Commonwealth of Australia

Part of the country series of articles.

TRAVEL ADVISORY: NORMAL PRECAUTIONS

The Commonwealth advises travellers to exercise normal precautions when travelling in this country. Travellers should familiarise themselves with local laws and customs and consular availability.

Commonwealth of Australia
Federal Constitutional Monarchy
Capital	Canberra
Languages	English, and many indigenous languages
Population	24,800,000

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy in the southern Pacific and one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is a former British colony with a long and close relationship with Britain, despite the considerable distance between them. Perhaps because of that history, it also maintains a close defence relationship with the US, largely to secure its position against the upheavals in Asia. It has a close historical relationship with its former sister colony of New Zealand and exercises substantial influence over the smaller Pacific states, which depend on it for manufactured goods, financial services and aid. As the largest and most prosperous country of Oceania, it also receives many emigrants from Fiji, Tuvalu and Samoa.

Australia has massive mining and agricultural industries, and has become one of the foremost commodity suppliers to East Asia and Africa, fueling the world’s rapid industrialisation. It exports iron ore, coal, copper, wheat and wool (much of which is sold to Japan, Korea and China, whose demand it has benefited from for nearly a century). It has a strong manufacturing sector but it is mostly confined to traditional automotive and heavy machinery industries. Despite its European history, Australia has received many migrants from its Asian neighbours and is economically linked to the tigers of East Asia. It is famous for its wine, its mining towns and its unusually empty interior, most of which is desert and supports very little beyond cattle and lamb stations.