 per capita. At the same time, however, Australia’s trade profile is more akin to that of a developing nation. It exports predominantly primary products and imports mainly manufactured goods of various kinds. As a result, like many developing countries, Australia’s economy is vulnerable to price fluctuations in the world commodities markets and to inflation in its main supplier markets.

Agriculture and mining played a central role in the historical development of Australia, and the country is still one of the world’s leading producers of primary products. It is self-sufficient in almost all foodstuffs and is a major exporter of wheat, meat, dairy products, and wool. Australia usually produces about 29 per cent of the world’s yearly output of wool. It is also one of the world’s top producers and exporters of minerals, particularly coal. However, while primary production plays a central role in the country’s exports, in terms of the domestic economy it has grown far less significantly in recent years. Agriculture now accounts for only about 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), and mining about 4 per cent. In contrast, the manufacturing sector, which has grown rapidly since the 1940s, accounts for some 12 per cent of GDP. In 2004, industry made up 27 per cent of the GDP. The service sector is even more important. In Australia, as in other OECD nations, services have grown massively since the 1970s; in 2004 they accounted for around 70 per cent of Australia’s GDP. The financial services sector was the single most important economic sector, contributing almost 22 per cent of GDP.

In 2006 the estimated federal budget included about US$202.8 billion of revenue and about US$188.6 billion of expenditure.

A.

Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing

Although the agricultural sector is now far less significant in terms of GDP and employment (4 per cent of the workforce in 2005), the prosperity of much of the country continues to depend heavily on livestock-raising and crop-farming. The pastoral sector was established in the early days of settlement, when the first Spanish merino sheep were introduced from South Africa, and grazing lands today account for 94 per cent of the farmed area. This reflects the fact that, although livestock is raised in all productive areas, much of the pastoral sector is located in the semi-arid zone of Australia; about one third of sheep and an even larger percentage of cattle are raised on huge properties known as “stations” in this zone.

Australia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of wool, particularly fine merino, although income from wool exports is now less than 6 per cent of total export earnings. Overproduction led to a significant fall in international wool prices in the late 1980s; in 1990-1991 more than 10 million sheep were culled from the national flock in an effort to boost the market. In 2006 Australia had some 100 million sheep, which produced 686,300 tonnes of wool and 555,000 tonnes of lamb and mutton. Almost half the country’s wool is produced in New South Wales and Western Australia. Victoria is the leading producer of lamb and mutton.

Cattle are raised in all of Australia’s states and territories, but Queensland is the leading producer; it had approximately 40 per cent of the national herd of 28.6 million head in 2006. Australia produces both beef and dairy cattle. Dairying is confined primarily to the high-rainfall coastal fringe and to the south-east, especially in Victoria. Farms usually employ high-tech methods. In contrast, the huge cattle stations of the north are more reminiscent of the American Wild West, although the cowboys’ mounts these days are as likely to be helicopters and motorcycles as horses; the road train (a large truck pulling several trailers) has also predominantly replaced the old stock routes in moving cattle around the territory and to market. Output of beef in the mid-1990s was more than 1.7 million tonnes, and of milk 8.2 million litres (1.8 million gallons).

Although only about 6 per cent of the total area of Australia is under crop or fodder production, this acreage is of great economic importance. Wheat crops occupy about 45 per cent of cultivated acreage, and fodder crops and other grains occupy 20 per cent. Wheat production is highly mechanized and the crop is grown in all states; the south-eastern and south-western regions of the country are responsible for the bulk of production. Output was about 9.82 million tonnes in 2006, compared with more than 14 million tonnes in the early 1990s; about 70 per cent is exported. Oats, barley, rye, maize, oil seeds, tobacco, and fodder crops are also important. Rice and cotton are grown in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (in New South Wales), in Queensland, and in the Northern Territory. Sugar cane production is confined to the fertile coastal fringe of Queensland and the Richmond River district of northern New South Wales. About 38.2 million tonnes of sugar cane were produced in 2006. Many types of fruit are grown, including apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, pears, pineapple, and papayas. The major wine-producing areas are in the Barossa Valley of South Australia, in Hunter Valley, New South Wales, and in parts of north-eastern, southern, and western Victoria. Special varieties of grapes are grown, especially in the Murray Valley, for the production of raisins.

Irrigation is of importance to arable farmers in all but the highest rainfall areas. However, increased soil salinity is becoming a problem in several areas, threatening production. Experiments with biotechnologies are being carried out with the aim of reducing the impact of soil salinity and cutting the use of expensive water resources.

