Queensland is a state of
Australia, occupying the north-eastern corner of the mainland
continent. It is neighboured by the Northern Territory to
the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South
Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered
by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. The state is Australia's
second largest by area, following Western Australia, and
the country's third most populous after New South Wales
and Victoria.
The area was
first colonised by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait
Islanders, who arrived between 40 000 and 65 000 years ago,
according to various dating methods. Later, Queensland was
made a British Crown Colony that was separated from New
South Wales on 6 June 1859, a date now celebrated annually
as Queensland Day. The area that currently forms Brisbane
was originally the Moreton Bay penal colony, intended as
a place for recidivist convicts who had offended while serving
out their sentences in New South Wales. The state later
encouraged free settlement, and today Queensland's economy
is dominated by the agricultural, tourist and natural resource
sectors.
The population
is concentrated in the south-east corner, which includes
the capital Brisbane, Logan City, Ipswich, Toowoomba, and
the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. Other major regional centres
include Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg,
and Mount Isa. Queensland is often nicknamed the Sunshine
State, since it enjoys warm weather and a sizable portion
of the state is in the tropics. The people of Queensland
are colloquially known as 'Banana Benders' or 'Canetoads',
the former possibly due to the large Banana plantations
in the tropics, the latter a reference bourne of the enviromental
disaster occuring when the cane toad was imported to rid
the suger cane fields of cane beetle pest.
Etymology
The state was named in honour of Queen Victoria of the United
Kingdom, who, in 1859, signed the proclamation separating
the state from New South Wales. At the time, Victoria was
a generally popular monarch, and the successful name was
preferred over Cooksland, which was suggested by the influential
local Presbyterian minister John Dunmore Lang.
Geography
The state's borders are defined as:
North The northernmost part of the state is the triangular
Cape York Peninsula, which points toward New Guinea. The
western side of the peninsula is washed by the Gulf of Carpentaria,
while its eastern side borders the Coral Sea, an arm of
the Pacific Ocean.
East The eastern border is the Pacific Ocean
West To the west, Queensland is bordered by the Northern
Territory, at the 138° E. longitude, and to the south-west
by the north-eastern corner of South Australia.
South by New South Wales. This border has three sections:
The watershed from Point Danger to the Dumaresq River
The river section involving the Dumaresq, the MacIntyre
and the Barwon
The 29° S. latitude, over to the South Australian border.
Queensland cities, towns, settlements and road networkState
capital Brisbane, is located on the coast 100 kilometres
(60 mi) by road north of the New South Wales border.
The fifth-largest city by area in the world, Mount Isa,
is located in Queensland. The city area is in excess of
40,000 square kilometres (15,400 sq mi).
The state is divided into several officially recognised
regions (see Regions of Queensland). Other smaller geographical
regions of note include:
the Atherton Tablelands
the Granite Belt
the Channel Country in the far south-west.
Queensland has many places of natural beauty, including:
the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast having some of the
state's most popular beaches
the Bunya Mountains and the Great Dividing Range with numerous
lookouts, waterfalls and picnic areas
Carnarvon Gorge
Whitsunday Islands and Hinchinbrook Island.
The state contains five World Heritage listed preservation
areas.
Australian Fossil Mammal Sites at Riversleigh in the Gulf
Country
Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves
Fraser Island
Great Barrier Reef
Wet Tropics of Queensland
Highest maximum temperature: 49.5 °C (121.1 °F),
Birdsville, 24 December 1972 (The temperature of 53.1 °C
(127.5 °F) at Cloncurry on 16 January 1889 is not considered
official, the figure quoted from Birdsville is the next
highest, so that record is considered as being official).
Lowest minimum
temperature: -11.0 °C (12.2 °F), Stanthorpe, 4 July
1895
Demographics
Queensland has a less centralised population than other
states, with significant populations in regional cities
such as CairnsQueensland's population is less centralised
in the capital city than the rest of the country. At 30
June 2004 the capital city represented 45.7% of the population;
for the whole country, capital cities represented 63.8%
of the total population.
