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Mainland Australia is the main
landmass A landmass, or land mass, is a large region or area of land. The term is often used to refer to lands surrounded by an ocean or sea, such as a continent or a large island. In the field of geology, a landmass is a defined section of continen ...
of the Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands,
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...
,
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
, and other Australian offshore islands. The landmass also constitutes the mainland of the territory governed by the Commonwealth of Australia, and the term, along with continental Australia, can be used in a geographic sense to exclude surrounding continental islands and external territories. Generally, the term is applied to the states of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
,
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...
,
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...
, Victoria, and
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
, as well as the
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding township#Aust ...
, Jervis Bay Territory, and
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
. The term is typically used when referring to the relationship between Tasmania and the other Australian states, in that people not from Tasmania are referred to as mainlanders. Tasmania has been omitted on a number of occasions from maps of Australia, reinforcing the divide between Tasmania and the mainland. The
1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the ...
in
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
left Tasmania off the map of Australia during the opening ceremony, as did the designs of the Australian Swim Team uniform for the
2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...
in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
. The land mass covers , about 98.7% of the area of the country of Australia and covering 1.5% of Earth's surface. It is sometimes described as an island. Its population is about 25.152 million, 98% of Australia's total population. Mainland Australia has a variety of climatic regions, ranging from tropical rainforests and deserts to cool temperature rainforests to snow-covered mountains. It is in these mainland regions that much of Australia's native
flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...
and
fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is '' flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. ...
can be found.


History

Early in the
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
Period, 130 million years ago, Australia (and
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
) separated from a supercontinent known as
Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final sta ...
. Antarctica's separation from Australia began roughly 85 million years ago, at a rate of a few millimetres per year. It took over 30 million years (53 million years ago), toward the end of the Palaeocene
epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided ...
, for Australia to fully separate from Antarctica and set course for where we see the two
continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...
s today. During the last ice-age around 35,000 years ago, sea levels (around Australia) dropped by 120m, developing a continuous stretch of land between now day
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, Australia and
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
. Over the next 6,000 years the ice gradually melted, increasing sea-levels, cutting off Papua New Guinea and Tasmania from 'Mainland Australia'.


Indigenous founding

One of the oldest civilisations in the world, it has been estimated that Indigenous (or Aboriginal) people occupied mainland Australia up to 50,000 to 60,000 years ago; well before the last ice-age. Although an exact figure has not been decided on, numerous DNA studies all confirm that 'Aboriginal Australians are one of the oldest living populations in the world’ outside of
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. Prior to the arrival of
Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (20 ...
on the Australian mainland in the late 18th century, over 500 different clan groups (nations) each with unique cultures, beliefs and languages. Currently, Indigenous people living on the mainland make up 2.4% of the total Australian population, encompassing over 250
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
groups.


European colonization

The first documented encounter of the Australian mainland was by Willem Janszoon in 1606, as he sailed around Australia's north coast arriving in present-day Cape York, Queensland. These explorations led way to the term ‘ Terra Australis',
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
for South Land, which was hypothesised on the notion there must be land in the Southern Hemisphere to balance the land mass in the
Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
. This encounter led several other Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and British journeyings to Terra Australis throughout the 17th and 18th century, progressively mapping what we now know to be as (mainland) Australia. The most famous and well documented expedition of Australia occurred 164 years after Janszoon's journey, through British navigator and explorer James Cook. He documented the first interaction of the Eastern Australian coastline, and on 23 April 1770, Cook made the first recorded observation of Indigenous Australians at nowadays
Brush Island The Brush Island is a continental island, contained within the Brush Island Nature Reserve, a protected nature reserve, known as Mit Island in the Dhurga language of the Murramamrang people of the Yuin nation see (http://press-files.anu.edu.au/ ...
. This journey, coupled with numerous other reports, ultimately led the British to establish a penal colony in Australia, firstly at
Botany Bay Botany Bay ( Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
.


Geography

The Australian mainland's
geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...
and
climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
is one of its defining features. Despite being surrounded by ocean, approximately 20% of the Australian Mainland is classified as
desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
. This is due to the extremely variable
rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
patterns across the mainland. Toward the barren centre of the Mainland, the rainfall pattern is concentric and sparse, whereas there is higher intensity rainfall toward the Mainland's
tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also refer ...
and coastal areas. Australia lies on the middle of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate and as a result is not influenced by any severe tectonic activity. Over millions of years, the shifting of these tectonic plates has seen the Australian mainland undergo many physical changes. Mountain ranges and seas have come and gone, and the forces of
weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs '' in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement ...
and
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...
have formed much of the mainlands current
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
. These physical changes developed four primary landform divisions spread throughout the mainland states and territories; the Coastal Plains, the Eastern and Southern highlands, the Central Lowlands (and Deserts) and the Western and Northern Plateaus (and Basins).


Coastal Plains

Along the Eastern seaboard of the mainland are the Coastal Plains; a narrow strip of land along the East coast of Australia from Queensland to Victoria. This division is host to some of the mainlands major cities, namely,
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
,
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
and
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
, due to its hospitable conditions. Some sources refer to the Coastal Plains as the entire coastline of the mainland, outspreading beyond the East Coast.


Eastern Highlands

Approximately inland, The Eastern Highlands (including the Great Dividing Range) cover almost 10% of the mainland. Incorporating several mountain ranges which extend the Highlands run parallel to the East coast of the mainland; covering Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. The highlands were formed around 80 million years ago, and are some of the oldest and most prominent in the world. This area is very rugged and primarily consists of a series of tablelands and plateaus. The highlands are much more prominent toward the South East of the mainland and form the Southern Highlands, which are located across (south) New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. These Southern highlands (see Snowy Mountains) experience snowfall for more than half the year during the Winter seasons due to their higher altitude.


