Gregory's Server2/ Well first, Australia π¦πΊ is very big, twice the size of the EU πͺπΊ , but itβs much bigger than you probably think, with many external islands.
Just like last week's country Norway π³π΄, Australia claims territory in Antarctica.
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 4/ The Cocos (Keeling) Islands π¨π¨ (ISO code "CC") are very remote and only became part of Australia π¦πΊ in 1955, having previously been part of the British Colony of Singapore π¬π§ πΈπ¬ 5/ Many of Australia's smaller islands are tiny sea exclaves, outside of Australia's main territorial waters 6/ The administrative organisation of Australia π¦πΊ is complex, with 6 states, 3 internal territories, and 7 external territories. The internal divisions have changed several times as the population grew. All the details are over on Wikipedia 7/ As you can see in the map, New Zealand π³πΏ was originally part of the colony of New South Wales, and was later invited to join Australia as a state. New Zealand said no. 8/ Due to sheer size and difficult mapping conditions, it wasnβt always easy to survey Australia and this sometimes lead to disputes. A long-running disagreement was the South AustraliaβVictoria border situation 10/ Final #geoweirdness fact: Australia is home to the worlds longest highway: Highway 1 - over 14,500 km / 9,000 miles π£οΈππ¦ 12/ Final bonus #geoweirdness tweet - here's a world map from the Australian π¦πΊ perspective π€―  @opencage I'm surprised this thread missed the Victoria/Tasmania land border. :awesome: @opencage one of my favourite weird things in my backyard. I really want to go there one day, somehow.  @opencage There's a 60-odd year old account of a failed attempt on Mawson Peak here (and also another account of climbing in Australia proper): https://www.frcc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/V19-3.pdf Remember reading the former when I was a child. |
3/ The various islands are quite diverse, each with its own history and geography. Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean has Mawson Peak, Australiaβs highest mountain, and active volcano π
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawson_Peak