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1) Australia has tropical, temperate and dry regions, with different weather conditions for each region. In the north, the tropical region, there is a six-month-long wet season with temperatures between 30 and 50°C. The temperatures fall to about 20°C in the dry season. The centre of Australia is the desert region. 2) The desert region is very hot during the day, and very cold at night. It's usually about 40°C in summer and between 16 to 24°C in the winter. At night the temperature can fall to 0°C. It rarely rains. The temperate region in the south has changeable weather with an average temperature of around 30°C in summer and 15°C in winter. 3) Because of its geographical location and climate, Australia has species of animals, such as the Kangaroo and Koala, not found elsewhere. The eucalyptus is one of the most common trees. Eucalyptus trees give out small drops of blue oil and this is why the mountains near Sydney are called “The Blue Mountains”. 4) Australia is the lowest populated country in the world with a population of 20.6 million over an area of 7,682,300 square kilometres and a population density of only 2.2 inhabitants per square mile. The racial composition of the people is mainly European, with a minority (about 300,000 people) of Aborigines, the earliest inhabitants who arrived from Asia approximately 50,000 years ago. 5) Today most Aborigines live in reservations and they are in serious danger of extinction. Australia was chosen by Britain as the place for state prisons, so the first British people who lived there arrived in 1788-1830 and they were criminals. 6) Later a lot of other British immigrants settled in the new land: they grew crops and raised animals. After 1850, when gold was discovered, a lot of people came from Europe and from Asia. After World War 2 the Australian government encouraged immigration to help develop economy. 7)Today almost all of the population has English or European origins, but there is a growing number of Asian immigrants. It is a multicultural society: people from 200 countries live in Australia; about one million are Italians. English is the official language, but with differences in word pronunciation and word usage; Protestantism is the official religion. 8)Agriculture is not particularly developed; the main products are wheat, fruit and sugar. Animal-farming gives better results. The chief activity of the country is sheep-farming: wool is a very important product and Australian wool is exported all over the world. Minerals, such as lead, copper, zinc, gold and silver, are the main natural resources. 9)Industry is growing and trade with Japan, USA, Europe and New Zealand is becoming more and more important. Australia became a Federal Union of six Autonomous states in 1901; they are: Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Southern Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. 10)Australia entered the Commonwealth in 1938. Each state of the Union has its own parliament and a governor-general who represents the British monarch. It is a Constitutional Monarchy. Australia’s flag shows the British Union flag and the constellation known as the Southern Cross. The emblem is the Kangaroo.