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The name Australia derives from Latin australis meaning southern, and dates back to 2nd century legends of an "unknown southern land" (ie. terra australis incognita). The English explorer Matthew Flinders named the land Terra Australis which was later abbreviated to the current form. Previously, when the Dutch explored the area they named it Nova Hollandicus or New Holland.

Adelaide is often referred to as the 'City Of Churches', although this is a reflection more on Adelaide's past than its present. Rumour has it that for every church that was built in Adelaide, a public house was also built to serve the less pious.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy: Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role distinct and separate from her position as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and is considered to be the head of state, although that term is found nowhere in the Constitution or the law. The Queen is nominally represented by the Governor-General - in practice virtually the entire constitutional role of the monarch is performed independently by the Governor-General. Under the Australian Constitution the role of the monarch is almost entirely ceremonial. Although the constitution theoretically gives very extensive executive power to the Governor-General, these powers are virtually never used directly, and are delegated to the Cabinet, whose members are chosen by the governing party or by the Prime Minister alone, from amongst the current members of the parliament.

While Australia has ubiquitous media coverage, the longest established part of that media is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Federal Government funded organisation offering national TV and radio coverage. The ABC, like the BBC in Britain, is a non-commercial public service broadcaster, showing many BBC or ITV productions from Britain.

Adelaide hosted the Formula 1 Grand Prix from 1985 on 1995 on a street circuit in the city's eastern parklands. The Formula 1 Grand Prix became a source of pride and losing the Grand Prix to arch-rival Melbourne under questionable circumstances left a void that has since been filled for the most part with the highly successful Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar race event, held on a modified version of the same circuit.

Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The city's name is pronounced "BRIZ-buhn". The City of Brisbane has around 940,000 inhabitants, while the surrounding metropolitan area population is around 1.73 million. It has a subtropical climate with warm, mild winters and hot, moist summers. Brisbane is subject to high humidity, mainly from November through to April.

Hobart is internationally famous among the yachting fraternity as the finish of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race which starts in Sydney on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day). The arrival of the yachts is celebrated as part of the Hobart Summer Festival, a food and wine festival beginning just after Christmas and ending in mid January.

Hobart is the state capital of Tasmania, Australia's island state, and has a mild, temperate, maritime climate with four distinct seasons. Being in the southern hemisphere, summer is December to February.

Debate about the role of the ABC continues, as many assign it a marginal role, and claim that American-influenced commercial TV and radio stations are far more popular choices. These critics claim that Australian children grow up watching Sesame Street and The Simpsons, eating fries at McDonalds, wearing baseball caps, speaking American slang, and some have never heard of Blinky Bill or the Magic Pudding. Television ratings are cited as backing this view, but it is less clear that these ratings tell the whole view. Certainly there have been many local television shows that have been successful, such as Skippy (in the late 1960s), Number 96 and The Box in the 1970s, Prisoner in the 1980s, and Neighbours and Home and Away (in the 1980s and 1990s), which have sometimes been even more successful abroad.

Australia has about 800 species of bird, ranging from the tiny 8 cm Weebill to the huge, flightless Emu.