Regions , Landscapes and Climate of Australia

Regions

Most of Australia is flat. The highest part of the country lies in the east. Australia can be divided into three big regions:

1. The Great Dividing Range or Eastern Highlands

2. The Central Lowlands

3. The Western Plateau

The Eastern Highlands are the highest parts of the continent. This region is also called the Great Dividing Range because the rivers thatflow down the eastern slopes end in the ocean and the rivers that run down the western slopes flow into the Central Lowlands and dry up there.

The highest peaks can be found in the Australian Alps—in the southern part of the Great Dividing Range. They are covered with snow in winter and many Europeans go there to ski during our summer months.

Mount Hotham in the Australian Alps

The Central Lowlands consist of very flat plains . Rivers flow through this area after it rains a lot but during the rest of the year the river beds are mostly dry. In the southern part of the lowlands the grass gets high enough for farmers to raise cattle and sheep. Wheat is often grown here. In the northern part of the lowlands it gets drier and it is usually too hot and dry to grow crops . The region is not verypopulated and only has a few small towns.

The Western Plateau covers about two thirds of Australia. It is higher than the Central Lowlands. Most of it is made up of large deserts. Rain only falls in the north-eastern and south-western parts. Along the southern coast the Nullarbor Plain is about 700 km long. The name comes from the Latin words “nulla” and “arbor” which mean “no tree”.

Climate

Australia lies south of the equator , so its seasons are different from ours. The southern part of Australia has four seasons, like we do. Winters are cool and rainy and last from June to August. Summers are hot and dry and last from December to January.

The northern part of the continent has a tropical climate with only two seasons. The wet season from November to April brings a lot of rain , storms and floods . The dry season lasts from May to October.

One third of Australia is desert and gets less than 25 cm of rainfall a year. The wettest part of the continent lies in the south and southeast. It gets rain the whole year, sometimes up to 3 metres . Snow only falls in the higher places of the Australian Alps.

Droughts are a big problem in many parts of Australia. In some places it doesn’t rain for many months. This leads to bush fires and ashortage of water.

Dry regions of Australia

Words

• cattle = cows that are kept on a farm for their meat and milk
• consist of = are made of
• crop =a plant like wheat or rice that farms grow and is used for food
• divide = to separate something into two or more parts
• drought = when there is dry weather for a long time and plants and animals don’t have enough water to live
• equator = the line around the middle of the earth
• flood = a lot of water in a place that is normally dry
• flow = run down or through
• last =go on for …
• lead =to cause or make something happen
• peak = the highest mountain in a group of mountains
• plains = a large area of flat and sometimes dry land
• populated =settled, land in which people live
• raise = to look after and feed animals so that you can sell them as food or other things
• river bed = the ground at the bottom of a river
• shortage = not enough
• slope = the side of a mountain
• wheat = a plant from which you make white bread