Australia, or the Commonwealth of Australia, as it is officially called, is situated on the island continent. It also occupies the Island of Tasmania and some minor islands round the coast of the continent.
It is a highly developed industrial-agrarian country. Its area is about 8 million km2. It is the only state in the world that occupies the territory of a whole continent.
The capital of Australia is Canberra, which became the capital only in 1927.
From 1787 to 1867 Australia was a place where criminals were sent from Britain. That is why the official language of Australia is English.
Almost one half of Australian territory is occupied by deserts and semideserts. For quite a long period of time it was thought to be useless for economic development. But it is rich in coal, iron ore, bauxites, uranium, lead and many other mineral resources.