Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, located in the southern hemisphere is both the world‘s sixth biggest country and its smallest and flattest continent. Comprising the mainland, the island of Tasmania, and numerous other islands in the waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia’s neighbors include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east and New Zealand to the south-east.

Australia has an aboriginal community which is believed to be the world’s oldest civilization and the community has lived on the mainland and the island of Tasmania for around 40,000 – 50,000 long before the Europeans discovered Australia in the 17th century. In 1770 Captain James Cook chartered the east coast of Australia and claimed the continent for Great Britain. Initially Australia was used as a penal colony by the British but the population began to grow steadily in the following years when the discovery of gold sparked off a migration boom in the 1790s and European settlement followed in the 18th century. In 1901, the former British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia and the mainland territories of Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Northern Territory joined together to form a single nation and a new country was formed.