The Sydney area is famous for its sandy beaches around which several resort suburbs have grown, attracting tourists for swimming and surf-boarding. Water sports and yachting are also regular events on the bay of Port Jackson. Manly, on (he peninsula that forms North Head at the harbour entrance, has a beach on the Tasman Sea and another facing the protected waters of Port Jackson. Bondi and Coogee on the Tasman Sea, south of the heads, and Cronulla on Port Hacking, 21 mi. (34 km.) south of Sydney, are other popular beach resorts.

MELBOURNE, second largest city of Australia and capital, larges! city, and chief port of Victoria, on the north bank of ihe Yarra River near its mouth on Hobson's Bay, northern arm of Port Phillip Bay. From its original nucleus around waterfalls of the Yarra, the city and its several suburbs have spread across the plain.

Melbourne comprises the city proper and numerous metropolitan suburbs (which are integral parts of the urban area), including Fitzroy, Footscray, Richmond, Emerald Hill, Brighton, St. Kilda, Collingwood, and Prahran.

Shipping companies line the major port facilities, located in the city proper and at Port Melbourne and Williamstown, each a short distance to the southwest on Hobson's Bay. As the financial centre of Victoria, Melbourne has numerous banks and insurance companies. Melbourne's rich agricultural and pastoral hinterland supplies wool, meat, dairy products, fruit, and wheat for shipment' to world ports, and wool auctions are regular features of the city's commerce. There is variety of industries found along the waterfront, on the estuary of the Yarra, and in the outlying suburbs -- producing for both domestic use and export. It ranges from processing agricultural produce to manufacturing aircraft and electric appliances. The first all-Australian automobiles were manufactured in the industrial suburb of Fishermen's Bend. Among the city's light manufactures, woollens, hosiery, boots, shoes, and cigarettes are especially important.

Gas and electricity for Melbourne are produced from lignite mined in the Latrobe Valley. Transportation within the city is provided by streetcars and buses. Electric train lines radiate to distant suburbs from the Flinders Street Railway Station, through which thousands of commuters pass daily. Extensive rail lines and highways connect Melbourne with other Victoria cities and with Sydney and Adelaide. Aircraft from Tullamarine Airport, which is situated north of the city, fly to all parts of the world. A ferry service operates across the Bass Strait to Davenport, Tasmania.

The commercial core of Melbourne lies north of the Yarra; Flinders, Collins, Bourke, and Lonsdale streets, the major east-west thoroughfares, parallel the river. These and other streets were named after figures in Australia's history. Because of the series of large department stores along Bourke Street, it is called fhe "Golden Mile". Elizabeth and Swanston streets are the principal north-south thoroughfares, the latter becoming St. Kilda Road south of the Yarra. East of the business district is an area of parks encompassing sports grounds and the Botanical Gardens.

In Fitzroy Gardens stands the cottage where Captain James Cook, the English explorer sometimes stayed with his parents in Great Ayton, Yorkshire.

The seaside resort suburb, St. Kilda, 4 mi. (6,4 km.) south,

has been called "Melbourne's Coney Island". Brighton, farther south, is a leading yachting centre.

Melbourne, the cultural focus of Victoria, has long been a leading centre for scientific research and has often been a base for Antarctic exploration. Among its many research institutes and societies are the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, and the Australian Institute of International Affairs. The University of Melbourne, founded in 1853, is in the northern part of the city; Monash University, opened in 1961, is in a suburb to the east; La Trobe University, in the suburb of Bundoora, was opened in 1967. Melbourne has a large public library, a National Gallery, a National Museum, and a Museum of Applied Science. The city supports a symphony orchestra. Performances by visiting musicians and actors from all over the world reach a peak during the annual Moomba Festival in March. The Melbourne Cup, held annually at Flemington Race Course, is Australia's leading horseracing event. In 1956 Melbourne was the site of the Olympic Games. The city was named Melbourne in 1837 in honour of Lord Melbourne, then Prime Minister of Great Britain. The discovery of gold in the highlands to the north in 1851, bringing new importance to Melbourne and its port, occasioned the formation of the state of Victoria. It was the seat of federal government from 1901 to 1927, when the government was transferred to Canberra; several government agencies and buildings still remain in the city, including a branch of the Royal Mint.

BRISBANE, capital and largest city of Queensland, located on the Pacific coast, in the southeastern corner of the state. The city lies on the estuary of the Brisbane River, 13 mi. (21 km.) from its mouth on Moreton Bay. Brisbane is the leading port in Queensland and serves a large agricultural and pastoral hinterland which produces beef cattle, sheep, dairy products, wheat, sugar cane, and tropical fruits. Principal agricultural exports are wool, meat, butter, and wheat. Manufacturing industries include meat packing, sugar refining, flour milling and brewing. There are also automobile assembly plants, shipyards, engineering works, and factories for the production of building materials, paper and miscellaneous industrial goods.

The function of Brisbane as a port and marketing centre is enhanced by the railway systems which extend north and south aiong the east coast of Australia and inland to the rich agricultural regions of south-central Queensland and the Darling Downs. The city is well served by highways and airlines. Passenger vessels as well as cargo ships make regular stops at the port.