Forests today cover only about 8 per cent of Australia. Most commercial wood supplies come from coniferous plantations. The main regions of indigenous forest are found in the moist coastal and highland belts and consist predominantly of eucalyptus, a hardwood. Eucalyptus wood is used in the production of paper and furniture. The jarrah and karri species, which grow in Western Australia, are noted for the durability of their woods. Queensland maple, walnut, and rosewood are prized as cabinet and furniture woods. Approximately 9.4 million hectares (23.2 million acres) of forest are permanently preserved in state reservations. Softwood production from coniferous plantations does not meet demand, so Australia has to import large quantities. Output from state, federal, and private forests in 2006 was about 33.9 million cu m (1,196 million cu ft) of roundwood and 4.78 million cu m (169 million cu ft) of sawnwood.

Australian waters contain more than 2,000 species of fish and a great variety of other marine life, but the annual catch is relatively small—approximately 307,391 tonnes. In 2005 the marine fish catch totalled 303,621 tonnes. More than 50 per cent of the yearly value of fisheries products is made up of various shellfish, principally abalone, lobsters, prawns, oysters, and mussels. Pearls and trochus shells have been harvested off the northern coast since the 1800s; Aborigines traded shells for centuries before that. Darwin, Broome, and Thursday Island are the main pearling centres today. Cultured pearls are now the basis of the industry, which is dominated by Japanese-Australian ventures. Commercially marketed marine fish include cod, snapper, flathead, mackerel, barramundi, whiting, and tuna. Australia was a leading whaling nation until the late 1970s, when it agreed to halt most whaling activities in cooperation with an international effort to maintain the whale population.

B.

Mining

The mining industry, long an important factor in the social and economic growth of Australia, holds great promise for the future development of the country. The gold discoveries of the 1850s were responsible for the first major wave of immigration and for the settlement of the interior. Today, Australia is self-sufficient in most minerals of economic significance and in several cases is among the world’s leading producers. Minerals are found in most states, but Western Australia has the largest share of total mineral production (37 per cent) and contains 63 per cent of metallic mineral production. Production of coal, oil, natural gas, and metallic minerals was valued at about US$19 billion a year in the early 1990s. Metallic minerals account for about 42 per cent of total output, with gold and iron ore the most significant components. Output, in tonnes, of the main minerals in 2003 included: coal (339 million, three-quarters of which was bituminous coal); iron ore (143 million); bauxite (56.6 million); zinc (1.33 million); manganese ore (1 million); copper (854,100); lead (678,000); gold (259); tin (800); and silver (2,237).

Australia accounts for some 12 per cent of the world’s gold production. About 70 per cent of the total is derived from Western Australia, notably from near Kalgoorlie. The gold is mainly exported to Singapore, Japan, Switzerland, and Hong Kong S. A. R. Since the first discovery of the Kimberleys diamond deposit, in Western Australia in 1976, Australia has become one of the world’s largest producers by volume. Production of natural diamonds was approximately 9.28 million carats in 2004; almost all came from the giant Argyle Mine in the Kimberleys.

About 97 per cent of Australia’s iron ore output comes from the Pilbara region, also in Western Australia. Iron ore reserves also exist at Iron Knob in South Australia; on Cockatoo Island in Yampi Sound, off Western Australia; in north-western Tasmania; and in Gippsland in Victoria. Almost all of the iron ore is exported. Australia is now Japan’s main supplier and other important markets include China, Germany, Korea, and Taiwan. The discovery and exploitation of enormous bauxite deposits enabled Australia to become, in the 1980s, the world’s largest bauxite and alumina producer and one of the largest aluminium producers. The most important mines are located to the south of Perth in Western Australia, on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, and on the Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory. Uranium mines are located in the Northern Territory (the Ranger and Nabarlek mines) and at Olympic Dam in South Australia. All production is exported; exports are in line with the country’s anti-nuclear policy.

The hard, or bituminous, black coal industry is heavily concentrated in New South Wales and Queensland, which have about 47 per cent each of production. Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal. Victoria’s lignite, or brown coal, desposits are mined to supply the electricity-generating industry.

