Australia is an island continent located between the Indian and South Pacific oceans. It has a diverse landscape that includes deserts, rainforests, and the Outback interior. The population of over 24 million is predominantly urbanized along the eastern and southeastern coasts. Major cities include Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and the capital Canberra. The majority of Australians have European ancestry and Christianity is the dominant religion, though irreligion is rising. The British monarch is the head of state, with an elected parliamentary government.

2. Australia lies between the South Pacific Ocean & the Indian Ocean (the part of the Indian Ocean south of Australia is called the Southern Ocean in the country).Australia is about 7,000 mi southwest of North America & about 2,000 mi southeast of mainland Asia.Commonwealth of Australia

4. WesternAustralia

5. Western Plateau

6. Northwest includes woodlands, shrub lands, with some grasslands all in a tropical climate zone.West includes the Western Plateau and Outback terrain. It is majority shrub land and desert in a subtropical climate zone.Southwest includes more woodlands and temperate forests and some shrub lands in Mediterranean climate zone surrounding the capital, Perth.

7. The Outback

8. The outback is located in a subtropical, hot and dry climate zone.The temperatures are so intense that much of the mining center towns have been built underground.Life in the Outback is vulnerable to several natural hazards, such as droughts, soil erosion, overgrazing and severe wildfires that can race across the tinder-dry bush vegetation.the Outback is majority bush and shrub lands. That is where the name “Outback” came from.Also vast deserts and dry grasslands make up the rest of the climate and vegetation in the Outback.

9. Out in the Outback

10. Northern Territory

11. Northern TerritoryIn the center part of the Northern Territory, (the Outback) closer to Alice Springs, Uluru & the Olgas, the climate zone is subtropical desert, grasslands & bush lands.Hot tropical woodland & grassland climate zones make up the Northern Territory, closer to the coast, surrounding the capital Darwin.

12. Electrical Storm, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory.

13. The Central Lowlands

14. Channel CountryLake Eyre, the lowest point in Australia, lies 52 ft below sea level along the southern edge of this desert.Lake EyreThe Channel Country is region of outback Australia. The name comes from the numerous intertwined rivulets that cross the region. The Channel Country is situated over the Cooper Basin, Eromanga Basin, and the Lake Eyre Basin drainage basin.

15. South Australia

16. Kangaroo Island, South Australia

17. Queensland

18. The Eastern Highlands of Australia are the remnants of an old folded mountain range. The range was created when New Zealand broke away from Australia about 80 million years ago.The highland crest is often called the Great Dividing Range.The Eastern Highlands are Australia’s most fertile land region, with fertile soils and are used as cropland.The Eastern Highlands

19. The Range separates the rivers that flow to the east coast from those flowing inland or to the south. The highest mountain in the eastern uplands is Mount Kosciusko in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales.The east coast is distinguished by the offshore presence of the Great Barrier Reef.Great Dividing Range

20. The Great Barrier ReefThis is the worlds largest coral reef and one of Australia’s most popular tourist attractions.The waters around the Great Barrier Reef are warm the year around, and warmth and beauty of the coral formations attract species of all kinds.

21. Reef ChainsThe Reef is a chain of more than 2,500 reefs and includes many small islands. It extends in a “nearly unbroken” chain for about 1,250 miles along Australia’s northeast coast.

24. New South Wales

25. Victoria

26. 12 Apostles, Victoria

27. Melbourne

28. TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located 150 mi south of the continent, and is separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world– and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 500,000 (as of December 2008) of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart precinct. The island is mostly temperate forest with some woodlands and includes some rainforest as well in it’s Mediterranean climate zone.

29. Environment

31. People & Population

32. …More People & More PopulationAustralia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I. Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants. The Federal Government estimates that cutting immigration from 280,000 to its target of 180,000 will result in a population of 36 million by 2050.

33. Aussie ”Ozzie” Life, Oy!For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians who belonged to one or more of the roughly 250 language groups.At the time of the 2006 Census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home

34. Religion& CultureAustralia has no state religion. In the 2006 census, 64% of Australians listed themselves as Christian, Roman Catholicism at 26% and 19% as Anglican. Only about 19% of the population cited “no religion“ which was the fastest-growing group from 2001 to 2006. No religion includes those who are atheist, agnostic, humanists, and rationalists.

35. Queen Elizabeth IIQuentin BryceJulia Gillard

36. Parliament House, Canberra