Chapter 1

THE
AUSTRALIAN
CONTINENT
In this chapter we look at Australias
geographical dimensions. We compare its
relative size and shape with other continents
and countries, and locate and recognise
Australia on a world map using latitude and
longitude. We also explain the origins of the
continent from an Aboriginal and geographical
perspective.

A student:
5.1 identifies, gathers and evaluates geographical
information
5.2 analyses, organises and synthesises
geographical information
5.3 selects and uses appropriate written, oral and
graphic forms to communicate geographical
information
5.4 selects and applies appropriate geographical
tools
5.5 demonstrates a sense of place about Australian
environments
5.6 explains the geographical processes that form
and transform Australian environments
5.10 applies geographical knowledge, understanding
and skills with knowledge of civics to
demonstrate informed and active citizenship.

Locating features on a world map using latitude

and longitude (page 7)
Creating a document containing weblinks (page 9)

Uluru after a sudden rain storm in the

central Australian desert

2
GEO active 2

caldera: a large basin-shaped crater surrounded by

steep cliffs, formed by either a violent volcanic
eruption that removed the top of the volcano or
subsidence of the central part of the cone
continent: one of the seven great main landmasses on
the Earth
continental drift: the theory that describes how
continents broke away and drifted from an original
landmass
convection currents: the deep, slow movement of
molten rock from the upper mantle that moves
tectonic plates
Dreaming: stories that describe the Dreamtime, a time
in which the Aboriginal peoples believe the Earth
came to have its present form and in which life and
nature began
erosion: the wearing away of soil and rock by natural
elements such as wind and water
fault mountains: formed when layers of rock are
fractured and one section moves down and another
moves up
fold mountains: formed when one plate slides
down under another. Some rocks are forced down,
others are forced upwards and bent into wave-like
forms.
gross national income (GNI) per capita: total value
of goods and services produced in a country in one
year per person plus net income from abroad
Ice Age: a time in which the Earth is colder, resulting
in the expansion of glaciers and ice sheets and a fall
in sea level
Indigenous people: the descendants of the original
inhabitants of an area

latitude: imaginary lines drawn around the Earth from

east to west; they represent distance north or south of
the Equator, measured in degrees, minutes and seconds
longitude: imaginary lines drawn around the Earth
from north to south; they represent distance east or
west of the Greenwich Meridian, measured in
degrees, minutes and seconds.
mantle: the layer of the Earth between the crust and
the core
megacities: cities with more than ten million people
minute: each degree of latitude or longitude can be
divided into 60 smaller segments called minutes,
often represented by the sign (e.g. 2030 is
20 degrees and 30 minutes)
Prime Meridian: the most important line of longitude.
It runs through the Greenwich Observatory in England.
All other lines of longitude are either east or west of it.
sacred sites: places where important events in the
Dreaming took place
sediment: material deposited by a stream or other
body of water
tectonic plates: the various slow-moving plates that
make up the Earths crust. Volcanoes and
earthquakes often occur at the edges of plates.
tectonic processes: activities below the Earths
surface that cause the breaking and bending of the
Earths crust
time zones: the 24 zones of different time into which
the Earth is divided
topography: physical features of an area of land its
height and shape
weathering: the breakdown of bare rock by water and
temperature changes

3
CHAPTER 1: THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

1.1
AUSTRALIAS GEOGRAPHICAL
DIMENSIONS
SIZE AND SHAPE
Australia is one of the seven continents of the
world. The landmass of the Australian continent
extends over an area of about 7682 million square
kilometres. This is almost as great as the area of the
United States of America (excluding Alaska), a little
more than one-third of the size of Russia and about
thirty-two times greater than the United Kingdom.
If you travelled in a straight line from Australias east coast to the west coast at its widest
point, you would cover a distance of almost 4000
kilometres. You would also pass through two time
zones on the west coast the sun rises two
hours later than it does on the east. A journey
from south to north through the red centre would
cover over 2500 kilometres and pass through several climate zones, from the cooler and temperate
south to the hot, humid tropics in the north.

ATE
wai

The relative size of Australia

21

Australi

As

ia

a 6%

ca

cti
tar

An

%
10

The relative
size of the
continents

South
12% America

Afric

ica

rth
No %
15

r
me

a 20%

Europe 1

Australia is the smallest of the seven

continents of the world.
Australia is the sixth-largest country.
Australia is the largest island in the world.
The population of Australia grew to over
20 million people in 2003.

6%

ARCTIC OCEAN

Arctic Circle
60S
NORTH
AMERICA

EUROPE

AT L A N T I C

ASIA

OCEAN

30S
Tropic of Cancer

PAC I F I C

AFRICA
0

Equator

OCEAN

PAC I F I C
OCEAN

INDIAN

SOUTH
AMERICA

AT L A N T I C

Tropic of Capricorn

OCEAN

OCEAN

30S

AUSTRALIA

SOUTHERN
60S
Antarctic Circle S O U T H E R N

Australia
is one of the
seven continents.

