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THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



tho south, by the South Pacific Ocean and Bass Strait ; on the 

 oast, by the South Pacific Ocean ; and on the west by the 

 Indian Ocean. The most northern point of Australia is Cape 

 York, in lat. 10 43' S. and long. 142 29' E., and the most 

 .southern point is Wilson Promontory, in lat. 39 11' S. and 

 long. 146 25' E. The most eastern point is Cape Byron, in 

 lat. 28 38' S. and long. 153 37' E., and the most western 

 paint is Steep Point, in lat. 26 5' S. and long. 112 50' E. The 

 groatest breadth of Australia from north to south is about 2,000 

 miles, and its greatest length from east to west is about 2,500 

 miles. As the average length and breadth of this continent are 

 considerably less than these extreme measurements, the area or ! 

 surface of Australia is estimated at about 3,000,000 square 

 miles, or about 1,920,000,000 imperial acres. As the superficial 

 area of Australia is only about 810,000 square miles less than 

 Europe, it follows that this continent is one of the most 

 valuable appanages of the British crown. 



The continent of Australia is compact in form, approaching 

 that of the section of a human head and neck, when viewed 

 vartically from east to west ; the peninsula which terminates in 

 Cape York representing the nose, and the colony of Victoria, or 

 Port Philip, tha back of the head. There are few largo inlets of 

 the sea around its shores, so that the interior of this continent 

 tD a very large extent is as yet unknown. The only bay of con- 

 siderable magnitude is called the Gulf of Carpentaria, which is 

 situated on the north between Torres Strait and the waters of 

 the Arafura Sea. In this gulf are situated Groote Eylandt, 

 Wellesley and Pellew Islands. Westward of this gulf are 

 Arnhem Bay, Van Diemen Gulf, and others on the north 

 noast, including Cambridge Gulf, Admiralty Gulf, etc. On the 

 west coast are Dampier Archipelago, Exmouth Gulf, Shark Bay, 

 ijeographe Channel, Naturaliste Channel, and Geographe Bay. 

 On the south coast are Tor Bay, King George's Sound, Esperance 

 Bay, Recherehe Archipelago, the great Australian Bight with 

 Nuyts Archipelago and Anxious Bay, Spencer Gulf, St. Vincent 

 Gulf, Encounter Bay, Discovery Bay, Portland Bay, Port Philip, 

 Western Port, Corner Inlet, and Bass Strait. On the east coast 

 are Twofold Bay, Jervis Bay, Botany Bay, Port Stephens, 

 Moreton Bay, Hervey Bay, Shoalwater Bay, Repulse Bay, 

 Halifax Bay, Rockingham Bay, Trinity Bay, Princess Charlotte 

 Bay, Temple Bay, and Shelbourne Bay. The Coral Sea contains 

 tho " Great Barrier Reef," extending along the northern part of 

 .the east coast for a distance of about 1,200 miles from Torres 

 Strait to Hervey Bay, and separated from the coast by distances 

 varying from 15 to 100 miles, the average being about 30 miles. 

 Tho navigation between this reef and the shore is reckoned 

 tolerably safe, the anchorage for ships being in about twelve 

 fa.thoms of water. 



The Capes and Headlands in this continent are numerous, but 

 few are of much importance. Besides those mentioned already, 

 there are on the north coast Cape Arnhem, Point Dale, and Cape 

 Londonderry ; on the west coast, Cape Levesque, North-West 

 Cape, Cape Cuvier, Point Naturaliste, and Cape Leeuwin ; on 

 the south coast, Point D'Entrecasteaux, Cape Chatham, Point 

 Hood, Cape le Grand, Cape Catastrophe, Cape Jervis, Cape 

 Bernouilli, Cape Northumberland, Cape Bridgewater, and Cape 

 Otway ; and on the east coast are Cape Howe, Sandy Cape, 

 Cape Capricorn, Cape Palmerston, Cape Upstart, Cape Flattery, 

 o-nd Cape Grenville. 



The Peninsulas are, Cape York Peninsula, bounded on tho 

 west by the Gulf of Carpentaria ; Coburg Peninsula, bounded 

 on the south by Van Diemen Gulf ; Eyre Land, bounded on the 

 ea,st by Spencer Gulf ; and Yorke Peninsula, bounded on the 

 west by Spencer Gulf. The Islands, which are generally small, 

 and in groups, with the exception of Melville and Bathurst 

 Islands on the north-west, and Kangaroo Island on the south, 

 ,are .the Prince of Wales and Sir R. Bourke groups in Torres 

 Strait ; the Wessel and Goulburn groups on the north ; the 

 Buccaneer, and the Dampier groups, with Dirk Hartog's Island, 

 on the vrest ; the Recherche and Nuyts Islands on each side of 

 the Great Australian Bight ; the Investigator Islands, and those 

 .at the entrance to Spencer Gulf ; King's Island, Flinders 

 Island, and others in Bass Strait ; the Moreton Group, Sandy 

 Islands, with the Northumberland and Cumberland group on 

 the east coast. 



