2. Australia is the only continent that is also a country and an island.

3. Canberra is the capital of Australia. This is the Parliament house in Canberra. Australia’s flag has the British Union Flag, five stars for the Southern Cross constellation, and a large star for the commonwealth.

4. Australia’s Coats of Arm It has a kangaroo and an emu; wattle blossoms; a shield with coats of arms of the six states; and a star for the Commonwealth.

5. The Five States in Australia Western Australia Northern Territory Queensland New South Wales South Australia Tasmania

6. The Look of the Land

7. These hills are considered mountains in Australia.

8. The Great Western Plateau The plants here are mostly drought-resistant mulga scrub.

9. The Gibber Desert This desert gets about 5 inches of rain a year.It is covered with wind polished stones. Gibber is the aboriginal word for stones.

10. The Eastern Highlands This is one of the many water falls in Southern Queensland that pours into a mossy canyon.

11. City Life

12. This is a busy railroad station in Perth. Perth is a city on the southwest coast in Australia.

13. This is the city of Melbourne. Almost All of Australia’s people live in cities. These cities have shops, restaurants, and tall buildings just like those in the U.S.

14. This is the Sydney Opera House. It is one of the most famous buildings in Sydney.

15. Life on the Cattle and Sheep Station

16. The best-known job in Australia is farming. The wide, open spaces of the countryside are the perfect place for raising animals such as cattle and sheep.

17. The Outback It is mainly deserts and grasslands on which cattle and sheep graze.

18. Sheep and cows are raised by the ranchers in Australia.

19. This man has a sheep station in the Outback. A station is like a ranch. He has thousands of sheep on his station. His workers uses dogs to find his sheep, and they often ride motorcycles to round up the sheep.

20. Aborigines have lived in Australia for thousands of years. Some of them work in the Outback and have their own cattle stations.

21. Much of south and central Australia is very hot and dry. It is called the “Outback.” Alice Spring is the biggest town in the Outback.

22. Aborigines are descendants of Australia's first settlers. They came to Australia thousands of years ago. Their history is similar to the American Indians. Most Aborigines live in rural areas. But recently more young people are moving to the cities.

23. Aborigine boys playing at corroborees just as you play at doing grown-up things. Corroborees are special tribal dances where the aborigines retell stories. The dancers chant and stamp their feet to the sound of pipes called didjeridooos.

24. Long ago, aborigines believe the earth was flat and empty. Then, their world of light and dark, rocks and plants, birds and animals was formed by the deeds of a race of mysterious creatures. This was the creation of Dreamtime. They drew these pictures on bark and cave walls.

25. A Bark Painting This painting was done on the inside of the bark of a Eucalyptus tree. Can you find two kangaroos, a marsupial rat, a goanna, an emu, a long neck turtle,and a straw bag?

26. Aboriginal Bark Painting

27. The Ayer’s Rock belongs to the Aborigines. Their name for it is Uluru. The cave painting done by the Aborigines in the caves at Uluru are very famous.

28. The Ayers Rock is the largest one-piece rock in the world.

29. This is one of the cave drawing on the cave wall at Uluru (or Ayer’s Rock.)

30. Work In Australia The wool and meat from these animals will be sold to people all over the world. Cowboys from Victoria This is an opal miner in Cober Pedy.

31. Barbeque in Australia-(Salad, steak, drink) How does it compare to our cookouts?

32. Cattleman cooks outdoors in Victoria.

33. Australians eat many of the same foods we do. Meat, potatoes, and bread are all favorite dishes. Fresh vegetables and fruit are popular, too. They also like foods from other countries. Cooking Noodles at a market in Darwin.

34. Pastimes Yacht Race Camel Race at Alice Springs Lifeguards

35. Team sports are very popular. Rugby is very rough and dangerous. Cricket is a little like American baseball.The men below are playing football.

37. School in Australia

38. Australian children start school when they are about five years old. They learn math, reading, science, and writing just as you do.

39. Students in the outback live to far away to attend regular schools. Instead, they learn through schools of the air. Students receive and turn in their homework by mail. Teachers and students talk to each other on two–way radios.

40. Animals in Australia

41. Marsupials give birth to tiny, underdeveloped young. The young continue to develop, often in pouches, or folds of skin, on their mother’s belly. Many of Australian mammals belong to this group. Marsupials feed at night. Mountain Possum

42. The Koalas eat eucalyptus leaves and sleep in the branches of eucalyptus trees.

43. With her baby safe in her lap, the mother koala reaches for food. The marsupials eat only the leaves of the eucalyptus trees. The leaves give them all the water they need. They live in the treetops of the eucalyptus tree.

44. The “Wallaby” is part of the kangaroo family, but smaller. This wallaby is unusual. Do you know why?

45. During a quarrel –real or just in play- one kangaroo uses it tail as a prop while it tries to kick the other. Kangaroos usually lives together peacefully.

46. The baby joey returns to its mother’s pouch for food and protection.

47. Kangaroos often get hit by cars on the roads, so cars have “roo” bars in front of their engines. This bar protects the engines and lights if a kangaroos suddenly hop into the road.

48. Patches of white mark the thick woolly coat of a spotted cuscus. This round-faced animal has a yellowish nose and bulging yellow eyes. He uses his tail as an extra hand. A cuscus is a marsupial about the size of a cat. Some people mistake them for monkeys.

49. Built for burrowing, the wombat waddles on short, powerful legs. Wombats use mostly their strong front legs to dig tunnels. The wombat is a marsupials.

50. The glider is a member of the possum family. A glider stretches out flaps of skin that catch the air the way wings do. It can travel the length of a football field. It feeds at night on leaves, fruit, sap and insects.

51. Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs. Platypuses and echidnas are the only monotremes.

52. A platypus, is a strange animal that has a bill and webbed feet like a duck,fur like a otter, and a tail like a beaver. It hatches it babies from eggs.

53. A young echidna lies curled in a flap of skin on its mother’s belly. It won’t be there much longer. Its spines have begun to appear. Once they start poking the mother, she will put the your echidna in a hollow log or among rocks and care for it there.

54. A flock of emus race through a field. These huge birds run fast- as fast as 30 miles an hour- and far. But they can’t fly.

55. Moving gently, a male emu tends a nest full of green eggs. After the female emu lays the eggs, the male takes over. He hatches them and takes care of the chicks

56. The female bowerbird watches the male. He decorates the nest with bits of colored materials.

57. The frilled lizard strikes a scary pose atop a termite mound. This reptile may grow up to 3 feet long.

58. An angry frill-necked lizard ruffles its frills to frighten an enemy.

59. This is the Tasmanian devil. A disturbed Tasmanian devil snarls and will freeze in a threatening posture and stay that way until the enemy goes away. They eat mostly dead animals.

60. The Great Barrier Reef It is the world’s largest coral reef. The reef is about 1,250 miles. Its beauty attracts many skin divers.

61. - Great Barrier Reef: This is what you might see through a glass-bottom boat.

62. A female weedy sea dragon and her young drift through the water, pushed along by transparent fins.

63. Bye! I hope you liked your visit to Australia.