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AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND

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Title: AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND


1
AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND
  • GEOGRAPHY 200
  • DR. STAVROS COSTANTINOU

2
Australia and New Zealand Location and Size
  • Australia occupies a peripheral location relative
    to the world land masses.
  • It is surrounded by ocean.
  • Australia is located between 11º S and 44º S.
  • The distance between the United Kingdom and New
    Zealand via Singapore and Suez is about 21,400
    km. (13,300 mi.) via the Cape of Good Hope,
    about 20,112 km. (12,500 mi.) and via Panama,
    about 17,700 km. (11,100 mi.).
  • In the days of sailing ships the distance of
    21,400 km. (13,300 mi.) represented a trip of six
    months duration.
  • To the British, the location became a resource
    and Australia became the dumping ground for
    social undesirables. The cities of Sydney and
    Brisbane were originally penal colonies.

3
Australia Landforms
  • Caledonian Remnants
  • These highland formations extend along the east
    coast from Cape York to southern Tasmania in a
    belt from 161 km. (100 mi.) to 402 km. (250 mi.)
    wide. They seldom reach elevations of 1000 m.
    (3000 ft.). Their highest summit, the highest
    point in Australia, is Mount Kosciusko, which
    attains only 2195 m. (7316 ft.). This is the only
    area of Australia which does not experience a
    considerable period of draught each year.
  • Gondwana Shield
  • This is a very extensive area that occupies the
    interior of Australia and is very dry. The Great
    Australian Desert is part of this area.

4
Australia New Zealand Landforms
  • Sedimentary Cover (Outside Shield Exposures)
  • This is a low elevation area that covers
    significant portions of the coastal part of the
    country and the Murray Basin and Great Artesian
    Basin, and the Perth Lowland.
  • Rift Valley This is an area of rifted valley
    around the city of Adelaide.
  • Alpine System This is a chain of mountains that
    extends from the North to the South Island of New
    Zealand, where the Southern Alps reach 3,754 m.
    (12,316 ft.) in elevation.
  • Great Barrier Reef This coral reef stretches fro
    more than 2,028 km. (1,260 mi.) and parallels the
    coast of Queensland. It acts as a barrier between
    the open ocean and the sheltered lagoon between
    the reef and the coast.

5
Australia and New Zealand Climate
  • On the basis of climate, Australia may be
    subdivided into four major natural regions
  • The humid Eastern Highlands
  • The tropical savannas of northern Australia
  • The "Mediterranean" lands of southwestern and
    southern Australia,
  • The dry interior.

6
Australia and New Zealand Climate
  • Marine west coast (Cfb) climate predominates in
    the eastern highlands section of Australia and in
    New Zealand. South of Sydney and at higher
    elevations to the north the climate is commonly
    classified as humid continental, despite the
    location. North of Sydney higher summer
    temperatures change the classification to humid
    subtropical, while still farther north, beyond
    approximately the parallel of 20 S., hotter
    temperatures and greater seasonality of rain
    cause essentially subhumid conditions.

7
Australia and New Zealand Climate
  • Tropical Savanna (Aw). This climatic type is
    found in Northern Australia, from near Broome on
    the Indian Ocean to the coast of the Coral Sea.
    It receives heavy rainfall during a portion of
    the (Southern Hemisphere) summer season, but
    experiences almost complete drought during the
    winter six months, or more, of the year. This
    highly seasonal distribution of rainfall is
    essentially the result of monsoonal winds which
    blow onshore during the summer and offshore
    during the winter. The predominant vegetative
    type is savanna (coarse grasses with scattered
    trees and patches of woodland).

8
Australia and New Zealand Climate
  • Mediterranean or dry summer subtropical Csa).
    The southwestern corner of Australia and the
    lands around Spencer Gulf have a Mediterranean or
    dry summer subtropical type of climate with
    subtropical temperatures, winter rain, and summer
    drought. In winter the Southern Hemisphere belt
    of the westerly winds shifts far enough north to
    affect these districts, while in summer this belt
    lies offshore to the south and the land is dry.
    Agricultural possibilities are limited by the
    lack of high highlands to catch moisture and
    supply irrigation water to lowlands.

9
Australia and New Zealand Climate
  • The Dry Interior (BSh)
  • The huge interior of Australia is a desert,
    surrounded by a broad fringe of semiarid
    grassland ( steppe) which is transitional to the
    more humid areas around the edges of the
    continent. They extend to the coast in the
    northwest and along the Great Australian Bight in
    the south. This area is too far south to get
    much rain from the summer monsoon, too far north
    to benefit from rainfall brought by the
    westerlies in winter, and is shielded from
    Pacific winds by the eastern highlands.

10
Australia and New Zealand Vegetation
  • Broadleaf evergreen trees predominate in eastern
    Australia.
  • Grasslands cover an extensive zone inland from
    the more humid eastern coastal area.
  • Desert vegetation covers extensive areas in the
    interior of Australia.
  • Mixed broadleaf deciduous and needleleaf
    evergreen predominate in the Northern Island and
    a significant section of the northern part of
    the South Island of New Zealand.

