1. Australia is the largest island in the world.
2. It's also the smallest continent.
3. It is the world's 6th largest country in land area
4. It's land area is 7,682,292 square kilometres (2,966,133 square miles) which is very close to the size of mainland USA
5. Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere
6. Summer hits from December to February and Winter is from June to August
7. Australia stretches from the Indian Ocean in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east
8. It is represented as one of the rings on the Olympic Flag.
9. Population is just over 20,000,000
10. People are made up of: Europeans 94%, Asians 4.5%, Aboriginals 1.5%
11. Almost 90% of the population lives in cities (compared with 70% almost 50 years ago)
12. The national language is English
13. The national religion is officially Pagan (even though every type is well represented)
14. Australian currency is dollars. Notes are made of a special patented plastic which is practically impossible to copy. Each note is a different size and colour (5, 10, 20, 50, 100) Picture here
15. Major exports include meat, wool, wheat, opals, gold, uranium, coal, oil, iron, diamonds and machinery
16. Over 40% of females are in the workforce
17. Australia is the only country in the world where marsupials (kangaroos, wombats, etc) are native

Australia

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