FIG. 39. Blue Mountains 40. Railways of South-east Australia. 41. South of East Australia. 42. Victoria 43. Tasmania 44. Murray-Darling 45. South Australia 46. Artesian Basins of Australia. 47. Natural Regions of Western Australia 48. South-west Corner of West Australia 49. Central Highlands . 50. Progress of the Exploration of the Interior of Australia 51. Papua CHAPTER I BOUNDARIES AND AREA OF AUSTRALASIA 1. Areas and Distances. The areas comprised in the term Australasia have never been exactly defined. It is a convenient term for the British lands of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, British New Guinea (Papua), and the British possessions of the Solomons and Fiji. These, at any rate, are the subdivisions we shall include under this heading. They contain more than one quarter (27%) of the area of the British Empire. The relative proportions are shown in the following table: They consist of a group of islands, one of which, Australia, is continental in size, and is nearly thirty times (28.5) as large as the combined group of the New Zealand islands. Britain does not possess the whole of New Guinea, but only the southern portion, Papua, which is nearly as large as New Zealand. The other areas included in Australasia are relatively small, and of less importance. What are the nearest lands to the Australasian region? In the north is the Malay Archipelago, linking it to Asia. Java, the chief island, is about 800 miles from Australia, but 3,000 from the centre of settlement in Australia, which corresponds very closely with Canberra, the federal capital. The south of China is 4,000 miles from Canberra (see Fig. 1). To the south is the continent of Antarctica, 1,500 miles from the south of Tasmania, and 2,000 miles from Canberra. To the east, a voyage of 6,000 miles across the widest stretch of ocean in the world is necessary to reach South America. From Canberra it is 1,340 miles to Fre mantle, which is 5,000 miles from Cape Colony, itself 7,200 miles from England--a total of 13,500 from Canberra to London by this route. By Colombo (roughly, 3,000 miles from Fremantle) is the shortest and quickest route, through the Suez Canal, used by the royal mail steamers. It is 10,930 miles from Canberra to London by this shortest route 2. Boundaries. The boundaries of Australasia are well marked on two sides: on the west by the Indian 1 Ocean, on the east by the Pacific Ocean. The Tasman and the mainland. The French lands of New Caledonia and New Hebrides separate these two areas of the Pacific. On the north, the Timor and Arafura Seas divide Australasia from the Dutch islands, while the long island of New Guinea, which is structurally part of the continent of Australia, is separated from the island of Australia by the shallow Torres Straits. Southern New Guinea, or Papua, forms an outpost of the Commonwealth. The rest of the island is divided between Germany and Holland (see Fig. 2). On the south, the island of Tasmania is separated from the mainland by the Bass Strait, and has been Fig. 4. Interior. The Circles are 1,500 miles in diameter and the shaded area over 500 miles from the coast. severed from the island of Australia quite recently, from a geological point of view. The stormy seas south of Australasia extend uninterruptedly to the icy waters of Victoria Land. 3. Dimensions of Australia. Let us try and find out for ourselves how great a part of the land surface of |