Population and Economic Activities
 Population. Ethnic Structure. Australia is the least populated part of the world. It numbers some 10,000,000 people (over 15,000,000 together with Oceania). The average density of population in Australia is a little over one person to the square kilometre.
Fig. 197. An Australian in the scrub.
The greater part of the inhabitants live in the regions along the subtropical coastal belt of the south-east and in the south-west corner of the continent. Here, too, are situated all the large cities. The interior, north and west are almost entirely uninhabited.
The natives are Australians with dark skins. When the Europeans first set foot on Australian soil, they found the natives still in the Stone Age, ignorant of metals, agriculture and stock-breeding. They lived as nomads, hunting and gathering edible plants. Their weapons were the spear and boomerang. The latter is a curved and pointed
stick. When thrown by a trained hand, it turns in its flight and comes back to the thrower if it does not hit anything.
The British invaders did .everything in their power to destroy the natives or drive them into the desert or semidesert. They hunted them like wild beasts, threw them pieces of poisoned food and poisoned their wells. The Australians, disunited as they were, could not resist the attack.
There are only about 50 thousand natives left today. Some live under close watch in special reservations. Others either work as
herdsmen or roarn the semideserts and savannahs of the interior and the tropical north of the continent as before. The native population of Tasmania was destroyed as far back as the 19th century.
The majority of the population of Australia today are European immigrants, principally Englishmen. Difficulties are made for people who would like to come here from other countries of Europe. No Asians are admitted.
 Continental Australia and Tasmania form the Commonwealth of Australia, a British dominion. It stands out among the capitalist countries of the world for sheep-breeding. Great herds of these animals are grazed in the sernidesert regions. Australia is the world's leading wool producer. In the north-east and along the eastern coastal belt cattle are bred. In the south-west and southeast (the Murray basin) wheat and fruits are grown. Tasmania is noted for its apples.
Fig. 199. A view of Sydney and its port.
Australia is rich in minerals, especially coal, gold, lead, zinc and uranium. Its exports include wool, wheat, meat, butter and metals.
The Commonwealth of Australia has a specially built capital, Canberra. The largest industrial centres and ports are Sydney in the south-east (2,000,000 inhabitants) and Melbourne in the south (over 1,600,000 inhabitants).
Questions and Assignments.
- Study the population map of Australia and point out the more
populous areas.
- Put down the names of the cities you have studied on the outline
map.
- Discuss the ethnic structure of the Commonwealth of Aust
ralia and the economic activities of its population.
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