Corporative Cooperative Australia
Federal Republic of Corporative Cooperative Australia | |
|---|---|
  Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Motto: G’day, howzit goin? (Australian English) Good morning, how are you? | |
| Anthem: Advance Australia Fair | |
.svg) | |
| Capital | Yattamerran |
| Largest city | Warrane |
| Official languages | English |
| Recognised national languages | Aboriginal languages |
| Religion (2021) | 40.1% Irreligious 26.81% Christianity 18.37% Islam 14.72% Hinduism |
| Demonym(s) | Australian |
| Government | Federal cooperative constitutional republic |
| Independence from the United Kingdom | |
• Federation | January 1, 1901 |
| October 9, 1942 (but in efect from September 3, 1939) | |
| Population | |
• 2021 estimate | 26,007,600 |
| Driving side | left |
| Internet TLD | .cca |
Corporative Cooperative Australia officially the Federal Republic of Corporative Cooperative Australia is a sovereign country in The Pacific Ocean, occupying the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. Due to its extention, it's home to a diverse amount of different climates and biomes. Its capital city is Yattamerran and the largest city is Warrane.
History
British occupation
The history of Australia begins in 1655 when the British navigator Ferdinand Cook discovered what is now the island of Tasmania, then inhabited by natives. The navigator named it Isle of Charles in honor of King Charles II of England. In the years that followed, the island was gradually populated by wealthy English, Scottish and Irish families who were looking for other places to do their business. The priest James Rashford was in charge of evangelizing the natives of the island. In the decade between 1660 and 1670 British expansion into the rest of Australia began, which was achieved with little resistance from the natives.
The first settlements
The first British settlement was Sydney (nowadays Warrane) established on January 26, 1788 as a comercial city with its bay, where the main products were exported to the other colonies.
Impact of British settlement on Indigenous population
When the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove with some 1,300 colonists in January 1788 the Aboriginal population of the Sydney region is estimated to have been about 3,000 people. The first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip, arrived with instructions to: "endeavour by every possible means to open an Intercourse with the Natives and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all Our Subjects to live in amity and kindness with them."
Disease
The relative isolation of the Indigenous population for some 60,000 years meant that they had little resistance to many introduced diseases. An outbreak of smallpox in April 1789 killed about half the Aboriginal population of the Sydney region while only one death was recorded among the settlers. The source of the outbreak is controversial; some researchers contend that it originated from contact with Indonesian fisherman in the far north and spread along Aboriginal trade routes while others argue that it is more likely to have been deliberately spread by settlers.
There were further smallpox outbreaks devastating Aboriginal populations from the late 1820s (affecting south-eastern Australia), in the early 1860s (travelling inland from the Coburg Peninsula in the north to the Great Australian Bight in the south), and in the late 1860s (from the Kimberley to Geraldton). According to Josphine Flood, the estimated Aboriginal mortality rate from smallpox was 60 per cent on first exposure, 50 per cent in the tropics, and 25 per cent in the arid interior.
Other introduced diseases such as measles, influenza, typhoid and tuberculosis also resulted in high death rates in Aboriginal communities. Butlin estimates that the Aboriginal population in the area of modern Victoria was around 50,000 in 1788 before two smallpox outbreaks reduced it to about 12,500 in 1830. Between 1835 (the settlement of Port Phillip) and 1853, the Aboriginal population of Victoria fell from 10,000 to around 2,000. It is estimated that about 60 per cent of these deaths were from introduced diseases, 18 per cent from natural causes and 15 per cent from settler violence.
Venereal diseases were also a factor in Indigenous depopulation, reducing Aboriginal fertility rates in south-eastern Australia by an estimated 40 per cent by 1855. By 1890 up to 50 per cent of the Aboriginal population in some regions of Queensland were affected.
The British settlement was initially planned to be a self-sufficient penal colony based on agriculture. Karskens argues that conflict broke out between the settlers and the traditional owners of the land because of the settlers' assumptions about the superiority of British civilisation and their entitlement to land which they had "improved" through building and cultivation.
