The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal state within the Commonwealth. Its territories are the continent of Australia, the island of Tasmania and a number of smaller islands. It has an area of about eight million square kilometers.
Relief
The continent of Australia is mostly a great plain with mountains in the east and south-east. 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 these Central Lowlands run Australia's greatest rivers, the Murray and the Darling. A number of short rivers flow from the Australian Alps and the Blue Moun¬tains into the Pacific Ocean.
Climate
Australia has several different climatic regions, from warm to subtropical and tropical. There are tropical forests in the north-east 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 south-west and east the winds bring rain in winter.
The tropical forests in the north and north-east are displaced by savanna or grassland. In the south-east and on the sides of the mountains there are forests of eucalyptus and other evergreen trees. 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 of the world.
