The Outback, a term used to describe Australia’s mostly uninhabited interior, is a vast, sparsely populated area in the country. It is characterized by low human population density, an intact natural environment, and low-intensity land uses, such as pastoralism. The Outback is primarily applied to semiarid inland areas of eastern Australia and the arid center of the Western Plateau.
The climate of New Zealand is hot and rainy, very dry, mild, and mostly desert or semiarid. The Outback is also known as the “Never-Never”, “Back of Beyond”, and “Back o’Burke”. Large areas of the Northern Territory and desert regions are uninhabited, with approximately 40% of Australia’s interior being desert.
The Great Australian desert, primarily distributed throughout the Western Plateau and interior lowlands of the country, covers approximately 40 percent of Australia’s interior. The Outback is a significant part of Australia’s geography, with most of the population living on the open spaces in the region.
The Outback is a colloquial name for the vast, unpopulated, and mainly arid areas that comprise Australia’s interior and remote coasts. The climate of New Zealand is hot and rainy, very dry, mild, and mostly desert. The Outback is a significant part of Australia’s landscape, with its unique characteristics and climate making it a popular destination for tourists and locals alike.
📹 Australia Explained!
Australia, the sixth-largest country in the world, is surprisingly only 3% populated. With an area of 7.7 million square kilometers …
What of Australia is uninhabited?
Australia Day is a celebration of the world’s smallest continent and sixth largest nation. It is known for four statements: 1) 95 percent of the land is uninhabited or has a small population; 2) English is Australia’s official language; 3) the population increased significantly due to a gold rush; and 4) Australia is unusual in having no native feline species.
Statement one is true, as an estimated 40 percent of Australia is uninhabitable due to its driest climate. Additionally, 80% of Australians live in an area the size of England.
Statement two states that English is Australia’s official language, but it is not the country’s official language. When the British first arrived in 1770, there were over 250 native languages spoken by the native Aborigines. Today, fewer than twenty of these languages are in daily use by all age groups, with about 110 others exclusively spoken by older people.
What is the nickname for Australia’s interior?
In Australia, the term “outback” is used to describe the vast, arid interior and rural areas of the country. The term “outback” is believed to have originated in the United States during the mid-19th century as an adverb used to describe the space located behind a house or building, particularly the backyard. The Australian term was subsequently adopted to describe the remote interior regions of the continent, as evidenced by the 1869 Wagga Wagga Advertiser.
What is the nickname for the Outback?
The Never-Never refers to remote parts of Australia’s Outback, also known as “back of beyond” or “back o’ Bourke”. The Outback is a vast, sparsely populated area extending from the northern to southern coastlines and encompassing various climate zones. It is more remote than the bush and is more arid than the bush. The Outback regions include tropical and monsoonal climates in northern areas, arid areas in the “red centre”, and semi-arid and temperate climates in southerly regions. The total population is estimated at 607, 000 people.
What is Australia’s dry interior called?
The Outback in Australia refers to the semiarid inland areas of eastern Australia, the Western Plateau, and its northern plains, where water bodies are scattered and frequently dry. The region includes the MacDonnell, Musgrave, and Petermann mountain ranges, four major deserts, and Uluru/Ayers Rock. The term Outback has been used since the 19th century and has various compounds and derivatives. Since the mid-1870s, cattle have been raised on the meagre vegetation of the far north, and since the late 19th century, sheep have been kept on large landholdings called stations.
This pastoral activity continues in the Outback alongside opal mining, minor natural gas and oil production, and basic economic necessities. The Royal Flying Doctor Service provides medical assistance to the Outback, and correspondence schools use two-way radio equipment and television to teach pupils.
What is the name for the largely uninhabited interior of Australia?
The Australian outback, extending west from the Great Dividing Range, is the largest part of the continent, characterized by deserts, semiarid plateaus, rough grasses, and scrublands. This region receives less rainfall than the coast and is home to several aboriginal groups. Many school-age children in the outback receive their education through television or radio broadcasts due to their isolation. Mining and agricultural activities are also present in the outback. Alice Springs, located in the center of the continent, has been given the designation of the “center of everything”.
