Introduction to Australia Australia is massive, and sparsely peopled: in size, it rivals the USA, yet its population is just twenty million. It is an ancient land, and often looks it: in places, it's the most eroded, denuded and driest of continents, with much of central and western Australia – the bulk of the country – overwhelmingly arid and flat. In contrast, its cities, most of which were founded as recently as the mid-nineteenth century, express a youthful energy.
The most memorable scenery is in the Outback, the vast desert in the interior of the country west of the Great Dividing Range. Here, vivid blue skies, cinnamon-red earth, deserted gorges and other striking geological features – as well as bizarre wildlife – comprise a unique ecology, one that has played host to the oldest surviving human culture for up to 70,000 years (just 10,000 years after Homo sapiens is thought to have emerged from Africa).
This harsh interior has forced modern Australia to become a coastal country. Most of the population lives within 20km of the ocean, occupying a suburban, southeastern arc extending from southern Queensland to Adelaide. These urban Australians celebrate the typical New World values of material self-improvement through hard work and hard play, with an easy-going vitality that visitors, especially Europeans, often find refreshingly hedonistic. A sunny climate also contributes to this exuberance, with an outdoor life in which a thriving beach culture and the congenial backyard "barbie" are central.
While visitors might eventually find this Home and Away lifestyle rather prosaic, there are opportunities – particularly in the Northern Territory – to gain some experience of Australia's indigenous peoples and their culture, through visiting ancient art sites, taking tours and, less easily, making personal contact. Many Aboriginal people – especially in central Australia – have managed to maintain a traditional lifestyle (albeit with modern accoutrements), speaking their own languages and living according to their law. Conversely, most Aboriginal people you'll come across in country towns and cities are victims of what is scathingly referred to as "welfare colonialism" – a disempowering consequence of dole cheques and other subsidies combined with little chance of meaningful employment, often resulting in a destructive cycle of poverty, ill health and substance abuse. There's still a long way to go before black and white people in Australia can exist on genuinely equal terms.
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• With an area of eight million square kilo-metres, Australia is the sixth largest country in the world.
• The population stands at just twenty million, of whom some 85 percent live in urban areas, mainly along the coast. About 92 percent of the population are of European origin, 2 percent Aboriginal, and around 6 percent Asian and Middle Eastern.
• Much of Australia is arid and flat. One third is desert and another third steppe or semi-desert. Only six percent of the country rises above 600m in elevation, and its tallest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, is just 2228m high.
• Australia's main exports are fossil fuels, minerals, metals, cotton, wool, wine and beef, and its most important trading partners are Japan, China and the US.
• Australia is a federal parliamentary state (formally a constitutional monarchy) with two legislative houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The chief of state is the British Monarch, represented by the Governor-General, while the head of government is the Prime Minister.
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