Country Report: The History and Tourism of Australia

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
Australia
Introduction
As one of the Oceania countries, Australia is located to the south of the Asian continent. Specifically, the country is located between the Indian Ocean and the south Pacific Ocean. It is a continent that covers an estimated 7, 682,300 square kilometers of land and further has more than 58,920 square kilometers of water. This means that it has a total of 7,741,220 square kilometers of land and water surface. As such, it is the sixth largest continent by mass. The nation was founded in the year 1918 however it was as a district. This after it had gained independence from the British colonizers. It is important to mention that before the British settlers in the 18th century, Australia was inhabited indigenous people (Australian Explorer,). However, most of them died over the period that lasted more than 150 years after the settlers came to occupy. Most of the deaths were associated with infectious diseases and conflict that ensued between them and the settlers as they resisted the latter. Their demise not related, these were a people that were rich in culture, religious values and much of the social economic values revolved around hunting and gathering. Much of the literature available refers to then as the aboriginals. While there are still issues that have plagued the nation over the elements of human rights with reference to the way that the aboriginals were treated and are currently treated within the social quarters, there are some deep cultural connections on the island and impact all areas of the people lives on a daily basis. As such, this is a country that is rich in culture and the historical significances of the aboriginals play a crucial role in shaping the country to what it is today (Australian Explorer,). Since then, the country has grown in leaps to becomes one of the most developed nations on the planet. It boasts of some of the best ranked education system, health care system, civil liberties, quality of life, political rights and even economic freedom (Factslides). As one of the developed nations in the world, Australia is a combination of a couple of islands and the main land. Besides the Australian mainland, it also includes Tasmania Island along with many other smaller islands that are on the Pacific Ocean. Australia is separated from Asia by Arafura and Timor seas, while Tasman sea puts a separation between it and New Zealand. Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Indonesia are the neighboring countries to the north, while to the north east are Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and New Zealand to the south east. Australia is sometimes referred to as an island country, relative to the fact that it has no land boundaries. At the same time, due to its size, it is also referred to as island continent due to its size when compared to other islands; this further relates to the phrase, the smallest continent in the world, when it compared in size to the other continents. With reference to longitudes and latitudes, the island is located between 27 00’ south in latitude and 133 00’ east in longitude (Australian Explorer,). With the capital city at Canberra, Australia is one of the most visited countries in the world, relative to the fact that it plays host to some of the most fascinating tourists attraction sites and features in the world. The capital city also acts as the main political center of the island and is sometimes considered to be a constitutional monarchy as the ceremonial home of the head of state in Australia. Elevated at 571 meters above the sea level, Australia is home to more than 24 million people most of whom use English as the national language.
Government
Governance in Australia can best be understood from the perspective of the colonization era ("The History Of Australia - Tourism Australia"). Much of what the country uses, is borrowed from the colonial era, relative to the influences that the British had on the country. Borrowing from the colonial governments and with a few changes, Australia is considered a federal parliamentary constitutional monarch (Factslides). Ideally, there is a state level of governance and a federal level of governance in Australia. At the helm of the Australian government is the queen, who is then represented governor general at the federal level and governors at the lower state level ("Australian General Business Environment"). At the federal level of government are three arms all of which have different but conjoint roles in the government and greatly influence the direction that the country takes. The three arms include the executive, legislature and there is the judiciary. The executive holds the mandate of effecting legal decisions that the cabinet comes up with. The legislature on the other hand is comprised of the queen, along with the senate and the house of representatives. The judiciary on the other hand is comprised of the courts, that is, the federal courts and at the very top the High Court. The country an electoral voting system that is basically based on preferential voter system. Citizens that are above the age of 18 are required to vote in their leaders ("Australian General Business Environment"). The prime minister however, is appointed and dismissed by the governor general. Like the American system, there are two main factions of the political divide, of the center right and the center left. The main political horses in this case are the coalition and the Australian labor party. In the case the labor party is the center left while the coalition is the center right.
Location
The capital city of the country as mentioned earlier is called Canberra and it has a population of an estimated 367,752 persons. Relative to the fact that, the city also takes on the central role of hosting some of the highest offices in the land, it acts as the center of power in the country. This is relative to the fact that it is also the ceremonial home for the head of state. As such, even the political power in the country is largely concentrated in this city. The city is located between latitude -35.28 and longitude 149.13. it is also elevated to a height of 571 meters above the sea level (Factslides).
In light of the location of the country, it is important to first note that it is one of the Oceania countries. This is the smallest continent in the world but also the largest island in the world. Located between the Indian ocean and the south Pacific Ocean, it is also one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Other than the main land the country is also comprised of other islands such as Tasmania island among other smaller ones that are based on the Pacific Ocean. It is separated from Asia by the Timor and Arafura seas, while the Tasma Sea separates it from New Zealand ("Where Is Australia?"). In the neighboring areas to the north are East Timor, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, while to the South East is New Zealand and the to the north eat are the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu islands ("Where Is Australia?"). Relative the fact that the country is located in Oceania, there are some interesting aspects of the coastline that make the country one of best tourist destination on the planet. Given the fact that it is the largest island, its coastline is also one of the largest among the world islands. This is relative to the fact that, the country boasts of a coastline that is at an estimated 35, 877 kilometers squared. One of the aspects to note is that the landscape is fairly flat with a few raised areas of the land. When considering the rest of the islands, there is an additional 23,859 kilometers of coastline. Along the subtropical and tropical zones of the coastline are more than 750 estuaries. The main land is seated in the middle of a tectonic plate and there for the land does not experience a lot of volcanic activities (Factslides). However, there are occasional earthquakes. Much of the land in Australia is arid or semi-arid, which means that there are quite a number of deserts and most of the rivers are always dry. Ideally, this is attributed by the fact that much of the rainfall patterns are indicative of rainfall that is highly variable. This is further affected by the fact that the country does have frequent droughts. In some of the areas there are dust storms associated with the desert areas ("Where Is Australia?"). The country also experiences El ninos, tonardos, cyclones, floods, heat waves and bushfires that are sometimes very destructive. The northern part of the country is largely comprised of deserts, grasslands and tropical rain forests. This is also the part of the country where most of the headwaters are located, relative to the fact that they receive much rainfall in the summer.it is along the northern coastline that the country has one of the most significant features and a tourist attraction sites, the great barrier reef. This is the greatest coral reef in the world ("Where Is Australia?"). It is also important to mention that the country also has the world largest and deepest water basin in the world, referred to as Great Artesian Basin. In terms of natural resources...