How old is australia

Much of the centre of Australia is flat, but there are numerous ranges such as the MacDonnell and Musgrave Ranges, as well as some individual structures, of which the best known is Uluru. Faulting and folding in the areas took place long ago, and the current topography is the result of millions of years of erosion and redistribution of sediments removed from high areas and filled-in depressions in this largely internal drainage system.

In the case of Uluru and the nearby Kata Tjuta, the surrounding countryside has been eroded to a plain around these resistant geological phenomena. Towards the east, the flat land rises to the Great Divide which runs parallel to the east coast from the tip of the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland almost km south to the Grampians in Victoria.

This separates rivers flowing to the west and north from those flowing to the Pacific. The Eastern Highlands are made up of a series of mountains in the south topped by Mount Kosciuszko and volcanic plugs, ash domes and flow remnants further north.

These formations were created as Australia moved over a volcanic hotspot. Some southern plateaus are dissected by erosion into rugged hills with the eastern edge forming the high escarpments. Some of Australia's most spectacular waterfalls occur where rivers flow over the Great Escarpment. The past few million years were notable for the Quaternary ice age which resulted in various glacial and interglacial periods.

The last glacial period was at its most intense about 20 years ago, and by around 11 years ago the ice had retreated and rising sea levels separated mainland Australia from Tasmania and New Guinea. In Tasmania there is evidence of three different glaciations but on mainland Australia, there is evidence of only the last glaciation. During this event ice covered about 25 square kilometres in the vicinity of Mt Kosciuszko , with the most significant remnant being the Blue Lake cirque.

On the other hand, glaciation in Tasmania during this period was more widespread and covered a significant part of the State's western region. Just as important, was the passing of the Australian Naval Defence Act , which provided the clear legislative authority for a navy that would no longer be limited to Australian territorial waters.

The decision was promulgated to the CNF on 5 October. The Australian Commonwealth flag thereafter took the place of the Union flag at the bow.

The Australian Navy did not just happen in , it had existed from The foresight of men like Creswell and Deakin was amply rewarded in when the German East Asiatic Squadron was decisively deterred from carrying out its plans for cruiser warfare in the Pacific.

Skip to main content. User menu Content Reports. Search form Search. You are here Home » History » Feature Histories. In this way, the six colonies were formed. The campaign to unite these colonies had as a motto, the idea of "a continent for a nation and a nation for a continent". It was not until January 1, , that this idea was realised and the Commonwealth of Australia came into being. As such a nation, created through law, Australia is years old.

The founding document — a piece of paper signed by the hand of Queen Victoria — sits as evidence of this fact in the federal parliament. To pretend otherwise is to deny history. The objection is sometimes made that New Year's Day is "already a holiday". The date of Australia's birth, however, was not a mere accident. It was deliberately chosen by its founders as the first day of the new year of the new century. Many Australians even then relished the idea of themselves as a new or a young country — a place of reinvention that would be free and different to the "old world".

This legacy of peace and stability has been the hallmark of Australian history that has made it the country it is today. It continues to trade off that history in attracting migrants and investment.

It is strange then, that its national day was not chosen to reflect this history. The objection can be raised that the Commonwealth born that day was not perfect either. Australian federation was marred by the exclusion of Aboriginal people and the enactment of the White Australia policy. Yet by this document, Australia was conceived as a democracy. Citizens were given the power through the ballot box to change the constitution.

Sovereignty may have rested with the British Crown, but the Queen of Australia would do what its people want. It was through the vote and by the process enshrined at its birth that Aboriginal people were at last counted after generations of struggle. The Commonwealth is still not perfect, but on that New Year's Day, Australians joined their destinies together.

How January 26 weaselled its way into national status is a long story, but one that is linked to its popularisation in the s at the height of racial ideology. Racial ideology led to the worst horrors of World War II and in Australia to the attempted genocide of the Aboriginal people. Australia can be better than that, just as its history is so much more than the foundation of Sydney.