Australia is sometimes called the land "Down Under". This is because if you look on a map, it is located in the bottom half of the Earth.

Size: 2,967,909 square miles (7,686,850 square kilometers); slightly smaller than the continental United States

Population: 21,262,641 as of July 2009

Capital: Canberra

Official Languages: English

Climate: Tropical in the north

temperate in the south

Dry and hot in the deserts The interior of Australia (called the Outback) is dry with many deserts. Currency: Australian dollar

Uluru National Park (Ayers Rock)Ayers Rock, known also by its aboriginal name, "Uluru," is located in a desert region of Australia known as the Red Center. Australia's native people, the Aborigines, believed this giant stone hill was a sacred dwelling for spirits that created the world.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. It stretches more than 2,000 kilometers along the eastern coast of Australia. The Reef is so big, it can be seen from outer space!

Sydney is Australia's biggest city. The Sydney Opera House was made to look like the white sails of a ship.

kookaburra, which is also known by its nickname 'laughing jackass. The echidna, or spiny anteater

The koala looks like a cuddly little bear. It's not a bear at all, though - it's a marsupial. Koalas like to eat eucalyptus leaves. They get all the water they need from eating leaves and never have to have a drink!

The platypus is one of only two mammals in the world

that lay eggs.

Lorikeets (shown here) and parakeets are among Australia's most colorful - and noisiest - birds. They often travel in large flocks, creating a rainbow of beautiful colors.

Australia is hopping with about 50 kinds of kangaroos . Kangaroos are marsupials, or mammals that give birth to tiny, poorly developed offspring. In most species, the babies grow up in a pouch on the mother's belly.

Australian Aborigines were almost exterminated by the English colonizers.

Today, they represent only 1% of the Australian population, roughly estimated at around

200,000 people. When Captain Cook arrived in 1770, there were about 300,000 of them. The Aborigines inhabited Australia for at least

25,000 years

A Pioneer settler

. Racial discrimination is a very serious crime in Australia, and the government is giving extra support to indigenous

Happily many things have changed for the better amongst Aborigines today, and many anti-discrimination laws have been reinforced.

The large, white, seven-pointed

Commonwealth Star (also called the Star of

Federation) - it is symbolic of the

original states of Australia.

The flag is also called the

Commonwealth Blue Ensign. It has three main

design elements on a deep blue background:

The British Union Jack flag is in the upper left corner -

noting Australia's ties to Great Britain

The Southern Cross constellation (5 stars) is on the right side of the flag - the Southern Cross is a major navigational constellation in the Southern Hemisphere

A Boomerang is a wooden device that is thrown, primarily for the purposes of hunting.

A simple wooden tube blown with the lips like a trumpet, which gains its sonic flexibility from controllable resonances of the player's vocal tract.