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Australia is the world's smallest continent but sixth-largest country and is home to 20 million people. Much of the population is concentrated along the eastern coast in Australia's modern cities. The biggest city in Australia is Sydney, though the capital of the nation is the much smaller city of Canberra. Popular vacation spots include the Gold Coast and Barrier Reef in Queensland, as well as the coast cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia is located in Oceania, between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. The climate is generally arid to semiarid; temperate in the south and east; and tropical in north. The southern cities, Melbourne and Hobart in particular, can get very cold in winter.
The long traveling distances from the USA and Europe discourage many tourists but for those that make the effort, Australia is a rewarding travel experience. The cities have world class medical, transport, communications and tourism infrastructure, and are relatively cheap to visit by world standards.
Sydney Opera House
Aboriginal settlers arrived on the continent from Southeast Asia about 40,000 years before the first Europeans began exploration in the 17th century. No formal territorial claims were made until 1770, when Captain James Cook took possession in the name of Great Britain.
Six colonies were created in the late 18th and 19th centuries; they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The new country took advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II.
In recent decades, Australia has transformed itself into an internationally competitive, advanced market economy. It boasted one of the OECD's fastest growing economies during the 1990's, a performance due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980's.
Melbourne - Flinders Street Station
Australia has a Western-style capitalist economy, with a per capita GDP on par with the four dominant West European economies. Rising output in the domestic economy, robust business and consumer confidence, and rising exports of raw materials and agricultural products are fueling the economy.
Australia's emphasis on reforms, low inflation, and growing ties with China are other key factors behind the economy's strength. The impact of drought, weak foreign demand, and strong import demand pushed the trade deficit up from $8 billion in 2002, to $18 billion in 2003, and to $13 billion in 2004.
One other concern is the rapid increase in domestic housing prices, which have raised the prospect that interest rates will need to be raised to prevent a speculative bubble.
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