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A vast island continent situated south of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, Australia lies between the Pacific and Indian oceans.  The world's sixth largest country, Australia measures some 4000km (2500mi) east to west and 3200km (2000mi) north to south. Much of the interior of the country is flat, barren and extremely sparsely populated. The bulk of the population lives on the narrow, fertile eastern coastal plain and on the south-eastern coast.  The continent-long Great Dividing Range runs north-south down the eastern seaboard, separating the coastal plain from the drier inland areas.  The Great Barrier Reef lies between 50-300km (30-185mi) offshore and extends 2000km (1240mi) from the Torres Strait to Gladstone.

Australia is blessed with a fascinating mix of native flora and fauna. Its distinctive plants include the ubiquitous gum tree or eucalypt, of which there are some 700 species.  Other common plants are wattle, banksia, waratahs, bottlebrushes, paperbarks and tea trees. Endemic animals include the iconic kangaroo, koala and emu, and the platypus, echidna, possum, wombat and dingo.  There are also a number of interesting birds, such as parrots, cockatoos and kookaburras, and countless indigenous reptile and insect species.  Fauna to be wary of include Australian spiders (especially the redback and funnel-web), snakes (notably the venomous brown, tiger, death adder, copperhead and red-bellied black varieties) and both salt and freshwater crocodiles.  There are more than 500 national parks, incorporating rainforests, deserts, mountain ranges and coastal dunes.

Australian seasons are the antithesis of those in Europe and North America: summer starts in December, autumn in March, winter in June and spring in September. Seasonal variations in temperature are not extreme except in the deserts, where scorching daytime temperatures can approach freezing by night. Otherwise, it's rare for temperatures to drop below zero on the mainland except in the mountains.  As you head north, the seasonal variations become even less distinct except that summer is much wetter and more humid.  Darwin, in the far north, is in the monsoon belt, where there are just two seasons: hot and wet (when floods can occur) and hot and dry.

The southern states are popular during the summer months, but the best time to visit is probably the shoulder seasons of spring or autumn when the weather in the south is mild, Queensland is still warm, the humidity is not too draining in the north and there are less flies in the bush.  Spring in the outback can be spectacular if rains encourage wildflowers.

Most people harbor a particular image of Australia, such as the Opera House or blood-red Uluru (Ayers Rock).  Yet these famous icons do scant justice to the richness of Australia's natural treasures and its cultural diversity.  Australia offers a wealth of travel experiences, from the vastness and drama of the outback, to the spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef and its islands, the cosmopolitanism of Sydney and arguably some of the best beaches in the world. Visitors expecting to see an opera in Sydney one night and meet Crocodile Dundee the next will have to re-think their grasp of geography in this huge country.  It is this sheer vastness, and the friction between the ancient land steeped in Aboriginal lore and the New World cultures being heaped upon it, which gives Australia much of its character.

Any time is a good time to be in Australia. Summer (December to February) can get uncomfortably hot just about anywhere, even sometimes in Tasmania.  If you're in the southern states during these months it's great beach weather and great melanoma weather.  Up north, this is the wet season, when it's very, very humid and when the sea is swarming with box jellyfish.  On the upside, the Top End is beautifully green and free of tourists at this time.

From June until August things have cooled down a little and dried up a lot up north.  This is a good time to visit Queensland or the outback.  If you're here for the skiing, now's the time to head for the snowfields of NSW and Victoria. Overall, spring and autumn are probably the safest bets - the weather is reasonably mild wherever you are, and spring brings out the wildflowers in the outback, while autumn is particularly beautiful around Canberra and in the Victorian Alps.  If you want to avoid holiday road chaos, don't arrive in Australia at Easter or just before Christmas.

History - Australia's original inhabitants, known as Australian Aborigines, have the longest continuous cultural history in the world, with origins dating back to the last Ice age.  Although mystery and debate shroud many aspects of Australian prehistory, it is generally accepted that the first humans traveled across the sea from Indonesia about 70,000 years ago.  The first visitors, called 'Robust' by archaeologists because of their heavy-boned physique, were followed 20,000 years later by the more slender 'Gracile' people, the ancestors of Australian Aborigines.