Nickel is mined at Kambalda, south-east of Kalgoorlie, at Greensvale in Queensland, and in the Musgrave border region of Western and South Australia and the Northern Territory. The main source of manganese is at Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory. Two thirds of Australia’s copper is mined at Mount Isa in Queensland; other mines are located at Mount Lyall in Tasmania and Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Queensland, Tasmania, and New South Wales are the main tin-producing states. Broken Hill in New South Wales has been an important producer of zinc and lead for more than a century. Titanium and zircon are recovered from the mineral beach sands of southern Queensland, New South Wales, and Western Australia, along with several other metals including rutile and ilmenite. Tungsten concentrates are mined on King Island in the Bass Strait.

Australia’s main oilfields and gasfields are at Gippsland in Victoria and Carnarvon, in Western Australia. Crude petroleum production was about 187 million barrels per year in 2004, while natural gas production measured 35.6 billion cu m (1,257 billion cu ft).

C.

Manufacturing

After World War II, the introduction of new industries and the development of existing ones caused a substantial expansion of manufacturing capacity in Australia. In 2004 manufacturing contributed about 12 per cent of the country’s yearly domestic product, and manufacturing firms together employed just over 12 per cent of the working population.

New South Wales, especially Sydney and Newcastle, and Victoria, primarily the Melbourne metropolitan area, are the main manufacturing centres. New South Wales is noted for the production of iron and steel, jet aircraft, construction equipment, synthetic fibres, electronic equipment, power cables, and oil and petrochemical products. In Melbourne, industrial activity includes the manufacture and assembly of machinery and motor vehicles, and the production of food and clothing. Geelong, located near Melbourne, is known for its woollen mills and motor vehicle works. South Australia, traditionally a pastoral and agricultural state, developed several important manufacturing centres after 1950, including Adelaide and Whyalla. Brisbane and Townsville, in Queensland, both have a significant manufacturing base. Tasmanian industry, assisted by cheap hydroelectric power, includes electrolytic zinc mills, paper mills, and a large confectionery factory. Hobart and Launceston are Tasmania’s primary manufacturing centres.

D.

Energy

Electricity supply is the responsibility of the state governments. In 2003 about 91 per cent of electricity was generated in thermal facilities, the great majority of which burned bituminous coal or lignite. The country also had several hydroelectric plants, notably the major Snowy Mountains Scheme (primarily serving Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney) and a number of smaller facilities in Tasmania. In 2003, Australia’s annual production of electricity totalled almost 215.8 billion kWh. Australia is almost self-sufficient in oil requirements; about 9 per cent of annual consumption was imported in 2004.

E.

Currency and Banking

The unit of currency is the Australian dollar, divided into 100 cents and coined in 5¢, 10¢, 20¢, 50¢, $1, and $2 pieces (A$1.13 equalled US$1; early 2008). The currency system was converted in 1966 from the old British system of pounds, shillings, and pence to the decimal one. At the changeover the new Australian dollar was worth approximately half the value of the pound, the currency it replaced.

The first Australian bank was established in Sydney in 1817. The Reserve Bank of Australia, established in 1911, is the central bank and bank of issue including note issue. The banking system includes the components of the Federal Commonwealth Banking Corporation, comprising the Commonwealth Federal Bank, the Commonwealth Development Bank, and the Commonwealth Savings Bank; state banks; several privately owned trading banks and savings banks; and branches of almost 20 foreign banks. The stock exchanges in the six state capitals merged in 1987 to form the Australian Stock exchange. The financial sector was deregulated in the mid-1980s.

F.

Commerce and Trade

Under Australian tariff policy, protection is afforded to essential Australian industries, and preferential treatment is granted to imports from certain Commonwealth countries. Under the 1983 Closer Economic Relations agreement, all barriers to trade with New Zealand were removed by 1990. Customs duty is also levied for revenue purposes. Some modification of the preferential treatment policy has been made by Australia, as a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. During the 1980s, imports of goods and services often exceeded exports. Inflows of investment capital from overseas helped to balance Australia’s payments position.

Japan and the United States are Australia’s major trade partners accounting for about 35 per cent of all imports and exports in the early 1990s. Other leading Australian export markets are New Zealand, the United Kingdom, China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. In addition, new markets are being developed in Asia for Australian wheat and other surplus commodities. Besides the United States and Japan, major suppliers of imports are the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Hong Kong S. A. R., Singapore, and New Zealand. Principal imports include machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, non-ferrous metals, paper and paperboard, and textile yarns and fabrics. Metalliferous ores, coal, non-ferrous metals, oil, wool, and cereals are Australia’s main exports. Meat is also an important export item. In 2004 annual imports were valued at about US$105,461 million, exports at about US$97,138 million.

