Destination Guide To Queensland

GEOGRAPHY & BACKGROUND

Queensland is a state of Australia, in the north-east of the country. It is the second largest state by area and the third largest state by population.

The capital and largest city is Brisbane. Other major regional centres include the Gold Coast, Townsville, Rockhampton, Mackay, Cairns, Toowoomba, and Mount Isa. Queensland is often nicknamed the Sunshine State, since it enjoys warm weather and a sizable portion of the state is in the tropics.

On Friday, December 9, 2005 the population of Queensland officially reached 4 million. Queensland is the fastest growing state in Australia, with nine hundred people moving to the state a week. Predictions have been made that by 2051 Queensland will become Australia's 2nd most populous state of 7.5 million behind New South Wales.

Queensland was originally a British Crown Colony that was separated from New South Wales in 1859. What is now Brisbane was originally the Moreton Bay penal colony, intended as a place to hold convicts who re-offended while serving out their sentences in New South Wales.

The state's borders are defined as:

North The northernmost part of the state is the triangular Cape York Peninsula, which points toward

New Guinea. The western side of the peninsula is washed by the Gulf of Carpentaria, while its eastern side borders the Coral Sea, an arm of the Pacific Ocean.

East The eastern border is the Pacific Ocean

West To the west, Queensland is bordered by the Northern Territory, at the 138° E. longitude, and to the south-west by the north-eastern corner of South Australia.

South by New South Wales. This border has three sections:

The watershed from Point Danger to the Dumaresq River
The river section involving the Dumaresq, the MacIntyre and the Barwon
The 29° S. latitude, over to the South Australian border.

State capital Brisbane, is located on the coast 100 km by road north of the New South Wales border.

The third largest city by area in the world, Mount Isa, is located in Queensland. The city area is in excess of 40,000 km².

The state is divided into several major regions. Other smaller geographical regions of note include: the Atherton Tablelands
the Granite Belt
the Channel Country in the far south-west.
Queensland has many places that are blessed with natural beauty, including:
the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast having some of the state's most popular beaches
the Bunya Mountains and the Great Dividing Range with numerous lookouts, waterfalls and picnic areas.
Carnarvon Gorge
Whitsunday Islands and Hinchinbrook Island.

The state contains five World Heritage listed preservation areas.
Australian Fossil Mammal Sites at Riversleigh in the Gulf Country
Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves
Fraser Island
Great Barrier Reef
Wet Tropics of Queensland
Highest maximum temperature: 49.5C (121.1F), Birdsville, 24 December 1972 (The temperature of 53.1C (127.5F) at Cloncurry on 16 January 1889 is not considered official, the figure quoted from Birdsville is the next highest, so that record is considered as being official).

Lowest minimum temperature: -11.0C (12.2F), Stanthorpe, 4 July 1895 [1]

For more information please visit http://www.fco.gov.uk/

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