PMFIAS LBT World Australia Watermark

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Location Based Topics – World Geography – Australia
Major Geographic Features of Australia ..................................................................................................... 5

The Great Barrier Reef ................................................................................................................................................ 5
The Great Dividing Range ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Marginal Seas around Australia .................................................................................................................................. 6
Major Deserts in Australia .......................................................................................................................................... 7
Others 7
Oceania ........................................................................................................................................................... 8
Melanesia ................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Micronesia .................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Polynesia ................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Recently in News (Focus Area for Prelims 2021 – Marked in Red) ......................................................... 13
Carmichael coal-mining project in Australia ............................................................................................................. 13
Bougainville .............................................................................................................................................................. 14
Whakaari / White Island ........................................................................................................................................... 14
Tulagi Island .............................................................................................................................................................. 15
Zealandia................................................................................................................................................................... 15
New Caledonia .......................................................................................................................................................... 16
Area 7.68 million km2 (6th largest country) (world's land mass is 149.45 million km2)
Longitudinal Extent 113° E to 153° E (~4000 km)
Latitudinal Extent 10° S to 43° S (~3860 km)
Coastline 59,681 km
Neighbouring coun- • Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north
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tries • the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the French dependency of New Caledonia
to the east, and

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• New Zealand to the southeast.
States • New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria & Western
Australia.
Major cities • In decreasing order of population: Sydney (largest and most populated city in
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Australia), Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart & Darwin.
• From north to south: Darwin, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra & Ho-
bart.
• From east to west: Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Adelaide, Darwin &
Perth.
Major Islands • Tasmania (also known as Apple Isle for its cultivation of apple). It is a major
horticulture region of Australia.
Largest Lake • Lake Eyre (9,500 km2).

• It is also the lowest point (-15m below sea level)
Highest Mountain • Mawson Peak (2,745 m) (Located in Heard Island, an external Australian territory
near Antarctica)
• Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) in mainland Australia
Longest River • Murray River (~2,500 km)
Geography & vege- • Tropical rainforests in the north-east, temperate forests in the eastern highlands,
tation snow-capped mountains of the Australian Alps and Tasmania, and large interior
deserts.
• Australian temperate forests (eastern Australia) are mostly made up of evergreen

eucalyptus trees.
Notable Fauna • Only egg-laying mammals on Earth, the platypus and echidna.
• Marsupials: Kangaroo (National Animal of Australia), Tasmanian devil, etc.
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Major Geographic Features of Australia
The Great Barrier Reef 5
• The Coral Sea contains numerous islands and reefs, as well as the world's largest reef system, the Great
Barrier Reef (GBR), which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1981.
• GBR covers an area of 348,000 km2 and extends for over 2,000 kilometres (10oS to 24oS).
The Great Dividing Range
• The Great Dividing Range is a series of mountains, and highlands that runs about 3,000 kilometres from
northern Queensland to northern part of Victoria.

• The Great Dividing Range reaches its greatest heights in the Australian Alps.
• The highest peak in the Australian Alps is Mt Kosciuszko (2,228 m).

• This chain of highlands divides the drainage of the rivers that flow to the east into the Tasman Sea from
those that flow west into the drainage of the Murray–Darling basin.
• The Alps, particularly the Victorian Alps, are periodically subject to major bushfires.
Marginal Seas around Australia
6
Major Deserts in Australia
• Australia is the driest inhabited continent.

• Great Victoria Desert in southern Australia is Australia's largest desert.
Others
Uluru (Ayers Rock)
• It is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia.

• Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year.
7
Pilbara Region
• Pilbara is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia.
• It is known for its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore.
Kimberley Plateau
• The Argyle Diamond Mine is located in the East Kimberley region.
• The mine is one of the largest producers of diamonds in the world.
Oceania
• Oceania has traditionally been divided into four parts:

1. Australasia (Australia and New Zealand),
2. Melanesia,
3. Micronesia, and
4. Polynesia.
Melanesia
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• Melanesia extends from New Guinea island to Tonga.

• The region includes the independent countries of Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, as
well as the French special collectively of New Caledonia, and parts of Indonesia (Western New Guinea).
• Most of the region is in the Southern Hemisphere, with only a few small north-western islands of Western
New Guinea lying in the Northern Hemisphere.
Fiji
• British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874 and in the late 19th century, the British imported indentured
labourers from India to work on sugarcane fields.
• The British granted Fiji independence in 1970.
• The population of Fiji is mostly made up of native Fijians (54%) and Indo-Fijians (38.1%).
• Relationships between ethnic Fijians and Indo-Fijians have often been strained.
• In 2014, PM Modi visited Fiji.

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Micronesia
• There are four main island groups in Micronesia. They are divided between six sovereign nations:
1. the Caroline Islands (divided between Federated States of Micronesia and Palau);
2. the Gilbert Islands (Republic of Kiribati);
3. the Mariana Islands (Northern Mariana Islands and Guam are unincorporated territory of the United
States; Guam is the largest island)
4. the Marshall Islands (sovereign nation) (Wake Island is claimed by Marshall Islands but controlled by
United States Air Force);

• Nauru is a small sovereign nation in the region.
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Oceania (Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia) (Jailbird, via Wikimedia Commons)
Polynesia
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• Samoa: Independent nation.
• American Samoa: Unincorporated territory of the United States; located to the southeast of Samoa.
• Cook Islands: Self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.
• Easter Island: Province and special territory of Chile.
• French Polynesia: Overseas country of the French Republic.

