Australia has six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. Australia is the flattest continent, with the oldest and least fertile soils, and is the driest inhabited continent. Australian visual arts have a long history, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples.
Australia has one of the world's highest living standards with 85 percent living in urban areas. Australia is prone to severe drought and water restrictions are currently in place in some areas, however these shouldn't affect travellers as they mostly relate to watering gardens and washing cars. Australia has first world medical standards, and you can expect to receive treatment that is the equal of care in other industrialized countries. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the United Kingdom when Australia adopted it in 1942. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms.
Among well-known Australian fauna are the monotremes (the platypus and the echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, the koala, and the wombat; the saltwater and freshwater crocodiles; and birds such as the emu and the kookaburra. In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. The National Gallery of Australia and the various state art galleries have strong collections of Australian and overseas artworks and are highly attended by Australians.
In July 2003, Australia successfully restored order to the Solomon Islands, which had descended into lawlessness during a brutal civil war. The Australian workforce has seen many improvements over the last decade, leading to the surge in productivity in the 1990s. World famous for its natural wonders and wide open spaces, its beaches, deserts, "the bush", and "the Outback", Australia is actually one of the world's most highly urbanised countries. With rising sea levels after the last Ice Age, Australia became largely isolated from the rest of the world and the Aboriginal tribes developed a variety of cultures, based on a close (spiritual) relationship with the land and nature, and extended kinship.
Many Asian and Eastern European people also came to Australia in the 1850s, during the Gold Rush that started Australia's first resource boom.
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