Sport is the Australian religion and Aussies are world beaters in cricket, rugby league, rugby union, swimming and cycling. Other popular sports are basketball, yachting, golf, soccer and Aussie Rules - a unique Australian sport, similar to Gaelic football. The Olympic Games were held in Sydney in 2000, and were a major success.

Europeans began to encroach on Australia in the 16th century: Portuguese navigators were followed by Dutch explorers and the enterprising English pirate William Dampier.  Captain James Cook sailed the entire length of the eastern coast in 1770, stopping at Botany Bay on the way.  After rounding Cape York, he claimed the continent for the British and named it New South Wales.

In 1779, Joseph Banks (a naturalist on Cook's voyage) suggested that Britain could solve overcrowding problems in its prisons by transporting convicts to New South Wales.  In 1787, the First Fleet set sail for Botany Bay under the command of Captain Arthur Philip, who was to become the colony's first governor.  The fleet comprised 11 ships, 750 male and female convicts, four companies of marines and supplies for two years. Philip arrived in Botany Bay on 26 January 1788, but soon moved north to Sydney Cove, where there was better land and water.  For the new arrivals, New South Wales was a harsh and horrible place, and the threat of starvation hung over the colony for at least 16 years.

Free settlers began to be attracted to Australia over the next decades, but it was the discovery of gold in the 1850s that changed the face of the colony.  The huge influx of migrants and several large finds boosted the economy and irrevocably changed the colonial social structures.  Aborigines were ruthlessly pushed off their tribal lands as new settlers took up land for farming or mining.  The Industrial Revolution in England required plenty of raw materials, and Australia's agricultural and mineral resources expanded to meet the demand.

Australia became a nation when federation of the separate colonies took place on 1 January 1901 (although many of the legal and cultural ties with England remained).  Australian troops fought alongside the British in the Boer War, WWI and WWII. However, the USA's role in protecting Australia from Japanese invasion during WWII marked the beginning of a shift in allegiance.  Australia subsequently followed the USA into both the Korean and Vietnam wars in Asia.

Post WWII immigration brought a flood of European immigrants, many of them non-British. The immigrants have since made an enormous contribution to the country, enlivening its culture and broadening its vision.  The post-war era was a boom time in Australia as its raw materials were once again in great demand.  In the 1980s, Australia accepted large numbers of Asian refugees, especially from Vietnam. Socially and economically, Australia is still trying to come to terms with its place in Asia.  Issues of the day include republicanism, universal acceptance of the Native Title Act passed in 1993, policies regarding refugees and a push for an official government apology for the injustices suffered by the stolen generation of Aborigines. Unfortunately, many Aborigines continue to live in deplorable conditions.

Culture - Australia is a multicultural society.  Until WWII, Australians were predominantly of Anglo-Celtic descent, but that has changed dramatically.  A large number of immigrants from Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Lebanon and Turkey came after the war and these have been supplemented by more recent influxes of immigrants from Asia.  There are also about 380,000 Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Consequently, many Australians speak Italian, Greek, Lebanese, Vietnamese or Arabic as their first language.  English-speaking Australians are liable to use a hotchpotch of indigenous slang and shortened words that often makes their speech slightly impenetrable.

Australia has a rich artistic heritage and a vibrant contemporary art scene. Aboriginal rock carvings and paintings date back at least 30,000 years.  European settlers began to produce distinctively Australian art forms towards the end of the 19th century. Australia's mid-20th century artists were world figures (Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, the writer Patrick White) and its modern practitioners have excelled in painting (Brett Whiteley, Fred Williams), literature (Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally, David Malouf), opera (Joan Sutherland), film (Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, George Miller, Gillian Armstrong), acting (Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman) comedy (Barry Humphries), dance (Graeme Murphy, Paul Mercurio) and popular music (Nick Cave, INXS, AC/DC, Midnight Oil, Silverchair, Yothu Yindi and, Yes, Kylie Minogue).  Modern Aboriginal art has undergone a revival in the last decade or two as Aboriginal artists have explored ways to both preserve their ancient values and share them with a wider community.