FACTS

Location: Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean

Area (only Total) total: 7,686,850 sq km

Climate: generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north

Terrain: mostly low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast

Population: 21,007,310 (July 2008 est.)

Main Language (only first): English

Government type: federal parliamentary democracy

Capital (Name): Canberra

Capital (Time Difference): UTC+10 (15 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Independence: 1 January 1901 (federation of UK colonies)

National holiday: Australia Day, 26 January (1788); ANZAC Day (commemorated as the anniversary of the landing of troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I at Gallipoli, Turkey), 25 April (1915)