* Australia is fundamentally a flat and dry island. Its wide interior surface is formed by plains and a low plateau. On the flat coastal areas of the east , southeast and southwest is where you can find most of the concentrated population.
* The Australian flora has approximately 22,000 species. More than 90% is indigenous, and many of them endemic, in other words, you can´t find them anywhere else.
* It is believed that Australia has up to 300.000 different species of animals, of which only approximately 100.000 have been catalogued. There are 252 known species of mammals, 751 birds, 748 reptiles, 205 amphibians and 216 fish.
* During 200 million years, Australia was acontinental island separated from the rest of the world by the ocean, which has made that the indigenous fauna and the flora be evolved without integration, giving way to some of the strangest species in the planet.
* The aborigines of Australia and the islanders of Torres stretch constitute today 1.5% of the population of this country. Almost 94% of Australians are of European origin. The majority descend from Britons or Irishes. Since 1945, more than two million people from other European countries have emigrated to Australia. English is the official language. In the remaining communities you can hear people speaking other aboriginal languages.
* Australia is the most dispersedly inhabited country in the world. Its population (according to estimations of 2001) is 19.357.594 inhabitants. The density scarcely exceeds 2,5 km². The Australian population is one of the most concentrated in the world; 90% occupies 3% of the surface, 85% is classified as urban and live in cities and villages along the coastal area, south oriental and southwestern, as well as in Tasmania. 97% of the remaining territory of Australia is not inhabited; these areas are put to use for raising baby cow, sheep and cattle, attended by small town areas like Alice Springs, Darwin, Kalgoorlie, Boulder, the western coast between Dampier and Port Hedland, and the diamond region of the Kimberley. The annual growth rate of the Australian population is 0.99% and the average life span is of 79 years.
* Australia does not have an official religion and its constitution guarantees the freedom of religion. Most of the population is Christian, with a predominance of Catholics and Anglicans; each of these religions compromise approximately 26% of the entire population. 23% practise other Christian religions, emphasizing the conformists and other Protestants, as well as orthodox groupings. There also exist Jewish religions in small communities, which practise the Judaism, Buddhists, and Muslim, followers of Islam.
* Australia is the biggest producer and exporter of wool in the world, especially that of merino sheep. In the year 2000 there were 117 million sheep, which were producing 672.000 tons of wool and 41.000 tons of lamb.
* The education is a responsibility of the six states and of the North Territory fundamentally. The education is obligatory between the age 6 to 15 . In 1997 Australia had 8,123 primary state schools , with an annual record of 1.86 million pupils, and other 2.37 million students were registered in junior highschool.
* Australia has 37 universities, between which two private institutions are included; with a total of 1,041,648 students registered in 1997.
* When the English conquerors came to Australia, they were astonished after seeing a few strange animals that were doing incredible hops. Immediately they called a native person (the Australian natives were extremely pacific) and tried to ask them by signing with their hands. On having noticed that the Indian was always saying " Khan Ghu Ru ", they adopted the English word " kangaroo ". The linguists determined later the meaning, which was very clear, the natives wanted to say " I do not understand you ".
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