The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country. The population of Australia is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts.
Australia is a large country, about the size of the continental USA, lying between 10 degrees and 40 degrees South. It is the planet's oldest continent, with little geological activity across its area for over four billion years. The single substantial mountain range is the Great Dividing Range running down the eastern (Pacific) seaboard.
In the vicinity of the dividing range there are lush tropical rainforests and rich farmlands. Towards the north lie rich waterways full of life. Elsewhere the land is exhausted-the Martian Pathfinder probe would not be out of place in parts of central Australia. Two-thirds of Australia is desert, but is nonetheless highly varied, with a mixture of powdered iron sand, long vistas of scrub, and almost lunar landscapes of rocky outcrops and low mountain ranges.
Most of the population lives in the 100km wide belt of richer land between the Great Dividing Range and the sea, with around 15 million people in total in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and the other east coast cities. A further 2 million or so live in Adelaide and Perth, with the remaining 1 million scattered, mostly towards the east. Central Australia has a tiny population, with fewer than 100,000 people in the 5 million square kilometres of rural Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.
Distances in Australia are large - neighbouring towns can be hundreds of kilometres apart, particularly in the north and west. Visitors to the main resorts and tourist centres do not usually need to hire a car, particularly in the cities, which are well served by public transport and tour operators, and moreover are oriented towards pedestrians; but elsewhere a car can be essential.
Information on the geography of Australia, with a geographical information and geography map of Australia.
