The Commonwealth of Australia is a
country
in the
southern hemisphere
comprising the
mainland
of the world's smallest
continent
, the major island of
Tasmania
, and a number of
other islands
in the
Indian
and
Pacific Oceans
.
N
The neighbouring countries are
Indonesia
,
East Timor
, and
Papua New Guinea
to the north, the
Solomon Islands
,
Vanuatu
, and
New Caledonia
to the north-east, and
New Zealand
to the south-east.
The Australian mainland has been inhabited for more than , years by
Indigenous Australians
.
After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and then
European
discovery by
Dutch
explorers in ,
the eastern half of Australia was later claimed by the
British
in and initially settled through
penal transportation
as part of the colony of
New South Wales
, commencing on
January
. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely
self-governing
Crown Colonies
were established during the th century.
On
January
, the six colonies became a
federation
, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable
liberal democratic
political system and remains a
Commonwealth realm
. The capital city is
Canberra
, located in the
Australian Capital Territory
(ACT). The population is just over million, with approximately % of the population concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of
Sydney
,
Melbourne
,
Brisbane
,
Perth
, and
Adelaide
. |