150W

120W

OCEAN
90W

60W

30W

30E

4
GEO active 2

ANTARCTICA
60E
90E

120E

150E

OCEAN

COMMONWEALTH STATES
AND TERRITORIES

ritor

Tropic

The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of

six states and two territories. Each state and territory has its own internal government and
capital city. The federal capital of Australia is
Canberra. Australia also has seven external territories: Norfolk Island; Christmas Island; the
Cocos (Keeling) Islands; the Coral Sea Islands
Territory; the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier
Islands; the Australian Antarctic Territory; and
Heard Island and McDonald Islands.
130E Arafura

120E
10S

INDIAN
OCEAN

Sea 140E

150E

SOUTHERN OCEAN

Antarctic

90E

180

External territories

Australia and its external territories

20S

apricorn

4. List the states and territories of Australia in order of

size, from largest to smallest.
5. Name the capital cities of three of the states of
Australia.
6. Which town shown on Australias mainland is the
furthest away from any coastline? Use the scale to
measure how far it is from this town to the nearest
coastline.
7. Observe the map of Australia and its external
territories.
(a) Complete this list of Australias seven external
territories:
(i) Coral Sea Islands Territory
(ii) Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands
(iii) Heard Island and McDonald Islands
(iv) N ............................ I ............................
(v) C ............................ I ............................
(vi) C ............................ I ............................
(vii) A ............................
(b) Estimate which external territory is the closest
and which is the furthest away from Australias
mainland.
8. Go to www.jaconline.com.au/geoactive/geoactive2
and click on the Australia Satellite Images weblink
for this chapter. Select five images one each for
northern, southern, eastern, western and central
Australia.
(a) Name the state or territory where each image is
located.
(b) Compare the images are the environments or
landforms similar or different?
(c) Outline how these images show the range of
environments and landforms found in Australia.

30S

30S

PAC I F I C
OCEAN
SOUTHERN
110E

le

Coral Sea

20S

40S

Circ

ritory

10S

Timor
Sea

ritor

Tropic of

icorn
of Capr

120E

OCEAN
130E

150E

140E

(ABOVE) Australias states

and territories

TAS 0.88%

Tasman
Sea

40S

160E

ACT 0.03%

NS
SA

.43

10

(RIGHT) The relative

sizes of Australias
states and territories, as
percentages of the
whole area of Australia

12.8
1

2%

Qld 2

7.5

1
NT

2.48%

1. List the continents of the world from largest to

smallest.
2. Which continents are crossed by the Equator?
3. Imagine you are an alien explorer floating above
planet Earth in a spaceship. Write a brief report to
your home planet about the landmass we know as
Australia. Describe its size and shape and its
surroundings. Compare Australias size and shape
with three other countries, describing their
similarities and differences. To see satellite images of
the world from space, go to www.jaconline.com.au/
geoactive/geoactive2 and click on the NASA Images
weblink for this chapter.

Worksheets
1.1 Australian landforms

5
CHAPTER 1: THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

1.2
LOCATING AUSTRALIA
Northern
hemisphere

Australia is located in the southern hemisphere,

which it shares with the continents of Africa,
South America and Antarctica, as well as many
islands in the South Atlantic and South Pacific
oceans. We also refer to Australia as being
located in the eastern hemisphere, which it
shares with East Asia and South Asia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and part of Antarctica.
The dividing line between the eastern and
western hemispheres is the Prime Meridian.
To the north of Australia lie:
some of the most populous countries in the
world. China has the largest population in the
world (1300 million); Indonesia has the fourthlargest population (250 million).
some of the largest cities in the world.
Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Seoul, Osaka,
Tokyo, Manila and Jakarta are all megacities
with populations of over 10 million people.
some of the worlds largest and most important
economies. China has the second-largest
economy after the United States, and Japan
has the third-largest economy.
some of the poorest countries in the world.
Indonesia, Vietnam and Papua New Guinea all
have a gross national income (GNI) per
capita (per person) of less than US$1000.
Australias GNI is over US$20 000.

Western
hemisphere

Southern
hemisphere

Eastern
hemisphere

Australias place in the southern and eastern hemispheres

1. Estimate the distance in a straight line from:

(a) the easternmost point of the east coast of
Australia to the closest part of the United States
(b) the easternmost part of the east coast of Australia
to the closest part of New Zealand
(c) the northernmost part of Australia to the closest
part of China
(d) the westernmost part of Australia to the closest
part of the United Kingdom.
2. Go to www.jaconline.com.au/geoactive/geoactive2
and click on the Interactive Maps weblinks for this
chapter. Click on the map of Australia. Describe the
location of the main islands near Australia.