Central Lowlands

Occupying approximately 25% of the Australian mainland, the Central Lowlands (and Deserts) are low-lying with an average height of under above sea level. It is home to the Sturt and Simpson deserts and closer to Central Australia lie some desert mountain ranges ( MacDonnell and Musgrave). The Central Lowlands incorporates three primary drainage basins: in the North, the Carpentaria Lowlands,
Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains ...
toward the centre and the Murray-Darling Basin down South. The lowest point on the mainland is found in this division at Lake Eyre, at 50m below sea level.


Western Plateau

Approximately 144 to 65 million years ago (
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
period), there lay a great inland sea, stretching over one quarter of the mainland. The evaporation of this ocean left behind what we now know as the Western Plateau. The Western and Northern Plateaus incorporate nearly all
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
and the
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
and parts of
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...
. Over one-third of the mainland, the Plateaus are made of one stable block of
igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
and
metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...
which is up to 3.6 billion years old. Despite this, the Plateau is a huge area of tablelands, averaging 500m above sea level in some parts. It is home to
Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Spring ...
, Kata Tjuta, the
Finke River The Finke River, or ''Larapinta'' (Arrernte), is a river in central Australia, one of four main rivers of the Lake Eyre Basin and thought to be the oldest riverbed in the world. It flows for only a few days a year and when this happens, its wa ...
, the Victorian Desert, the Great Sandy Desert and the Gibson Desert. Much of the Western Plateau receives minimal rainfall and thus appears red in colour. Conversely, the Northern Plateau experiences heavy rainfall throughout the wet season (November to April), due to its more tropical location compared to the Western Plateau.


Natural resources

Australia's separation from the other continents resulted in a long period of
uplift Uplift may refer to: Science * Geologic uplift, a geological process ** Tectonic uplift, a geological process * Stellar uplift, the theoretical prospect of moving a stellar mass * Uplift mountains * Llano Uplift * Nemaha Uplift Business * Upli ...
,
erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...
and thick terrigenous deposition in rift valleys. It was these processes which over millions of years has led to the accumulation of Australia's main known
mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...
, oil and gas resources. Most of Australia's oil and gas exploration occurs off the mainland. However, on the mainland, the abundance of minerals (and thus
metals A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typical ...
) has formed the basis of Australia's dependence on
mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...
;
exporting International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...
much of these natural occurring resources overseas.


Mining

The Australian Mainland is host to some of the world's largest open-cut and underground mines. Across the mainland states (besides the ACT), there are over 350 operating mines (website), producing 19 useful rocks and
minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed ...
. These mines allow Australia to be one of the world's largest producers of:
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...
,
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
,
bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...
(aluminium ore),
manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of ...
,
nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow t ...
,
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
,
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
,
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
,
cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...
,
lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...
,
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
,
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
,
opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline form ...
and
diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...
. Some of the largest mines on the Australian mainland are listed below:


Renewables

The Australian mainland's various geology and climate, has led to the increased utilisation of renewable energy ( solar,
wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...
and hydro) over recent decades. In 2021, approximately 28.9% of the mainland's total electricity generation was from renewable energy sources with South Australia at 66.5% renewable energy generation, Victoria at 33.4%, Western Australia at 31.5%, New South Wales at 26.0% and Queensland at 19.6%. The majority of this renewable energy was generated through
wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...
and solar, proportionally contributing 35.9% and 38.3% respectively.


Politics

Australian political decisions are typically deliberated and enacted within the limits of homeland (Mainland Australia) soil. Despite Tasmania being one of Australia's six British establishment
colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
,
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
has often been looked over due to the state's small size and general isolation. This is observed through the states and territories of Mainland Australia representing 146 of the 151 members in Parliament.


State formation

From 1788 to 1859, Britain established five colonies on the Australian mainland, and one in
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
. All six colonies were constitutionally connected to Britain, each with their own
parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
and courts, with their respective
laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...
subject to the laws of British Parliament. These colonies formed the six states of Australia;
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
, Victoria,
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
,
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...
(included the
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
at this time),
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...
and
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
. In 1901, the six states were united as the Commonwealth of Australia, under a new federal
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...
. In 1911, the Northern Territory was transferred from South Australia to the Commonwealth and formed a
territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
.


Capital selection

After
Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...
in 1901, it was always assumed the Australian
capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
would lay on the mainland. However, the location of the capital sparked years of negotiating between politicians in New South Wales and Victoria, the two most prominent states, who each wanted their capital,
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
and
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
respectively, to become the new country's capital. After years of debate to no avail, the two states decided on a compromise that met the requirements of the Australian Constitution. A separate
territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...
(the
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding township#Aust ...
) was to be established on land given by New South Wales, however it must be at least from Sydney. This territory would contain the official capital of Australia, and until then,
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
would sit in Melbourne until the city (now Canberra) was built. In 1909, this compromise was agreed upon and was finally legislated in 1911. On 12 March 1913, Canberra or Ngunnawal country to the
Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
of the area, was officially named as the capital of Australia. In 1915, Jervis Bay territory was added to the Australian Capital Territory to ensure the Commonwealth had a
seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as ...
.


See also

* Fauna of Australia * Flora of Australia * Natural history of Australia *
Geography of Australia The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent, while comprising the territory of the sixth-largest country in the world. The population of Australia is concentrated along ...
* List of islands of Australia * States and territories of Australia *
European exploration of Australia The European exploration of Australia first began in February 1606, when Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed in Cape York Peninsula and on October that year when Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through, and navigated, Torres Stra ...


References

{{Coord, 27, S, 133, E, source:wikidata, display=title Australian culture Geography of Australia
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...