Australia is the sixth largest country in the world and is about the size of the lower 48 United States.
According to the CIA, there are over 21 million people living in Australia. The life expectancy is 81.63 years, placing Australia seventh in the world. More than 80% of the population lives along the coastline.
Only 6 percent of the land in Australia is suitable for farming and planting - a large portion of the country is inhospitable, dry and lacking water.
The world's longest fence, the dingo fence, is 5,531 kilometers long. It was built to protect flocks of sheep from the dingo, a wild species of canine.
Several famous actors were born in Australia, including Errol Flynn, Judy Davis, Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger, Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe.
Colleen McCullough, who wrote Thorn Birds, is Australian. Other famous authors include Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks, Thomas Keneally, Peter Carey and Kathy Lette. The top selling novelist of Australia is Bryce Courtenay, whose novels have sold over five million copies just in Australia.
There are many famous musicians from Australia who play music in many genres. Olivia Newton-John, AC/DC, INXS, Men at Work, the Bee Gees and Crowded House are just a few. The most successful musician from Australia is Kylie Minogue, who has sold over 60 million records.
Australia is also well-known for its world-class Opera Australia that performs at the Sydney Opera House.
The Aboriginal people are the people indigenous to Australia. When Captain James Cook claimed Australia for the British people in 1770, there were over one million Aboriginal people already living there. They lived in over 300 different tribes and spoke 250 languages.
A close connection with nature is important for this culture.
There are lots of animals in Australia, and many that are native only to that country. The most well-known Australian animal is the kangaroo and there are many to be found; over 40 million kangaroos call Australia home.
Other marsupials include the koala, kowari, bandicoot, wallaroo, wombat, tasmanian devil and sugar glider.
Mammals native to Australia are the bottlenose dolphin, dingo, platypus and dugong.
Australians are an inventive people who have brought the world many new innovations. Some note-worthy inventions include aspirin, penicillin, contact lenses, the pacemaker and the plastic disposable syringe.
The Aboriginal people were innovators for their time as well. They invented the boomerang and the woomer, a unique spear thrower. They were the first people to use grind edges on stone tools.
