Australia

• Did you know it is the driest and most arid continent in the world.
• It is about 1.5 times the size of Europe, but with a population of just over 19 million.
• Australia is the sixth largest country in the world, approximately 5% of the world?s land surface.
• Even though Australia was thought to have been found by the Portuguese in the Sixteen hundreds it was not until 1770 that James Cook landed and claimed it for the British. He raised the Union Jack and renamed the continent New South Wales in the name of King George III.
• Australia was "fine for a colony of thieves" and in 1788 the first convicts landed.