r sports and outdoor living in general. Australia is one of the world's developed countries. It has busy cities, modern factories, and highly productive farms and mines. Australia is the world's leading producer and exporter of wool and bauxite. It also produces and exports large amounts of other minerals and farm goods. The income from these exports has made it possible for most of the people of Australia to have a high standard of living. In the past, Britain was Australia's most important trading partner. Today, Australia trades most with Japan and the United States. The first Australians were a dark-skinned people known today as Aborigines. The Aborigines had lived in Australia for at least 40,000 years before the first white settlers arrived. Britain settled Australia as a prison colony in 1788. Since then, the number of whites has steadily increased and the total number of Aborigines has declined. Today, the vast majority of Australians are white. The Commonwealth of Australia is a federation of states. The nation is administered under a written constitution. The Australian Constitution gives certain powers to the federal government and leaves all other government powers to the states. Australia has six states. They are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. Each state has its own government. Australia also has two mainland territories--the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Each territory is responsible for its own administration, but until the territories become states, the federal government must approve major policy changes. Australia has a parliamentary system of government. Under the parliamentary system, the political party or the coalition of parties controls the national government with a majority of seats in the Lower House of the parliament. The leader of the majority party or the coalition heads the government as Prime Minister. Australia is a cons...
