Position: North-East of Australia

Queensland

Geography:

position: north-east of Australia

size: 1,852,642 km²

population: 3,801,039

landscape: - Highest Mountain – Mt. Bartle Frere (1622m)

-Australia's Tropical Rainforests of Tropical North Queensland

-Gold Coast in the south of Brisbane with its fantastic wilderness

-Outback (82,000 km² big)

-Sunshine Coast in the north of Brisbane

climate: subtropical, warm, sunny climate with rain and an open winter, in the north the climate gets tropical

summer mean temperature: 21°C – 29°C

winter mean temperature: 10°C – 26°C

islands and reefs belonging to Queensland:

-The Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage Listed area which spans more than 2000km of Queensland's coastline.

-Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, 98% of which is national park.

-The Whitsundays are situated amongst 74 islands.

“Sunshine State“: warm climate, very long golden coast, often sunshine as a result of the subtropical climate

Economy:

gross domestic product: A$ 115.53 billion

A$ 31.000 per capita

natural resources:

-bananas, pineapples, peanuts

-tropical and temperate fruit / vegetables

-cotton

industry:

mining industries: - coal & - copper

agriculture: - prolific cattle stations & - wine-growing

Vocabulary

mean temperature: Durchschnittstemperatur

World Heritage: Welterbe

to span: umfassen

amongst: inmitten

gross domestic product: Bruttoinlandprodukt

prolific: überaus produktiv

cattle station: große Rinderfarm

Brisbane

-Brisbane is the capital of Queensland

-It is located in the north-east of Australia

-Between 1825 and 1839 it was a colony for prisoners

-In 1902 it received the status of a city

-Today about 1.7 million people are living in Brisbane

-Brisbane is the industrial and financial centre of Queensland

-Tourism is an important aspect for Brisbane’s economy

Queensland attractions

There are many attractions in Queensland. For example:

Fraser Island:

-It’s the biggest sandy island of the world.

-The major part of the island consists of sand.

-124 km long and 25 km wide. Dunes: about 250 m high

-It’s 190 km north of Brisbane, off the east coast of Australia.

-The Aborigines call it "K’gari"(Paradise)

-Subtropical rainforest: 70 trees, has been part of the "UNESCO World Natural Heritage" since 1992

-There are 230 sorts of birds and about 200 freshwater lakes on the island:

lakes have very clear and clean water.

-East coast of Fraser Island: 70 km of sandy beaches , 50 shipwrecks, "7-Mile-Beach"

(an airport for little plains)

-animals: wild-horses, wallabies, warans

-Special sort of tree, exists only on this island: satinay.

-Lakes: Lake Mc Kenzie( clear water, wonderful beach), from the main town, Eurong, you can easily walk (one hour) to "Lake Wabby". It’s the lowest-lying lake of the island.

-Not so many rocks: pinnacles, cathedrals, rainbow Gorge (consists of coloured sand)

Tourism:

-Many tours to the island

-You can reach the island via a car and passenger ferry from the Australian east coast

-Many camping sites, not so many hotels.

-You can only drive to the island with all-wheel drive and a permission from the National Park "Great Sandy".

Big Pineapple:

-the Big Pineapple is a big pineapple-farm. It’s a 16-meter high fibre-glass building.

-It was designed by Bill Taylor, who used to work at the United Nations but moved back to Australia in the early 1970’s.

-100 km north of Brisbane.

-Macadamia nuts can also be found there: they are harvested and manufactured there.

-Macadamia nuts are very expensive, they are a luxury good.

Vocabulary:

1.)to consist of - bestehen aus

2.)freshwater-lakes - Süßwasserseen

3.)wild-horse - Wildpferd

4.)fibreglass - Faserglas

5.)to harvest - ernten

6.)to manufacture - verarbeiten

Great Barrier Reef

-the Great Barrier Reef consists of 2600 smaller reefs

-location: north east of Australia, at the coast of Queensland

-more than 2000 km long

-about 2 mio. years old (oldest parts about 18 mio. years)

-it can be seen from space (the only thing that is seen from space and isn`t made by humans)

-26th October 1981, the Great Barrier Reef is declared a World Heritage

-in the Reef there are 400 different sorts of corals and 1500 different sorts of fish

the biggest animals are sharks or the humpback whales

-at the coast, there are many birds and 6 of the 7 kinds of sea-turtles that exist in the world

Sports:

-diving (very popular, because of the reef!)

-sailing

-surfing (kite surfing, wind surfing, etc.)

-rugby is also very popular, not only in Queensland, but all over Australia