AUSTRALIA – LAND, CLIMATE AND NATURAL VEGETATION

INTRODUCTION• It is an island continent.

• Located in S.H.

• World smallest continent occupied by one singe country.

• 6th largest country.

• Almost double size of the India

Discovery• First sighted by Dutch navigator William

Janszoon in 1606.

• Captain James Cook a British sea man reached Eastern Coast of Australia. In 1770 he named as new south wales.

• 1829 first colonial settlement in the country .

• Many European started to migrate to Australia as gold was found in this continent.

• On January 01 1901 a federation of six of six colonies were formed and the COMMONWEALTH of AUSTRALIA was established as a Domain of British. Captain James Cook

LOCATION• Lies entirely in S.H.• The continent Stretches from 10°S

to 44°S latitude and from 112°E to 154°E longitude.• The tropic of Capricorn pass

through the middle of this continent • The neighbouring countries of

Australia – In north it is separated from East Timor, from Indonesia by Arafura Sea, in the south east, the Tasman sea lies between Australia and New Zeland

Polit

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Div

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Self Governing StateQueensland, New South Whales,

Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania

Central Administrator Norther Territory and Australian Capital Territory

Physical Features

• The entire continent presents a flat low land topography.• Does not have mountains like the Himalayas.• The main elevation of land in Australia is only 300 meters.• 34,218 KM long coastline.• There are two major indentations – Gulf of Carpentaria, in north and the great

Australian Bight.

Three major Physical Division

Western Plateau

Central Low Lands

Eastern High Lands

Western Plateau

• The western part of Australia is a vast plateau made up of hard rocks.• There are few mountain ranges that rise from the flat plateau.

Mountain Ranges

Hamersley Macdonnel Musgrave

Darling

Western Plateau

• Much of the interior plateau is desert.• The western plateau is rich in mineral resource. It has deposits of iron ores,

uranium and copper.

Desert

The Gibson Desert

The Great Victoria Desert

West Australian Desert

Great Sandy Desert

The Central Low Lands• The low lying regions between the western plateau and the eastern high lands is

known as the central low lands.

Central Low Lands

Artesian Basin Lake Eyre Basin

Murray – Darling Basing

• The Great Artesian Basin is mainly located in the states of Queensland and New South Whales.• It is the world’s largest Artesian Basin known for ground water reserves. • It is a flat where a layer of preamble or porous rock is sandwiched in a saucer like

formation.