ABSTRACT
Located in Oceania, it is a continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean and slightly smaller than the US contiguous 48 states. It has a coastline of 25,760 km, is mostly a low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast and the highest point is Mount Kosciuszko, the lowest point is Lake Eyre, and has a mean elevation of 330 m. Originally populated by aborigines who probably came from Asia about 40,000 years ago, Australia was first sighted by the Spanish in the early 17th century. In 1606, the Dutch landed on the eastern coast of the Bay of Carpentaria and named it New Holland. Flinders proved the continental unity of New Holland and New South Wales. Named Australia in the 19th century, the entire continent was claimed by the United Kingdom in 1829. The least squares adjustment of the Australian geodetic network performed in March 1966 used the Australian Geodetic Datum.