G.

Tourism

Helped by faster and cheaper long-haul flights, and the growth of the Japanese market, tourism has grown very rapidly since 1970. It is now one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy, accounting for some 500,000 jobs, or 6 per cent of the workforce, in the early 1990s. Approximately 5.06 million tourists visited Australia in 2006, generating foreign exchange earnings worth almost US$11.7 billion.

There has been a strong growth in domestic tourism during this period, which has tapped the expanding range of attractions in each state and territory—theme and amusement parks, zoos, art galleries and museums, certain mines and factories, national parks, historic sites, and wineries. Foreign visitors show broadly similar interests, but most come on standardized packages which focus on a few key attractions, notably Sydney; the Great Barrier Reef, in Queensland; the Northern Territory’s Kakadu National Park; and the beach resorts in the Brisbane, Cairns, and Sydney regions.

H.

Labour

Since 1904, industrial relations in Australia have been based on a system of conciliation and arbitration, through which minimum rates of pay and working conditions were legally established. The constitution allowed the federal government to intervene to conciliate and arbitrate in industrial disputes, though it was confined to disputes extending beyond the limits of any one state. Compulsory arbitration has also been established at state level, for state–specific disputes. Conciliation and arbitration is carried out through an independent tribunal, now known as the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC). Until 1988, when the 1904 Conciliation and Arbitration Act was repealed and replaced by the Industrial Relations Act 1988, the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission—the forerunner of the AIRC—its courts and conciliation commissioners, carried out conciliation and arbitration. In practice, the judges of the Commission fixed the minimum wages and working conditions of most workers, and these arbitrated, legally enforceable wages and conditions were known as “awards”.

Since the early 1990s there has been a trend in industrial relations towards workplace enterprise agreements. In December 1993, the Keating Labor government’s Industrial Relations Reform Act was passed. The Act encouraged enterprise or workplace bargaining and agreements, which were underpinned by a “safety net” of award wages and conditions. In 1996, the Howard Liberal government’s Workplace Relations Act was passed, with a greater emphasis on employer/employee relationships at the workplace and enterprise level. The Act’s provisions encouraged individual contracts between employees and employers, based upon a foundation of minimum standards, as well as new forms of collective agreements, and confined the AIRC’s role in dispute prevention and settlement as far as possible to conciliation, confining arbitration for use only where appropriate, and within specified limits. The Workplace Relations Act also ensured the rights of employees and employers to choose whether or not to join a trade union or other association.

Trade unions have a long tradition in Australia, with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) having just over 2 million members in 46 unions, representing 28 per cent of the workforce. It is strongly organized at local, state, and federal levels, and is a significant economic and political power. However, in the mid to late 1990s, trade union membership levels decreased, due to changes in the structure of the general workforce—for example the movement of many workers from full-time to part-time or casual employment—and changes to the economy. Full-time membership fell from 34.5 per cent in 1996 to 31.2 per cent in 1998. Australia has a federal minimum wage, based on a standard 38-hour week, and almost all States have legislated or fixed a corresponding minimum wage, at the same rate. In March 2001, the labour force numbered about 9.09 million people; the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was approximately 6.8 per cent.

I.

Transport

The majority of Australia’s rail network was laid down in the second half of the 19th century by colonies independent of each other and trading primarily with Great Britain. One result of this is that the tracks tend to radiate inland from the ports, with relatively few cross-country lines. Another legacy is the four different rail gauges found in the states; some states have more than one gauge. However, under a Commonwealth standardization programme, the state capitals are now linked by a single-gauge track which is the same (1,435 mm/56y in) as that operated by the federal railway company on its trans-Australia and Capital Territory lines, and on most of the central Australian railway to Alice Springs. Economic rationalization during the 1980s and competition from road transport has led to the closure of many rural and suburban lines. In the early 1990s there were about 38,563 km (23,963 mi) of track owned and operated by the federal and state governments. There are also private railways, notably serving the Western Australia iron ore fields. National Rail, a federal corporation, began operations in 1993, with the aim of taking over interstate freight operations and ownership of federal rail assets.

The main road network follows a similar pattern to that of the railways—radiating from the ports, and especially the state capitals. Australia has approximately 810,200 km (503,435 mi) of roads, including some 16,000 km (9,941 mi) of national highways. Many main roads were improved during the 1980s under a bicentennial federal programme, but road quality generally is variable. In the mid-1990s, more than 10 million motor vehicles were registered. In 1998 there was a ratio of approximately 510 passenger cars for every 1,000 people. The capital cities are connected by inexpensive bus services.

