What is the difference between australias coastal and interior regions

Until , Australia had a collection of laws and policies known as the White Australia policy, which served to limit the immigration of nonwhite persons to Australia. While the White Australia policies limited immigration from some areas, other policies sought to expand immigration from the United Kingdom. Subsidies were offered to British citizens to relocate to Australia. Between and , more than a million British citizens took advantage of the offer.

Recent census data indicate that about a quarter of the population identifies itself as Roman Catholic and another 20 percent self-identifies as Anglican the national religion of the United Kingdom.

An additional 20 percent self-identify as Protestant, other than Anglican, and about 15 percent as having no religion. Regular church attendance is claimed by at about 7.

Despite modern Australia having been settled by the British, Australian law decrees that Australia will have no national religion and guarantees freedom of religion. Sports are an important part of Australian culture, perhaps owing to a climate that allows for year-round outdoor activity. About a fourth of the population is involved in some kind of organized sports team. Football soccer is popular, as is true in most European countries, and rugby and cricket are popular as well.

Other forms of entertainment include television, film, and live performances of every kind. Although Australia has a number of its own television stations, there are concerns that popular culture is beginning to be dominated by American influences.

Sydney is becoming a center for world-class performances in dance, opera, music, and theatre. Education is well funded and internationally respected. School attendance is compulsory between the ages of six and fifteen, and the adult literacy rate has held steady at about 99 percent. Most students attend publicly funded schools, which are secular. Private schools, which charge tuition fees, do exist and are typically run by religious organizations, predominantly the Catholic Church.

Most of Australia—especially the wide expanse of the arid interior known as the outback—has immense open spaces, agricultural potential or excellent resource extraction possibilities.

Large agricultural businesses include thousands of acres under one operation. The western sector of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales is an excellent region for commercial grain operations. The coastal region in Queensland, since it is warmer and receives more rainfall, is good for sugarcane and similar crops. Sheep and cattle ranches are common in central Queensland and Western Australia. Various regions of southern Australia are excellent for grape and fruit production.

Australian wine production has risen to compete with the US and European markets. Only the dry central desert regions in the center of the continent are not favorable for agriculture. In the early portion of the twentieth century, Australia gained enormous wealth by exporting food products to the rest of the world. This is still true, but the profit margin on food goods is no longer what it used to be.

The country has had to look elsewhere to gain wealth. Agricultural production is a major source of economic wealth for Australia even though only 11 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Australia has excellent food production capabilities. It also has an excellent mineral resource base. Different types of minerals can be found in different regions throughout Australia.

Western Australia has iron ore mines. The eastern region of Queensland and New South Wales has abundant coal reserves. Minerals such as zinc, copper, gold, silver, tungsten, and nickel can be found in various parts of the country, including Tasmania. Oil and gas fields can be found in the northwestern coastal waters and in the Tasman Sea east of Melbourne. The country is self-sufficient in natural gas but does have to import some petroleum products.

Are any Australian-manufactured products available where you live? What products can you think of? Australia does not export many manufactured goods.

Its main exports are food and raw materials. If you remember how countries gain wealth, the method with the highest valued-added profit is manufacturing. Think about Japan and the four Asian economic tigers, and how they have gained their wealth. The economic tigers have few raw materials. Where do you suppose the economic tigers and Japan get their raw materials?

Australia is closer geographically to the Asian economic community than to the European Union. When Australia is viewed in the news, in television programs, and in Hollywood movies, it is portrayed as a country with a similar standard of living to the United States or Europe.

To evaluate this, think about the size of the population of Australia and consider the distribution of wealth.

They export an immense amount of raw materials and have a relatively small population to share the wealth. The Gold Coast of eastern Australia draws tourists from the Northern Hemisphere throughout the winter season. It is called the Gold Coast because of the long stretches of golden sand beaches, the golden tanned bodies of beach goers, and the high level of income gold derived from the tourism industry.

Australia is an attractive place to visit. The environment, the animals, and the culture make it inviting for tourism. From the Great Barrier Reef and the Gold Coast to the vast expanse of the outback, Australia has been marketing itself as an attractive place to visit with great success. Tourism from Japan provides a large percentage of the tourist activity. Australia has moved through the initial stages of the index of economic development to become a society that is about 90 percent urban with small families and high incomes.

Territorial control of Australian lands has become a major issue in recent years. Large portions of western Australia and the outback have traditionally been Aboriginal lands. European colonialism on the Australian continent displaced many of the native people. Large sections of land once used by the Aborigines were taken over by the government or by private interests. Large agricultural operations and mining operations have used the lands without adequate compensation to the Aboriginal people who once controlled them.

