How big is Australia compared with North America, specifically the USA? If you ignore Alaska, Hawaii and so on Australia is quite comparable with the USA (the 48 mainland contiguous states). Comparing the population, the USA has about 301,000,000 people while Australia has about 21,000,000. Most of Australia's population lives on the coastal fringes and in Tasmania while only 2% live in the vast interior.
Image Credit: The Australian Government.
There is a shortage of lakes and rivers in Australia and the cattle and sheep farmers rely heavily on subterranean aquafers. Most of the towns that exist in the interior were created for a specific purpose. Where the purpose no longer exists the towns are dying.
The secret Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap is situated near Alice Springs right in the centre of Australia. It is operatred by the CIA, NSA, NRO and ASIO. It now helps Alice Springs to stay alive.
Australia is in the southern hemisphere and Northern Australia is in the tropics. Christmas is in summer but 'Christmas in July' is celebrated in the mountains in winter.
The Time Difference is:
Sydney (Australia - New South Wales) Monday, 4 March 2019 at 10:43:10 am AEDT UTC+11 hours
New York (USA - New York) Sunday, 3 March 2019 at 6:43:10 pm EST UTC-5 hours
Corresponding UTC (GMT) Sunday, 3 March 2019 at 23:43:10
I hope this helps people who have no idea about Australia and stops confusion with Austria.
