Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪljə/ ə-STRAYL-yə or /ɒˈstreɪljə/ o-STRAYL-yə,[7] or /ɔːˈstreɪliə/ aw-STRAY-lee-ə), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country In geography, a country is a geographical region. The term is often applied to a political division or the territory of a state, or to a smaller, or former, political division of a geographical region. Usually, but not always, a country coincides with a sovereign territory and is associated with a state, nation and government in the Southern Hemisphere The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator—the word hemisphere (from the Greek word σφαιρα +ημι(half)) literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator comprising the mainland of the Australian continent Australia is the smallest of the geographic continents, though not of geological continents. There is no universally accepted definition of the word "continent"; the lay definition is "One of the main continuous bodies of land on the earth's surface." . By that definition, the continent of Australia includes only the Australian (the world's smallest),[8][9] the island of Tasmania Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located 240 kilometres south of the eastern side of the continent, from which it is separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world – and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 500,000 (as of December 2008[update]), of, and numerous smaller islands This is a list of islands of Australia. Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders. The largest islands are, Tasmania 68,332 km²; Melville Island 5,786 km²; Kangaroo Island, 4,416 km²; Groote Eylandt, 2,285 km²; Bathurst Island, 1,693km²; Fraser Island 1,653km²; Flinders Island, 1,359 km²; King Island 1,091 km²; Mornington in the Indian The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, by Antarctica) and Pacific Oceans The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas.N4 Neighbouring countries include Indonesia The Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia) is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With a population of around 230 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, and has the world's largest population of Muslims. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and, East Timor East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor. The small country of 15,410 km² (5,400 sq mi) is located about 640 km (400 mi) northwest of, and Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea ( /ˈpæpuːə njuː ˈɡɪni/ , also /ˈpɑːpuːə/ or /ˈpæpjuːə/; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) (PNG), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian to the north, the Solomon Islands The Solomon Islands /ˈsɒləmən ˈaɪləndz/ is a country in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. Together they cover a land mass of 28,400 square kilometres (10,965 sq mi). The capital is Honiara, located on the island of Guadalcanal, Vanuatu Vanuatu ( /ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/ or /ˌvænˈwɑːtuː/), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi), and New Caledonia Coordinates: 20°59′31″S 165°01′12″E / 20.992°S 165.02°E New Caledonia (French: officially: Nouvelle-Calédonie; colloquially: Calédonie; popular nicknames: (la) Kanaky, (le) Caillou), is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the subregion of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. It comprises a main island ( to the north-east, and New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori language name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud. The Realm of New Zealand also to the southeast.
For some 40,000 years before European settlement commenced in the late 18th century, the Australian mainland and Tasmania were inhabited by around 250 individual nations[10] of indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands, and these peoples' descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Aboriginal people or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.7% of Australia's population.[11] After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north, and European discovery by Dutch Catholicism, Protestantism , Nontheism explorers in 1606,[12] the eastern half of Australia was claimed by the British The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801. It was created by the merger of the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, under the Acts of Union 1707, to create a single kingdom encompassing the whole of the island of Great in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between 1788 and 1868 to the colony of New South Wales New South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia. It was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland, as well as Tasmania, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island, founded on 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in the following years; the continent was explored, and during the 19th century another five largely self-governing It may refer to personal conduct or family units but more commonly refers to larger scale activities, i.e., professions, industry bodies, religions and political units, up to and including autonomous regions and aboriginal peoples . It falls within the larger context of governance and principles such as consent of the governed, and may involve non- Crown Colonies The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories that the United Kingdom considers to be its sovereign territory, but which do not form part of the United Kingdom itself. They are the remnants of the British Empire that have not achieved independence were established.
On 1 January 1901 the six colonies became a federation The federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed a federation. When the Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1 January 1901, the colonies collectively became states of the Commonwealth of and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic Liberal democracy is the dominant form of democracy in the 21st century. During the Cold War, liberal democracies were contrasted with the Communist People's Republics or "Popular Democracies", which claimed an alternative conception of democracy. Today, constitutional democracies are mostly contrasted with direct democracy and/or political system and remains a Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 132 million; all but about two million live in the six most populous states, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New. The population is 22 million, with approximately 60% concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney Sydney is the largest city in Australia, and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney has a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.4 million and an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres (4,633 sq mi). Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, and Sydney is often called "the Harbour City". It is one of the most, Melbourne Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and also the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre (also known as the "Central Business District" or "CBD") is the anchor of the greater geographical area and the Census statistical division - of which "Melbourne" is, Brisbane Brisbane is the state capital of the Australian state of Queensland and is the largest city in that state. The statistical division of Brisbane has an estimated population of approximately 2 million, along with its LGA registering a bit over a million, it is also the third most populous city in Australia, Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. With a population of 1,650,000 (2009), Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average and Adelaide Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth-largest city in Australia, with a population of more than 1.1 million. It is a coastal city situated on the eastern shores of Gulf St. Vincent, on the Adelaide Plains, north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, between the Gulf St. Vincent and the low-. The nation's capital city is Canberra Canberra (pronounced /ˈkænbrə, ˈkænbɛrə/) is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory, 280 km (170 mi) south-west of Sydney, and 660 km (410 mi) north-east, located in the Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and its smallest self-governing internal territory. It is an inland enclave in New South Wales, and regularly referred to as Australia's 'Bush Capital'.
Australia is a developed country The term developed country is used to describe countries that have a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue and is surrounded by fierce debate. Economic criteria have tended to dominate discussions. One such criterion is income per capita;, with a prosperous multicultural Multiculturalism is the acceptance or promotion of multiple ethnic cultures, for practical reasons and/or for the sake of diversity and applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g. schools, businesses, neighborhoods, cities or nations. In this context, multiculturalists advocate extending society and ranks highly in many international comparisons of national performance such as human development, quality of life, health care, life expectancy, public education, economic freedom and the protection of civil liberties and political rights.[13] Australian cities routinely rank among the world's highest in terms of cultural offerings and quality of life. It is a member of the United Nations The United Nations Organization or simply United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of, G20 The Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies: 19 countries, plus the European Union. The current chair country of the G-20 is South Korea, Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states, all but two of which were formerly part of the British Empire. The member states co-operate within a framework of common values and goals as outlined in the, OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (in French: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, OCDE) is an international organisation of 30 countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and free-market economy. Most OECD members are high-income economies with a high Human Development Index, ANZUS The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty is the military alliance which binds Australia and New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the United States to cooperate on defense matters in the Pacific Ocean area, though today the treaty is understood to relate to attacks in any area, APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries (styled 'member economies') to cooperate on regional trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation. APEC's objective is to enhance economic growth and prosperity in the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community. Members account for approximately 40% of the, South Pacific Forum The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization which aims to enhance cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean and represent their interests. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum. In 2000, the name was changed; Pacific Islands Forum is more inclusive of the Forum's Oceania-spanning membership and the World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization is an international organization designed by its founders to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1947.
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Q. I'm planning on moving to Australia once i finish high school and i would like to know some good colleges and universities in Australia to start planning everything. I'm also planning to become a plastic surgeon and i was wondering if plastic surgery is a really big thing over there like it is here in the U.S grew up in the U.S i would like something different in life :P are schools better over there?
Asked by lily - Sat Jun 7 20:38:09 2008 - - 4 Answers - 1 Comments
A. Melb Uni or Monash are the best medical schools in Victoria (Melb is more presitigeous than Monash). Plastic surgery isn't as big as it is in the US, but it's increasing at an exponential rate. Cosmetic dentistry too
Answered by AQHA_lover - Sun Jun 8 06:56:21 2008
