Short answers, pulled from the story.
Australia has a land area of 7,688,287 square kilometres, making it the sixth-largest country in the world. It is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent, with an average elevation of 325 metres.
The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from Southeast Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period. By the time of British settlement they spoke more than 250 distinct languages and had one of the oldest living cultures in the world.
The six colonies federated on the 1st of January 1901, forming the Commonwealth of Australia under a new constitution. Increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom continued through the Statute of Westminster, adopted in 1942, and culminated in the Australia Act 1986.
The name Australia derives from the Latin Terra Australis Incognita, a name for a hypothetical southern continent. The explorer Matthew Flinders popularised it, and Governor Lachlan Macquarie officially recommended it to replace New Holland in December 1817.
Because of its long geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique, with about 94% of amphibians, 93% of reptiles and flowering plants, 69% of mammals and 46% of birds being endemic. The continent completely separated from Antarctica about 35 million years ago.
The population of Australia was estimated at 27,724,744 as of September 2025, making it the most populous Oceanian country. About 95% of the population lives within 100 kilometres of the coast, heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy in which Charles III reigns as King of Australia, represented by the governor-general. Following elections on the 3rd of May 2025, the prime minister is Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party.