Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/309

AUSTIN FRIARS. The Dutch residents of the city now worship there. See.

AUSTRALASIA, as'trol-a'shi-il (Neo-Lat., Southern Asia, from Lat. australis, southern + Asia). A geographical term of rather loose application, used by some authorities to denote all the islands of the Southern Pacific, including Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and Melanesia (q.v.); while others confine it to Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Fiji Islands.

AUSTRA'LIA (Neo-Latin, Southland, from Lat. australis, southern). The island-continent lying to the southeastward of Asia and the East Indies. It is situated wholly within the southern hemisphere, between latitudes 10° 41' and 39° 11' S., and between longitudes 113° and 153° 40' E. It is irregularly oval in shape, with the south side concave. The greatest length is along the middle parallel, at about 25° south, and is nearly 2500 miles; while the greatest breadth, which is in the eastern part, in longitude 143°, is about 1950 miles. Its area is 2,972,906 square miles. Australia is bounded on the north by the Timor Sea, Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria, and Torres Strait, 80 miles wide, which separates it from New Guinea; on the east by the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean; on the south by the Pacific, and on the west by the Indian Ocean. The coast contour is exceedingly regular, the total length of the coast line being about 10,600 miles, or little more than its general contour. On the north there are two considerable indentations, Queen Channel, a part of Timor Sea, and the deeply penetrating Gulf of Carpentaria. Stretching along the eastern coast from near Cape York in latitude 11° S. to Sandy Cape, latitude 24° S., lies the Great Barrier Coral Reef. The great inward bend on the southern side of the continent is known as the Great Australian Bight. Off the southeastern point of Australia, and separated from it by Bass Strait, 140 miles wide, is the island of Tasmania, the only large island commonly associated with Australia. The coast of Australia offers comparatively few good and accessible harbors.

. Of all the continents, Australia presents the least relief, both in total altitude above the sea, and in diversity. Viewed broadly, the interior is a plain, rising from west to east and from south to north, and bordered near the cast and west coasts by mountain ranges. The mean elevation of the continent is estimated at 1300 feet. Near the east coast, stretching from the neighborhood of Melbourne, Victoria, in the southeast, to Cape York in the northeast, are the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, known locally by many names, as the Australian Alps, the Blue Mountains, New England Range, etc. This mountain system separates the waters flowing to the eastern coast from those which flow to the interior and the southern coast. It is by far the highest, broadest, and most complicated of the ranges on the island. Its breadth and the distance of its main crest from the coast differ widely in different places. In Victoria, the southeastern province, the seaward slope ranges from 50 to 75 miles in breadth, in New South Wales, from 30 to 120 miles, while in Queensland, the northeastern province, it reaches 300 miles in some places. The southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range extends in a general west and east direction through Victoria, with many spurs and mountains of considerable elevation, including Kent, 5129 feet; Howitt, 5715 feet; Hotham, 6100 feet; and Bogong, 6508 feet. Lapping the northeastern end of this range on the seaward side, and extending into New South Wales, with a northeastern trend, are the Australian Alps. These contain, in the Kosciusko group near the boundary line between New South Wales and Victoria, the highest peaks in the system and in Australia; Mount Kosciusko has an altitude of 7336 feet and Mount Townshend of 7352 feet. From the north end of the Australian Alps, the divide is carried coastward by the short and comparatively low Monaro Range, and is taken u]) again by the Gourock Range, parallel with the coast, which here trends nearly north. Here the system becomes more complicated, with secondary ranges on either side of the dividing range. The divide is carried northward by the Cullarin Range and the Blue Mountains, from which long spurs, extensive enough to be dignified by the name of ranges, extend on the one hand to the coast, and on the other far into the interior. Among the ranges extending to the coast are the Hunter and the Mittagong, while the Mundoonen and the Macquarie are the principal ranges which extend into the interior.

Farther north the main crest is known as the Liverpool and the New England ranges, and under the latter name the system reaches the southern boundary of Queensland. Here are Oxley Peak, 4000 feet; Chandler Peak, 4500 feet; and Ben Lomond, 5000 feet. In this stretch are spurs running to the coast under the names of Hastings Range, with Seaview Peak, 6000 feet high; Macleay Range, and McPherson Range, with Mount Lindsay, 5500 feet, and Mount Gipps, 4500 feet. Stretching westward into the interior are the Warrumbungle and Nundewar ranges. In Queensland the system becomes broader and more complicated, but, on the whole, is not so high. The dividing range, under the names of Craig and Benham ranges, swings far to the westward, to surround the headwaters of Fitzroy River, leaving between its crest and the coast numerous low ranges, which separate the branches of this stream. Farther north the system becomes broken, being made up of many short, disconnected ranges, in which form it runs down York Peninsula near the cast coast. Along the western coast of Australia the Darling Range stretches from Cape Leeuwin to Shark Bay, trending a little west of north, and parallel to the coast. It is a low range, the highest point being only 1500 feet above the sea. Farther north are numerous oilier low ranges, arranged en échelon, and running down to the coast; so the west coast, although not paralleled by a single range, as is the east coast, is closely bordered by mountains, not, however, of great height. The interior plain is diversified by a number of low ranges and plateaus. Probably none of the summits reaches 5000 feet in altitude, and most of them are much below this height. On the whole, the interior is a region of but little relief. The lowest portion is a broad area stretching from the head of Carpentaria Gulf on the north to Spencer Gulf on the south. In this region the land nowhere rises above 500 feet, and in the southern part is little, if any, above sea level.