The interior of Australia is characterized by deserts, including the Gibson Desert, Great Victoria Desert, and Great Sandy Desert. The Simpson Desert, located in the border region between the Northern Territory, Queensland, and South Australia, is also a desert. The Great Artesian Basin, on the western edge of the Great Dividing Range, receives little rainfall but is classified as a desert due to its underground water resources, which support extensive farming operations. Large livestock businesses exist in Australia’s interior, with massive herds of cattle and sheep.
What is the nickname of Australia?
Australia is known by various colloquial names such as “Oz”, “Straya”, and “Down Under”, and is also referred to as “the Great Southern Land”, “the Lucky Country”, “the Sunburnt Country”, and “the Wide Brown Land”. Indigenous Australians are divided into two groups: Aboriginal Australians, who represent the Australian mainland and islands, and Torres Strait Islanders, a distinct Melanesian group from the Torres Strait Islands.
What are nicknames for places in Australia?
The Australian National anthem (AND) has a small number of nicknames for places with historical and linguistic significance. These include states like Tasmania, Queensland, Victoria, Crowland, New South Wales, and Western Australia, cities like Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Emerald City, Broken Hill, and Smellbourne, and terms for Australia like Aussie, Oz, Lucky Country, and land of the long weekend. The appeal to add over a thousand distinct names to the database was publicized through broadcast media, generating nationwide interest.
The anthem also reveals similarities between nicknaming patterns and other forms of word generation in Australian English. The anthem’s popularity has led to the addition of over a thousand distinct names to the database.
What is the most deserted place in Australia?
The Kiwirrkurra Community, located in the Gibson Desert, is Australia’s most remote and passionate about maintaining its cultural heritage. They rely on fishing and hunting for food and storytelling, singing, and performing for entertainment. Visitors can explore the village in 4×4 vehicles to learn about the locals’ way of life and experience the unique Australian experience of being in a remote settlement.
What is the nickname of the Outback?
The Never-Never refers to remote parts of Australia’s Outback, also known as “back of beyond” or “back o’ Bourke”. The Outback is a vast, sparsely populated area extending from the northern to southern coastlines and encompassing various climate zones. It is more remote than the bush and is more arid than the bush. The Outback regions include tropical and monsoonal climates in northern areas, arid areas in the “red centre”, and semi-arid and temperate climates in southerly regions. The total population is estimated at 607, 000 people.
What is Australia’s nickname?
Australia, colloquially known as “the Land Down Under”, is derived from the country’s position in the Southern Hemisphere, near the antipodes of the United Kingdom. The term was first recorded in print in 1886 and was popularised internationally by the 1980 song of the same name by Men at Work. Other less common nicknames include “Straya” (“Australia” pronounced in an exaggerated Strine manner), and “Ause”, which is usually used as a demonym, but occasionally extended to the country as a whole (especially in New Zealand).
More poetic epithets used within Australia include “the Great Southern Land” (re-popularised by a 1980s rock song, and not to be confused with the Great Southern region of Western Australia), “the Lucky Country” (deriving from Donald Horne’s 1964 book of the same name), and two phrases deriving from Dorothea Mackellar’s 1908 poem “My Country” – “the sunburnt country” and “the wide brown land”.
The term Australia was not the first to use the name Australia. He may have known it from a 1799 chart of navigator James Wilson, possibly from a 1622 account of the voyage of Willem Schouten and Jacob Lemaire, or some other source. Matthew Flinders was not the first to use the name Australia.
The term “Australia” has its roots in various sources, including the 1886 song “We were to bid adieu to the ‘Australasian’. She had carried us safely down under”. The Macquarie Dictionary (5th ed.) provides a dictionary entry for “down under”, which recodes the first published use in 1886 by J. A. Froude in Oceana.
