Land areas of States and Territories
Australia is the world's sixth largest country, after Russia, Canada, China, the USA, and Brazil. In addition to the mainland, Australia is surrounded by many thousands of small fringing islands and numerous larger ones, which, overall, amount to an area half the size of Tasmania.
MAINLAND AREA | ISLAND AREA | TOTAL AREA | ||
Western Australia | 32.9 | 2 523 924 | 3089 | 2 527 013 |
Queensland | 22.5 | 1 723 030 | 6712 | 1 729 742 |
Northern Territory | 17.5 | 1 334 404 | 13 387 | 1 347 791 |
South Australia | 12.8 | 979 651 | 4670 | 984 321 |
New South Wales | 10.4 | 801 137 | 13 | 801 150 |
Victoria | 3.0 | 227 038 | 406 | 227 444 |
Tasmania | 0.9 | 64 519 | 3882 | 68 401 |
Australian Capital Territory | < 1 | 2358 | — | 2358 |
Jervis Bay Territory (*) | < 1 | 66 | 1 | 67 |
AUSTRALIA | — | 7 656 127 | 32 160 | 7 688 287 |
*Commonwealth Territory Calculations on Australia’s area are based on data explained in Geoscience Australia’s GEODATA Coast 100K 2004 page. Calculations are based on GDA_1994_Australia-Albers projection. The data is nationally uniform, is sourced primarily from the 1:100 000 scale National Topographic Map Series and is the most authoritative data source currently available to calculate the area of Australia. |
Australian Capital Territory and Jervis Bay Territory
The Canberra - Yass district was chosen as the site of the new national capital in 1908. An area covering 2358 square kilometres was ceded to the Commonwealth in 1911, forming the Australian Capital Territory. It was considered that the capital should have its own port and consequently the Jervis Bay Territory was formed in 1915 when land was surrendered to the Commonwealth by New South Wales.
Marine areas of States and Territories
The marine areas of states and territories are referred to as coastal waters. This is a belt of water between the territorial sea baseline, which usually is the low water line along the coast of the states and the Northern Territory, and a line three nautical miles or 5.5 kilometres seaward from the baseline.
Queensland | 29.7 | 121 994 |
Western Australia | 28.2 | 115 740 |
Northern Territory | 17.5 | 71 839 |
South Australia | 14.6 | 60 032 |
Tasmania | 5.4 | 22 357 |
Victoria | 2.5 | 10 213 |
New South Wales | 2.1 | 8802 |
AUSTRALIA | — | 410 977 |
Source: Maritime Boundaries Program, Geoscience Australia. 12 January 2001. |
Notes:
- Albers projection was used to calculate areas.
- The adjacent areas of each of the states and the Northern Territory as determined under the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 was used to split into state and territory jurisdiction.
- Figures include water areas around offshore islands where appropriate. The Queensland figure includes the water area around the Torres Strait Islands and reef islands, but not Coral Sea Islands.
Australia is the largest country in Oceania and the sixth-largest country in the world, spanning over 2.969 million square miles. The country's population is about 25.6 million people. Australia is made
up of six states and ten federal territories. Five states can be found on the mainland, while the remaining state is an island located over 100 miles from the mainland. Three of the federal territories are known as “internal territories” because of their mainland location. The remaining seven territories are known as “external” because of their location away from the country. The states of Australia are represented in the parliament and are partially self-governing. The largest state by
area is Western Australia. This state has a total area of over 2.5 million square kilometers. The population is over 2.6 million. The capital of the state of Western Australia is the city of Perth. The largest state by population in Australia is
New South Wales. Despite being less than half the size of Western Australia, it has a massive population of over 8.15 million people. The capital of New South Wales is Sydney. All six states of Australia, ordered by population size, are: New South Wales,
Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania. Tasmania is the only state not located on the country’s mainland. As previously mentioned, the country is divided into
territories. The internal regions are the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, and Jervis Bay Territory. External territories include Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Australian Antarctic Territory, Cocos Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Hear Island and McDonald Islands, and Ashmore and Cartier Islands. Northern Australia is a proposed state, while
Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island are proposed external territories. Throughout its history, several territories are now defunct. That includes Central Australia and North Australia, which were reincorporated as the Northern Territory, the United Nations Trust Territory of Nauru, and the Territory of
Papua and New Guinea.Australian States | 6 States of Australia 2022
Australian States | 6 States of Australia 2022
- CITIES, STATES AND TERRITORIES