The Australian native police consisted of native troopers under the command of white officers that was largely responsible for the 'dispersal' of Aboriginal tribes in eastern Australia, but particularly in New South Wales and Queensland. Broome argues that the British claims of exclusive possession to land and other property was irreconcilable with Aboriginal concepts of communal ownership of land and its food resources. Flood points out that conflict between British law and Aboriginal customary law was also a source of conflict; for example, Aboriginal groups considered they had a right to hunt all animals on their traditional land whereas British settlers considered the killing of their livestock as poaching. Conflict also arose from cross-cultural misunderstandings and from reprisals for previous actions such as the kidnapping of Aboriginal men, women and children. Reprisal attacks and collective punishments were perpetrated by colonists and Aboriginal groups alike. Sustained Aboriginal attacks on settlers, the burning of crops and the mass killing of livestock were more obviously acts of resistance to the loss of traditional land and food resources.
As the colony spread to the more fertile lands around the Hawkesbury river, north-west of Sydney, conflict between the settlers and the Darug people intensified, reaching a peak from 1794 to 1810. Bands of Darug people, led by Pemulwuy and later by his son Tedbury, burned crops, killed livestock and raided settler huts and stores in a pattern of resistance that was to be repeated as the colonial frontier expanded. A military garrison was established on the Hawkesbury in 1795. The death toll from 1794 to 1800 was 26 settlers and up to 200 Darug.
Conflict again erupted from 1814 to 1816 with the expansion of the colony into Dharawal country in the Nepean region south-west of Sydney. Following the deaths of several settlers, Governor Macquarie despatched three military detachments into Dharawal lands, culminating in the Appin massacre (April 1816) in which at least 14 Aboriginal people were killed.
In the 1820s the colony spread to the lightly-wooded pastures west of the Great Dividing Range, opening the way for large scale farming and grazing in Wiradjuri country. From 1822 to 1824 Windradyne led a group of 50-100 Aboriginal men in raids on livestock and stockmen's huts resulting in the death of 15-20 colonists. Martial law was declared in August 1824 and ended five months later when Windradyne and 260 of his followers ended their armed resistance. Estimates of Aboriginal deaths in the conflict range from 15 to 100.
After two decades of sporadic violence between settlers and Aboriginal Tasmanians in Van Diemen's land, the Black War broke out in 1824, following a rapid expansion of settler numbers and sheep grazing in the island's interior. When Eumarrah, leader of the North Midlands people, was captured in 1828 he said his patriotic duty was to kill as many white people as possible because they had driven his people off their kangaroo hunting grounds. Martial law was declared in the settled districts of Van Diemen's Land in November 1828 and was extended to the entire island in October 1830. A "Black Line" of around 2,200 troops and settlers then swept the island with the intention of driving the Aboriginal population from the settled districts. From 1830 to 1834 George Augustus Robinson and Aboriginal ambassadors including Truganini led a series of "Friendly Missions" to the Aboriginal tribes which effectively ended the Black War. Flood states that around 200 settler and 330 Aboriginal Tasmanian deaths in frontier violence were recorded during the period 1803 to 1834, but adds that it will never be known how many Aboriginal deaths went unreported. Clements estimates that colonists killed 600 Aboriginal people in eastern Van Diemen's Land during the Black War. Around 220 Aboriginal Tasmanians were eventually relocated to Flinders Island.
As settlers and pastoralists spread into the region of modern Victoria in the 1830s, competition for land and natural resources again sparked conflict with traditional landowners. Aboriginal resistance was so intense that it was not unusual for sheep runs to be abandoned after repeated attacks. Broome estimates that 80 settlers and 1,000–1,500 Aboriginal people died in frontier conflict in Victoria from 1835 to 1853.
