Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands.
It has a land area of 7, 2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world, and is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent.
It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast.
The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from Southeast Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke more than 250 distinct languages and had one of the oldest living cultures in the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia
Australia's culture is diverse, and the country has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. It has a highly developed economy and one of the highest per capita incomes globally. Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on the mainland.
The Murray-Darling is the major river system, draining most of inland New South Wales and Southern Queensland towards Lake Alexandrina and the sea in South Australia
Australia's population is concentrated on the coastal fringes. About 95% of the population lives within 100 km of the coast; the world average is 39%. Australia's population density is 3.5 inhabitants per square kilometre, which is one of the lowest in the world. However, there is a large concentration of the population in cities along the temperate south-eastern coastline, and population density exceeds 38 inhabitants per square kilometre in central Melbourne
| Rank | Name | State | Pop. | Rank | Name | State | Pop. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | NSW | 5,450,496 | 11 | Wollongong | NSW | 313,745 | ||
| 2 | Melbourne | VIC | 5,207,145 | 12 | Geelong | VIC | 302,046 | ||
| 3 | Brisbane | QLD | 2,706,966 | 13 | Hobart | TAS | 253,654 | ||
| 4 | Perth | WA | 2,309,338 | 14 | Townsville | QLD | 186,734 | ||
| 5 | Adelaide | SA | 1,446,380 | 15 | Cairns | QLD | 160,933 | ||
| 6 | Gold Coast–Tweed Heads | QLD&NSW | 735,213 | 16 | Darwin | NT | 150,736 | ||
| 7 | Newcastle–Maitland | NSW | 526,515 | 17 | Toowoomba | QLD | 149,817 | ||
| 8 | Canberra–Queanbeyan | ACT&NSW | 503,402 | 18 | Ballarat | VIC | 116,390 | ||
| 9 | Sunshine Coast | QLD | 407,859 | 19 | Bendigo | VIC | 104,883 | ||
| 10 | Central Coast | NSW | 354,803 | 20 | Albury-Wodonga | NSW&VIC | 100,095 | ||
immigration
Asia is the largest source of immigrants in the 21st century.
Today, Australia has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population. Immigrants account for 30% of the population, the highest proportion among major Western nations.