Christian:
70.9%:
Roman Catholic: 24.9%
Anglican: 22.3%
Uniting Church: 8.4%
Lutheran: 2.1%
Other: 13.2%
Non-Christian: 2.3%
Buddhism: 1.1%
Islam: 0.4%
Hinduism: 0.3%
Judaism: 0.1%
Other: 0.4%
No Religion: 14.8%
Not Stated: 12.0%
On Friday, 9 December 2005 the population of Queensland
officially reached 4 million. Queensland is the fastest
growing state in Australia, with over 1500 people moving
to the state per week; 1000 in the southern part of the
state alone. Predictions show that Queensland will become
Australia's second most populous state by the late 2020s.
Economy
Glitz and palm trees.Queensland's economy has enjoyed a
boom in the tourism and mining industries over the last
twenty years. A sizeable influx of interstate and overseas
migrants, large amounts of federal government investment,
increased mining of vast mineral deposits and an ever expanding
aerospace sector ensure that the state will remain Australia's
fastest growing economy in the foreseeable future.
Between 1992
and 2002, the growth in the Gross State Product of Queensland
outperformed that of all the other states and territories.
In that period Queensland's GSP grew 5.0% each year, while
growth in Australia's GDP rose on average 3.9% each year.
Queensland's contribution to the Australian GDP also increased
(by 10.4%) in that period, one of only three states to do
so.
In 2003 Brisbane
city had the lowest cost of living of all Australia's capital
cities. As of late 2005 Brisbane is the third most expensive
capital for housing after Sydney and Canberra and just ahead
of Melbourne by $15,000.
Primary industries
include: bananas, pineapples, peanuts, a wide variety of
other tropical and temperate fruit and vegetables, grain
crops, wineries, cattle raising, cotton, sugar cane, wool
and a mining industry including bauxite, coal and copper.
[citation needed]Secondary industries are mostly further
processing of the above-mentioned primary produce: bauxite
from Weipa is converted to alumina at Gladstone. There are
also copper refining and the refining of sugar cane to sugar.
[citation needed]
Major tertiary
industries are the retail trade and tourism. [citation needed]
Tourism
Airlie BeachTourism is Queensland's leading tertiary industry
with millions of interstate and overseas visitors flocking
to the Sunshine State each year. Queensland is a state of
many contrasts that range from sunny tropical coastal areas,
lush rainforests to dry inland areas.
The main tourist
destinations of Queensland include –
Gold Coast
Sunshine Coast
Fraser Island
Brisbane
Whitsundays (Airlie Beach, Whitehaven Beach, Hamilton Island,
Daydream Island)
Far North Queensland (Cairns, Port Douglas,The Daintree)
North Stradbroke Island and South Stradbroke Island
The Great Barrier Reef
Theme
parks
Crocodile show at the Australia ZooThe Gold Coast of Queensland
is also sometimes referred to as "Australia's Theme
Park Capital", with five major amusement parks –
Dreamworld
Movie World
Sea World
Wet 'n' Wild
WhiteWater World
There are also wildlife parks - Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
and Australia Zoo (home of Steve Irwin until his death on
September 4, 2006).
Weather
Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday IslandQueensland is drenched
in sunshine, has warm seas, cool sea breezes and an enviable
warm climate all year round; the weather in Queensland is
incomparable to most other Australian states. The Queensland
region has two weather seasons: a winter period of rather
warm temperatures and minimal rainfall and a summer period
of warm balmy temperatures and higher levels of rainfall.
The Average
Summer Temperature in the South East of 19 to 29 degrees
Celsius and the Average Winter Temperatures in the South
East of 9 to 21 degrees Celsius. The averages for Tropical
North Queensland do vary somewhat for winter with the Average
Summer Temperature of 17-31 degrees Celsius and the Average
Winter Temperature of 17-26 degrees Celsius.
