The term Northern Australia is generally known to include two states and territories, being Queensland and the Northern Territory (NT). The part of Western Australia (WA) north of latitude 26° south—a definition widely used in law and State government policy—is also usually included. The 26th Parallel also defines the southern border of the NT, whereas much of the southern border of Queensland is defined by 29° south.
Although it comprises about half of the total area of Australia, Northern Australia includes only about one quarter of the Australian population and only one city of more than one million people (Brisbane). However, it includes several sources of Australian exports, being coal from the Great Dividing Range in Queensland/New South Wales and the natural gas and iron ore of the Pilbara region in WA. It also includes major natural tourist attractions, such as Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Great Barrier Reef and the Kakadu National Park.
Read more about Northern Australia: Geography and Climate, Soils, Flora and Fauna, Economy
Famous quotes containing the words northern and/or australia:
“I have found that anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.”
—Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
“It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
—Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)