11
Australia and New Zealand Soils
  • Alfisols are found in southeastern Australia,
    southwestern Australia, and the Arnhem Plateau.
  • Vertisols are found in an extensive area west of
    the Eastern Highlands and extending in a
    northwestern direction in a horseshoe shape.
  • Aridisols are found in a very broad area
    extending from the Tropic of Capricorn southward
    to the coast.
  • Entisols are mostly found in the areas north of
    the Tropic of Capricorn.

12
Australia and New Zealand Resources
  • Australia is well endowed in a great array of
    minerals. Specifically, Australia leads the
    world in the production of bauxite (37.9) and
    lead (17.1). Among the other important
    minerals, Australia produces about 11.0 of the
    world's gold, 7.6 of the world's silver, 3.5of
    the world's copper, 3.2 of the world's tin, 6.3
    of aluminum, 14.0 of zinc, 9.5 of manganese,
    7.1 of nickel, 14.0 of iron ore, 4.3 of
    cobalt.
  • About 3 of Australia is classified as cropland
    with another 3 cultivated pasture. Only 5 is
    classed as forest and woodland, while almost 60
    is classed as natural grazing land and about
    one-third as complete wasteland. These figures
    give Australia an arable area only one-eighth
    that of the conterminous U. S., which is
    comparable to Australia in size.

13
Australia and New Zealand Population
  • In 2003, Australia had 19,900,000 inhabitants.
    The population of Australia is primarily located
    in the coastal areas of the eastern parts of the
    country. About 85 percent of residents are
    classified as urban. The aborigines (indigenous
    Australians) today number about 50,000 as
    compared to about 350,000 two centuries ago.
    Since 1901 Australian governments pursued the
    "white Australia" policy which has resulted in a
    population that is overwhelmingly white, with
    emigrants from Britain being the largest number.
    Large numbers of other Europeans, including
    Italians, Greeks, Germans, and Eastern Europeans,
    arrived in the 1960s.

14
Australia and New Zealand Economic Geography
  • Primary production
  • Wheat production is extensive and highly
    mechanized. Usually Australia ranks after the
    U.S. and Canada among wheat exporters. There are
    two main wheat-growing areas the main wheat belt
    is around the port city of Adelaide and the a
    less important wheat belt has developed inland
    from Perth. Exports of wheat account for 1/10 of
    all exports.
  • Australia has large herds of sheep, 120,000,000
    head. This computes to 6.09 sheep per capita of
    human population.
  • Australia also has large herds of beef cattle,
    26,000,000 head.

15
Australia and New Zealand Economic Geography
  • Manufacturing
  • Manufacturing in Australia is primarily tied to
    the local market, which is small. The emphasis
    is on the processing of food and a large array of
    industrial consumer goods that are consumed
    locally, including automobiles, textiles,
    chemicals, and electrical equipment.

16
Australia and New Zealand Political Geography
  • Australia is a federal country, in contrast to
    most European countries which are unitary. The
    Commonwealth of Australia was established on
    January 1, 1901 and consists of six states and
    the federal territories of the national capital
    and the Northern Territory. The site of Canberra
    as the capital city was chosen in 1908 as a
    compromise between Melbourne and Sydney.

17
NEW ZEALAND
  • New Zealand is located over 2414 km (1500 miles)
    southeast of Australia. The country has
    4,000,000 inhabitants in 2003 and about 85
    percent of the population is of European descent.
    The Maoris (indigenous people of New Zealand)
    number about 450,000 and several people are of
    mixed ancestry.
  • New Zealand has a British heritage like Australia
    and a small market. Great distances from the
    world's markets promote the desire for
    emphasizing domestic manufacturing.
  • Like Australia, New Zealand is highly urbanized
    with 77 percent of the population concentrated in
    cities which are located on the coast. About 3/4
    of all New Zealanders live in the North Island.
    Nearly all of the Maoris live on the North Island.

18
NEW ZEALAND
  • New Zealand consists of two large mountainous
    islands and several smaller scattered islands.
    The South Island is somewhat larger than the
    North Island and together they are larger than
    Britain. South Island has the Southern Alps with
    peaks that exceed 3,500 meters (11,700 feet).
  • The coastal plains of both islands constitute the
    best agricultural land. In North Island,
    Auckland with 315,668 (1,000,0000) residents
    occupies a comparatively low-lying peninsula. On
    South Island, the largest agricultural area is
    the Canterbury Plain, centered on Christchurch,
    which has 360,000 people. This area is the main
    farming region of the country.
  • About half of New Zealand is pasture land. Sheep
    (46,000,000 11.79 sheep per capita) and cattle
    (9,000,000) dominate, with about half the
    island's export revenues coming from wool and
    meat.
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