The growth of the Swan River Colony (centred on Fremantle and Perth) in the 1830s led to conflict with a number of clans of the Noongar people. Governor Sterling established a mounted police force in 1834 and in October that year he led a mixed force of soldiers, mounted police and civilians in a punitive expedition against the Pindjarup. The expedition culminated in the Pinjarra massacre in which some 15 to 30 Aboriginal people were killed. According to Neville Green, 30 settlers and 121 Aboriginal people died in violent conflict in Western Australia between 1826 and 1852.
The spread of sheep and cattle grazing in grasslands and semi-arid regions of Australia after 1850 brought further conflict with Aboriginal tribes more distant from the closely settled areas. Aboriginal casualty rates in conflicts increased as the colonists made greater use of mounted police, Native Police units, and newly developed revolvers and breech-loaded guns. Civilian colonists often launched punitive raids against Aboriginal groups without the knowledge of colonial authorities. Conflict was particularly intense in NSW in the 1840s and in Queensland from 1860 to 1880. In central Australia, it is estimated that 650 to 850 Aboriginal people, out of a population of 4,500, were killed by colonists from 1860 to 1895. In the Gulf Country of northern Australia five settlers and 300 Aboriginal people were killed before 1886. The last recorded massacre of Aboriginal people by settlers was at Coniston in the Northern Territory in 1928 where at least 31 Aboriginal people were killed.
The spread of British settlement also led to an increase in inter-tribal Aboriginal conflict as more people were forced off their traditional lands into the territory of other, often hostile, tribes. Butlin estimated that of the 8,000 Aboriginal deaths in Victoria from 1835 to 1855, 200 were from inter-tribal violence.
Broome estimates the total death toll from settler-Aboriginal conflict between 1788 and 1928 as 1,700 settlers and 17–20,000 Aboriginal people. Reynolds has suggested a higher "guesstimate" of 3,000 settlers and up to 30,000 Aboriginals killed. A project team at the University of Newcastle, Australia, has reached a preliminary estimate of 8,270 Aboriginal deaths in frontier massacres from 1788 to 1930.
Accommodation and protection
In the first two years of settlement the Aboriginal people of Warrane, after initial curiosity, mostly avoided the newcomers. Governor Phillip had a number of Aboriginal people kidnapped in an attempt to learn their language and customs. One of these, Bennelong, led the survivors of several clans into Warrane in November 1790, 18 months after the smallpox epidemic that had devastated the Aboriginal population. Bungaree, a Kuringgai man, joined Matthew Flinders in his circumnavigation of Australia from 1801 to 1803, playing an important role as emissary to the various Indigenous peoples they encountered.
Governor Macwire hoped to "effect the civilization of the Aborigines" and reclaim them "from their barbarous practices". In 1815, he established a Native Institution to provide elementary education to Aboriginal children, settled 15 Aboriginal families on farms in Warrane and made the first freehold land grant to Aboriginal people at Black Town, west of Warrane. In 1816, he initiated an annual Native Feast at Parramatta which attracted Aboriginal people from as far as the Bathurst plains. However, by the 1820s the Native Institution and Aboriginal farms had failed. Aboriginal people continued to live on vacant waterfront land and on the fringes of the Warrane settlement, adapting traditional practices to the new semi-urban environment. Escalating frontier conflict in the 1820s and 1830s saw colonial governments develop a number of policies aimed at protecting Aboriginal people. Protectors of Aborigines were appointed in South Australia and the Port Phillip District in 1839, and in Western Australia in 1840. While the aim was to extend the protection of British law to Aboriginal people, more often the result was an increase in their criminalisation. Protectors were also responsible for the distribution of rations, delivering elementary education to Aboriginal children, instruction in Christianity and training in occupations useful to the colonists. However, by 1857 the protection offices had been closed due to their cost and failure to meets their goals.
Colonial governments established a small number of reserves and encouraged Christian missions which afforded some protection from frontier violence. In 1825, the NSW governor granted 10,000 acres for an Aboriginal mission at Lake Macquarie. In the 1830s and early 1840s there were also missions in the Wellington Valley, Port Phillip and Moreton Bay. The settlement for Aboriginal Tasmanians on Flinders Island operated effectively as a mission under George Robinson from 1835 to 1838.
