Australia, A Fascinating Continent1

AUSTRALIA, A
FASCINATING CONTINENT
Author: Aliza Mansoor
COPYRIGHT: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR
OFFICIAL NAME
Commonwealth of Australia is the official name. The name Australia is derived from Latin word Australis which means southern. Capital City: Canberra is the capital city of Australia. Other big cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Darwin. Over 200 different languages are spoken in Australia.
ABOUT AUSTRALIA
Australia is the worlds 6th largest country by area. It is one of the seven continents in the world. The interesting fact is that it is the smallest and flattest continent and biggest island on Earth. Australia is also known as the island continent due to its large size and its isolation from rest of the world. A desert area known as the outback covers much of the land. Around twelve million kilometres is covered by its worlds largest ocean territory. Humans have lived in Australia for around 45,000 years. Did you know that Population of Australia is over 22 million people? Australias landscape includes mountain ranges, urban areas, forests and deserts.
SEASONS
Australia is a country for all four seasons. Its summer from December to February and a great time to go out and about. Autumn starts in March and lasts till May. Winter time lasts from June to August. Winters in Australia are quite mild with not too much of snow. Australia is dry with very little rain. Did you know when we have summers, Australians have winters?
ABORIGINAL PEOPLE
The word aboriginal means the first or earliest known. Australia may be the home of the worlds first people, cool huh! The humans lived in Australia at least 12,000 years before they appeared in Europe. Aborigines make around 2% of Australias population today. Did you know that Aboriginal people originally came from Indonesia? Today, they live in the desert area of Australia, the outback.
ABORIGINAL FOOD
Aboriginal people ate a very balanced food like fruits, nuts, root vegetables, seafood and meat. They still hunt for oysters, mudshells, crabs, fish, and shark. They also eat lizards, crocodiles, kangaroos, wallabies and pigs. Roasting over hot wood coals, ground oven and baking in wood ashes are the cooking methods they use. Barbeque and boiling are the new cooking techniques they have learnt.
ART
Art was considered as essential part of their lives. Bodies were painted for ceremonies, and were taught to the young ones as well. Wall art, engraved rocks and bark paintings are a form of storytelling which describes the aboriginal life.
ABORIGINAL FLAG
The aboriginal flag is divided horizontally in to two equal halves, red and black with a yellow circle in the centre. The black represents the aboriginal people, red represents the earth and the yellow circle symbolises the sun.
LONELY NEIGHBOURHOOD
Did you know that much of the middle of the country, the outback, is sparsely populated? People sometimes live miles from their neighbours. The population of these areas is too small to have doctor clinics, hospitals or schools. So, the children rely on School of the Air for their education and patients on Flying doctors for healthcare. Two way radios are the way of communication between the teachers and their students. Nowadays, lessons are provided on the computers. Teachers have to travel hundreds of miles to visit their students from time to time. Flying doctors provide medical services to the patients in remote areas.
FAUNA
Australia is a beauty of nature. All the people who live in this incredible wildlife country are lucky to have wild creatures even if some of them can bite. Here is an example of a biting animal, bundle web spider. Australias unique animals include mammals like the dingo, Quoll, and Tasmanian Devil; marsupials like wombats, wallabies and kangaroos.
FAUNA
There are 55 different species of wallabies and kangaroos. Reptiles include lizards, crocodiles and snakes. There are hundreds of bird species and most of them are only found in Australia such as parrots, black swan and fairy penguins. Marine animals are incredible including worlds 22,000 types of fish, for example, whale shark, humpback, dolphins and sharks. If you want to find fur seal, then the best place to find it is the kangaroo island.
FLORA
There are thousands of plant species in Australia, including living fossils such as the cycad palm, the grass tree and amazing wildflowers such as kangaroo paws. Eucalypts also known as Gum tree, make up almost 80 percent of the Australian forests. Especially the Blue Mountains have the diverse range of Eucalypts species on Earth. Australias unique flora also includes Banksia (Bottlebrush), Telopea, pink tiger plants, silver and white snow daisies and yellow billy buttons.
ECONOMY
Australia is a wealthy country. It has plentiful natural resources including coal, gold, iron ore, copper, and natural gas. Australia exports meat, wool, iron ore, wheat, transportation equipment and machinery. Its currency is Australian Dollar.
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