ATO

A T L A N T I C
O C E A N
I

N
O

ical Proj

Worksheets
1.2 Australian bingo
1.3 Knowing Australia

World political map

6
GEO active 2

D
C

I
E

A
A

N
N

75N

C T

0S

A T

A T L A N T I C
O C E A N

AND BARB

P A C

VAD

O C E A N

7
CHAPTER 1: THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

BAD

AND TOBA

150W

165E
180
165W

Longitude
Imaginary lines running from
the South Pole to the North
Pole are called meridians of
longitude. One of these lines
has been chosen as the Prime
Meridian (0 longitude). It runs
through Greenwich in England.
All the other lines of longitude
are given a number between 0
and 180. They measure how
far east or west of the Prime
Meridian a place is located.
Places east of this line are
marked with an E. Places
west of this line are marked
with a W.

135E
150E

To locate places, geographers use a grid made up of lines of

latitude and longitude. These lines are shown in the diagram.
The map below shows these lines combined as a grid. Latitude
and longitude are measured in degrees. Each degree can be
further divided into 60 minutes. Latitude and longitude allows
us to locate any place on Earth. For example, Japan is located
between latitudes 30N and 40N and between longitudes
135E and 150E. Latitude is always given before longitude.
Observe the map. Work out the locations of:
(a) Australia
(d) China
(b) New Zealand
(e) India
(c) Papua New Guinea
(f) Russia.
To find out more, go to www.jaconline.com.au/geoactive/
geoactive2 and click on the Latitude and Longitude weblink for
this chapter.

30N
15N
Equa
tor
15S
30S
45S
6

75E

Locating features on a world map using latitude and

longitude

Latitude
Imaginary lines running across
the world are called parallels of
latitude. They measure how far
north or south of the Equator
(0 latitude) a place is located.
Places south of the Equator
are shown with an S. Places
north of the Equator are
shown with an N.

90E
105E
120E

TOOLBOX

60N
45N

1.3
ORIGINS OF THE CONTINENT:
ABORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE
THE DREAMING AND THE LAND

A DREAMTIME STORY OF THE

YORTA YORTA PEOPLE

The oral history of Australias Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander peoples its Indigenous
people tells of a Dreamtime when all things
began. Stories of this time have been passed
down by word of mouth over thousands of years.
Dreamtime stories explained how the world
came to be, providing a basis for peoples spirituality. They also provided rules to live by, and
sometimes warned of danger. Not everyone had
the same Dreaming, as the people spoke many
different languages and had differing customs.
But the strong link between the people and their
land was common to all. The land provided
everything they needed to survive, and connected
them and all living things with their powerful
ancestral beings.

The Yorta Yorta people, from north-east Victoria,

believe that a long time ago, the ancestral creator
Biame told an old woman to leave the high rocky
country, and trek
across the plain
below. She set off
with her dogs,
trailing her
digging stick
behind her. Biame
asked a giant
snake to follow
her. After she left,
Biame spoke, and
thunder boomed.
Rain filled up the
Aerial photo of the mouth of the
track carved in
Murray River
the dirt by the
womans stick and the wiggles of her guardian
snake, forming a river. Once she reached the sea,
the woman rested. Her dogs scampered around,
kicking up so much sand that dunes formed
around the rivers mouth. That river is today
known as the Murray.

From archaeological sites, we know that

Indigenous people have lived in Australia
for at least 40 000 years. This is a very long
time compared to the time that Europeans
have lived in Australia. Think of a clock
if Indigenous people have lived here for
one hour, Europeans have been here for
only 15 seconds.

MAP DREAMING
CREATION OF A CONTINENT

An important record of the Dreaming is preserved

today in the traditional paintings of Aboriginal
artists and in their decorated artefacts. Many
Aboriginal paintings are like maps, depicting the
landscape and events of the Dreaming from an
aerial perspective. The painting opposite shows
landforms and other features around Kiwirrkura,
in the Gibson Desert near the border of the
Northern Territory and Western Australia. Paintings of this type are plan views, providing a map
of sacred sites and hunting grounds. Aboriginal
people have long used symbols in their artworks,
but only those people directly involved in creating
a painting can give its full meaning. Some
symbols have many meanings; a series of circles
within circles, for example, could mean a camp
fire, cave, waterhole, tree or hill.

The ancestral beings of Indigenous people were

believed to have emerged during the Dreamtime.
Some came up from the ground; others came
from the sky and across the seas. Many could
change their form back and forth, from human to
plant or animal. As they journeyed over what
was then a flat land, they sang into being both
the landscape features and all life forms.
When their creation work was finished, the
ancestral beings disappeared. Some went back
into the sky. Many merged into the landforms
they had created, such as mountains, gorges,
rivers, trees and waterholes. There, according to
traditional belief, they live today, continuing to
influence life on Earth.

