Country's Full Name: Commonwealth of Australia

Brief History: The name Australia derives from Latin name Australis meaning 'of south'. Aborigines were the original inhabitants of this federal nation, believed to have arrived 40,000 years ago. European settlers arrived with the Dutch ships landing at the Port of Carpentaria in 1606. Captain James Cook's arrival in 1770 made the British presence in the island. British made a penal colony at Port Jackson or Sydney with the convicts numbering 161,000 - Australia is also nicknamed as "land of convicts". These convicts and other settlers formed six states later to form a federal union. Australia declared itself federal on January 1, 1901 with states as New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two territories also the part of union are Northern territory and Australian Capital Territory. After the Second World War Australia is a close ally of US.

What is the country known for: The Great Barrier Reef once recognized as natural wonders is 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), and lies in North-East coast of Australia. Mount Augustus is located at Western Australia and famous as world's largest monolith.

Main Industries: Mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, steel. Natural resources - bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum.

Main Trading Partners: Japan, China, U.S., South Korea, New Zealand, India, UK, Germany and Singapore.
Exports - : $103 billion (2005 est.): coal, gold, meat, wool, alumina, iron ore, wheat, machinery and transport equipment. Japan 19.6%, China 12.3%, South Korea 7.5%, US 6.2%, India 5.5%, NZ 5.5%, UK 5% (2006).
Imports - $119.6 billion (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment, computers and office machines, telecommunication equipment and parts; crude oil and petroleum products. China 14.4%, US 14.1%, Japan 9.6%, Singapore 6%, Germany 5.1% (2006)

Major Cities: Canberra (capital) population 327,700, Sydney - 4,250,100, Melbourne - 3,610,800, Brisbane - 1,545,700, Perth - 1,375,200, Adelaide - 1,087,600

Location:
27 00 S, 133 00 E
It is in the southern hemisphere between Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean.

Size:
Land area - 2,941,283 sq mi (7,617,931 sq km)
Total area - 2,967,893 sq mi (7,686,850 sq km)

Time Zone: Australia maintains three time zones.
Eastern Standard Time (EST): GMT 10 hours -- in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland.
Central Standard Time (CST): GMT 9:30 hours -- in South Australia and Northern Territory.
Western Standard Time (WST) GMT 8 hours -- in Western Australia.

Northern Territory and Queensland don't maintain Daylight Saving Time during summer months. Western Australia is maintaining Daylight Saving Time on an experimental basis.
Australia Standard Time Zones
Australia Daylight Saving Time

Type of Government: Australia still holds allegiance to the British Crown. A 1999 referendum to remove it was rejected by the voters. Australia is a constitutional monarch where Queen Elizabeth II is the reigning monarch. The Governor-General represents the queen at federal level and Governors at the states. The Governor-General enjoys powers at the discretion of the Prime Minister. The Parliament is bicameral with the upper house called as Senate and lower house called as 'House of Representatives'. Present Prime Minister since 1996 is John Winston Howard.

National Holidays:

2010
1 Jan New Year's Day.
26 Jan Australia Day.
25 Apr ANZAC Day.
25 Dec Christmas Day.
26 Dec Boxing Day.

2011
1 Jan New Year's Day.
26 Jan Australia Day.
22 Apr - 25 Apr Easter.
25 Apr ANZAC Day.
25 Dec Christmas Day.
26 Dec Boxing Day.

Note
Nationwide holidays only. If these dates fall on a Saturday or Sunday, a day may be given in lieu. There are numerous individual state holidays – see individual state sections for details.

Population and Breakdown:
July 2007 estimate - 20,434,176
0-14 years: 19.3% (male 2,023,375/female 1,929,229)
15-64 years: 67.4% (male 6,945,068/female 6,831,653)
65 years and over: 13.2% (male 1,197,494/female 1,507,357)
Life Expectancy - 80.6 years (male 77.75 years/female 83.63 yeasr)

Religion: Roman Catholic 26%, Anglican 20.5%, other Christian 21%, Buddhist 2%, Muslim 2%, other 1%, none 15%, unspecified 12.5%.

Language: English 79.1%, Chinese 2.1%, Italian 1.9%, other 11.1%, unspecified 5.8%

Local Customs:
Australians are not comfortable with personal questions unless you are too close.
Australians generally wear casual dresses even in their work places.
While meeting for the first time they prefer to shake hands - no hugs, no kisses.
You should take permission before smoking, if not done marks indecent behavior.
Australians are quite frank in giving opinion, this may sometimes hurt.
When invited for lunch/dinner/tea inform the host politely about the time you would come. Australians are time conscious, be punctual.
Throw rubbish only in the bin, you may be fined if not done so.

Best Time to go: Summer (December to February) remains hot in the southern part including Tasmania. Nearer to the ocean may bring sea breeze for comfort. In the northern part the weather remains terribly humid. Spring (October-November) and autumn (March-April) are the best time to visit in entire Australia as weather remains mild compared to rest of the year.

Currency:
1 US Dollar = 1.22342 Australian Dollar
1 Australian Dollar (AUD) = 0.81738 US Dollar (USD)
1 Euro = 1.66949 Australian Dollar
1 Australian Dollar (AUD) = 0.59899 Euro (EUR)
1 British Pound = 2.46386 Australian Dollar
1 Australian Dollar (AUD) = 0.40587 British Pound (GBP)

Customs Regulations: How much liquor or cigarettes can you bring in with you?
Tobacco - 200 cigarettes, 250 grams tobacco or cigars.
Liquor - 2.25 liters of any alcoholic beverage.
Articles for personal hygiene are allowed but not the perfume.
Gifts, souvenirs, other goods - within $900 limit.
Passengers under 18 years are allowed to carry half this figures.

Tipping:
The waiters in Australia don't expect tip, in costly restaurants you may hand over 10 percent of the bill value directly to the waiter/waitress. Loose change may be given to the taxi driver. Hairdressers, liftman, others don't expect tip.