In New South Wales, 116 Aboriginal reserves were established between 1860 and 1894. Most reserves allowed Aboriginal people a degree of autonomy and freedom to enter and leave. In contrast, the Victorian Board for the Protection of Aborigines (created in 1869) had extensive power to regulate the employment, education and place of residence of Aboriginal Victorians, and closely managed the five reserves and missions established since self government in 1858. In 1886, the protection board gained the power to exclude "half caste" Aboriginal people from missions and stations. The Victorian legislation was the forerunner of the racial segregation policies of other Australian governments from the 1890s.
In more densely settled areas, most Aboriginal people who had lost control of their land lived on reserves and missions, or on the fringes of cities and towns. In pastoral districts the British Waste Land Act of 1848 gave traditional landowners limited rights to live, hunt and gather food on Crown land under pastoral leases. Many Aboriginal groups camped on pastoral stations where Aboriginal men were often employed as slaves. These groups were not able to retain a connection with their lands and were forced to forget aspects of their traditional culture.
Aboriginal conspiracy and uprising
The Aborigine peoples were the responsibles of the founding of modern Corporative Australia, due to the uprising in 1900 and 1901 after many years of widely spread abuses. They ocasionated serious disturbs against the British authority, which were fighted down by the colonial representatives in Australia. The first uprisings were organized in Narrm, then called Melbourne by Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung peoples and then it spread all round the country. Former Aborigines enslaved by the colonialists also took part in the uprisings. Many of the uprisings ended in many days of police violence and a possible civil war was on board. Most of the states agreed on federating and form the Republic of Corporative Australia while the independence was on process, and adopt the constitution based on a Federal democratic republic. Between 1942 and 1986, both the colonial parliament and the local parliament enacted Acts to give definitive independence.
Geography
Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent and sixth largest country by total area, Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the "island continent" and is sometimes considered the world's largest island. Australia has 34,218 km (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands), and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Mainland Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44° South, and longitudes 112° and 154° East. Australia's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with tropical rainforests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east, and desert in the centre. The desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land. Australia is the driest inhabited continent; its annual rainfall averaged over continental area is less than 500 mm. The population density is 3.4 inhabitants per square kilometre, although a large proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline.
The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 km (1,200 mi). Mount Burringurrah, claimed to be the world's largest monolith, is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kunama Namadgi is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Even taller are Mawson Peak (at 2,745 m (9,006 ft), on the remote Australian external territory of Heard Island, and, in the Australian Antarctic Territory, Mount McClintock and Mount Menzies, at 3,492 m (11,457 ft) and 3,355 m (11,007 ft) respectively.
Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range, which runs parallel to the coast of Queensland, New South Wales and much of Victoria. The name is not strictly accurate, because parts of the range consist of low hills, and the highlands are typically no more than 1,600 m (5,200 ft) in height. The coastal uplands and a belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland and shrubland. These include the western plains of New South Wales, and the Mitchell Grass Downs and Mulga Lands of inland Queensland. The northernmost point of the mainland is the tropical Cape York Peninsula.
The landscapes of the Top End and the Gulf Country—with their tropical climate—include forest, woodland, wetland, grassland, rainforest and desert. At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of The Kimberley, and below that the Pilbara. The Victoria Plains tropical savanna lies south of the Kimberly and Arnhem Land savannas, forming a transition between the coastal savannas and the interior deserts. At the heart of the country are the uplands of central Australia. Prominent features of the centre and south include Uluru, the famous sandstone monolith, and the inland Simpson, Tirari and Sturt Stony, Gibson, Great Sandy, Tanami, and Great Victoria deserts, with the famous Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast. The Western Australian mulga shrublands lie between the interior deserts and Mediterranean-climate Southwest Australia.