Of the Mountains of Australia little is known, excepting 

 those which border the coast. In the colony of Victoria are 

 situated what are called the Warragong Mountains, or Australian 



Alps, of which the highest peak, named Mount Kosciusko, is 

 about 6,500 feet above the level of the sea. The summits of the 

 highest parts of these mountains are covered with perpetual 

 snow. Along the eastern coast, particularly in the colony of 

 New South Wales, there are other ranges of mountains at 

 moderate distances from the sea, which have only been partially 

 explored. The Blue Mountains, which lie to the north of the 

 Australian Alps, are of considerably less elevation, and are 

 intersected by deep and precipitous ravines. Their highest 

 summit is called Mount York, and is 3,292 feet high ; their 

 average elevation being upwards of 2,000 feet. The Liverpool 

 chain of mountains lies northward of the Blue Mountains, and is 

 of greater elevation, varying from 2,000 feet to 4,000 feet ; 

 Mount Lindesay, the highest peak, being about 5,700 feet above 

 the level of the sea. Between these ranges are undulating and 

 watered regions, and on their western sides are high upland 

 downs, varying from 900 to 2,000 feet in height, such as the 

 Liverpool Plains, the Brisbane Plains, the Darling Downs, etc. 

 West and south-west of the Australian Alps, and within the 

 colony of Victoria, is a hilly and watered country, reckoned 

 more diversified than any part of Australia yet explored. Here 

 are the Australian Pyrenees and Grampians, the summit of 

 Mount William in the latter range being about 4,700 feet above 

 the level of the sea. Flinders range extends from the eastern 

 coast of St. Vincent's Gulf into the interior. The Darling range 

 is parallel to the western shores of Western Australia, some 

 peaks being about 3,000 feet high. The coast of the Great 

 Australian Bight, which lies between Spencer's Gulf and King 

 George's Sound, is low and sandy ; whence it is called the 

 desert coast. By far the greater part, however, of this continent 

 is yet unexplored, and from the report of late explorers the 

 interior is deemed as sterile as the desert of Sahara in Africa. 

 This report, indeed, must be deemed partial and unsatisfactory ; 

 because the interior was approached only from the south, and in 

 one particular direction. It is evident, therefore, that until it 

 has been approached from the north, east, and west, and in 

 various directions, the report of the sterility of the interior 

 cannot be confirmed. 



There are not known to be any very large rivers on this con- 

 tinent ; but on the supposition that the whole of its sea-coast 

 has been completely explored, this circumstance alone would 

 argue in favour of the fact that the interior is sterile ; as it is 

 to its rivers, in a great measure, that any country owes its 

 fertility. The river Murray rises in the western side of the 

 Australian Alps, flows in a westerly course, dividing the colony 

 of Victoria from that of New South Wales, and then running in 

 a southerly direction, after a course of about 1,200 miles, falls 

 into the sea at Encounter Bay. The principal tributaries of this 

 river are the Murrumbidgee and the Darling ; at its junction 

 with the former it is 350 feet broad, and has a depth varying 

 from 12 to 20 feet. Lower down, at its junction with the 

 Darling, it increases in breadth, and from this point to its 

 entrance into Lake Victoria, its breadth varies from 100 to 250 

 yards, and its depth from 12 to 40 feet. This river is said to 

 drain a surface of more than 200,000 square miles, thus carry- 

 ing to the sea the waters from a surface more than double 

 that of Great Britain, and equal in magnitude to that of the 

 whole of France. Numerous rivers, whose courses are generally 

 short, flow from the mountains on the east coast into the sea. 

 The names of the principal of these are Shoalhaven, Hawkes- 

 bury, Hunter, Hastings, McLeay, Clarence, Richmond, and 

 Brisbane. The largest of these again, the Hawkesbury and the 

 Hunter, have each a course of about 206 miles ; the latter 

 is navigable for 50 miles inland, and tho Richmond for 70 miles. 

 The chief river on the west coast is Swan River, having a course 

 of about 180 miles. Of the rivers which flow into the sea on 

 the north coast, little is yet known. There are as yet considered 

 to be no lakes of any extent in this continent ; such as it has, 

 are formed chiefly by the rains, becoming afterwards marshes, 

 or drying up altogether. The name of Lake Torrens has been 

 given to an immense salt swamp, lying northward of Spencer 

 Gulf. Lakes Alexandrina or Victoria, Albert and Coorong, are 

 expansions of the embouchure of the Murray. 



Van Diemen' s Land, or Tasmania, so called from the name of 

 the discoverer of this island, lies to the south of Australia, being 

 separated from it by Bass Strait. It is about 200 miles long 

 from north to south, and about the same in breadth from east 

 to west, having an area of about 26,000 square miles. The 



