Commonwealth of Australia: Map & History
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands.
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a land area of 7,688,287 km2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world, and is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, including large deserts centrally and tropical rainforests along the coast.
Modern Countries Once Part of Commonwealth of Australia
At its mapped extent, Commonwealth of Australia covered territory in 2 present-day countries. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
States and Provinces
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Commonwealth of Australia's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Commonwealth of Australia in Depth
History
Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea crossings from what is now Southeast Asia. It is uncertain how many waves of immigration may have contributed to these ancestors of modern Aboriginal Australians. The Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land is possibly the oldest site showing the presence of humans in Australia. The oldest human remains found are the Lake Mungo remains, which have been dated to approximately 42,000 years ago.
Aboriginal Australian culture is one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth.
Government and politics
Australia is a constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy and a federation. The country has maintained its mostly unchanged constitution alongside a stable liberal democratic political system since Federation in 1901. It is one of the world's oldest federations, in which power is divided between the federal and state governments. The Australian system of government combines elements derived from the political systems of the United Kingdom (a fused executive, constitutional monarchy and strong party discipline) and the United States (federalism, a written constitution and strong bicameralism with a Senate in which states have equal representation), resulting in a distinct hybrid.
Economy
Australia's mixed-market economy is highly developed and rich in natural resources. It is the world's twelfth largest by nominal terms and the twenty-third largest by PPP. As of 2021, Australia has the second-highest amount of wealth per adult, after Luxembourg, and the thirteenth-highest financial assets per capita, as well as one of the highest per capita incomes globally. It has a labour force of some 14.6 million, with an unemployment rate of 4.2% as of December 2025. According to the Australian Council of Social Service, the poverty rate of Australia exceeds 13.6% of the population, encompassing over 3.2 million. It also estimated that there were 774,000 (17.7%) children under the age of 15 living in relative poverty.
Culture
Contemporary Australian culture is diverse and reflects the country's Indigenous traditions, British and Irish heritage, and post-1945 history of multicultural immigration. The culture of the United States has also been influential. The evolution of Australian culture since British colonisation has given rise to distinctive cultural traits.
Many Australians identify egalitarianism, mateship, irreverence and a lack of formality as part of their national identity. These find expression in Australian slang, as well as Australian humour, which is often characterised as dry, irreverent and ironic.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Australia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Commonwealth of Australia: Key Facts
| Capital | Canberra |
|---|---|
| Official language | English |
| Form of government | representative democracy, constitutional monarchy |
| Currency | Australian dollar |
| Founded | 1 January 1901 |
Preceded by
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Facts from Wikidata Q408 (CC0).
Interactive map
Commonwealth of Australia on the World War I map →
See Commonwealth of Australia’s territory change day by day from 4 August 1914, with every battle it fought.
Interactive map
Commonwealth of Australia on the World War II map →
See Commonwealth of Australia’s territory change day by day from 3 September 1939, with every battle it fought.
Commonwealth of Australia Map Over Time
Dated world maps on which Commonwealth of Australia appears, with the other states of the time.
Commonwealth of Australia Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 8,231,960 km² in 1945 CE.
Commonwealth of Australia: Frequently Asked Questions
When did Commonwealth of Australia exist?
Commonwealth of Australia is dated to 1905 CE – 2024 CE, in the Industrial era.
What was the capital of Commonwealth of Australia?
The capital of Commonwealth of Australia was Canberra.
How large was Commonwealth of Australia at its peak?
At its peak in 1945 Commonwealth of Australia covered about 8,231,960 km².
How did the map of Commonwealth of Australia change over time?
Commonwealth of Australia appears on 2 dated world maps in the atlas, from 1914 CE to 1945 CE. Each shows its borders in that year next to the other states of the time.
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