Australia is an island continent located southeast of Asia and forming, with the nearby island of Tasmania, the Commonwealth of Australia, a self-governing member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The continent is bounded on the north by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea, and the Torres Strait; on the east by the Coral Sea and the Tasman Sea; on the south by the Bass Strait and the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Indian Ocean. The commonwealth extends for about about 2500 miles from east to west and for about 2300 miles from north to south. Its coastline measures some 22,826 miles. The area of the commonwealth is 2,966,150 square miles, and the area of the continent alone is 2,939,974 square miles, making Australia the smallest continent in the world, but the sixth largest country.The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of six states: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia; and two territories: the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The external dependencies of Australia are the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Australian Antarctic Territory, Christmas Island, the Territory of Cocos Islands, the Coral Sea Islands Territory, the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and Norfolk Island.The first Australians were the Aborigines. Aboriginal folklore claims that the Aborigines were always in Australia. However, most anthropologists believe that the Aborigines migrated from Southeast Asia at least 40,000 years ago, probably during a period when low sea levels permitted the simplest forms of land and water travel. A rise in sea level subsequently made Tasmania an island and caused some cultural separation between its peoples and those on the mainland.These original Australians were essentially hunter-gatherers without domesticated animals, other than the dingo, which was introduced by the Aborigines between 3000 and 4000 years ago. The Aborigine...