A comprehensive network of airline services links major cities and remote settlements. Because of the long distances between cities, and the country’s ideal flying conditions, Australians are frequent users of air travel. In the mid-1990s, domestic airlines carried more than 20 million passengers a year. The domestic airlines were deregulated in 1990, ending agreements between the national domestic carrier, Australian Airlines, and its sole private sector competitor, Ansett, allowing duplication of times and services. The ending of their monopoly allowed smaller private operators to enter the market. In 1992 Australian Airlines merged with Qantas Airways, Australia’s privatized international line. Qantas operates services to more than 20 countries; some 48 international airlines flew to Australia in the mid-1990s. The main national and international airports are at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) and Melbourne (Tullamarine); the other state capitals also have international airports, as does Townsville.

Coastal and transoceanic shipping is vital to the Australian economy. There are about 70 ports of commercial significance, most of them on the east coast. Sydney, with adjacent Botany Bay, is the most important port for mixed freight. Other major ports include Port Hedland, specializing in bulk iron ore shipments, Melbourne, Fremantle, Newcastle, Port Kembla, Geelong, Brisbane, Gladstone, and Port Walcott.

J.

Communications

Australia maintains contact with the rest of the world by such means as satellite, submarine telegraph cable, radio-telephone, and phototelegraph services. After 1975 the Australian Telecommunications Commission, later called Telecom Australia, was responsible for telecommunications services within Australia. In 1992, Telecom Australia merged with the Overseas Telecommunications Commission Australia (OTC), which had been responsible for services to other countries since 1946, to form AOTC and their monopoly on telecommunications services was ended. An Australian, American, and British consortium, Optus Communications became the new national telecommunications carrier. The Australia Post manages the postal services. In the early 1990s more than 8 million telephones were in operation. Government and commercial radio and television systems operate concurrently. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is a statutory authority operating more than 400 radio stations on different frequencies. Commercial stations number about 160; unlike the national stations, these carry advertising. Television programmes are transmitted within range of 99 per cent of the population by the ABC’s national television network and by some 44 commercial stations. In 2000 there were estimated to be some 37 million radios and more than 14 million television sets in use. In 2004, Australia had about 500 newspapers, 49 of which are dailies with a combined daily circulation of about 5 million. There is one national daily, The Australian. Large-circulation metropolitan dailies include the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and Herald-Sun News Pictorial (both published in Melbourne), the Courier-Mail (Brisbane), the Advertiser (Adelaide), and the West Australian (Perth).

V.

Government

Australia, a federal parliamentary democracy, is an independent self-governing state and a member of the Commonwealth. The constitution of Australia, which became effective in 1901, is based on British parliamentary traditions, and includes elements of the United States system. The head of state is the British sovereign, represented by a governor-general; there is growing pressure within Australia for the country to become a republic within the Commonwealth. Following the Constitutional Convention of February 1998, the decision was taken to hold a referendum in 1999 to decide whether Australia should end constitutional ties with the British monarchy and become a republic; as a result of the referendum, the status quo has been retained. The head of government is the Australian prime minister, who is responsible to the Australian parliament. All powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states.

A.

Executive and Legislature

Formally, executive authority in Australia is vested in the governor-general, who is appointed by the British monarch in consultation with the Australian prime minister. The British monarch, through the governor-general, has no real power in the government and generally serves as a symbolic head of state. The governor-general acts only on the advice of the Executive Council, or Cabinet, comprising all ministers of state. Federal policy in practice is determined by the Cabinet, which is chaired by the prime minister, who is the head of the majority party in parliament. The ministers are responsible for the individual departments of the federal government, and these departments are administered by permanent civil servants.

National legislative power in Australia is vested in a bicameral parliament, made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate consists of 76 members (12 from each state and, since 1974, 2 from each territory), popularly elected to six-year terms under the single transferable vote form of proportional representation. According to the Australian constitution, the House of Representatives should have about twice as many members as the Senate. The number of members from a state is proportional to its population, but must be at least five for any original state. The Northern Territory is represented by one member and the Australian Capital Territory by two. The House has 150 members, popularly elected on the alternative vote system to terms of up to three years. The prime minister can ask the governor-general to dissolve the House and call new elections at any time. Australia has universal suffrage for all citizens over the age of 18.

The interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the responsibility of the minister of immigration and multicultural and indigenous affairs. There are several agencies within the department, such as the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, and the Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board, which provides high-level advice and policy assistance to the minister. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) was established in 1990 to include Australia’s indigenous population in the processes of government and is the country’s principal democratically elected indigenous organization.

B.

Political Parties

There are four major political parties in Australia. The Australian Labor Party has been the dominant party for much of the period since the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia. The others are the National Party of Australia, the Liberal Party of Australia, and the Australian Democratic Party. All are moderate social-democratic parties, with the National Party being the most conservative and the Labor Party the least so, and the other two fluctuating in the centre ground. The Labor Party’s strength has been the support of the trade union movement. The aims of the Liberal and National parties have had much in common, and the two parties have traditionally worked in coalition. For practical purposes, Australian politics operates on a two-party system, which results in relatively stable government.

C.

Judiciary

At the head of the judicial system of the Commonwealth of Australia is the High Court of Australia, consisting of a Chief Justice and six other members appointed by the governor-general in council. All remaining rights of appeal from the Australian courts to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Great Britain were abolished in March 1986. There are two other federal courts—the Federal Court of Australia and the Family Court of Australia—as well as state courts, headed by state supreme courts.

D.

Local Government

A bicameral system of government exists in each state except Queensland, the Northern Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory, which have only one house. The British sovereign is represented in each state by a governor. Governmental affairs are handled by a Cabinet, the head of which is known as the premier. In each Australian state, hundreds of local government authorities are responsible for traffic and building regulation; the maintenance of streets, bridges, local roads, water and sewerage, parks, libraries, and hospitals; and similar functions. Among these authorities are shire councils, borough councils, and town and city councils. Legislation granting power to local authorities exists in each state.

E.

Aboriginal Land Rights

One of the most important legal issues of recent years has been that of Aboriginal land rights. The issue first became significant in the 1960s with the growth of Aboriginal activism and a shift in claims from wage equality with Europeans to land rights over territory with religious, cultural, historical, and other associations. The South Australia government acted in this direction after the mid-1960s, while in 1976 the federal government passed the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, applying to the Northern Territory. These were small gains, however, and during the 1980s opposition to Aboriginal claims increased from within state governments, and especially from mining companies.

Aboriginal lobbying persisted, however. In August 1985 the government formulated proposals for legislation that would give Aborigines inalienable freehold title to national parks, vacant Crown land, and former Aboriginal reserves. In October of that year, Uluru (then better known by its European name, Ayers Rock) was officially transferred to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal peoples, on condition that continued access to the monolith was guaranteed.

However, following strong objections from the states, which had traditionally decided their own land policies, and from the mining companies, the federal government dropped the proposed legislation, leading to protests from Aboriginal leaders. This reversal coincided in the late 1980s with scandals over the disproportionately high death rate among Aborigines in prison, and alleged corruption in the Aboriginal affairs department; in 1988 the UN published a report accusing Australia of violating international human rights in its treatment of Aborigines. The May 1991 report of a royal commission, set up to investigate Aboriginal deaths in custody, contained evidence of racism in the police force and more than 300 recommendations to improve race relations and increase Aboriginal self-determination. In June the government imposed a permanent ban on mining at a historic Aboriginal site in the Northern Territory.

A year later, in June 1992, in a landmark ruling, the High Court recognized the existence of land title before the first European settlement in 1788. The so-called “Mabo” decision said that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders should be able to claim native title if they could show a “close and continuing” relationship with the land in question. It overturned the concept of terra nullius (land belonging to no one) on which many previous Aboriginal land claims had foundered, and established a new entitlement to land not grounded in statute law, but acknowledging the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders as the original owners of the continent. However, at the same time the Mabo decision sought not to disturb lawful non-Aboriginal land title. In 1993 the government enacted the Native Title Act, which tried to harmonize the two aspects of the court’s ruling, by setting up a federal tribunal to validate existing land titles, and to provide compensation if Aboriginal claims were deemed to have been extinguished. About US$1.1 billion was provisionally allocated to pay compensation.

Most states adopted compatible legislation, except Western Australia, where mining interests are particularly strong and where it is estimated that up to 40 per cent of the state could fall subject to native title claims. The state government, in fact, legislated to extinguish all native title and offered only some “rights to traditional usage” of land. Western Australia also took the federal government to the High Court, contesting the validity of the Native Titles Act. In March, 1995, the court ruled that the Native Title Act was valid, and declared Western Australia’s rival legislation to be unconstitutional.

