Australia — Location, Political Divisions and Physical Features

(a) Ayer Rock is also known as Uluru.

(b) The Eastern Highlands extend almost parallel to the eastern coast of Australia.

(c) Murray and Darling Rivers originate in Australian Alps.

(d) Lake Eyre is a region of the central lowland.

(e) Sydney is situated on the Australia’s Southeast coast.

(a) Inland drainage — A river system in which the rivers are not able to reach the sea or ocean and drain into some shallow salt lake, is called inland drainage.

(b) Paddock — A sheep station is divided into a number of fields called Paddocks.

(c) Sheep stations — A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat.

(d) Coral polyps — Tiny sea creatures living in shallow, warm and salty waters of the sea that secrete calcium carbonate is called coral polyp.

The term Australasia includes Australia, New Zealand and the neighbouring islands of the South Pacific Ocean. It is also called Oceania.

Australia is divided into six states:

1. New South Wales
2. Victoria
3. South Australia
4. Queensland
5. Tasmania and
6. Western Australia.

There are also two internal territories governed by the central government i.e., Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory which includes Canberra, the capital of Australia. Both these territories are large but thinly populated.

Coral reef is formed by tiny sea creatures called coral polyps. They live in shallow, warm and salty water of the sea and secrete calcium carbonate which on the death of the coral polyps, remains clinging to the rock. As time passes, a great ridge-like structure called coral reef is formed.

Some of the factors that may cause damage to coral reefs are:

1. Climate Change.
2. Ocean acidification and pollution.
3. Human activities like swimming, diving and mining.

Importance of the Murray Darling Basin are:

1. The Murray-Darling Basin is the most fertile part of Australia, because it is drained by two important River- River Murray and River Darling.
2. Rivers carry with them a lot of alluvium and deposit it on the riverbank, that makes the river basin fertile.

The rivers Darling and Murray are snow-fed rivers originating from the southern Alps.

The Great Artesian Basin is situated mainly in the state of Queensland and New South Wales. It is important for irrigation purposes and is the major source of groundwater supply.

Three favourable conditions for digging an artesian well are:

1. The aquifer should be saucer shaped (synclinal) so that the water moves downward in it under the action of gravity.
2. There should be a layer of porous rock between two layers of non-porous rocks.
3. The layers of porous rock should be exposed at the surface of the ground to enable the surface water to go in.

1788

Canberra

Hobart

Northeast Coast

Mt. Kosciuszko

Quadrilateral

North

Great Artesian basin

New South Wales

Australian Alps

Coral polyps

Sandstone

Uluru

Snow-capped mountain

Tropic of Capricorn