Ozone depletion
and the seasonal ozone hole has led to dangerously high
levels of UV radiation, especially at the most extreme latitutudes
of the southern hemisphere. Incidence of skin cancer in
Queensland, has risen to 75 percent among those over 64
years of age by about 1990, due to thinning of the ozone
layer.
Statistics
Queensland is the second most popular overnight holiday
destination in Australia for domestic travelers ($10.9 billion
per year) with NSW taking the honours for 2006. Holidays
in Queensland comprised of 18 754 000 combined visitor nights
(23% Australian Market) with more than 60% of these room
nights by residents from NSW and Victoria. Day visitors
also contributed a further $2.5 billion. [citation needed]
The Sunshine
Coast ($1.4 billion) and Tropical North Queensland ($1.3
billion) where Australia’s most visited regional areas
for overnight and day visitors (excluding major cities and
the Gold Coast).
The highest
average overnight expenditure is in the Whitsundays ($1
295 per person per night)
Accommodation
in Queensland caters for nearly 22% of the total expenditure,
followed by restaurants / meals 15%, airfares 11%, fuel
11% and shopping / gifts 11%.
Landmarks
The view from Q1 over the Gold CoastThe Q1, located on the
Gold Coast, is the tallest residential tower in the world,
when measured to the top of its spire. It was completed
in September, 2005.
Transport
Queensland is served by a number of National Highways and,
particularly in South East Queensland, high quality motorways
such as the M1. Rail services are provided by Queensland
Rail and Pacific National, predominantly along the coastline.
Queensland
has a number of major ports including the Port of Brisbane
and subsidiary ports at Gladstone and Townsville. The Brisbane
Airport, Gold Coast Airport and Cairns International Airport
are the main gateways into the State from overseas, with
domestic airports at Maroochydore, Rockhampton south and
elsewhere.
South-East
Queensland is governed by an integrated public transport
system, TransLink, which provides bus, rail and ferry services.
Regional bus and long-distance rail services are also provided
throughout the State.
Government
Main article: Government of Queensland
The Parliament of Queensland in BrisbaneQueen Elizabeth
II is represented as head of state by the Governor, whom
she appoints on the advice of the Premier. The current Governor
is Ms Quentin Bryce, AC. The head of government is the Premier,
who is appointed by the Governor but must have the support
of the Legislative Assembly. The current Premier is the
Hon Anna Bligh, of the Australian Labor Party. Other Ministers,
forming the Executive Council, are appointed by the Governor
from among the members of the Legislative Assembly on the
Premier's recommendation.
The Queensland
State Parliament, known as the Queensland Parliament or
the Legislative Assembly, is unicameral. It is the only
Australian state with a unicameral legislature. A bicameral
system existed until 1922, when the Legislative Council
was abolished by the Labor members' "suicide squad,"
so called because they were appointed for the purpose of
voting to abolish their own offices.
The judicial
system of Queensland consists of the Supreme Court and the
District Court, established by the Queensland Constitution,
and various other Courts and Tribunals established by ordinary
Acts of the Queensland Parliament.
In 2001 Queensland
adopted a new codified constitution, repealing most of the
assorted Acts that had previously made up the constitution.
The new constitution took effect on 6 June 2002, the anniversary
of the formation of the independent colony of Queensland
by the signing of Letters Patent by Queen Victoria in 1859.
Kanaka labourers on a plantation in the 1890s
Main article: History of Queensland
The history of Queensland spans thousands of years, encompassing
both a lengthy indigenous presence, as well as the eventful
times of post-European settlement. Estimated to have been
settled by Indigenous Australians approximately 40,000 years
ago, the north-eastern Australian region was explored by
Dutch, Portuguese and French navigators before being encountered
by Captain James Cook in 1770. The state has witnessed the
tragic events of frontier warfare between European settlers
and Indigenous inhabitants, as well as the employment of
cheap Kanaka labour sourced from the South Pacific. Likewise,
it has experienced dynamic growth and progress since its
separation from New South Wales in 1859, currently being
the fastest-growing state in Australia.
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