Alive with natural wonders to amaze the senses and spectacular cities that blend together cultures from around the world, Australia offers the greatest holiday choice. Cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth thrive amidst a cosmopolitan array of festivals, cultures and cuisine. Each has its own unique character and charm but all abound with a wide variety of activities and attractions, ranging from city sightseeing, surfing the beach, snorkelling the crystal clear waters of the Great Barrier Reef, exploring the terrain of the outback or tracking in the lush tropical rainforest 

Kangaroos and rust red deserts of the outback color the popular image of the driest and emptiest continent after Antarctica. Eighty-five percent of Australians live in cities and towns, mostly along the fertile east coast: Bustling Sydney and Melbourne are the financial and commercial hubs; Newcastle and Wollongong mark the limits of a manufacturing region centered on Sydney, host of the Summer Olympics in the year 2000. 

Founded in 1788 as a British convict colony, Australia was a place of banishment until gold strikes in 1851 opened floodgates of immigration. Independence came in 1901. Australia’s constitution, adapted in part from that of the United States, gives residual powers to the six states and two territories, each with its own legislature.  

The United Kingdom is still an important source of newcomers to the land down under, but Asians now account for almost half of all arrivals. Sydney is home to thousands of Italians, Lebanese, and Vietnamese. More Greeks live in Melbourne than any city outside Greece itself.  

In spite of recent economic recession, Australia has one of the world’s highest living standards, and natural resources are plentiful. Australians call their land the “lucky country.” Every year visitors flock to the Sunshine and Gold Coasts near Brisbane and to the Great Barrier Reef. The good life, however, has eluded most Aborigines, whose unemployment rate is four times the national average. 

Although less than 10 percent of the land is arable, Australia exports huge quantities of wheat and fruit and leads the world in the production of wool. It is the world’s largest bauxite producer and one of the largest exporters of coal, from New South Wales and Queensland, and of iron ore, from Western Australia. The country is developing computer-software and medical-equipment industries but is limited by a small domestic market. Japan and other economic powers in eastern Asia have replaced the U.K. as leading consumers of Australian exports.  

In 1989 Australian officials, galvanized by the prospect of European economic integration in 1992, met with representatives from 11 other Asia-Pacific nations in an effort to strengthen ties. Australia is becoming less a European country in Asia and more an Asian country with European roots.