Down Under Overview
World Tour
Down Under Overview
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Friends, Australians went to the polls on Saturday and pummeled Prime Minister John Howard and his conservative coalition government. The prime ministry, and control of Australia’s parliament, will now pass to Kevin Rudd and his Labor Party, who want to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, put a computer on every secondary-schooler’s desk, and redeploy some of Australia’s troops in Iraq.
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“Ruddslide”
The election, dubbed a “Ruddslide” by the Australian media, marks a major shift in Australian politics. Prime Minister Howard has held the office since 1996–a longer run than any other Australian prime minister except one. Now he may become just the second sitting prime minister in Australian history to lose a race for his own seat in parliament (several media outlets have already called the race against him, but the results aren’t official yet).
While Australians prepare for a governing change, let’s take a quick trip to the continental country and size it up by the numbers. To our readers in Australia: sorry if these numbers seem obvious to you. But remember, most KnowledgeNews readers–and writers–live 10,000 miles (16,000 km) away. Hey, at least we’re not still calling your homeland terra australis incognita (“unknown land of the south”)–which, after all, is where the name “Australia” came from.
Down Under, By the Numbers
2,967,910 – Australia’s total area, in square miles (7,686,850 sq km). That makes it just a bit smaller than the 48 contiguous United States. It also makes Australia the world’s sixth largest country–geographically speaking–after Russia, Canada, China, the United States, and Brazil.
35 – Percentage of Australia that is so dry it is “effectively desert,” according to the Australian government. Another 35 percent of the continent gets less than 20 inches (50 cm) of rain per year and is classified as arid or semi-arid. That’s one reason most Australians live near the nation’s 16,000 miles (25,760 km) of coastline–and especially along the southeastern coast, where the climate is temperate.
21 million – Australia’s total population. That’s about one-third as many people as live in the United Kingdom, which covers an area about one-thirtieth the size. Nearly as many people live in the state of New York.
4 million – Population of the Sydney metropolitan area, Australia’s largest. Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the site of Australia’s first European colony, established by Britain’s Arthur Phillip in 1788. Australia’s second-largest city is Melbourne. Its national capital is Canberra, a city built for that purpose as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne. Construction of Canberra began in 1913–12 years after the six British colonies Down Under first became the “Commonwealth of Australia.”
40,000 – Minimum number of years that Australia’s aboriginal inhabitants have called the place home. The original aboriginals must have somehow traveled more than 50 miles over open sea all those years ago. Today, nearly 500,000 Australians identify themselves as “indigenous.” Some consider “aborigine” a slur–and some don’t like “aboriginal” much better.
–Steve Sampson