8
GEO active 2

The Wandjina, a creation ancestor widely

respected in the Kimberley region of Western
Australia

Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula

Kukatja (c. 1921)1994
Tingari Dreaming at Walawala 1989
synthetic polymer on canvas, 119.7 179.3 cm
Purchased from Admission Funds, 1989
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Donkeyman Lee Tjupurrula, licensed by VISCOPY,
Australia, 2004

Man

Two men sitting

Water, rainbow, snake,

lightning, string, cliff
or honey store

Footprints

Waterholes
connected by
running water

Rainbow, cloud,
cliff or sandhill
Camp site, stone,
waterhole, rock
hole, breast, fire,
hole or fruit

Symbols commonly used in Aboriginal art

TOOLBOX
Creating a document containing weblinks
Weblinks are also called hyperlinks. In documents
and web pages, they are often shown as coloured
or underlined text. Clicking on a weblink takes the
user to a different location, such as a page on the
Internet. You can easily create weblinks in your
own documents or web pages. In software such as
Microsoft Word you can type the address into your
document and Word will automatically format the
address as a weblink. To find out more, use your
computers Help file.
Create a document or web page containing
weblinks that help other people understand more
about Dreamtime creation stories. Use the Internet
to research Dreaming stories and to find websites
to use as your weblinks. To view some interesting
sites, go to www.jaconline.com.au/geoactive/
geoactive2 and click on the Dreaming Stories
weblinks for this chapter. Your final document
should include:
a Dreaming story that describes the creation of a
landform
the location where the story is set (you might
like to include a map)
photographs or paintings of the landform
at least one weblink that provides more
information about Dreaming stories
at least one weblink to a site that presents an
Aboriginal perspective about the origins of the
Australian continent.

1. Describe the importance of Dreaming stories for

Aboriginal people.
2. Why are there so many different Dreaming stories
and creation ancestors? What link do they all have
in common?
3. Name at least two different ways in which stories of
the Dreaming could be passed on from one group of
people to another.
4. Observe the painting Tingari Dreaming at Walawala.
(a) How can some Aboriginal artworks also be used
as maps?
(b) How many waterholes like this
can you
count in the painting?
(c) Sketch the three central circles joined by lines in
the centre of the painting. What do you think
these represent?
(d) List the similarities and differences between the
painting and other maps.
5. Draw a map of your local area in the style of an
Aboriginal painting. Use some conventional
Aboriginal symbols as well as some of your own.
6. The Wandjina image shown on this page is from the
Kimberley region of Western Australia. In groups,
create a poster or a PowerPoint presentation about
Indigenous art of the Kimberley region. Use the
school library, search the Internet or go to
www.jaconline.com.au/geoactive/geoactive2 and
click on the Kimberley weblink for this chapter to
find more information.

9
CHAPTER 1: THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

1.4
ORIGINS OF THE CONTINENT:
GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
The broad shape of Australia and its distinctive
landforms have been influenced over long
periods by earth movements associated with
tectonic processes.
The Earths crust is cracked and made up
of many individual moving pieces called
tectonic plates. There are nine large plates
and about a dozen smaller ones. The larger
plates contain the continents and oceans. These
plates float on the dense layer of rock below.
Geographers have long been aware that if the
continents were rearranged and repositioned,
they would fit together like a jigsaw. Scientists
believe that, about 225 million years ago, the
continent of Australia was joined to all the
other continents. This supercontinent (called
Pangaea) then split into:
Gondwana (now South America, Africa,
Antarctica and Australia).
Laurasia (now North America, Asia and Europe).
As the plates have slowly moved, the continents
have broken up and moved apart. Convection
currents in the rock caused the plates to move
slowly around the surface of the Earth. This is
called the theory of continental drift.

(a) 225 million years ago

(b) 135 million years ago

(c) 65 million years ago

(d) The continents today

Movement of the continents

ARCTIC

Arctic Circle

OCEAN

Converging plate boundary

Diverging plate boundary
Uncertain plate boundary
Movement of plate

Eurasian Plate

EUROPE

ASIA

Iranian
Plate
Arabian
Plate

Tropic of Cancer

AFRICA

Juan de Fuca Plate

Philippine
Plate

PACIFIC OCEAN

SO U TH
AMERICA

INDIAN

ATLANTIC

Nazca Plate

O C E A N Indo-Australian

Tropic of Capricorn

Plate

OCEAN

3000 km

Caribbean
Cocos Plate
Plate

Pacific Plate

African Plate

1500

North
American
Plate A T L A N T I C

OCEAN

Equator

N O RT H
AMERICA

South
American
Plate

AUSTRALIA

S O UT H E R N

OCEAN

Antarctic Plate

The Earths continental plates

10
GEO active 2

Antarctic
Plate

The block moves up forming

a mountain.