In December 1996 the High Court passed its decision in the Wik Ruling that native title may continue to exist on land subject to a pastoral lease. The ruling has caused tensions in many rural and regional communities where people are worried about the legislation’s effect on their livelihoods. The case is named after the indigenous people of Queensland who initiated the suit.

F.

Health and Welfare

The federal and state governments of Australia have played an important role in advancing social services. There are benefits for people who are sick, aged, widowed, orphaned, disabled, or unemployed. A means-tested maternity allowance is paid to mothers and there are other similarly tested payments to assist with the costs of raising children, including those up to the age of 24 who are in their parents’ care and who are full-time students. In 1984 the federal government introduced a universal health scheme known as Medicare, financed in part by a 1.5 per cent levy on taxable incomes above a stated minimum. It covers automatic entitlement to subsidized medical benefits and free hospital, in-patient, and outpatient care. A home and community care programme was initiated in 1985 to provide support services to help the elderly and disabled stay in their own homes.

The most famous aspect of Australia’s health services is the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which provides medical services for people in remote areas. The service covers two thirds of Australia, with doctors operating from bases equipped with radio stations for communicating with distant stations and settlements, and a hospital, air-ambulance, and nursing staff. Australia has more than 2,500 hospitals and nursing homes and almost 40,000 doctors. In the early 1990s there were 135 people per hospital bed and 401 people for every doctor. The infant mortality rate in 2008 was 5 deaths per 1,000 births. In 1998, 15 per cent of government expenditure was spent on health care.

G.

Defence

The system of defence employed by Australia dates from 1911, when the Commonwealth government instituted compulsory military service. The Royal Australian Navy was founded in 1913. Australians were on active service with the Royal Flying Corps in World War I; the Royal Australian Air Force was not established until 1921. The first attack on Australian territory was the aerial bombing of Darwin by the Japanese early in World War II. Australian forces took part in several 19th-century British military campaigns, including the Crimean War, the Sudan campaign (1897-1899), and the South African War (Boer War). Australian troops also participated in both World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. See Anzac.

Service in the Australian armed forces is voluntary. In 2004 the total number of active armed forces personnel was 52,872. The army numbered some 26,035; the navy, 13,167; and the air force, 13,670. Although small in number, Australia’s armed forces are equipped with modern weapons. Women have been eligible for combat duties since 1993.

The focus of Australia’s defence policy since the early 1950s has been the ANZUS mutual defence and support treaty (1952) with the United States and New Zealand. New Zealand’s refusal to allow warships with nuclear weapons into its ports during the mid-1980s led the United States to suspend ANZUS arrangements with that country; the pact with Australia continued to operate. Australia also maintains military ties with New Zealand.

H.

International Organizations

Australia is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth of Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Colombo Plan, and the Pacific Islands Forum.

VI.

History

The Aborigines first arrived in Australia from somewhere in Asia at least 40,000 years ago, and probably up to 60,000 years ago. They had occupied most of the continent by 30,000 years ago, including the south-western and south-eastern corners. Tasmania at this point was still part of the mainland; it was only separated by rising sea levels some 16,500 to 22,000 years later. Their successful adaptation to a wide range of environments had enabled the population to grow to between 300,000 and 1 million by the time of the first European settlement. Macassan traders from what is now Indonesia are thought to have been visiting Arnhem Land well before the 17th century to harvest sea cucumbers for export to China. There were also contacts with New Guinea, and Chinese, Malaysian, and Arab sea captains may also have landed in northern Australia after the 15th century. Australia remained unexplored by the West, however, until the 17th century.

A.

Early European Exploration

Although Australia was not known to the Western world, it did exist in late medieval European logic and mythology: a “Great Southern Land”, or Terra Australis, was thought necessary to balance the weight of the northern land masses of Europe and Asia. Terra Australis often appeared on early European maps as a large, globe-shaped mass in about its correct location, although no actual discoveries were recorded by Europeans until much later. Indeed, the European exploration of Australia took more than three centuries to complete; thus, what is often considered the oldest continent, geologically, was the last to be discovered and colonized by Europeans.

A.1.

Portuguese and Spanish Sailings

In the 15th century Portugal’s systematic drive southwards along the west coast of Africa, seeking a trade ro