In the past, Australia has been known as “Austria” due to its location in the Southern Hemisphere, near the antipodes of the United Kingdom. Other less common nicknames include “Straya” (“Australia” pronounced in an exaggerated Strine manner), and “Aussie”, which is usually used as a demonym, but occasionally extended to the country as a whole (especially in New Zealand).
In summary, Australia is a diverse and rich country with various nicknames and epithets that have been used throughout history. Some of the most well-known names include “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Austria”, “Aus.
What do Australians call dry wall?
Plasterboard is a popular product in Australia and New Zealand, often referred to as Gyprock by the largest manufacturer, and Gibraltar and Gib board in New Zealand. A specific type, AquaGib, is used in wet conditions like bathrooms and kitchens. It comes in thicknesses of 10mm, 13mm, and 16mm, and sometimes up to 25mm. Panels are sold in 1200mm-wide sheets, which can be 1800, 2400, 3000, 4800, or 6000mm in length. Sheets are typically secured to timber or cold-formed steel frames. Plasterboard has become a popular replacement for scrim and sarking walls in renovating 19th- and early 20th-century buildings.
📹 IQ TEST
As a Canadian, I fully understand the population density issues of our Australian Commonwealth cousins. Australian populations and cities hug the coastlines and the middle of the continent, of desert heat, could be considered inhospitable for humans to thrive. Canada, as an even larger country, has a small population of about 39 million people and 90 percent of the population lives within 200 miles of the U.S. border and up the east and west coasts less than 500 miles. Also the major population occupying 5 major cities. The Canadian north is also considered inhospitable for humans to thrive, except for the extreme hardy. The Canadian limitation is the short growing season or inability to grow crops and the extreme arctic cold. The Australian Outback and the Canadian North are both trying very hard to kill you.
As a transplanted American (white bloke “Septic tank Yank”) I have driven a good 200,000 kms around the Great antipodean Lucky Country and still have a fascination with the place. No better landmass on Earth to get a reliable sleepable vehicle and go way off the grid, thanks to seemingly endless expanses of uninhabited land connected by a network of decent paved highways and drivable outback tracks. Months at a time with very little human contact can drive you a bit mad, so it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if it IS your thing – wow! Never actually alone when there are dozens of species of fantastic birds and feral mammals (dingoes, camels, donkeys, goats, and of course loads of roos and wallabies) and snakes and lizards and spiders, etc. Leaving the populated east coast and heading into the never never land is an intrepid adventure, so just make sure to have days worth of tinned and dried food reserves and a good 40 litres of drinkable water and a few jerry cans of petrol, not to mention ample spares for the vehicle. Then it’s like being a ship on the ocean with no horizon or a land rover on the moon cut off from the world – perfect! Eventually you reach the other side along the Indian Ocean to find Australia’s other cluster of humans, namely Perth, Fremantle, Bunbury, Busselton, Margaret River, etc. Most overseas visitors never get past the “boomerang coast” between Sydney and Cairns, but there is a lot to love about the western half of the country, and very very few other people to get in your way.
Australian here. This is a nice attempt, but clearly made by someone who doesn’t really understand this country or its history. Besides completely glossing over the 19th century, this article has some factual errors and significant omissions. I wouldn’t consider this article to be a good summary of Australia, and would advise people to look elsewhere.
Indonesian sailor already discover the land long before any european or asian sailors discover it. But indonesian sailor are not interested to colonize it since there is people already live there, the aborigines. Instead indonesian sailor forming trade relations with the aborigines. Indonesian sailor selling them tools and manufactired food and goods while the aborigines selling indonesian sailor sea food, precious gem and local food
0:51 “The last populated frontier of the world”. 60,000+ years of human settlement in this country, about 45,000 years before the Americas were discovered. This subject is very controversial in Australia, as this article talks about Australia being “discovered” by Portuguese, Dutch or Englishman. But it was discovered by very resourceful people thousands of years ago and are to this day the oldest living culture in the world.
