Facts About Australia

Facts About Australia

Interesting Australia Facts & Figures

Here are some interesting facts about Australia including Australia's geography, demographics, climate and extremities.

Australia is the smallest, flattest continent on the planet, the world's sixth biggest country and it's largest island at three times the size of Greenland.

Australia has a total area of 7,692,024 square kilometres (including islands) accounting for just 5% of the worlds total land area.

With a population of 22,696,000, Australia's population density is one of the lowest in the world at only 2.9 people per square kilometre - the highest been Monaco at 16,500 people per square kilometre. Despite this, Australia is one of the world's most urbanized countries with 70% of the population living in the 10 largest cities.

Australia has 59,736km of coastline of which 40% comprises island coastlines.

Australia is made up of 6 states - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia as well as 2 territories - Northern Territory and the Australia Capital Territory.

Australia has 19 World Heritage Sites.

Australia has 516 National Parks covering over 25 million hectares. There are also 2700 designated conservation areas and 145 marine protected areas.

Australia's Aborigines is one of the world's oldest human cultures dating back 50,000 years.

Australia is also home to the oldest known form of life on the planet - Stromatolites - a primitive blue-green algae was found in rocks in the Pilbara, Western Australia.

Some of the world's most ancient landscapes are found in Australia - some dating back more than 3.5 billion years.

Australia has a total of 8,222 islands.

10,685 beaches have been defined in Australia.

18% of Australia's land mass is considered desert and a whopping 70% is classified as arid.

Apart from Antarctica, Australia is the driest continent in the world with an average annual rainfall of less than 600 millimetres.

Australia is the lowest continent on earth with an average of 330 metres.

Facts About Australia and It's Extremities


Australia measures almost 4000km wide from east to west and 3860km long from north to south at the continent's extremities.

Australia's most northerly point is the 'The Tip' Cape York Peninsula, Queensland.

Australia's most easterly point is Cape Byron, New South Wales.

Australia's most southerly point on the mainland is South Point - the tip of Wilson's Promontory National Park, Victoria.

The southern-most point of Australia is South East Cape, Tasmania.

Australia's most westerly point is Steep Point - part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, Western Australia.

Interesting Facts About Australia


Australia has 3 times zones - Eastern Standard Time (EST) in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland; Central Standard Time (CST) in South Australia and the Northern Territory; and Western Standard Time (WST) in Western Australia. CST is half an hour behind EST, while WST is two hours behind EST. Daylight Saving Time (DST) is advancing the clock by one hour in the summer months and is observed in South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, ACT and New South Wales.

Australia is home to the world largest coral reef - The Great Barrier Reef extending for over 2000km long off the north-east coast. Australia also claims the world's largest monocline - Mount Augustus, Western Australia (at 858 metres high), as well as the world's largest monolith - Uluru, Northern Territory (at 348.7 metres high). The world's largest sand island extending 123 km is Fraser Island and is located off the south-eastern coast of Queensland - also in Australia.

No part of Australia is further than 1000km from the ocean.

Australia has over 60 designated wine regions across the country and has developed a worldwide reputation for award-winning wines.

Australia has the world's largest cattle station - Anna Creek Station in South Australia - at roughly 6,000,000 acres it's slightly bigger than Israel. To put the size of this station into perspective - Israel has a population of 7,602,400 (a third of Australia's population).

Australia's 'Dingo Fence' or 'Dog Fence' is the longest fence in the world stretching for 5,614km from Queensland through New South Wales to South Australia.

Facts About Australia's Highest, Lowest...


Australia's highest point is Mount Kosciusko in New South Wales at 2228 metres high.

Australia's lowest point is Lake Eyre in South Australia at 15 metres below sea level.

Australia's longest river is the Murray River at 2520km and runs through Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. Along with it's tributaries, the Murray-Darling Basin forms the third largest water catchment in the world. The Murray Darling covers 15% of the continent, supports about 1/3 of Australia's agricultural production, 50% of the countries sheep and croplands, and 25% of beef and dairy herds, provides water for about 62% of Australia's irrigated land and supplies 50% of South Australia's water.

Australia's largest lake is Lake Eyre - a salt lake covering 9500 square kilometres - although it's only full an average of 4 times each century.

The deepest lake in Australia is Lake St Clair, Tasmania at over 170 metres deep.

Australia's highest recorded temperature was 50.7 degrees celcius at Oodnadatta, South Australia in 1960.

Australia's lowest recorded temperature was -23 degrees celcius at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales in 1994.

Facts About Australia's Flora and Fauna


Australia has 27,700 plant species & 2800 species of eucalyptus which make up almost 80% of the forests.

Australia is home to the oldest tropical rainforest on earth - the Daintree in North Queensland - which dates back 135 million years.

Some of the most unique animals can be found in Australia - and more than 80% of our plants, mammals, reptiles and frogs aren't found anywhere else on the planet.

Australia has 378 mammal species, 828 bird species, 4000 fish species, 300 species of lizards, 2 crocodile species, 50 species of marine mammal and 140 species of marsupial - of which we have 55 different species of kangaroos and wallabies alone.

Out of the 140 species of snakes, Australia has 21 of the world's 25 most venomous snakes - more than any other continent.
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