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Australia (1, 300)

The full name of the country is the Commonwealth of Australia. It is a self-governing federal state having 6 states and two internal territories.

Australia is situated in the south-west of the Pacific Ocean. It is the largest island in the world and the smallest continent. It is the only country that occupies a whole continent. The first Europeans to visit Australia were the Dutch but it was James Cook who discovered it in 1770 and joined to England.

The population of the country is nearly 20 million people. The capital of the country is Canberra, which became a capital in 1927. Its population is about 300 000 people.

Australia’s climate is dry and warm. It is situated in the southern hemisphere, and that’s why they have summer when we have winter, and they have winter when we have summer. The hottest month is January. It is the driest of all continents, so there are many deserts there, in fact, one third of its territory is desert, and many parts are unsuitable for settlement.

It is the flattest continent. The highest mountain is Mt Kosciusko.

Australia’s animals are very interesting and rare. One of them is dingo. It is a wild dog that kills other animals at night. There are some species that are only to be met here. But perhaps the most popular animals are kangaroo and emu.

There are a lot of minerals in the country, such as coal, nickel, zinc, gold. Australia exports sugar, fruit, meat, wool.

The national holiday, Australia Day, it’s the day, when the first British came to live there, is celebrated on the 26th of January.

The native people of Australia are dark-skinned aborigines. Now they count about 1% of the population and live in reservations.

Learn the key words and expressions.

be situated – быть расположенным

coal – уголь

count – считать

dry – сухой

flat – плоский

hemisphere – полушарие

internal – внутренний

only – единственный; только