You are here: Home -> Australia -> About Australia

Roughly the same size as the U.S.A., the island continent of Australia is a diverse land with a wide variety of landscapes. These include deserts in the interior, hills and mountains, tropical rainforests, and densely-populated coastal strips with long beaches and coral reefs off the shoreline. Isolated from other continents, Australia has an abundance of unique plant and animal life. Animals most associated with Australia are Kangaroos and Koalas, but there are many more native to Australia such as the Emu, Dingo and Platypus.

Modern Australia is a little more than two hundred years old, but its indigenous history stretches back thousands of years. Australia's original inhabitants are called Aborigines.

The British founded the first settlement and named it Sydney in 1788. Many of the first settlers were convicts, sent from the overcrowded jails in England to the new penal colony of Australia. Free settlers arrived in increasing numbers, particularly after the discovery of gold in the mid-19th century. Today 99% of the population are of European or Asian descent.

Australia is best known overseas for its personality exports: Crocodile Dundee, Steve Erwin the Crocodile Hunter, and The Wiggles.

FACTS

• Full name: Commonwealth of Australia
• Population: 20.6 million (official estimate, 2006)
• Capital: Canberra
• Area: 7.7 million sq km (2.9 million sq miles)
• Major language: English
• Major religion: Christianity
• Life expectancy: 78 years (men), 83 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Australian dollar = 100 cents
• Main exports: Ores and metals; wool, food and live animals; fuels, transport machinery and equipment
• GNI per capita: US $32,220 (World Bank, 2006)
• Internet domain: .au
• International dialling code: +61

(Information on Australia is from the BBC News: Country Profiles website. Visit the site for further information on Australia)

Australia in size comparison to the United States

- 12 July 2010

• Carver's 2nd Qtr PIM Newsletter [more]
• Richard & Andrea's May Newsletter [more]
• Carver's 1st Qtr PIM Newsletter [more]
• Inspirational Story: A Handful of Grain [more]

Click here to view all our latest news.
Subscribe to e-news to be notified of new site updates & newsletters.

Random Photos from our Gallery Most Recent Photos Uploaded

June-July 2010 - Pray for Fiji Bible Teacher and Evangelist Rev Paitradra as he ministers and travels the country

June-July 2010 - Strength and wisdom to all those doing the construction on the building complex at the Bible School

Ongoing request - Uphold our National Leaders, missionaries and Aimers

Ongoing request - Pray for churches in outlying islands and areas of the country.

Need 1 - School fees are needed for the two children of our AIMER Richard and Andrea Carver.
Can you assist with this in any way? Please send your offerings to AIM account # 707

Assist us with our needs

November 2009 - The Peter Gration family have completed their fundraising in the USA and are on their return journey to PNG. We thank the Lord and those that have supported them. It will be wonderful for PNG to have another missionary family again.

October 2009 - The Richard Carver jnr. family have also returned to PNG after the birth of our grandaughter, Hannah born in July 2009.