module 7 Australia Flower: Acacia pycnantha Benth Unit Australian coat of arms BEFORE READING 1 Work in pairs. Make a list of things you know about Australia: a. three cities b. three typical animals c. three famous Australians d. three films set in Australia 2 Compare your list with your partner did you both think of the same things? Kangaroos are herbivorous marsupial mammals of the family Macropodidae. Basic facts Australia is an island continent which covers an area of about 7.7 square kilometres, in land area it is the sixth largest nation and the smallest continent. Australia is divided into six states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and two territories, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory. The capital city is Canberra. In the year 2006 the population was almost 20,000,000. Over 70% of Australians now live in cities or towns. Most of the population lives on the eastern and southern coasts, and around Perth in the west. Australia has a very dramatic landscape, it is famous for its outback, the remote lands of the interior. The desert outback covers most of the interior. It is too hot, dry and barren to support many people. Eastern Australia has large areas of grassland, used mainly for sheep and cattle ranches. There are also some mountainous areas and plateaus. The Blue Mountains on the south-eastern end of Australia, get their name from the blue haze caused by oil droplets given off from the eucalyptus trees. Australia also has many beautiful coastal beaches. Off the northeast coast of Australia is the Great Barrier Reef 1,600 kilometres of coral. It has developed over the last million years and is now the largest living structure in the world. It is home to many sharks and thousands of different types of tropical fish. Australia lies on the tropic of Capricorn, northern Australia has a tropical climate and southern Australia a temperate one. The seasons are the opposite of seasons in the northern hemisphere, with June-July being mid-winter and Christmas mid-summer. Snow is rare in the cities, but there are ski resorts in the Great Dividing Range mountains. ACTIVITIES 1 Complete these statements about the reading passage. a. Australia is the sixth largest ...................................... b. Australia is the smallest ...................................... c. Australia is famous for ...................................... d. Most Australians live ...................................... e. The Great Barrier Reef is long. f. The climate is ..... ........... in the north and ....... . in the south. g. There are ski resorts ...... .