emu Unusual animals in Austraplatypus
wallaby
Attractive places in Australia
Beautiful beaches The Great Barrier Reef
Uluru /Ayers Rock Undersea world
History of Australia
Australia’s Aboriginal people were thought to have arrived here by boat from South East Asia during the last Ice Age, at least 50,000 years ago.
A number of European explorers sailed the coast of Australia, then known as New Holland, in the 17th century. However it wasn’t until 1770 that Captain James Cook chartered the east coast and claimed it for Britain.
Population: 21,700,000 (March 2009) Population growth rate: 0.87% Ethnic groups: Caucasian92%, Asian 7%, aboriginal and other 1% (2001) Languages: English 79.1%, Chinese 2.1%, Italian 1.9%, other 11.1%, unspecified 5.8% (2009)