Facts and curiosities about Australia

For those of you who are going to travel to Australia or simply out of curiosity, here are a few curiosities about Australia. A country with much to discover, with a very peculiar origin, with animals found nowhere else in the world, and also with curious stories and particularities about its cities and geography.

The origin: a British prison

Australia has been inhabited for millions of years by the Aboriginal peoples, who today make up a tiny percentage of the population. Thus, Australia’s origin as a civilized territory dates back to the 18th century, when the British colonized it. At first, the government of the United Kingdom used this remote region as the ideal place to send criminals they did not want to have close to home.

In fact, Australia is a country although it remains under the protection of the British Crown. Thus, the Australian population has its ancestors among the Aboriginal peoples, only a small part as we have said, among the European emigrants who arrived after the Second World War, among the settlers who settled throughout the 19th century and, yes, among prisoners and convicts whom the British elegantly got rid of.

A huge country with a small population

Australia is an enormous country, with an area of more than 7 million square kilometres, which makes it the sixth largest in the world. However, in the ranking of countries by population, with only 53 million inhabitants (rounded), it does not even appear in the top 50. Thus, we are dealing with a country with an extremely low population density.

More curiosities about demographics. Most of the population is concentrated in cities, so there are hardly any villages compared with other countries, and most cities are concentrated on the coast. Practically 80% of the population lives on or near the coastal areas, so the centre of the country is practically desert, inhabited only by animal species.

Kangaroos, koalas, but above all, sheep

And that is what we are talking about now, animals, because Australia is very special in this respect too. In this country we find animals that, in the wild, can only be found in this country, such as koalas, kangaroos or Tasmanian devils. But be careful about venturing too far to explore, because some of the most venomous animals in the world also live in Australia.

Australia may be the land of kangaroos and also of koalas, its most characteristic animals, but in reality it is the land of sheep. In Australia there are roughly twice as many sheep as people, which makes this country the largest wool exporter in the world. So, who knows, that cosy jumper you are wearing may carry a little piece of Australia with it.

Not Sydney or Melbourne, Canberra

If I asked you to name cities in Australia, the first ones that come to mind would be Sydney and Melbourne. That is logical, they are the most populous cities in the country and the most famous. If I asked you to keep going, you would still mention another city or two before naming Canberra, the eighth most populous city in the country and which, to the surprise and confusion of many, is the capital of the country.

With the birth of Australia as a nation, an intense debate arose over where the capital should be, whether in Sydney or Melbourne. With the situation at a standstill, a Solomonic solution was adopted: creating a new city in an intermediate territorial zone. And that is how Canberra was born, a city that came into the world already with the purpose of being the capital of this curious country.

Photo | Flickr – Caccamo