Climate
The climate in Corporative Australia is very diversified due to its extention. Most of the territory is under the Subhumid temperate climate (Köppen Cwa) characterized by long hot and rainy summers and short dry winters. Temperatures in the capital city averages from 13.3 °C (55.9 °F) in July to 36.8 °C (98.2 °F) in January. In most of the country, frosts are not very common, except in the mountain areas. Rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year, with an average of 2,523.6 millimetres (99.35 in) in Yattamerran. In the desert located in the central part of the country, rains are very scarce
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high °C (°F) | 43.7 (110.7) |
38.8 (101.8) |
33.9 (93.0) |
31.0 (87.8) |
29.4 (84.9) |
27.7 (81.9) |
25.3 (77.5) |
29.6 (85.3) |
34.4 (93.9) |
36.9 (98.4) |
39.3 (102.7) |
39.9 (103.8) |
34.2 (93.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 36.8 (98.2) |
33.0 (91.4) |
27.5 (81.5) |
22.0 (71.6) |
19.9 (67.8) |
14.9 (58.8) |
13.3 (55.9) |
18.1 (64.6) |
25.3 (77.5) |
26.9 (80.4) |
31.3 (88.3) |
34.1 (93.4) |
25.3 (77.5) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 29.9 (85.8) |
27.2 (81.0) |
21.1 (70.0) |
13.0 (55.4) |
10.4 (50.7) |
2.1 (35.8) |
1.4 (34.5) |
6.7 (44.1) |
16.3 (61.3) |
16.9 (62.4) |
23.3 (73.9) |
28.4 (83.1) |
16.4 (61.5) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 670.8 (26.41) |
512.5 (20.18) |
423.9 (16.69) |
105.2 (4.14) |
40.7 (1.60) |
12.2 (0.48) |
9.0 (0.35) |
1.8 (0.07) |
24.5 (0.96) |
79.0 (3.11) |
254.6 (10.02) |
389.4 (15.33) |
2,523.6 (99.34) |
| Average precipitation days | 14.3 | 13.2 | 12.6 | 12.4 | 11.9 | 11.7 | 10.0 | 8.9 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 9.4 | 10.9 | 133.8 |
| Average relative humidity (%) (daily average) | 69 | 67 | 67 | 64 | 59 | 62 | 54 | 53 | 58 | 61 | 66 | 67 | 62 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 415.4 | 407.4 | 392.6 | 375.6 | 365.5 | 341.7 | 335.5 | 319.6 | 270.8 | 270.1 | 252.7 | 268.4 | 4,015.3 |
| Average ultraviolet index | 13 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 8 |
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high °C (°F) | 29.0 (84.2) |
24.6 (76.3) |
22.3 (72.1) |
16.2 (61.2) |
11.5 (52.7) |
7.3 (45.1) |
3.4 (38.1) |
6.8 (44.2) |
10.0 (50.0) |
14.9 (58.8) |
19.6 (67.3) |
23.7 (74.7) |
15.8 (60.4) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 20.7 (69.3) |
17.0 (62.6) |
15.6 (60.1) |
10.9 (51.6) |
7.3 (45.1) |
4.0 (39.2) |
1.2 (34.2) |
4.0 (39.2) |
7.4 (45.3) |
12.3 (54.1) |
14.8 (58.6) |
18.3 (64.9) |
11.1 (52.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 12.4 (54.3) |
9.5 (49.1) |
9.0 (48.2) |
5.7 (42.3) |
3.1 (37.6) |
0.8 (33.4) |
−1.0 (30.2) |
1.3 (34.3) |
4.8 (40.6) |
9.7 (49.5) |
10.1 (50.2) |
12.9 (55.2) |
6.5 (43.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 110.4 (4.35) |
85.9 (3.38) |
77.7 (3.06) |
72.9 (2.87) |
65.6 (2.58) |
67.2 (2.65) |
51.1 (2.01) |
74.9 (2.95) |
92.7 (3.65) |
116.4 (4.58) |
134.7 (5.30) |
157.8 (6.21) |
1,107.3 (43.59) |
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average high °C (°F) | 17.9 (64.2) |
14.6 (58.3) |
11.1 (52.0) |
8.2 (46.8) |
3.0 (37.4) |
2.9 (37.2) |
2.5 (36.5) |
3.7 (38.7) |
5.4 (41.7) |
8.9 (48.0) |
11.6 (52.9) |
12.1 (53.8) |
8.5 (47.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 11.1 (52.0) |
9.3 (48.7) |
7.1 (44.8) |
5.4 (41.7) |
2.5 (36.5) |
2.2 (36.0) |
1.3 (34.3) |
1.8 (35.2) |
3.3 (37.9) |
5.4 (41.7) |
6.9 (44.4) |
7.8 (46.0) |
5.3 (41.6) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 4.3 (39.7) |
4.0 (39.2) |
3.1 (37.6) |
2.6 (36.7) |
2.0 (35.6) |
1.5 (34.7) |
0.2 (32.4) |
0.0 (32.0) |
1.2 (34.2) |
1.9 (35.4) |
2.2 (36.0) |
3.5 (38.3) |
2.2 (36.0) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 257 (10.1) |
