Australia is a country, a continent and an island all at once, with deserts, rainforests, reefs and wildlife found nowhere else on Earth. Here are 25 facts about Australia.
1It is the sixth-largest country in the world.
Australia covers about 7.7 million square kilometres. Only Russia, Canada, the United States, China and Brazil are bigger.
2It is about 31 times the size of the UK.
Yet Australia has only around 27 million people, compared with nearly 70 million in the UK.
3It is one of the emptiest countries on Earth.
With around three or four people per square kilometre, Australia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Most people live near the coast, especially in the south-east.
4The capital is Canberra, not Sydney.
Sydney and Melbourne both wanted to be the capital, so a new city was built between them. Canberra was designed by the American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, who won an international competition in 1912.
5Aboriginal people have lived there for at least 50,000 years.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are among the oldest continuous cultures on Earth, with a history in Australia going back at least 50,000 years and possibly more than 60,000.
6The First Fleet arrived in 1788.
On 26 January 1788, the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney Cove to set up a penal colony. Around 160,000 convicts were sent to Australia before transportation ended in 1868.
7A gold rush changed everything.
Gold was discovered in New South Wales and Victoria in 1851. Hundreds of thousands of people arrived from around the world, and the population more than doubled within a decade.
8Uluru is sacred.
Uluru, the huge sandstone rock in the Northern Territory, rises about 348 metres above the plain. It is sacred to the Anangu people, and climbing it was banned in 2019.
9It is the driest inhabited continent.
Only Antarctica is drier. Around 70% of Australia’s land is arid or semi-arid, and much of the interior, known as the outback, has very few people.
10Most of its wildlife is found nowhere else.
About 87% of Australia’s mammals, 93% of its reptiles and 94% of its frogs are found only in Australia.
11Its mammals include two that lay eggs.
The platypus and the echidna are monotremes, the only mammals in the world that lay eggs. Both are found in Australia, and echidnas also live in New Guinea.
12It has two kinds of crocodile.
The saltwater crocodile, the largest living reptile, can grow to more than 6 metres long. The smaller freshwater crocodile is found only in Australia.
13There are more sheep than people.
Australia has around 70 to 80 million sheep, roughly three for every person, and is the world’s largest producer of wool.
14Australia once lost a war against emus.
In 1932, soldiers with machine guns were sent to Western Australia to cull emus that were destroying farmers’ crops. The birds proved so hard to hit that the “Emu War” was called off after only a few weeks.
15It has one of the longest fences in the world.
The Dingo Fence, built to keep dingoes away from sheep in the south-east, stretches for more than 5,000 kilometres.
16The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system.
It stretches for about 2,300 kilometres along the coast of Queensland, is made up of nearly 3,000 individual reefs and can be seen from space. It became a World Heritage Site in 1981.
17The Sydney Opera House was finished without its architect.
The Danish architect Jørn Utzon won the design competition in 1957, but left the project in 1966 after disputes over cost. The Opera House opened in 1973, and Utzon never returned to see it finished.
18Sydney Harbour Bridge is nicknamed “the Coathanger”.
Opened in 1932, it is one of the world’s largest steel arch bridges. People can climb to the top of its arch on guided walks.
19Voting is compulsory.
Australians aged 18 and over have had to vote in federal elections since 1924, and can be fined if they do not.
20Its seasons are the opposite of Britain’s.
Summer runs from December to February, so many Australians celebrate Christmas with a barbecue or a trip to the beach.
21Swimwear has different names in different states.
A swimming costume is usually called “togs” in Queensland, “cossies” in New South Wales and “bathers” in Victoria and South Australia.
22Australia was the first country to elect a Labor government.
In 1904, Chris Watson became Australia’s first Labor prime minister, leading what is often described as the world’s first national labour party government.
23The Australian flag includes the Southern Cross.
The flag shows the Union Jack, a large seven-pointed Commonwealth Star and the five stars of the Southern Cross, a constellation that can only be seen well from the southern hemisphere.
24It has three main time zones.
Australia’s mainland is split into Western, Central and Eastern Standard Time. Some states also use daylight saving time in summer and others do not, so there can be up to five different times at once.
25Its international dialling code is +61.
To call Australia from the UK, dial 00 61, then the number without its first 0.
FAQs about Australia
What is the capital of Australia?
Canberra.
How many people live in Australia?
Around 27 million people.
What is Australia’s national day?
Australia Day is on 26 January, the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.
Sources and further reading
Explore more: facts about the Sydney Opera House and facts about platypuses.
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