The Brisbane City Council administers one of the largest municipal areas in the world. It is spread over hills on both sides of the winding Brisbane River, which has been dredged to allow ships to reach port facilities in the heart of the city.

North of the river is the main business district. The principal thoroughfares are Queen and Adelaide streets. South of the commercial core, in a bend of the river, Parliament House and the Technical College stand adjacent to the Botanical Gardens. Nearby are the Public Library of Queensland and several government buildings. A museum and an art gallery are located near Victoria Park north of the business district. At St. Lucia, southwest of the city, is the University of Queensland.

The abundant sunshine and mild temperatures during the winter months have helped make Brisbane a leading Australian tourist centre. Sandy beaches along Moreton Bay have been developed as bathing resorts. Among the best-known are Sandgate, Wynnum, and Manly.

The site of modern Brisbane was discovered in 1824 by Lt. John Oxley, surveyor-general of New South Wales. Subsequently a penal colony with the name Edinglassie grew up on the site. The name was officially changed in 1838 to Brisbane, after the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane.

ADELAIDE, capital and largest city of the state of South Australia. Situated on a narrow coastal plain between the east shore of the Gulf of St. Vincent and the Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide is the trade and financial centre for a rich agricultural and grazing hinterland. Wool, meat, citrus fruits, wines, olives, and vegetables are produced in the region. Much of the produce from the irrigated lands of the lower Murray River Valley is marketed through Adelaide. The Barossa Valley to the northeast is one of Australia's leading wine-producing areas.

The city is an industrial centre of increasing importance, with factories for automobile assembly and the manufacture of cotton and woollen textiles, agricultural machinery, furniture, and chemicals. Other manufacturing activities include sugar refining, flour milling, and the processing of fruits and vegetables.

Port Adelaide, about 5 mi. northeast of Adelaide, is the principal port of South Australia. Railroads connect Adelaide with other targe cities on the Australian continent; a narrow-gauge line runs to Alice Springs in the heart of the Northern Territory. Adelaide is served by several airlines.

The first permanent settlement in South Australia was established at Adelaide in 1836, two years after the official creation of the colony. The city was named for Queen Adelaide, wife of William IV of Great Britain.

Now it is a very attractive city, largely because of the planning done by its surveyor, William Light. The southern section of the city is occupied by the principal business district, with King William Street as the broad main artery. Along the northern

margin of this area lies Northern Territory, the cultural centre of South Australia. Here are the University of Adelaide (founded 1847), the Public Library of South Australia, a museum of natural history, an art gallery, botanical gardens, and government buildings. The Torrens River flows beside the botanical gardens, separating downtown Adelaide from the main residential area to (he north. The river has been dammed to form Lake Torrens, a source of municipal water as well as a scenic asset. Glenelg, a few miles south, is a popular beach resort. Summer homes, as well as permanent residences, have been built on the slopes of the Mount Lofty Ranges, behind the city to the east.

PERTH, capital and largest city of Western Australia on the Swan River estuary, 12 mi. (19 km.) northeast of its mouth at the port of Fremantle. With trie port, it is the financial and trade centre for a vast hinterland producing gold, wool, meat, wheat, and fruit.

Industries include food processing and the manufacture of textiles, cement, fertilizers, metalware, and furniture. Besides the Trans-Austra Man Railway connecting Perth with the eastern states, there are rail connections with several other centres of Western Australia.

The commercial core of Perth lies north of a portion of the Swan estuary called Perth Water. A bridge and a causeway connect it with suburbs south of the estuary. Public buildings include Parliament House, Government House, a branch of the Royal Mint, and the State Library. The University of Western Australia (estab. 1911) is in the suburbs of Nedlands, southwest of the city centre. Perth has an art gallery, a state museum, and such research institutes as the Royal Society of Western Australia, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, Astronomical State Observatory, and a branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.

Perth, founded in 1829 by Captain James Stirling, was incorporated in 1856. After the discovery of gold in southwestern Western Australia in the early 1890s the city developed rapidly.Near midnight on Feb. 20, 1962, US astronaut John Glenn, orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 150 mi. (241 km.) in his Mercury spacecraft "Friendship 7", reported that he could see a glowing Perth below. The residents of Perth had turned on every light in the city as a greeting to the astronaut. Since then Perth has often been referred to as the "City of Light".

Conclusion

Australian continent is a very divertive and vast modern country. Its history began 42,000 and 48,000 years ago when first Aboriginal people inhabitants were revealed. Then, when the first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there.

It been a long period passed that time and at present day Australia is a highly developed modern state with its own peculiarities. It is a country of vast valleys, hills, great forests and desserts at the same time. A country of contrasts where Aboriginal art exists along with hi-tech technologies, a country of origin for kangaroo and koala, a country of great construction projects.

Australian visual arts have a long history, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples. From the time of European settlement, a common theme in Australian art has been the Australian landscape, seen for example in the works of Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd, and Albert Namatjira.

In this work the observing of the main structural and traditional features of the country was carried out. The information collected and analyzed can be a good resource for the students learning English. The summarized information can lead to the conclusion that Australia is a country where both old and new traditions exist in harmony.

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