Sydney and Melbourne are too large. There needs to be real attention to opening up more land in smaller towns and cities. This will hopefully stop the cities from being overcrowded while spreading out the population. Easily said than done. While many people work from home and work in the internet/software industries, they may be people that can actually afford to living in the larger cities. Whereas those that work at a workplace really need to live where the work is, in the larger cities. But its still a good goal to increase populations and opportunities in rural areas. Some states like WA and SA the population is largely based in the capital cities, and there is opportunity to avoid overcrowding and environmental issues. Vic and NSW have large regional areas that they can really work with to expand.
I work FIFO in the remote north of Western Australian in the Pilbara, Yes it Hot – I just returned from a week of 40 degree C and it is only Springtime not Summer yet – I have international friends they are amazed that I will drive 380KM to the closest supermarket – shop then drive back to the mine site all in one day
I live in Western Queensland very remote, water is one of our biggest problems, however all that land is usually cattle stations, sheep or cropping, mining. So if u look at the map it maybe void of people but it’s the biggest industry doing all the heavy lifting for the economy. Government is very reluctant to release more land for development (don’t worry we’ve tried to build more infrastructure) we are in the Chanel Country which is on top on the Great Artisan Basin (biggest underground water source) not many trees so we could build housing to relieve our massive housing problem. But no the government is determined to push everyone into the cities
“Aboriginals” means NOT originals. They have NOT been here for65,000 years. They are Indian sappers, sent by King George III’s East India Company, which was on a land grab. When you say “Uluru” you mean “Ayers Rock”, right? The fast-paced “Aussie Rules” is a real “football” game and is nothing like rugby but certainly superior.
I like how at 1:00, he mentions remarkable animals, customs (shows what looks very much like a silhouette of a lamington, a cube of sponge cake, dipped in melted chocolate & rolled in desiccated coconut. A very typical Aussie treat. You non-Aussies don’t know what you’re missing. What a lil’ ripper of a bewdy!), statistics & people. If he showed a lamington, he’s obviously been here.
I think the portuguese were the first to discover Australia. If you check Dutch and Portuguese history, it is much more interlined than you think. Everywhere the Portuguese went, the Dutch went a couple of decades later. Even trying to take some of portugals colonies, including brazil and macau. If you follow portugals pattern around the world, and follow the dutch, the dutch were following Portugal but the Australia part of the Portuguese history was not well documented, probably due to the “useless landscape” on the north west Australian border, they might have just thought that it was nothing but a wasteland. There has also been cannons found in australian coasts, dating back hundreds of years and had clear portuguese coat of arms markings.
another problem that im not sure u mentioned, is the government dont fund enough money to the country towns outside of the capitals. comparing the population of each state, about 90% live in the capital and the rest in small country towns scattered around. these country towns are only about at most 30,000 in population, going as low as 10-1000 people.
Lots of errors in this article. For example, even if the total amount of arable land is greater than it’s SEA neighbours, the soil quality in the majority of Australia is very poor., particularly west of the GDR. This is due to lack of any volcanic or geological activity meaning there’s no refreshing of nutrients. Only parts of Victoria have they found evidence of previous volcanic activity. Also the distinct lack of fresh water which is also of unstable supply owing the weather patterns experienced.
Loved the article. Even though never been there, Australia has always fascinated me. I read Bill Bryson’s book “In a Sunburned Country” (as it was titled in America and Canada…was titled “Down Under” in Britain). I remember Mr. Bryson writing about the drive he took from Darwin to Alice Springs where the sun seemed to get larger and hotter the further south out of Darwin he traveled. I remember he talked about a place call the Devil’s Marbles which, based on his description, seemed almost mythical. Mr. Bryson had stopped at a restaurant between Darwin and Alice Springs and had a steak as big as a baseball catcher’s mit. Pico Iyer called Australia a British California. A friend of mine who lives in New York City said, after traveling there, Melbourne and Perth were his favorite cities. I also would love to check out the Bungle Bungles. Excellent content in your article. Thank you. P. S. From 8:38 to 9:01 in the article, the sound seemed to cut out.