Court rulings aimed at reparation for native people have had mixed results. There are as many as four hundred different groups of Aborigines currently in Australia that make up a total population of about four hundred fifty thousand. Their land claims include all of the Northern Territory, a large portion of western Australia, and parts of South Australia and Queensland.

This is in addition to claims located within many urban areas, such as the largest city, Sydney. Mining operations on Aboriginal lands have become highly regulated. The concern for the Aboriginal population has increased in the past few decades and the government has made attempts to mediate their political and economic issues as well as strengthen programs that address their social welfare.

The economic future of Australia is complex. Though tourism has become a viable means of providing income, Australia must import manufactured products that it does not produce locally, including electronic goods, computers, and automobiles.

Import dependence has increased its trade deficit. Trade agreements and protectionism have become a part of the economic puzzle of how to sustain a competitive standard of living. Australia is located next to the Asian realm. Its economy, culture, and future are becoming more Asian. Immigration has been an issue in that the government has always restricted immigration to ensure a European majority. Millions of Asian people would like to migrate to Australia to seek greater opportunities and advantages, but they are legally restricted.

It is becoming more difficult for Australians to hold to their European connections with such an Asian presence.

How the country will handle this situation in the future will prove interesting. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Chapter Australia and New Zealand. Search for:. Outline how the core-periphery spatial relationship applies to Australia. Summarize the methods used for the country to gain national wealth. Physical Geography There is an international attraction to the island continent of Australia, and the attraction has grown in intensity in the past few decades.

Climate Regions Central and western Australia are sparsely populated. Culture and Immigration Until , Australia had a collection of laws and policies known as the White Australia policy, which served to limit the immigration of nonwhite persons to Australia. Economic Geography Most of Australia—especially the wide expanse of the arid interior known as the outback—has immense open spaces, agricultural potential or excellent resource extraction possibilities.

Mining and Aboriginal Lands Territorial control of Australian lands has become a major issue in recent years. Key Takeaways Australia is an island continent that was home to aboriginal people before the British colonized it by first creating prison colonies for convicts from Great Britain. Australia is a relatively flat continent with low elevation highlands, including the Great Dividing Range along its eastern coast.

The interior outback lacks precipitation and has numerous deserts. Two main core areas exist where Type C climates prevail and where most of the population lives: a large core area on the southeastern coast and a small core area around Perth on the western coast. The sparsely populated outback makes up the vast periphery, which has large amounts of mineral and agricultural resources.

Aboriginal people were in Australia for forty thousand years. Today, most of the twenty-two million people are from the British Isles and Europe. Only about four hundred fifty thousand Aborigines remain. Australia has few manufacturing enterprises for export profits.

Tourism has become the number one method of gaining wealth, with the export of raw materials the second-largest method. What was the original reason for colonizing Australia? What is the vast interior called?

These seabirds include different species of albatross, petrel, and shearwater, as well as the Australasian gannet and rockhopper penguin. The Great Barrier Reef is home to 30 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises; six species of sea turtles; species of birds; and more than 1, species of fish. The New Caledonia Barrier Reef is home to species of sponges, 5, species of mollusks, 5, species of crustaceans, and at least 1, species of fish.

The Eastern Indo-Pacific realm surrounds the tropical islands of the central Pacific Ocean, extending from the Marshall Islands through central and southeastern Polynesia.

Like the Central Indo-Pacific realm, this realm is also known for its tropical coral formations. A variety of whale, tortoise, and fish species also inhabit this realm.

Australia and Oceania is a continent made up of thousands of islands throughout the South Pacific Ocean. Sea level is determined by measurements taken over a year cycle. Zealandia is almost totally underwater. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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A terrestrial ecosystem is a land-based community of organisms and the interactions of biotic and abiotic components in a given area. Examples of terrestrial ecosystems include the tundra, taigas, temperate deciduous forests, tropical rainforests, grasslands, and deserts. The type of terrestrial ecosystem found in a particular place is dependent on the temperature range, the average amount of precipitation received, the soil type, and amount of light it receives.

Use these resources to spark student curiosity in terrestrial ecosystems and discover how different abiotic and biotic factors determine the plants and animals found in a particular place. What does it mean to be a citizen? Citizenship is the legal recognition of belonging to a specific nation, state, or commonwealth.

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Different nations, states, and commonwealths have different duties for their citizens and different processes for naturalization. Use these classroom resources to help teach your students about the obligations and responsibilities that accompany citizenship. Encyclopedic entry. The geography of Oceania defines its historic and contemporary cultures. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.

Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary. Map by the National Geographic Society. Population Density 8 people per square kilometer. Largest Urban Area Sydney, Australia 4 million people. Also called a collision zone. Also known as an ice age. Resources can be natural or human. Ring of Fire. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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