Facts About Australia

General information

• The capital of Australia is Canberra.
• The population of Australia is approaching 22,000,000 (1992 was 17,562,000 ).
• Life expectancy for men is 75 years.
• Life expectancy for women is 80 years.

Australian geography

• The lowest annual rainfall occurs at Lake Eyre in South Australia, with an annual mean precipitation of about 100 mm.
• The highest annual rainfall occurs at Tully in Queensland, with an annual mean precipitation of 4400 mm.
• The lowest overnight ground temperatures recorded in Australia were at Canberra with -15.1 degrees, and Stanthorpe in Queensland with -11.0 degrees.
• The foggiest capital city in Australia is Canberra with an annual average of 47 fog days, Brisbane with 20 days, and Darwin with 2 days.
• Melville Island (5698 km square), near Darwin, is the largest Island in Australian Waters (apart from Tasmania).
• The highest point in Australia is the top of Mt Kosciusko in New South Wales (2230 metres).
• The lowest point in Australia is 15 meters below sea level at Lake Eyre in South Australia.
• The largest lakes in Australia include Lake Eyre (9500 km2), Lake Torrens (5900 km2) and Lake Gairdner (4300 km2) which are all in South Australia.
• The largest artificial lake in Australia is Lake Argyle (700 km2) which is in Western Australia.
• The deepest lake in Australia is Lake St Clair.
• The Murray River is the longest river in Australia at 2520 km, combining with the Darling and Upper Darling Rivers to form the Murray-Darling basin. The Murray Darling extends over 15% of the continent, and serving 4 States and the ACT with water. The Murray also supports about 1/3 of Australia's agricultural production, supports 50% of Australia's sheep and croplands, and 25% of beef and dairy herds, contains about 62% of the country's irrigated land and supplies 50% of South Australia's water.
• The continental shelf below Australia varies in width between 30 km and 240 km.

Australia is the world’s largest exporter of:

• Coal
• Wool
• Alumina
• Diamonds
• Sheep
• Lead
• Refined zinc ores
• Mineral sands

Other exports include:

• Veal
• Lamb
• Sugar
• Nickel
• Beef
• Mutton
• Cereals
• Iron ore

Principal trading partners include:

Japan, USA, EC Member States and China.

(source: Australian Travel Information Australian Explorer)