Faults

As the crust
moves apart the
block sinks.

MOUNTAIN BUILDING
The movement of the Earths plates not only
explains the present location of continents but
also why the processes of mountain building and
volcanic activity take place.
When two plates collide, mountain ranges are
formed. They are formed by either folding or
faulting. Fold mountains are formed when one
plate slides down under another. Some rocks are
forced down while others are forced upwards and
bent into wave-like forms. Fault mountains are
formed when layers of rock are fractured and one
section moves down and another section moves
up. Many of Australias mountain ranges are the
result of folding and faulting for example, the
Flinders Ranges (South Australia), the Stirling
Ranges (Western Australia) and large parts of
the Great Dividing Range.
The formation of
fold mountains

Layers of rock
above are
folded under
the pressure.

One plate
moves
under the
other.

Magma

Rift valley

The formation of fault mountains

1. What has been the main influence over the broad

shape and distinctive landforms of Australia?
2. Describe how a tectonic plate floats.
3. What was the name of the supercontinent that
contained all present continents?
4. Observe the diagram showing the movement of the
continents.
(a) Which three continents were still connected
about 65 million years ago?
(b) Create a sequence of events describing the
breakup of Pangaea.
5. Observe the map of the Earths continental plates.
(a) On which plate is Australia located?
(b) In which direction is this plate moving?
(c) How might mountain building be affected by
New Zealands location on two plates?
6. Go to www.jaconline.com.au/geoactive/geoactive2
and click on the Continental Drift weblink for this
chapter. Try one of the quizzes or other activities
available on this site and then create a PowerPoint
or multimedia presentation that explains why the
Earths surface is always changing.
Worksheets
1.4 Gondwana jigsaw

A spectacular example of
folding in the Karijini National
Park, part of the Hamersley
Range in the Pilbara region of
Western Australia

11
CHAPTER 1: THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

1.5
TECTONIC PROCESSES AND
VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
Mountains can be formed by folding and faulting
processes, and also by volcanic activity, which
normally takes place around the margins of
moving plates. In the past, there was extensive
volcanic activity in Australia even though the
continent is not situated on the edge of a moving
plate. There were volcanoes the size of a modern
Vesuvius, and huge lava plains covered considerable areas. Some vulcanologists suggest that
these volcanoes occurred as the continent drifted
north and moved over a hot spot in the mantle.
Hot spot volcanoes form in the middle of tectonic plates directly above a source of magma
(molten lava) located deep beneath the Earth. A
hot spot stays still, but the tectonic plate above it
keeps moving.

How hot spot volcanoes form on a drifting landmass

Active volcano

Earths crust

Earths crust

A crater lake forms when a caldera fills with

water. Mount Eccles in Victoria and Blue
Lake in Mount Gambier, South Australia, are
examples.

Active volcano
Extinct volcanoes

A caldera is formed
when a volcano
erupts violently
resulting in the
cone collapsing into
the magma chamber
below. Tower Hill in
Victoria is a caldera.

About 33 million years ago as Australia was

drifting northwards after splitting from Antarctica the continent passed over a large hot spot.
Over the next 27 million years, about 30 volcanoes
erupted while they were above these hot spots.
The oldest eruption was 35 million years ago at
Cape Hillsborough in Queensland; the last was
the Macedon volcano in Victoria around 6 million
years ago. Over millions of years, this hot spot
process forms a chain of volcanoes such as those in
eastern and south-eastern Australia. At present,
the hot spot responsible for all this activity is
probably beneath Bass Strait.

Direction of
tectonic plate
movement
over time

Hot spot

VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS

Direction of
tectonic plate
movement
over time

Hot spot

Volcanic landforms
Cinder cones are formed when layers of ash and
cinders build up a cone with a large crater. Mount
Fox in Queensland is a cinder cone volcano.

Magma can make

rocks arch up and fill the
space to produce an
upside-down bowl of
rock called a laccolith.
A batholith is a huge body of
solid granite rock beneath
the Earths surface that used
to be a magma chamber
supplying lava to the surface.

Cracks that are

formed when the
land is pulling apart
can be filled with
magma. When this
cools and becomes
rock, a dyke is
formed. The
breadknife at the
Warrumbungles is
a dyke.

A sill is formed from

cooled magma (igneous
rock) which forces rock
layers apart and hardens
in a horizontal layer.
The top of Mount
Wellington in Hobart,
Tasmania, is a sill.

