The Commonwealth of Australia Исполнитель

The Commonwealth of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal state within the Commonwealth of Nations. Its territories are the continent of Australia, the island of Tasmania and a number of smaller islands. It has an area of eight million square kilometers.

The continent of Australia is mostly a great plain with mountains in the east and southeast. The western part of the continent forms a plateau, which occupies half of the continent. The Central Lowlands, a great part of which is very dry, lie between the Western Australian Plateau and the Eastern Highlands. Through the eastern part of the Central Lowlands run Australia’s greatest rivers, the Murray and the Darling. A number of short rivers flow from the Australian Alps into the Pacific Ocean.

Australia has several different climatic regions, from warm to subtropical and tropical. There are tropical forests in the northeast because the winds from the sea bring heavy rainfalls, especially in tropical summer. The climate in the west is very dry and more than half of Australia gets very little rain. In the southwest and east the winds bring rain in winter.

The tropical forests in the north and northeast are bordered by savanna, or grassland. There are two hot deserts in the central and western parts of the continent.

There are many wild animals in Australia. Some of them, such as the kangaroo, the dingo (or wild dog) and the koala, are not found in any other country in the world.

Today there are about 17 million people in Australia. Most of them are of British origin. The population includes more than 200,000 aborigines, the descendents of the people who lived in Australia before the Europeans came.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a self-governing federal state and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Formally the head of state is the king or queen of England, represented by a governor general.

The Commonwealth of Australia consists of six states and two territories, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The Capital Territory is the land around the federal capital, Canberra.

Australia has a parliament in each state and the Federal Parliament of the Commonwealth in Canberra. The Federal Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The federal government of the country is headed by the Prime Minister, usually the leader of the party which has the majority in the House of Representatives. The political parties represented in the parliament are the Australian Labour Party, the Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia.

Comprehension Questions

1. Is Australia a country or a continent?
2. What is the weather like in most of Australia?
3. What is Australia’s relationship with Great Britain?
4. Into how many parts is Australia divided? What are they called?
5. Where is the capital of Australia located?
6. From which two places are most of Australia’s inhabitants’ ancestors?

Discussion Questions

1. There are many animals in Australia that are not found anywhere else in the world. Why do you think that is?
2. Are there any animals or plants found only in Uzbekistan?
3. If you went to Australia, what would you want to see?
4. Would you like to visit Australia? Why?