Australia-INFORMATION

Australia's landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi) is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and theTasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent and sixth largest country by total area,Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the "island continent", and is sometimes considered the world's largest island. Australia has 34,218 kilometres (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands), and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory. Apart from Macquarie Island, Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44°S, and longitudes 112° and 154°E.

The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 kilometres (1,240 mi). Mount Augustus, claimed to be the world's largest monolith, is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 metres (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Even taller are Mawson Peak (at 2,745 metres or 9,006 feet), on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island, and, in the Australian Antarctic Territory, Mount McClintock and Mount Menzies, at 3,492 metres (11,457 ft) and 3,355 metres (11,007 ft) respectively.

Longest rivers in Australia by length

Order	River name	Length		Source
		km	miles
1	Murray River	2,375	1,476
2	Murrumbidgee River	1,485	923
3	Darling River	1,472	915
4	Lachlan River	1,448	900
5	Warrego River	1,380	857
6	Cooper Creek	1,300	808
7	Paroo River	1,210	752

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas/Significant Urban Areas by population

Rank	GCCSA/SUA	State/Territory	June 2012[2]	Percent
1	Sydney	New South Wales	4,667,283	20.91%
2	Melbourne	Victoria	4,246,345	19.02%
3	Brisbane	Queensland	2,189,878	9.81%
4	Perth	Western Australia	1,897,548	8.50%
5	Adelaide	South Australia	1,277,174	5.72%

Australia’s physiography
 
The Australian continent is dominated by plains and low rises. Exceptions are found in the central parts of the continent, such as the Flinders Ranges, and along the margins, particularly the Eastern Highlands, of which Tasmania is an off-shore continuation. The margins, except in the south, are generally higher than the inland areas, giving the continent a saucer shape. This is a fundamental attribute that Australia shares with other Gondwanaland continents such as Africa, all of which have the characteristic great escarpment. The Eastern Highlands of Australia are a well-studied, very fine example. There is a similar feature in northern Australia, where the plateau edge lies inland of the northern coastal lowlands. The inland edge of the Nullarbor Plain could also be considered the same kind of feature. These surface features appear to reflect deep crustal processes such as the gravity of the lithosphere. Another feature of Australian landforms is that they tend to be more complex in the east than in the west. This is, at least in part, a consequence of the more complex geological background in the east and is reflected in the smaller size of physiographic regions in the east compared with the west. 

VEGETATION

The word vegetation, as opposed to plant life, implies the structure and communal relations of the landscape’s plant cover, whether it be forest, grassland, or marsh. There is no standard, or worldwide, classification system (such as exists for describing flora) for this aspect of the environment. Initial attempts to apply European and American classification concepts to Australia were not particularly satisfactory because of the peculiarities of the continent’s vegetation and environment. For example, climatic control of local vegetation zones was often found insufficient to explain vegetation changes; on the contrary, soil patterns and geologic history quite override climatic control in many localities. Similarly, structural descriptive schemes useful for Northern Hemisphere coniferous and deciduous vegetation proved inappropriate when confronted by the great variety of evergreen vegetation—notably mallees and shrubs—found in Australia. The mapping of Australian vegetation is based largely on factual descriptive features, and by this means comprehensive and detailed accounts and maps have been produced.