THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA T HE Commonwealth of Australia is situated in the Southern Hemisphere and lies between meridians of longitude 113° 9′ E. and 153° 39′ E. Its northern and southern limits are the parallels of latitude 10° 41' S. and 43° 39' S. It is bounded on the west by the Indian Ocean and on the east by the Coral and Tasman Seas of the South Pacific Ocean, to the north by the Timor and Arafura Seas and to the south by the Indian Ocean. The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning southern, a name commonly used in early times for regions south of the equator. In the sixteenth century geographers used the name 'Terra Australis' to describe a continent which they thought must exist in the South Pacific. The east coast of Australia was named New South Wales by Captain Cook but when it was realised that this and New Holland, the name by which the west coast was known, formed one land mass, the word Australia began to be used, and was first given official recognition in April 1817 when Governor Macquarie of New South Wales used the word in his correspondence. The Commonwealth of Australia comprises the six federated States of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, each of which has its own Government, and two internal territories, the Australian Capital Territory, which is the seat of the Commonwealth Government, and the Northern Territory which includes also the Ashmore and Cartier Islands. Responsibility for the general administration of these two internal territories is vested respectively in the Department of the Capital Territory and the Department of the Northern Territory. Macquarie Island, about 1,000 miles South East of Tasmania, is administered by Tasmania. Australia's external territories are: Norfolk Island and the Coral Sea Islands Territory, administered by the Australian Department of the Capital Territory; the Territory of Papua (formerly British New Guinea), and the Territory of New Guinea (under Trusteeship Agreement with the United Nations), together administered-in respect of the few remaining powers reserved to Australia since the attainment of self-government by Papua-New Guinea-by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs; the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and the Territory of Christmas Island, both administered by the Australian Department of the Special Minister of State; the Territory of Heard and McDonald Islands, and the Australian Antarctic Territory, both administered by the Australian Department of Science. (The external territories are dealt with in Part VI of this volume.) The total area of the Commonwealth is 2,967,909 square miles. Almost threequarters of the land mass is a vast ancient plateau, averaging about 1,000 feet above sea level. There is a large portion of lowland with an elevation of less than 500 feet which is, in one place, below sea level. A third division is the eastern highlands belt, featuring a chain of elevated plateaux extending from north to south along the eastern boundary. This highland is known as the Great Dividing Range. The dominating structural division-the Great Western Plateau—has a few high tablelands and ridges such as the Kimberleys Region, Hamersley, Macdonnell and Musgrave Ranges. The Hamersley Range contains Western Australia's highest peak, Mount Bruce (4,024 feet). The Northern Territory's highest point is Mount Zeil (4,950 feet) in the Macdonnell Ranges, and South Australia's highest is Mount Woodroffe (5,000 feet) in the Musgrave Ranges. Ayers Rock, 1,100 feet high, a huge monolith rising from the central Australian desert with a circumference of six miles, is sometimes referred to as the 'largest stone in the world'. The Great Dividing Range stretches from Cape York in Queensland to the southern seaboard of Tasmania, but despite the name the mountains of the Divide are relatively low. In the north and central sections they rarely exceed 5,000 feet. The rugged south-eastern area, known as the Australian Alps, is higher with peaks of over 6,000 feet. This area contains some of Australia's highest land, together with its highest peak, Mount Kosciusko (7,316 feet). The Great Divide also provides the highest points in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. These peaks are respectively Mount Bartle Frere (5,287 feet); Mount Bogong (6,516 feet) and Mount Ossa (5,305 feet). Australia does not possess any extensive inland river system. The greater part of the continent lies within the southern arid belt between latitudes 15° and 35° S. The largest river system is the Murray River and its tributaries which drain about 414,000 square miles, including a large part of southern Queensland, the major part of New South Wales and much of Victoria. The river rises in the Australian Alps and flows westward to form for 1,200 miles the boundary between New South Wales and Victoria. After flowing 400 miles through South Australia it discharges into the sea at Lake Alexandrina. With its tributaries (the Darling, the Murrumbidgee, the Lachlan and many smaller rivers in New South Wales, and the Goulburn, Ovens, Campaspe and other rivers in Victoria) the Murray has an estimated flow of some 12,500,000 acre feet annually. Most of the rivers of the central interior flow only after heavy rains, while the majority of Australia's coastal rivers are short with moderate rates of flow, although the monsoon season in the north of the country can augment the discharge rate enormously. Australia's largest