Australia. Australia is lying south-east of Asia, between the Pacific and Indian oceans

Australia is lying south-east of Asia, between the Pacific and Indian oceans. It is the world’s smallest continent which is almost completely surrounded by ocean expanses. Its total area is 7,682,300 sq.km.

The continent of Australia is divided into four general topographic regions: a low, sandy eastern coastal plain, the eastern highlands, the central plain, and the western plateau. Although Australia has a wide diversity of climatic conditions, the climate of Australia is generally warm and dry, with no extreme cold and little frost. It changes from comfortably mild in the south to hot in the central inferior and north.

The total population in 1986 was about 16 mln people with the average population density of about 2 persons per sq. km. Most Australians are of British or Irish ancestry. More than 99% of the population speaks English.

The capital of Australia is Canberra. Australia has a federal parliamentary government. The Australian federation was formed on January 1,1901, from six former British colonies, which thereupon became states. The Australian constitution combines the traditions of British parliamentary monarchy with important elements of the US federal system. Powers of the federal government are enumerated and limited. The government consists of the British sovereign and the Australian Parliament.

Australia is the world’s largest wool producer and one of the world’s largest wheat exporters. The main sources of foreign earnings are wool, food and minerals which also provide raw materials for home processing industry.

Vocabulary

diversity /dai'və:siti/ - разнообразие

enumerated powers - перечисленные полномочия

sovereign - монарх