III. Explain, what is wrong in the following statements:

1. Australia has been a nation within the British Empire since 1827.

2. The first European to see Australia was English explorer James Cook.

3. Australia's national day marks the date, when James Cook landed in Botany Bay.

4. There were no Aborigines in Australia, when the first Europeans came. It was uninhabited.

5. Bushrangers are the kind of policemen, who protect people from robbers.

Australia

If we look at a globe, we may see that there are three great land masses in the world, which extend from the Northern to Southern Hemispheres. First, the two Americans. Next, Europe connected via the Middle East to Africa. And then, the huge area of Asia, which breaks up at the equator into a chain of islands, culminating in the largest of them all, Australia, and its companion state, New Zealand. Thus, though Australia and New Zealand are not Asian nations, they belong geographically to the Asian orbit. And they are the only countries peopled predominantly by men of the European origin which do so.

The name of the Australia derives from the Latin word AUSTRALIS, meaning "southern". In few countries of the world is there such a sensation of emptiness as in Australia. All the biggest cities here are on the sea, and all six Australian state capitals, too, plus the capital of Northern Territory (which is federally administrated).

Australia is a very urban country. About 70 per cent of the population live in the 10 largest cities. Most of the population is in the south-eastern corner of the country and only 15 per cent of the population live in the rural areas.

Geographical position. Australia is situated south of Asia, between the Pacific and the Indian oceans, in the southern Hemisphere. That is why it has summer when we have winter and it has winter when we have summer. The hottest month in Australia is January.

Australia is the world driest continent. Huge areas of land are so dry that they are uninhabited.

Climate. Since Australia is in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are the reverse of the those north to equator. The climate in Australia is varied from tropical in the north to temperate in the south-east. There are rain forests in the north, snow-fields in the south-east, desert in the centre and fertile croplands in the south and south-west. Australia is also the flattest continent after Antarctica.

Administrative structure. As a state, Australia consists of six states, each of which has its own government and laws, and The Northern Territory, which is federally administrated. The federal Government has "exclusive" powers – for example, those of defence, customs, external tariffs – and "concurrent" powers which it shares with the governments of the six states, but in case of dispute the federal law prevails. The final arbiter in the disputes is the federal High Court.

Australian states and territories.

The Northern Territory. With 523,620 square miles, covers one sixth of the country but has only 70,000 people, of whom about one third are aborigines . For this reason it has not yet become a state. Its chief city is Darwin, the northern port and international air terminal with a population about 30,000, whose inhabitants call themselves "Top Enders".

Western Australia. The largest state of the country and the only one that extends all the way from North to South, with an area 975,920 square miles, or almost one third of the whole continent. But its population is only about 2,000,000, of whom more than half live in and about the capital, Perth. The reason is that huge areas of the state are deserts, extending for hundred of miles. The temperature rises to 120 F(49 C), but after short rains a profusion of wild flowers bursts into momentary life and the sky is thick with vivid parrots and white or black cockatoos.

The capital, Perth, on the meandering River Swan, is 12 miles from the Indian Ocean, but built-up areas join it to its harbour city, Premantle, the last port of call for vessels sailing from Australia to the west.

South Australia. The state is the third largest, extending for 380,000 square miles, and more than 60 per cent of its population of nearly two million lives in the capital city, Adelaide, which is the country’s most elegant city. But elsewhere the state is fertile, with cattle in the North, sheep and wheat throughout the centre, and in Barossa Valley are produced some of Australia's finest wines.

Victoria. State of Victoria is the most populous. For though this is the second-smallest state, with only 87,884 square miles, it has more than four million inhabitants, or a quarter of population of the entire continent. The capital city, Melbourn, has nearly 3 million people. It is the centre of country's intellectual life, for the University of Melbourn is a leading seat of the learning in the nation.

Tasmania. To the south of Victoria, 150 miles across the Bass Strait, lies the "Island State" of Tasmania, which is the smallest with a mere 26,215 square miles. The population is only 520,000, of which that of the capital, Hobart, comprises about one third. This is a city with an exquisite setting on innumerable estuaries of the river Derwent and with grandiose Mount Wellington rising abruptly 4,166 feet above the town.

Capital Territory (AST) occupies some 910 square miles carved out of New South Wales, as the result of the decision to build a new capital as a compromise between Melbourne and Sydney. In 1911 world architects were invited to an international competition to design the city and out of 135 entries the first price went to an American, Walter Burly Griffin. Canberra, which was started to build according to his project, is the only Australian capital, which is not situated on the seacoast.

New South Wales, with four million people, is the most populous state of the Commonwealth, although, with its 309,432 square miles, it is only the fourth largest. The capital, Sydney, with almost 3 million people, is the country's largest city, with more than half the population of the state and one fourth that of the whole continent. The climate is delightful, with an average of 342 sunny days a year, though there is a boisterous Pacific wind. The state itself, though rich in sheep, beef, wheat and dairy farms, is specially noted for industrial and mining complexes like the steel city of Newcastle and the silver, lead, and zinc mines of Broken Hill.

Political system. Australia is a capitalist democracy, but there is a high degree of state intervention in the everyday affairs, and the influence of labour and of trade unions is far greater than elsewhere. Despite their British origins, the Australians in 1901 drew up a constitution more like that of the US than of GB.

There are three chief parties operating both federally and in the states:

• the Liberal party, which represents the conservative elements and the urban middle class;

- Australian Labour party (A.L.P.) represents interests of trade-unions and working class and heavily Roman Catholics;

- Country party represents rural interests.

Economics. In the economic field there is no large internal market, so the country must exist by foreign trade, while at the same time it depends for its development on capital invested from overseas.