Australia

Australia is the smallest continent on the Earth situated in the Southern Hemisphere between the Pacific and Indian oceans.Australia is an island continent.
The Great Dividing Range(Australian Alps as it is often called)has the highest Australian mountain Mt.Kosciusko(2228m).There is western plateau with Great Sandy and Great Victoria Deserts.There are 3 big lakes:Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner.there is Murray River which flows to the Indian ocean.The Australian climate is from warm to subtropical.
The typical animals are:kangaroo, koala beer, dingo, platypus, Tasmania devil, wombat; typical plant is eucalyptus.
The population of Australia is about 17 million people.95 per cent of inhabitens is British origin.The density is only 2 people to square km.Official language is English with Australian accent(flat vowels).
Captain James Cook explored the eastern coast in 1770.There are many tribes of aborigines.Australia became British convict colony from 1788 till 1850s because gold was founded here.The Commonwealth was proclaimed in 1901.
Main industries are iron, steel, textiles, chemicals, car, aircraft, ship and machinery.Australia belongs to the top exporters of beef, lamb, wool and wheat.Natural riches contain mainly bauxite, coal, copper, iron, lead, nickel, silver, tin, uranium and zic ores.
The Commonwealth of Australia consist of 6 states and 2 territories:New South Wales(capital Sydney), Victoria(Melbourne),Queensland(Brisbane),South
ustralia(Adelaide), Western Australia(Perth), Tasmania(Hobart).There are Australian
apital Territory with Canberra and thinly populated Northen Territory.Canberra is the seat of the Federal Parliament(divided into the Senat and the House of Representives).
The system of education is not unified.School attendance is compulsory from the age of 6 until the age of fifteen(sixteeen in Tasmania).Disabled children are educated through Correspondence School and School of the Air.Primary schools are for children to the 12(13)years.Secondary schools are comprehensive high schools or rural schools.After 3 or 4 years the children may either take a job or continue studying for two more years and pass leaving exam, which gives them the right to enter university.The tertiary education is financed by the Federal Goverment.There are 19 universities in Australia (the Australian National University in Canberra, the University of Sydney,...)

New Zealand(the Fish of Maui)