The continent of Australia and the islands of New Zealand are called Australasia. The islands nearby are Oceania.

The continent of Australia, including the island of Tasmania, was separated from the other continents of the world many millions of years ago. Because of this, many animals and plants live in Australia that are not found anywhere else. These include animals like the kangaroo, the koala, the emu, the kookaburra, and the platypus.

People first arrived in Australia more than 50,000 years ago. These native Australians are called the Australian Aborigines. For the history of Australia, see History of Australia.

Most of the Australian colonies, having been settled from Britain, became mostly independent democratic states in the 1850s and all six combined as a federation on 1 January 1901. The first prime minister of Australia was Edmund Barton in 1901. Australia is a member of the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations. It is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with the British monarch as Head of State.

Australia has six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia.The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

In July 2007 Australia had just over 21 million people. Most Australians live in cities along the coast, such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin, Hobart and Adelaide. The largest inland city is Canberra, which is also the nation's captital. The largest city is Sydney.

Although Australia is a very big country, a lot of the land is very dry. The middle of the continent is mostly desert. Only the areas around the east, west and south coast have enough rain and a suitable climate (not too hot) for many farms and cities.