214 (8.4) |
199 (7.8) |
175 (6.9) |
152 (6.0) |
149 (5.9) |
144.6 (5.69) |
169.9 (6.69) |
177.8 (7.00) |
232.5 (9.15) |
310.9 (12.24) |
311.3 (12.26) |
2,493 (98.13) |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 89 | 87 | 85 | 79 | 63 | 59 | 54 | 57 | 63 | 69 | 75 | 83 | 72 |
Biodiversity
Although most of Corporative Australia is semi-arid or desert, the continent includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests. Fungi typify that diversity—an estimated 250,000 species—of which only 5% have been described—occur in Australia. Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Australia has at least 755 species of reptile, more than any other country in the world. Besides Antarctica, Australia is the only continent that developed without feline species. Feral cats may have been introduced in the 17th century by Dutch shipwrecks, and later in the 18th century by European settlers. They are now considered a major factor in the decline and extinction of many vulnerable and endangered native species. Seafaring immigrants from Asia are believed to have brought the dingo to Australia sometime after the end of the last ice age - perhaps 4000 years ago - and Aboriginal people helped disperse them across the continent as pets, contributing to the demise of thylacines on the mainland. Australia is also one of 17 megadiverse countries.
Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions; wattles replace them as the dominant species in drier regions and deserts. Among well-known Australian animals are the monotremes (the platypus and echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, koala, and wombat, and birds such as the emu and the kookaburra. Australia is home to many dangerous animals including some of the most venomous snakes in the world. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE. Many animal and plant species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; others have disappeared since European settlement, among them the thylacine.
Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced animal, chromistan, fungal and plant species. All these factors have led to Australia's having the highest mammal extinction rate of any country in the world. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is the legal framework for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created under the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 65 wetlands are listed under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 natural World Heritage Sites have been established. There are more than 1,800 animals and plants on Australia's threatened species list, including more than 500 animals.
Paleontologists discovered a fossil site of a prehistoric rainforest in McGraths Flat, in South Australia, that presents evidence that this now arid desert and dry shrubland/grassland was once home to an abundance of life.
Government and Politics
Constitution and state branches
The Constitution is the supreme law of Corporative Australia. It guarantees the fundamental civil rights and the separation of powers in three branches. The Executive is led by the President, elected by the people for a four-years term in free and equal elections. The President is the responsible of the country's daily administration. The Legislative is made up of a bicameral legislature: The Council of Representatives and Corporations on one side, and on the other side the Senate. They are responsible of debating and passing the laws and the year budget. The Judiciary is formed by the Supreme Court of Justice and Appeal Courts both in nationwide and statewide. The Supreme Court is empowered to interpret the law and avoid any inconsistence on the process of law-making and application (inconstitutionality).