On the northeastern side of Australia sits the second-largest state, named after Queen Victoria (who, keen observers will note, has another state, Victoria, also named after her). This is the third most populous state in the country, after NSW and Victoria. Queensland is also the state under which Brisbane, its capital, belongs. Often referred to as the sunshine state because of the warm climate, Queensland has most of the population in the state residing near the coastline, and to the east of the state already lies the Pacific Ocean.

Geography and Climate

The state capital of Brisbane is also part of the coastal community of most of the state, and is about one hundred km away from the border of New South Wales when traveling by motorway and NSW is also directly south of the state. Queensland also has the largest city in terms of land area anywhere, Mount Isa, taking up over forty thousand square km of land area.

A lot of natural wonders are located within Queensland, including the beaches in the state like the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast being the most well-known of the beaches there. Off the coast one would find a world heritage site, the Great Barrier Reef, the largest living coral reef in the world. The area occupied by this reef stretches to almost three hundred fifty thousand square kilometers, and can even be seen right from outer space. This is one large area when you think about it, and as a single structure made by living organisms, it’s the largest as well. There are four other world heritage sites located in Queensland, including fossil sites left behind by mammals, located in the Gulf Country. The Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves and Queensland’s Wet Tropics area are also located well within the state.

Covering one third of the total land area of the country, Western Australia is an icon of sorts representing the country, and a combination of the modern settlements in Australia with untouched geography in the area. It’s the second largest territory in the world that’s classified below a country status. Western Australia offers a glimpse of the frontier nature that got the country started on its way to becoming a full-fledged nation and not just a convict settlement.

Western Australian Geography

One of the interesting things about the geography of Western Australia is that due to its humongous size, at more than two and a half million square kilometers, the state is so spread out, making the state capital Perth much closer in distance to Jakarta in Indonesia, than to Canberra, the national capital. Much of the state’s geographic features are also extremely old, in fact, the region’s topography resembles what it was millions of years ago before continental drift pushed other continents together to form mountains and other diverse features.

The old age of the landscape also has some significant impacts on the environment surrounding Western Australia. The nitrogen content is only half of what should be considered normal for agricultural purposes, as is the phosphorous levels, much less than what is required for growing plants naturally in the area. The agriculture here is heavily reliant on fertilizer methods to make sure that produce grows healthy during this time.

Sometimes you need to have it all. Whether it’s a bustling city background, a calm and relaxing environment where you can enjoy yourself and take time out, or maybe even a nice suburb where you can raise your kids and shop in the different malls, South Australia has something for everybody. You can have a nice time living and working in the centermost state, along the lower portion of Australia. It’s a great place to live in, and you won’t be disappointed when you get to see what the state has to offer to you.

The state of South Australia enjoys its origins as a planned state from the very beginning, compared to other states in the country that originally started out as penal colonies, where convict settlements abounded and pretty much paved the way for urbanization and a new start. Now, the state is famous for having a vibrant cultural background and a nice economy supporting it as well.

Geography and Climate

South Australia is placed smack dab in the middle of Australia’s southern end, and sits beside Western Australia on its left and Victoria along with New South Wales on its eastern part. The fourth largest in size, South Australia is just around fifteen thousand square kilometers short of reaching one million square km in land area. Most of the arid portions of the country are located in this state, and South Australia is the fifth largest in terms of population despite its large size. Most of the people in this state reside in Adelaide, the state capital, and the most fertile areas are those in the coastal areas and on the River Murray’s path.

During the 1800s, a lot of people moved into New South Wales, in hopes of being one of those who would strike it lucky and find gold in what is now the most populous state in the whole of Australia. A hundred thousand people moved into New South Wales, making the population rise up some thirty-three percent, or one third of the population before the gold rush. This was a sign, marking the beginning of NSW (as New South Wales is commonly called), transforming it into one the most populous state in all of Australia.

Geography of NSW

New South Wales is a coastal state, and is further divided into four sections. It’s on the easternmost side of Australia, and occupies a humongous amount of space, at eight hundred and ten thousand square km, and the coastline measuring over two thousand kilometers in length and facing the Tasman Sea. To the north of the state lies Queensland, and on the southern end of NSW is another, much smaller state, Victoria. The southern border of the state of NSW is South Australia. The Western Plains occupies a large portion of the state, around two-thirds of the entire land area, and its use is limited during other time periods because of the lack of water.

The four main cities in New South Wales are mainly coastal towns that have grown with the passage of time into some of the most populous cities in the country. Sydney, the capital, along with Newcastle, Gosford, and Wollongong all lay along the coastline in the eastern end of NSW. All in all, the population of the state clocks in at seven million inhabitants.

Commonly referred to as VIC, Victoria has the smallest land area of any state in Australia, but it also boasts as being the most urbanized state in the country, ahead even of NSW. The population here also has the highest density among all the other states. Like many other areas in Australia, Victoria’s original boom in population stemmed largely from the gold rush during the 1800s, resulting in a surge of immigrants coming into the state to test their fates in search of a fortune in gold. Today however, most people live in the state capital of Melbourne, for a variety of reasons not even remotely related with gold mining.

A Golden History

Much of Victoria’s history lies in the gold rush. This started during the mid-1800s, when the first discoveries at Ballarat, then Bendigo brought along one of the largest influxes of immigrants wanting to have a chance at striking gold in the state. During this time the number of the population swelled from less than eighty thousand to almost five hundred fifty thousand people, many of them Chinese immigrants brought in as mine workers. The gold rush in thiis state was so great that Victoria became the source of one-third of the entire gold output in the world. The gold rush has also led directly to the enrichment of the state and its transformation as the financial capital of both Australia and New Zealand, the neighboring colony also under British rule. However, during the seventies and eighties the city of Sydney has overtaken this city in terms of being a business capital in the country.