reservoir is the man-made Lake Eucumbene in the Snowy Mountains area of New South Wales with a useful storage capacity of 3,890,000 acre feet. Other major reservoirs are Eildon Weir, Victoria, 2,750,000 acre feet; Hume Reservoir, N.S.W., 2,500,000 acre feet; Warragamba Dam, N.S.W., 1,670,000 acre feet; Menindee Lakes, N.S.W., 2,000,000 acre feet and Great Lake, Tasmania, 1,300,000 acre feet. Other large lakes include Lake Corangamite (Victoria) 80 square miles in area; Great Lake (Tasmania) and the Gippsland Lakes (Victoria). The largest lake in Australia is Lake Eyre which covers an area of about 4,000 square miles with neighbouring Lake Eyre South. However, this lake in central Australia is generally dry with its bed covered with salt. This is true of many of the lakes of inland Australia, which, although big in area, often contain no water except after infrequent rain. The four seasons in Australia are: Spring, September to November; Summer, December to February; Autumn, March to May; and Winter, June to August. In most parts January is the hottest month but in Tasmania and Southern Victoria February is hotter while in the tropical north (probably because of the cooling monsoon rains occurring in late summer) December is the hottest month. In northern Australia the year is divided into the usual tropical divisions of dry and wet seasons, with the wet season occurring in summer and the heaviest rain in January, February and March. On the coast, where rainfall is often abundant, the temperature extremes are limited by the moist atmosphere whereas in the dry inland areas the extremes extend in proportion to the distance from the seaboard. Central and southern Queensland are sub-tropical. Farther south there are the warm temperate regions of north and central New South Wales and the cooler areas of Victoria, south-west Western Australia and Tasmania, with rainfall distributed throughout the year and increasing in winter. Australia's coldest regions are the highlands and tablelands of Tasmania and the south-east corner of the mainland. Australia's regular winter snowfalls occur in the highlands of these areas. Mean maximum temperatures (Fahrenheit) of the various state capitals, showing the mean minimum in brackets, are: Sydney 70-4 (56·3); Brisbane 77-8 (59-8); Perth 73-6 (55-4); Darwin 90-3 (74·1); Melbourne 67·4 (49-7); Adelaide 72·4 (53·2); Hobart 62·0 (46·5); and the Federal Capital, Canberra 66·7 (43·1). The heaviest rainfall occurs on the north coast of Queensland (up to 160 inches) and in western Tasmania (up to 140 inches). A vast area of the interior, however, stretching from the far west of New South Wales and south-west Queensland to the western seaboard of Western Australia has a rainfall below 10 inches a year. Between these regions of heavy and very low rainfall are the extensive areas which experience useful to good rains, ranging from 10 to 50 inches a year. The flora and fauna of Australia include many groups which do not occur elsewhere. Vegetation is colourful and varied. Forests are relatively small in area and occur mainly in the coastal area of high rainfall. The dominant tree is the eucalyptus, a hardwood of which there are more than 500 species, ranging from small shrubs to some of the tallest trees in the world; many are renowned for the strength and durability of their timber. Other hardwoods include the red cedar, Queensland maple, silky oak, walnut, rosewood and blackwood. The indigenous softwoods are limited; they include the kauri and bunya pines of Queensland, the hoop pine of Queensland and northern New South Wales, the huon, celery-top and King William pines of Tasmania and the cypress pines of the inland. Australia is also the home of a wide range of acacias. The native animals of Australia are of primitive types. The land species are chiefly marsupial and include the kangaroos, native cats, opossums, koala, pouched mice and wombats. There are also two species of egg-laying mammals, the platypus and the spiny anteater. The dingo, or wild dog, is believed to have been introduced from Asia. Sheep, cattle, horses and other domestic animals have been introduced since the European settlement; imported animals also include rabbits, which have become pests. Birds, often more conspicuous for their gorgeous plumage than their song, include the emu, kookaburra, lyre bird, rosella and many kinds of parrots and cockatoos. Fish abound in the rivers and coastal waters. At December 1973 the population was estimated to be 13,268,600, which included some 106,000 persons claiming to be Aborigines. Birth and death rates for the population as a whole are 18.8 per thousand and 8;4 per thousand respectively. English is the official language and used by the population except for small minorities of the foreign-born. There are, however, many aboriginal languages: it is believed that at the time of the beginning of white settlement there were about 500. Many attempts have been made in the past to link the Australian languages with other parts of the world, i.e., South India, the Andaman Islands and Africa, but without success. It is now considered possible to explain the multiple form of languages on the basis of a single original. As yet a final grouping of the languages among themselves has not been achieved, and the following are the main groups which are clear at present: the prefixing languages of the Kimberleys and North Australian Regions; the languages of the Western Desert; the Aranda Group of Central Australia; the Victorian languages and the |