12
GEO active 2

A volcanic plug is a
feature that remains
after a volcano has
been eroded.
Crater Bluff in the
Warrumbungles and
many peaks in the
Glasshouse Mountains,
Queensland, are
volcanic plugs.

A lava dome is
formed when
lava flows so
slowly that it
piles up around
the vent rather
than flowing
away. Bluff
Mountain in the
Warrumbungles
in New South
Wales and
South Pyramid
in Girraween
National Park,
Queensland, are
examples.
Pluton is rock that was once
lava forced between other
rocks and cooled under the
ground. The You Yangs near
Geelong in Victoria are the
exposed portion of a pluton.

Sydney: its always been a blast

By James Woodford, Science writer

FORMATION OF THE TWEED

VOLCANO

One of Earths most cataclysmic geological events turned Sydney into

a volcanic hell a prehistoric Hades dominated by more than 200
volcanoes a new survey shows . . .
In a survey of the regions volcanic past, the leader of the Geodiversity
Research Centre at the Australian Museum, Dr Lin Sutherland, and the
Geological Survey of NSW have traced and dated extinct volcanoes, volcanic plugs and fissures filled with lava between Sydney and Dubbo . . .
A volcanic plug beside the golf course at Bondi Beach has been
dated at 151 million years.
Rivers of molten rock were coursing for kilometres across Sydney,
and dome-like volcanic cones would have turned the region into a
moonscape.
The earthquakes would flatten the city if they struck today. They
would have wreaked havoc on dinosaurs and other wildlife.
Most of the volcanic activity in Sydney was between 190 million
and 140 million years ago, when the supercontinent Gondwana was
tearing itself apart as the worlds land masses began a 150-millionyear journey to where they are now.
At that time, Sydney was near the South Pole. The distinctive sandstone which fills the Sydney basin was already 100 million years old.
When the lava hit these moist sandstones, massive explosions would
have torn up the landscape . . .
The volcanicism in Sydney extends right through to the Western
Plains around Wellington and Dubbo, he said.
Theres 200 remains of eruptions just from Sydney to the edge of
the Blue Mountains.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February 1999

The caldera of the Tweed volcano is one of the

biggest erosion calderas in the world it is over
1000 metres deep and has a diameter of over 40
kilometres.
It is believed that the volcano moved over a hot
spot in the Earths crust about 23 million years ago
and erupted. When it finished about 20 million
years ago, the volcano was over 2 kilometres high.
Layers of ash and lava were deposited over its outward slopes, to a diameter of about 100 kilometres.
This spread the volcano out over an area from
Byron Bay in the south-east, and Lismore in the
south-west, to Mount Tamborine in the north (in
Queensland).
What remains after much erosion over the past
20 million years is Mount Warning, the remnant
central plug, and an extremely hard ring of mountains the McPherson, Tweed, Nightcap and
Koonyum ranges.
Mount Warning today is about 1100 metres
high and, because it is so high and so far east on
the coast, is the first place to receive sunlight
each morning on the Australian continent.

Tweed
Volcano

Harder rock resists erosion to

remain as Mount Warning.

Nightcap
Range

Mount
Warning

Murwillumbah

Steeper streams and high

rainfall in the east cause
more rapid erosion.

Tweed Range

Tweed River

Streams erode
the sides of the
volcanic dome,
forming steepsided valleys.

Lamington Plateau
Springbrook
Tamborine
Mountain

Coolangatta

Southport

Mount Warning is a volcanic plug of the original Tweed

volcano, shown here as an artists impression superimposed
on the photograph.

1. Why did Australia have volcanic activity even

though it is not located on a plate edge?
2. Read the article Sydney: its always been a blast.
Imagine you are a newspaper journalist reporting on
the volcanic eruptions in Sydney. Write the headline
and first paragraph of your report.
3. Describe and explain how Australias volcanic
landscape has changed over time.
4. How wide is the Tweed caldera? Where do you
think all the eroded material has gone?
5. Read the information about hot spot volcanoes.
Imagine you are one of the oldest volcanoes in
Australia. Write a story about your life when and
where you were born, what happened during your
early life and what you look like now you are
ancient. To find out more about volcanoes, go to
www.jaconline.com.au/geoactive/geoactive2 and
click on the Volcanoes weblink for this chapter.
6. Part of the Tweed Valley is listed as a World Heritage
area. Conduct some research about World Heritage
listings. Determine why this area qualified for
inclusion in the list and what makes the area unique.
Present your research as a colourful poster or
PowerPoint display.
Worksheets
1.5 Create a cross-section

13
CHAPTER 1: THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

1.6
IMPACTS OF CHANGING
CLIMATES AND SEA LEVELS
AN ANCIENT LAND

CLIMATE CHANGE

Australia is an ancient landmass. The Earth is

about 4600 million years old and the Australian
continent is about 4300 million years old. Over
many millions of years Australia has undergone
many changes mountain ranges and inland
seas have come and gone. As mountain ranges
eroded, sediments many kilometres thick were
laid down over vast areas. These sedimentary
rocks were then subjected to folding, faulting and
uplifting. Over time, the forces of weathering
and erosion have worn these down again. Erosion acts more quickly on softer rocks, forming
valleys and bays. Harder rocks remain as mountains, hills and coastal headlands.

