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.