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Australasia

Australasia ('Southern Asia '), popular term, sometimes used to comprehend the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, Australia, and all the islands of the Pacific; at others confined to the British possessions of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, to which New Guinea and Fiji are sometimes added. As a geographical term it is best applied to the greater Australian region, which includes the islands of Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, the Bismarck, Solomon, and New Hebrides archipelagoes, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. If all this region were above the sealevel, it would form a continent as large as N. America.

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Cape York, in the N., to Wilson promontory, in the s., nearly 2,000 m. Australia is bounded on the N. by the Timor and Arafura Seas and Torres Str., on the w. and s. by the Indian Ocean, and on the E. by the Pacific. The coastline is nearly 12,000 m. in length.

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Configuration. The western half of the continent is a tableland with a mean elevation of between 1,000 and 1,500 ft., culminating in heights which rise from 2,000 to over 3,000 ft., the highest being Mt. Bruce (3,800 ft.). In the s.w. are the Stirling Mts. (3,600 ft.). The western escarpment rises above a narrow coastal plain, and is known as the Darling Range and by other

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Australia

after rains. The eastern highlands form undulating grassy downs in the w., gradually rising E. Three sections may be distinguished in them: the N., with Mt. Bartle Frere (5,440 ft.), near Cape Grafton, in N. Queensland; s. of the cape, with Mt. Lindsay (5,700 ft.) and Mt. Seaview (6,000 ft.); and beyond the s., comprising the Blue Mts., Australian Alps, Dividing Range, and Tasmanian AlpsMt. Townsend (7,350 ft.), in the Kosciusko mass, being the culminating point, and also the highest peak in the continent. The Tasmanian plateau averages from 3,000 to 4,000 ft., and rises to 5,100 ft. in Ben Lomond, and 5,070 ft. in Cradle Mt.

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Australia is the name applied, at the suggestion of Captain Flinders, to the island continent which lies between lat. 10° 41' and 39° 8' s. from long. 113° 9' and 153° 39' E. It properly includes the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea, which are physically continuations of it. It constitutes with Tasmania the Commonwealth of Austral a, which comprises the following states: New South Wales, Queensland, South Austral'a, Victor a, Western Austral a, and Tasmania. Area: Island, 2.948,366 sq. m.; Commonwealth, 2,974,581 sq. m. Pop. Commonwealth (1907), 4,197,037. From Steep Point, in the w., to Cape Byron, in the E., is a distance of 2,500 m.; and from

names. The central lowlands lie to the E. of the western table-lands. Few rivers cross these to the sea, except the Flinders in the N., and the Darling-Murray system in the S. Most of the inland rivers flow only after rain, and even then either feed vast shallow salt lakes or disappear in the desert. The largest of these rivers are the Diamantina and Barcoo or Cooper's Creek, from the eastern highlands, and the Finke, from the Macdonnell plateau, flowing into Lake Eyre. This lake consists of two parts, a larger N. sheet of water and a smaller s. one, both nearly 40 ft. below sealevel. Lakes Frome, Torrens, and Gairdner, similarly, are huge depressions filled with salt water

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Hydrography. Short torrential rivers rush down the steep slopes of the eastern highlands and cross the flat eastern plain, where they become navigable. They are liable to sudden floods, the Brisbane R. having been known to rise 80 ft. The longest rivers flow to the Indian Ocean, the chief being the Darling-Murray, from the gentler w. slope of the eastern highlands. The Murray is navigable for 1,600 miles in a wet season, and the Darling for 700 miles further. The N. rivers-e.g. the Roper, Flinders, and Victoria-also flow in regions of a similar character, and are navigable some distance from the coast. The Fitzroy and Ashburton traverse much drier

Australia

regions with summer rains, while the Murchison and Swan flow w., where winter rains prevail.

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Climate.-The tropic of Capricorn crosses Australia midway between N, and s., and the temperature is never low except_on the mountains of the s. tremes of heat and drought, but not of cold and snow, are the climatic defects. The mean annual temperature varies from 85° F. in the N. to 54° F. in the s. In winter the temperature falls steadily from N. to s., and in summer the hottest region lies in the interior N. of the tropic but differs little on the N. and s.

AUSTRALIA
INDUSTRIES

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systems reach S. Australia, drawing hot, dry winds from the interior in front of the centre; but after the centre has passed, strong, cool s. winds ('southerly bursters) bring relief. Most rain falls on the E. coast in summer, and at the same time the interior, N. of a line between Cape Howe and N.W. Cape, has a scanty rainfall. In Tasmania rain falls at all seasons, but is most abundant in winter.

