AUSTRALIAN FACTS AND FIGURES

Land Facts

Australia is the world's smallest continent but the 6th largest country. Land size includes over 32,000 square kilometres of islands surrounding the mainland. See also on our website Comparing the Size of Countries NSW Map     QLD Map     VIC Map     TAS Map    SA Map     WA Map     NT Map

State or Territory	Area in square kilometres
	Islands	Mainland	Total
Western Australia	13,387	2,526,786	2,529,875
Queensland	6,712	1,723,936	1,730,648
Northern Territory	4,672	1,335,742	1,349,129
South Australia	3,882	978,810	983,482
New South Wales	3,089	800,628	800,642
Victoria	406	227,010	227,416
Tasmania	14	64,519	68,401
Australian Capital Territory	1	2,358	2,358
Jervis Bay Territory	0	72	73
Totals	32,163	7,659,861	7,692,024

NOTE: We did not include the Antarctic territory in the Australian figures for total size because Australia's claim has not been recognized by the world.

There are 7 nations (Argentina, Australia, Britain, Chile, France, New Zealand, and Norway) who have claimed land in the Antarctic with some claims overlapping. The Antarctic Treaty of 1961 does not allow any single country to control any part of Antarctica and has put all territorial claims on hold for the duration of the treaty. Until all the land claims are resolved, no one actually owns Antarctica right now so no one includes Antarctica in their country's total land size.

Largest Islands

Australia has 8,222 islands within its maritime borders. The following are the 8 largest islands. (Although Tasmania is an island, we don't include it in this list because it's also an Australian state.)
 

Island	State or Territory	km²	miles²
Melville Island	Northern Territory	5,786	2,234
Kangaroo Island	South Australia	4,416	1,705
Groote Eylandt	Northern Territory	2,285	882
Bathurst Island	Northern Territory	1,693	654
Fraser Island	Queensland	1,653	638
Flinders Island	Tasmania	1,359	525
King Island	Tasmania	1,091	421
Mornington Island	Queensland	1,002	387

• Kangaroo island is famous for its honey and for being the oldest bee
  sanctuary in the world (since 1881). How Kangaroo Island got it's name.
• The manganese mine on Groote Eylandt produces more than 2 million tonnes
  a year or about 10% of the world's production of the ore.
• Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and is a World Heritage
  listing due to its uniqueness.

More Information

1. Australian Antarctic Division - Australian Government site

Note: This information is for entertainment purposes. We assume no liability resulting from any errors or omissions. Translation . . . we've done our best to bring you accurate information. For official facts and figures, please visit any of the many Australian government websites available such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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