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Australia

Explorer · ages 7 and underAdapted from Wikipedia
An aerial view of Uluru, the giant sandstone rock in central Australia, photographed from a helicopter.

Where Australia Is

Australia is a country. It is made up of the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest country in the world.

Some people call Australia "Oz" or "Down Under." It is a special place with many kinds of plants and animals. It is a megadiverse country, which means it has a huge variety of living things.

A Land of Many Places

Australia has many kinds of land. There are big, dry deserts in the middle. Along the coast, there are green tropical rainforests.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef. It lies off the north-east coast. Most of the kangaroos and koalas in the world live only in Australia.

People and Friends

The first people of Australia were Aboriginal Australians. Their ancestors came from Southeast Asia a very long time ago. Their culture is one of the oldest in the world.

Today, about 27.8 million people live in Australia. Many of them live near the coast. The big cities of Sydney and Melbourne are full of people from many countries.

Quiz time!

3 questions about Australia

Question 1 of 3

Where is the Great Barrier Reef?

Pictures

A koala climbing up a tree in Great Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia.
Ancient rock paintings called Gwion Gwion, found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, near the King Edward River.
A painting by E. Phillips Fox showing Lieutenant James Cook landing at Botany Bay in April 1770.
The ruins of the Port Arthur Penitentiary in Tasmania, Australia, a former prison built with local sandstone in the 1800s.
The painting 'Opening of the First Parliament' by Tom Roberts shows the ceremony that opened Australia's first Parliament in Melbourne on 9 May 1901.
A relief map of Australia showing its varied landscapes, from low plains to higher mountain areas.
Fitzroy Island in Australia, a national park surrounded by blue ocean and sky.
A geological map of Australia showing the different types of rock and ground found across the continent's states and territories.
King Charles III, the King of the United Kingdom, photographed in July 2023 during a meeting with a visiting leader to talk about big challenges facing countries around the world.
An official portrait of Sam Mostyn, Governor-General of Australia, posing with her husband, Simeon Beckett.
Maria Scholte, the 50,000th Dutch migrant to reach Australia after World War II, arrives in Melbourne in 1954 aboard the ship SIBAJAK.
Parliament House, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Australia's states and territories
The central business district of Sydney is the financial centre of Australia.
Yallourn Power Station with brown coal mine in the front, 2012
Australian residents by country of birth (2021 census)
St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney belongs to the Catholic Church, Australia's largest religious denomination.
Australia has the highest ratio of international students per capita in the world, with Melbourne ranking fifth among the 2023 QS Best Student Cities (University of Melbourne pictured).
The Sydney Opera House was completed in 1973 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, making it the youngest building to have received the designation.
Held at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania, Sidney Nolan's Snake mural (1970) is inspired by the Aboriginal creation myth of the Rainbow Serpent, as well as desert flowers in bloom after a drought.
Arising from the Australian pub rock scene, AC/DC ranks among the world's best-selling music acts.
Actor playing the bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature-length narrative film

Keep exploring

English language
Australia (continent)
Tasmania
Megadiverse countries
Great Barrier Reef
Aboriginal Australians

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Australia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.