ABSTRACT
Australia became a Commonwealth of the British Empire in 1901. “It was able to take advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in the First and Second World Wars. A referendum to change Australia’s status, from a commonwealth headed by the British monarch to an independent republic, was defeated in 1999” (CIA, 2001). Australia is located in Oceania, the continent between the Indian Ocean and the
South Pacific Ocean at geographic coordinates of 27 00 S Latitude and 133 00 E Longitude. The country has a total area of 7,686,850 square kilometres consisting of land (7,617,930 sq. km) and 68,920 square kilometres water area. This nation has a coastline of 25,760 kilometres with no land boundaries. The Australian terrain is diverse ranging from mostly low plateau with deserts to fertile plains in the southeast with elevation extremes. Lowest point is at Lake Eyre (15 metres) and the highest point at Mount Kosciuszko (2,229 metres). According to CIA (2001) Australia has a population of 19,357,594 2 (July 2001
est.) with the population growth rate currently standing at 0.99 per cent (2001 est.). Migrants comprise a sizeable portion of Australia’s population with 4.19 migrant(s) per 1,000 population (2001 est.). The population in the country has constantly increased because of immigrants from the all over the world, with the migration policy aimed at assisting the economic development. The estimates in the same year indicate proportion of females slightly higher than that of males (0.99 males/female) in the country. Australia is a diverse country by virtue of the great degree of cultural variation among the nation’s different ethnic groups. The indigenous aborigines constitute 7 per cent of the total population while the country has a sizeable population of Asian (7 per cent), Caucasian (92 per cent) and others (1 per cent). Religious diversity in the country shows Anglicans (26.1 per cent), Roman Catholics (26 per cent), other Christians (24.3 per cent) and non-Christians (11 per cent). English is the official language of Australia.
