Physical Features of Australia
Uluru - Ayres Rock
Uluru stands 348 metres high and is more than 9 kilometres around its base. However, the section that is visible is only one-third of the rock. The other two-thirds is under the ground. This makes Uluru one of the largest monoliths in the world. In 1873, British explorer William Gosse named the rock after the premier of South Australia, Henry Ayers. For most of the 1900s, the federal government controlled Ayers Rock. However, in 1985, the government handed the rock and the surrounding land back, Kata Tjuta National Park, to the Traditional Aboriginal custodians. It is now known by its traditional name, Uluru. It is also a listed World Heritage Area for both its cultural and natural values. |
Eucalyptus TreesEucalypts, also known as gumtrees, are the most common plant on the Australian continent. Of the 700 eucalypt species found in Australia, only twelve of them are not endemic. These trees have thin, sickle-shaped leaves that are arranged alternately on a branch. They reproduce by flowering. No other part of the world is as dominated by the same type of vegetation as Australia is dominated by eucalypts.
Bungle Bungles
Familiar to Aboriginal Australians for centuries, most Europeans knew nothing of the Bungle Bungles until the 1980s, when they became part of the 45,000 hectare Purnululu National Park in Western Australia. The mountains rise 200 to 300 meters above a forest and grass plain in the Kimberley and cover an area of about 35 km by 24 km. Water is responsible for both the whimsical shape and colorful banding of these mountains. The beehive-shaped mounds are made of sandstone and other conglomerate rocks, deposited in the area by the meandering braids of ancient rivers. Water has also created the colorful bands that circle the Bungle Bungles. Where layers of the rock are soft, water seeps in, allowing dark algae to grow in black bands. The orange bands are made by a thin layer of iron and manganese, which coats layers of the rock, making them less permeable to water. Wave Rock
Wave Rock is a natural large stone formation in Western Australia near the town of Hyden. The formation is said to be many millions of years old and contains strips of grey and red granite in the wave formation.Its rounded wave-like shape, formed by weathering and water erosion, reaches 15 metres in height and extends 110 metres in length. Nearby there are other rock formations such as the Hippo's yawn, The Falls and the Breakers. |
The Horizontal Falls
The Horizontal Falls, near Talbot Bay, in the north-west of Western Australia is described by David Attenborough as "one of the greatest natural wonders of the world". Although they are called waterfalls, this natural phenomenon actually consists of immense tidal currents hurtling through narrow coastal gorges. And they do all this sideways - hence the name, Horizontal Falls. It is created by the enormous variation in tides - which are as much as 10 metres driven by the massive Montgomery Reef located 30 miles out to sea from the bay. The water level rising, or falling, in Talbot Bay (due to the tide) causes a major height difference with the water level in the inlet on the other side of the Falls. The velocity and mass of water involved in this twice daily event make it one of the largest tidal changes in the world. Talbot Bay is almost Australia's last frontier, few people have ever seen this spectacular event. There is no car access. Great Barrier Reef
Located off the coast of Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands. Selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981 and it has also been touted as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It is also the world's largest World Heritage Area extending 2,000 kilometres and covering an area of 35 million hectares. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre, in South Australia, is Australia's largest salt lake, situated in the driest region in the country to the east and north-east of the lake lie the Tirari, Strzelecki and Sturt Stony deserts, for most, inhospitable environments. When dry, much like in the photo to the left - which is its usual state, the lake bed is a glistening sheet of white salt. When the lake does fill which has only been on three occasions in the last century, it becomes temporarily Australia's largest lake as it spreads out to 9500 square kilometres. The lake itself was named after Edward John Eyre who in 1840 became the first European to sight it. |
Kakadu National Park
The World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park is a unique archaeological and ethnological reserve, located in the Northern Territory. Inhabited continuously for more than 40,000 years it features cave paintings, rock carvings and archaeological sites that have recorded the skills and way of life of the region's inhabitants. The most prominent physical feature in Kakadu is the Arnhem Land Escarpment, a 1.6 billion-year-old sandstone cliff that stretches for miles across the park. The cliff, which hosts many waterfalls, is surrounded by towers of sandstone, rainforests, and swamps. It is also one of the most remote and wild regions of the country, filled with tropical forests, torrential monsoons, high humidity, wild animals, and few people. The park's 10,000 sq kilometers of woodlands, wetlands, and floodplains are home to an amazing array of wildlife, including more than 300 species of birds, 75 species of reptiles, 50 species of mammals, 1,500 species of butterflies and moths, 50 species of fish, 25 species of frogs, and thousands of species of plants, many of which remain unclassified. The Twelve Apostles
The Twelve Apostles are the most famous of all formations along the spectacular Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Formed over many years by the errosive action of the sea against Limestone and Volcanic rock the tallest of the rock stacks is around 45 metres high. Today there are only there are only eight of the original twelve still standing due to the continous natural errosive forces. The stretch of coastline is known as the Shipwreck Coast because more than 80 ships have gone down here due to the rough ocean and rugged rock stacks. |