LOWEST AND FLATTEST

Because it is located in the centre of a tectonic
plate, rather than at the edge, Australia has no
active volcanoes on its mainland and has very little
tectonic lift from below. It therefore remains relatively quiet in terms of volcanoes and major earthquakes. This means its raised landforms, such as
mountains, have been exposed to weathering
forces longer than those of some other continents. Hence they are more rounded or
worn down. In fact, Australia is the lowest
and flattest of all the continents.
The present topography results from
the erosion caused by a huge icecap, about
290 million years ago. After the ice
melted, parts of the continent subsided
and were covered by sediment to form
sedimentary basins such as the Great
Artesian Basin.

During the last Ice Age, temperatures were much

lower, and vast amounts of water became trapped
in ice sheets and glaciers. The sea level was 100
metres lower than it is today. New Guinea and
Tasmania were attached to mainland Australia.
The climate was much colder in the south and
much wetter in the centre. Temperatures in the
inland were temperate to subtropical. There were
great rivers and lakes, and lush vegetation
teeming with bird and animal life.
With the end of the Ice Age, about 15 000 years
ago, higher temperatures led to the retreat of ice
sheets and glaciers, and sea levels gradually
rose to their present levels. Australia took on its
present shape and became isolated, with Tasmania and New Guinea cut off from the mainland. Some of the lower valleys were drowned,
making fine harbours such as Sydney Harbour.
As the sea level rose, other valleys filled with
alluvium, forming the typical lowland valleys
around the Australian coast. Higher temperatures meant changes in climate, and the
physical environment of the inland was transformed into the harsh desert and semidesert
that we know today.

Present sea level

100 000 years ago

60 000 years ago

20 m
40 m

115 000 years ago

60 m
25 000 years ago

80 m
100 m

18 000 years ago

Australia is the continent with the

lowest average elevation. The average
altitude of the Australian landmass is
only 300 metres. North America has an
average elevation of 790 metres.
Only 0.5 per cent of the Australian continent is above 1000 metres.

120 m

Sea levels have changed several times over thousands of

years. About 18 000 years ago the sea level was at least
120 metres lower than it is today. Yet if we look back as
far as 100 000 years ago, seas were only 20 metres lower
than today.

14
GEO active 2

LAND BRIDGES
Many scientists believe that Aboriginal people
are descended from people who migrated to
Australia from southern Asia. This was possibly
the earliest large-scale migration in human
history. It is believed to have begun about
50 000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. The
first people to reach Australia could have
simply walked most of the way across the land
bridge between New Guinea and Australia.
During the Ice Age, the islands of Indonesia
were closer together, making it possible for the
migrants to island-hop their way to Australia.
The longest water crossing involving canoes
was possibly only from Timor to Australia.
Making such a journey in a canoe would still
have been dangerous, however, due to the risk
of sudden storms and rough seas.

1. When do scientists think the ancestors of Aboriginal

people began to migrate to Australia?
2. What climatic conditions made this migration
possible?
3. Describe the coastline of Australia during the last Ice
Age.
4. During the last Ice Age, how were Australian
climates different from the way they are today?
5. Observe the map.
(a) How far might the first migrants have sailed
between Timor and Australia?
(b) What is the distance today?
6. Go to www.jaconline.com.au/geoactive/geoactive2
and click on the Sea Levels weblink for this chapter.
Explain the link between climate and global sea
levels.

Philippines

SOUTH
CHINA

Mindanao

SEA

P A C I F I C

Sulawesi
Borneo
Sumatra

Java

New

Solomon

Guinea

Islands

Timor

Torres Strait

Koolan

A N

E A

CORAL SEA

N
Cuckadoo

Puritjarra

A u s t r a l i a

Kenniff Cave

Talgai

Possible migration route

Major site, 50 000 to 10 000 BC

Koonalda
Cave
Panaramitee

Land above sea level, 18 000 BC

Mammoth Cave
Land above sea level, present

Burrill Lake

Nitchie Lake

Lake Mungo

Arumvale
Kow Swamp
Cloggs Cave

Keilor

500

1000 km

Cave Bay Cave

Tasmania

O U

T H

A N

Beginners Luck Cave

Bone Cave

Land surface during the last Ice Age and possible migration routes taken by Aboriginal people

Image WorldSat International Inc., 2001

www.worldsat.ca All rights reserved.
Overlay by MAPgraphics Pty Ltd, Brisbane.

