Australia is the of the five continents and it's the biggest island of the world. is surrounded by the Indian Ocean in the west and the Pacific Ocean in the east. The distance from east to west is 4.000 km s and  from north to south is about 3.200km s. The country is extremely big and there live only 19 million people. Most of them live in the big cities like: Melbourne, Brisbane, in the biggest city  Sydney with 4 million inhabitants and in the capital Canberra . The continent consists of six colonies: 1.Western Australia 2.Northern Territory 3.South 4.Queensland 5.New South Wales 6.Victoria and the island Tasmania . Most of the country is desert but in the east is also rainforest. That explain that the cities were built nearly the cost. There are  four climate zones –tropics –subtropics –dry season and continental climate. Important mountains are:  the Blue Mountains , the Olgas and the Ayers Rock it's a holy place for the Aborigines. The gold rush had a big influrence on the population in . On the 1.1.1901 became a member of the Commonwealth. That means  the community of states  which belonged to the British Empire . Today is independent from the but the Queen is still the head of the continent. Australia has got lots of interesting and special animals, like, the wombats, the koalas, the wallabies, the Tasmanian Devils, the kangaroos with there very small babies. They were only 1,5cms high and live in the pouch of her mother. The dingoes are very dangerous for sheep. A big income for the Australian people is tourism, there are lots of advertisement about the beautiful country side and the special towns like Sydney . There are lots of sights: -the Sydney Opera House. It was specially designed, looks like an open shell and was built by the Danish architect, Joern  Utzon. –Another attraction is the Sydney Harbour Bridge it is called as the "Hanger".- A nature attraction is the Great Barrier Reef . It's the largest deposit of corals in the world.- It gives only one important river: the Murray river .