• Hawaii: In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of US (Alaska is the 49th state; it was purchased from Russia).
• Tonga: Independent nation located to the east of Fiji.
• Tuvalu: Independent nation.
New Zealand
• New Zealand is the largest country in Polynesia.

• The country comprises two main islands — the North and South islands — and a number of small islands.
• Three in four New Zealanders (total population is 4.9 million) live in the North Island.
• The South Island is important for forestry (Western side of Southern Alps), agriculture, sheep rearing and
dairy farming (Marlborough, Canterbury Plains).
• The capital city is Wellington and the largest urban area is Auckland — both located on the North Island.
• Southern Alps (900-3000 m) on the South Island is the major mountain range.
• The western slopes are wet and forested.

• The rain shadow region on the eastern side has vast pasture lands and fertile Canterbury Plains.
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Canterbury Plains
Recently in News (Focus Area for Prelims 2021 – Marked in Red)
Carmichael coal-mining project in Australia
• Adani is building the $16.5 billion Carmichael coal-mining project in Queensland, Australia.
• The Australian government approved its construction in 2018.

• Adani has faced country-wide protests against the Queensland project.
• The project can increase global warming and threaten the Great Barrier Reef.
• Carmichael is located in the Galilee Basin.

• The Galilee Basin is one of the largest untapped reserves of coal in the world.
• Carmichael mine will be connected to the Abbot Port operated by Adani.⸻
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Galilee Basin in Australia (Wikipedia)

Bougainville
• Bougainville is a part of the archipelago that includes the Solomon Islands.
• It is a resource-rich autonomous island inherited by Papua New Guinea from Australia.

• Bougainville/Panguna Copper Mine holds some of the world’s largest reserves of copper.
• Copper extracted from the Panguna mine contributed significantly to Papua New Guinea’s economy.
• The mine created opportunities for people from PNG & Australia, leading to conflicts with Bougainvilleans.
Why in news?
• In 2019, voters backing Bougainville’s independence from Papua New Guinea have won a referendum.
• The outcome of the poll is however not binding on the government of Papua New Guinea.
• Things to remember for prelims: Solomon Islands, Solomon Sea, Bismark Sea and Papua New Guinea.
Whakaari / White Island
• The volcanic island Whakaari / White Island in New Zealand's north-eastern Bay of Plenty region explo-
sively erupted on 9 December 2019, killing several people.
• Whakaari / White Island is an active andesite stratovolcano.
14
Tulagi Island
• A Beijing-based company has secured exclusive development rights for the entire island of Tulagi.
• Tulagi is an island within the Solomon Islands.

• The Solomons cut ties to Taiwan and allied with Beijing just a few days before the Tulagi deal.
• A second Pacific nation, Kiribati, followed suit the same week.

• US sees the island chains of the Pacific as crucial to keep China in check and protect important sea routes.
Zealandia
• Zealandia (microcontinent – broke away from Australian continental landmass) is an almost entirely sub-
merged mass of continental crust that subsided after splitting from Gondwanaland 80 million years ago.
• New Zealand is the largest part of Zealandia that is above sea level, followed by New Caledonia.
15
New Caledonia
• Context: New Caledonia rejects independence from France.
• New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, to the south
of Vanuatu, about 1,210 km east of Australia.

• The archipelago is a part of the Melanesia subregion.
• New Caledonia is part of Zealandia, a fragment of the ancient Gondwana super-continent.
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Location Based Topics – World Geography – Australia

Major Geographic Features of Australia ..................................................................................................... 5

Longitudinal Extent 113° E to 153° E (~4000 km)

Latitudinal Extent 10° S to 43° S (~3860 km)

to the east, and

• New Zealand to the southeast.

Largest Lake • Lake Eyre (9,500 km2).

Longest River • Murray River (~2,500 km)

• Australian temperate forests (eastern Australia) are mostly made up of evergreen

Major Geographic Features of Australia

The Great Barrier Reef 5

The Great Dividing Range

northern Queensland to northern part of Victoria.

• The highest peak in the Australian Alps is Mt Kosciuszko (2,228 m).

Marginal Seas around Australia

• Australia is the driest inhabited continent.

Uluru (Ayers Rock)

• It is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia.

• The Argyle Diamond Mine is located in the East Kimberley region.

• The mine is one of the largest producers of diamonds in the world.

• Oceania has traditionally been divided into four parts:

• Melanesia extends from New Guinea island to Tonga.

• The British granted Fiji independence in 1970.

• In 2014, PM Modi visited Fiji.

States; Guam is the largest island)

United States Air Force);

• Cook Islands: Self-governing state in free association with New Zealand.

• Easter Island: Province and special territory of Chile.

• French Polynesia: Overseas country of the French Republic.

• New Zealand is the largest country in Polynesia.

dairy farming (Marlborough, Canterbury Plains).

• The western slopes are wet and forested.

Carmichael coal-mining project in Australia

• The Australian government approved its construction in 2018.

• Carmichael is located in the Galilee Basin.

Galilee Basin in Australia (Wikipedia)

• Bougainville is a part of the archipelago that includes the Solomon Islands.

• It is a resource-rich autonomous island inherited by Papua New Guinea from Australia.

Whakaari / White Island

• Tulagi is an island within the Solomon Islands.

• A second Pacific nation, Kiribati, followed suit the same week.

• Context: New Caledonia rejects independence from France.

of Vanuatu, about 1,210 km east of Australia.

• New Caledonia is part of Zealandia, a fragment of the ancient Gondwana super-continent.

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