Vegetation. Mangroves and pandanus predominate in the N. wet jungles, eucalyptus (300-400 ft.) flourish in the eastern forest region, and tree ferns form part of the undergrowth in the Aus

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coasts. In January, which is the hottest month, the average is 84.7° F. at Palmerston, on the N. coast; 85.4° F. at Alice Springs, in the center (2,100 ft. above the sea); and 79.7° F. at Port Augusta, on the S. coast. In the interior the range of temperature is considerable (30° F.), but on the whole, the climate is more agreeable than in other countries of similar area. The S.E. trade winds prevail at most seasons over the greater part of the continent. In winter Vshaped low-pressure systems reach the s. shores; in summer the N.W. monsoon blows over the N. ones. In spring, summer, and autumn only the N. margins of the s. storm

tralian Alps. Jarrah, karri, and other valuable timber trees flourish in S. W. Australia. The downs, subject to occasional destructive droughts, lie_w. of the eastern escarpment. In the interior are found dwarf eucalyptus, acacias, and porcupine grass (spinifex scrub), and the paper bark tree, colloquially known as the 'Bush.'

Animals-Australia has a fauna remarkable for its primitive mammals, and for the absence of all higher forms except a species of rodents and bats, and the dingo or wild dog, possibly introduced by man, but now almost exterminated. The Tasmanian devil

Economic Productions. The natural wealth of Australia are its grassy downs, its vast forests of the N., E., and s.w., and its rich mineral deposits, especially of gold. The downs give pasture to millions of sheep, whose wool and flesh are exported. Cattle and horses are kept in the moister regions, and, by tramping down the loose, easilyblown soil, prepare the ground for sheep. Dairy-farming is important in the s.E. and much of the produce is exported. Wheat is the cereal of the s., and maize of the N. Grapes, figs, oranges, etc., grow in the s.; and sugar, cotton, tobacco, rice and arrow

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1. Laughing jackass or laughing kingfisher, 2. Ceratodus. 3. Gray-headed fruit bat. 4. Common Australian echidna. 5. Australian water mole. 6. Australian tree-bear or koala. 7. Kangaroo. 8. Common emu. 9. Common wombat. 10. Gould's monitor. 1 11. Chelmo.

Australia

root, together with all kinds of semitropical and British fruits, are cultivated in Queensland. Irrigation has enormously raised the economic value of the continent. Gold is found in most parts, especially in the eastern highlands and the western plateau. Diamonds occur in the E. and s. Silver is mined in the eastern highlands and in Stanley Range (Broken Hill), copper in the York Peninsula, while tin is well distributed. Coal is found on the E. coast, especially round the Hunter R., and at Irrawarra in New South Wales, and round the Collie in W. Australia. Sydney, capital of New South Wales,

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the strait which bears his name. Another Dutchman, Tasman, discovered Tasmania, which he called Van Diemen's Land, in 1642. William Dampier, an Englishman, visited the continent in 1688 and 1699, and Capt. Cook in 1772 and 1779 explored the eastern coast. In 1770 Captain Cook first explored the E. coast, and by the beginning of the 19th century the general outlines of the whole coast were known. The Beagle, with Darwin as naturalist, surveyed much of the w. coast in 1837-43; and the Rattlesnake, with Huxley, explored the Great Barrier Reef and E. coast in 184650. In 1788 Great Britain had es

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the Darling almost to the heart of the continent. Leichhardt first reached the N. coast overland in 1844. The ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition crossed from the s. to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1861. In 1862 Sturt succeeded in crossing the continent farther W., and in 1872 the overland telegraph line was laid along his route. Warburton and Giles crossed the w. plateau from E. to W., and Forrest from w. to E., by different routes, in the seventies.

In 1835 the population of Australia was about 113,000, of whom the majority lived in New South Wales and Tasmania. In 1850 it was about 400,000; but by 1861,

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is a first-class naval station. By the defence agreement of 1903, since modified, Great Britain maintains in Australian waters a fleet consisting of one first-class, three second-class, and five thirdclass cruisers, partly manned by the Commonwealth. Australia pays five-sixths of one-half the expense, and New Zealand the remaining sixth. In addition, the Commonwealth has just ordered three new torpedo-boat destroyers.

History.-Early travellers told of a Terra Australis, but the first definite knowledge was brought back by the Duyfken, a Dutch ship, which explored the north coast in 1606. Torres, a Spaniard, passed the same year through

tablished a penal colony, consisting of more than a thousand convicts, at Botany Bay, so called by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander; but the Blue Mts. proved an insurmountable barrier to penetration of the interior till 1813. During the next quarter of a century the exploration of the DarIng-Murray system and Victoria was made by Hamilton-Hume, Sturt, and Mitchell. Port Philip was founded in 1835, S. Australa in 1836, but Perth in 1829. The interior was explored by Eyre, who discovered Lakes Torrens and Eyre. In 1840-1 he traversed the barren s. coast for 1,200 m. to the Swan R. settlement. Sturt, in 1844-5, penetrated from

owing to the discovery of gold in Victoria and New South Wales (1851), the population had nearly trebled. New South Wales was at first the only colony, but Tasmania was set off in 1825, West Australia in 1829, South Australia in 1834, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. All were granted responsible government between 1850 and 1860, except West Australia. On account of its sparse population, that colony was not granted self-government until 1893. On Jan. 1, 1901, in response to their petition to Parliament, the six colonies were proclaimed a British colonial federation of six states, under the title of "The Commonwealth of Australia.'

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