Fun fact: Australia grew by 3 times over a period of 75 years from a population of 8.6 million to today over 26 million people. At current trends it is estimated it will grow another 3 times during the next 7 decades, putting its population closer to 80 million by Australia’s tricentenary anniversary. By the end of the century Australia highest population projections have it anywhere between 72 million to as high as 110 million. Another fun fact. Australia is 234 years old. When America was also around the same era in its colonisation period its population was also in the mid 20 millions. And look at it now. Both former British colonies.
Australian here. When I first moved to the UK, I used to get really confused with how people in the UK would say “oh, I’m from XYZ town. It’s a couple of villages over”. But there would be NO urban separation between where we would currently be located, and the town or village they might be referring to.. It’d be built up continuous suburbia and settlement the whole way. Likewise, where London ends and where it begins is a somewhat arbitrary line on a map, but you potentially wouldn’t know from driving through or walking that you’d passed OUT of Greater London based on any changes in buildings or whatever. In Australia, once you leave the outer extremities of the greater metropolitan edge of a city, you’ve REALLY left the city. Suburbia, buildings, shops, businesses and warehouses simply stop. And all that is left is the motorway or road you’re driving on as it cut’s through farmland or natural wilderness until you get to the next town along.Towns and cities in Australia are very visually obvious things. Islands of human infrastructure that are surrounded by natural landscape once you depart their extremities. In Europe, inner cities, suburbs, peripheral towns and villages all sort of morph into eachother. in a smooth, unbroken gradient of manmade buildings and human activity. There’s no definitive “edge”.
There is massive amounts of land along the Great Diving Range which technically could be inhabited. Thankfully these areas are protected from development and are deemed National/State parks. They include rainforests and some fo the most beautiful examples of Australias flora and fauna. The Blue Mountains gets more snow then the Swiss Alps yet our ski fields are beautifully developed to preserve the local habitats
The lack of rain is due to the latitude of Australia. You could not take an island of this size and shape and position it such it would get less rain than it does. It hogs the band of high pressure that in both hemispheres also causes the Nabimian deseret in Africa, the Sahara in Africa, and the arid south west corner of the USA plus Northern Mexico. Northern Australia just protrudes just into the hot wet tropical zone, and southern Australia just protrudes into the southern temperate zone. The east coast gets the benefit of the East Australian ocean current (think Nemo) which brings moist air down the coast from the tropics and keeps it wet, at least as far as the Great Dividing Range will let it. The centre is desert, and in between are the arable areas – large but low yielding compared to Europe or most of America. Also – Aussie rules is nothing like Rugby, just a similar ball. It is most similar to Gaelic football, played in Ireland.
I would dispute the amount of arable land in at least as much as its productivity. In parts of Java they manage to grow 4 rice crops a year and 3 is common. In most of Australia there is usually only a winter crop of grain and the tonnes per hectare is much lower. It should be noted that all cereal crops in Australia are grown with mechanised equipment whereas much of Java remains by hand.
i believe it was the dutch found australia a bit before the uk did, however the dutch found themselves on the north western part of australia, which looked like a wasteland, they called australia “new holland”. and the uk did not map out australia, as far as i know, they were winging it when they travelled to the east side of australia with boats full of convicts, and landed at botany bay, in 1778.
It’s not just that Australia is a dry continent and has limited rainfall. It’s also that the limited rainfall we get can be years and years between showers. This does not allow for a larger population as there would be years that cities and towns would be with very limited water or run out. It happens often that Australia’s draughts lead to intense water rationing and water carting. You just can’t have a bigger population with no water.
As an Australian I would just like to say you cannot live in the vast majority of this country without water (most of the time there is none), shelter (none again) or without the support of the 1st nations people who do inhabit parts of it. We are white urban people who aeons ago lost the ability to survive the desert, jungle or even the open plains. All of which occur in Australia. We also like it just the way it is.
damned great country. as an australian with italian parentage, our remoteness and lack of a shared border is truly a blessing, especially when one is confronted with the disaster happening in europe. australia was also very economically prosperous and socially cohesive during the white australia policy, until it was dismantled by the corrupt labor government in the 1970s.