15
CHAPTER 1: THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT

Broadsheet: Australia overview

Use the diagrams to answer the following questions.
1. Around 550 million years ago, the Uluru alluvial
fan was formed from
a. ancient igneous rock.
b. arkose (sedimentary rock).
c. sediment from the Petermann Ranges.
d. folding and faulting.
2. Between 300 and 500 million years ago
a. the whole region sank.
b. folding and faulting rotated Uluru to a vertical
position.
c. the sea covered the land and deposited sand,
mud and limestone.
d. the whole region lengthened under pressure.

FORMATION

OF

ULURU

AND

3. Between 65 and 70 million years ago

a. part of the area was still covered by water.
b. there was no water over the area.
c. continual deposition of sediment formed
Mount Currie.
d. sand dunes began to form.
4. Over the time period shown in the diagrams
a. the whole area has risen.
b. the whole area has been eroded.
c. the whole area has become wetter.
d. the whole area has become drier.
5. Uluru has been formed by a combination of the
following processes
a. folding and faulting.
b. erosion and deposition.
c. erosion, folding and faulting.
d. erosion, deposition, folding and faulting.
6. Outline a geographical explanation of how Kata
Tjuta and Uluru were formed.
7. Describe a possible Aboriginal explanation of the
formation of these two landforms.

KATA TJUTA

Uluru is the worlds largest monolith (single rock). The

rock is made of arkose, a type of sandstone. It covers an
area of 3.3 square kilometres, and is nearly 10 kilometres
around its base. Uluru rises 348 metres above the flat
plains, but this is only the tip it probably extends
several kilometres below the surface. Kata Tjuta, located
35 kilometres from Uluru, is a mountain range of large
rounded boulders. It is made up of conglomerate. The
conglomerate probably extends six kilometres beneath
Mount Olga, the highest peak. Many gorges are located
in this landform.
Kata Tjuta alluvial
fan formed of
Mount Currie
conglomerate.

Sediment from the Petermann

550 million years ago
Ranges is washed into lower
land to form alluvial fans.
Uluru alluvial fan
Folded
sedimentary
rocks

Kata Tjuta
alluvial fan
6 kilometres

Ancient igneous and

metamorphic rocks

2.5 kilometres

Region sinks; the sea covers the land

and deposits sand, mud and limestone.

Folding and faulting rotates

arkose to vertical position.

Uluru alluvial
fan formed
of arkose
(sedimentary rock).
300500 million years ago

Mount Currie conglomerate

is uplifted and tilted.

Region
shortened
under
pressure.
Fault lines
Erosion
uncovers
Katu Tjuta
composed of
Mount Currie
conglomerate.

Erosion and deposition of sediment

forms a broad shallow valley
between Kata Tjuta and Uluru.

Sand dunes seen today

form 30 000 years ago.

16
GEO active 2

Recent alluvial
sediments

Pressure
causes
rocks to
buckle and
fracture.

Rapid erosion uncovers

arkose to form Uluru.
6570 million years ago

Use the map to answer the

following questions.
8. A plane flying from
42.50S 147.15E to
35.17S 149.08E would
cross
a. Bass Strait.
b. Lake Eyre.
c. the Indian Ocean.
d. the Atlantic Ocean.
9. The latitude and
longitude of Sydney is
a. 33.55S 151.13E.
b. 30.22S 153.26E.
c. 34.43S 153.26E.
d. 35.24S 154.17S.
10. The latitude and
longitude of Broken
Hill is
a. 32.57S 140.25E.
b. 31.58S 141.27E.
c. 31.56S 142.28E.
d. 34.45S 140.24E.
11. The latitude and
longitude of Townsville is
a. 19.16S 146.49E.
b. 22.34S 145.35E.
c. 17.45S 141.34E.
d. 21.34S 149.32E.
12. The city closest to the
Tropic of Capricorn is
a. Alice Springs.
b. Gladstone.
c. Rockhampton.
d. Dubbo.
13. The city closest to
longitude 140E is
a. Broken Hill.
b. Mount Isa.
c. Griffith.
d. Whyalla.
14. The city closest to
Sydney is
a. Broken Hill.
b. Adelaide.
c. Brisbane.
d. Melbourne.
15. The population of
Adelaide is
a. over 1 000 000
people.
b. over 500 000 people.
c. 50 000 to 100 000
people.
d. 10 000 to 50 000
people.

Gulf
of
Carpentaria

C O R A L

S E A

Broad

Tropic of Capricorn

rna
Bass

Strait

Bass Strait

TA S M A N
S E A

ailwa

Central and eastern Australia

17
CHAPTER 1: THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENT