Heather Cofer Bloom

Geography

Flag

Australia is a country in the mainland of the Australian continent. The island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands surround it. Australia is the world’s sixth-largest country.

Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand.

The Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 1,200 miles.

MrRendonMC, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_Flag_Map_%22Australia%22.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/World_Flag_Map_%22Australia%22.png

Australian Bureau of Meteorology, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Federation– six colonies federated to form the commonwealth of Australia on January 1, 1901.

Government and Politics

System- Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system.

Head of the state- the British monarch, represented by the governor general.

Prime minister-the head of the government.

Economy- a mixed market economy, one of the largest in the world.

Key industries- Mining iron ore, coal, and gold.

Trade- major trading partners include China Japan the us and south Korea.

Reserve Bank of Australia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Australian_$5_-_original_series_-_obverse.jpg