Australia's Climate

We generally think of the South being hot and the North being cold, but in Australia, that’s not the case. Since Australia is in the Southern hemisphere, the equator is to the north, therefore the more south you go, the colder it gets.

The north has a more tropical climate with a hot, wet season (summer) and warm, dry season (winter). The south has warm dry, summers and cool, wet winters. In the south, during the winter, the average maximums can get as low as 13°C, but also reach as high as 23°C, while in the summer, temperatures can reach up to 41°C!

Another thing different about being located in the southern hemisphere is that their seasons are opposite us in the northern hemisphere. Right now, it’s just turning into fall and the weather is cooling off. During our summer, it’s their winter and vice-versa.

Being such  a large country, Australia has many contrasting "climate-zones". There are tropical regions in the north, the south-west has a higher altitude than the rest of Australia and mountains and snow! Central australia is the outback, which is a hot, dry desert. http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/ausclim/ausclim.htmhttp://www.aussie-info.com/tourist/climate.phphttp://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_averages/temperature/index.jsp 

The Flag of Australia

The Australian flag was introduced in 1901 after the States of Australia were established. The flag is twice as long as it is wide. The Australian flag consists of three main components. In the upper left corner, is the Union Jack, or the Canton, signifying their links with Great Britain. (Great Britain’s flag is just the Union Jack.) In the upper right corner, there are 5 stars in a sort of diamond pattern that form the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross is a constellation that is a significant navigational feature of Australia and the entire southern hemisphere. The constellation has been associated with Australia for many years. The Star of Federation or Commonwealth Star located in the bottom left corner has seven points to represent the six states and combined territories of the Commonwealth.

http://www.anbg.gov.au/oz/flag.html

Basic Geography of Australia

Australia is an island, a country and a continent! Although it is the smallest continent, it is the sixth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, China, The United States of America and Brazil. Australia’s area is 7,686,850 square kilometres, however, the island takes up only 5% of the earth’s land area.

The population of Australia has doubled in just the last 50 years and is now 22, 421,417. This makes Australia’s population density 2.92 (per km²), which is fairly close in comparison to Canada’s population density which is 3.43 (per km²).

 Since Australia is an island, it is completely surrounded by water:  to the west, the Indian Ocean, and to the east, the Southern Pacific Ocean. The mainland of Australia is also surrounded by thousands of smaller islands. All of this land in Australia is divided into 6 states and 3 territories.

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/populations/ctypopls.htm

http://www.ga.gov.au/education/geoscience-basics/dimensions/coastline-lengths.html

http://www.kidport.com/reflib/worldgeography/australia/australia.htm#Title