7 Wonders of Australia

1. Kakadu National Park

 

Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin.

The park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory. It covers an area of 19,804 km² (7,646 sq mi),^[2] extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west. It is the size of Slovenia, about one-third the size of Tasmania, or nearly half the size of Switzerland. The Ranger Uranium Mine, one of the most productive uranium mines in the world, is surrounded by the park.

2. Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park

 

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park is the location of a world-renowned sandstone monolith, which stands 348 metres in height and bears various inscriptions made by ancestral indigenous peoples, located in Northern Territory of Australia. It is located 1431 kilometres south of Darwin by road and 440 kilometres (270 mi) south-west of Alice Springs along the Stuart and Lasseter Highways. The park covers 1,326 square kilometres (512 sq mi) and includes the features it is named after - Uluru / Ayers Rock and, 40 kilometres (25 mi) to its west, Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga. The location is listed with UNESCO World Heritage sites.

3. Sydney Harbour

 

Sydney Harbour (also called Port Jackson) is a natural harbour. It is on the East Coast of Australia in Sydney. It is also the location of the famous Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

History

Before the arrival of European settlers, the area surrounding Sydney Harbour was home to a variety of aboriginal tribes, this included members of the Gadigal, Cammeraygal, Eora and Wanegal tribes. It is believed that the Gadigal people once lived in the area starting from the south side of Port Jackson (South Head, Watsons Bay), heading west in a semi circle cutting through Petersham. On the northern side of Sydney Harbour lived the Cammeraygal tribe. It was believed that the area on the southern side of the Parramatta River, just west of Petersham and through to Rose Hill, was owned by the Wanegal tribe. The Eora tribe lived on the southern side of Sydney Harbour, not far from where the First Fleet set up camp.

Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge are both on the shores of Sydney Harbour

Lt James Cook was the first person to find Sydney Harbour, this was in 1770. Captain Cook did not go into the harbour, but sailed past the entrance (Sydney Heads) on his way north up the East Coast of Australia. This was shortly after he found and left Botany Bay (Kurnell Peninsula). Cook named it [Sydney Harbour] after Sir George Jackson.^[1]

European settlement started on January 26, 1788, when Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet arrived from England. Phillip brought 732 convicts (prisoners) and a small group of soldiers to start a penal colony. They landed at a small inlet which they called Sydney Cove. This was named after Lord Sydney who was the British government's Home Secretary.

 4. Purnululu National Park

The Purnululu National Park is a World Heritage Site in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. The 239,723-hectare (592,370-acre) national park is located approximately 300 kilometres (190 mi) south of Kununurra, with Halls Creek located to the south. Declared a World Heritage Site in 2003, the park was inscribed as follows:^[2]

Purnululu National Park World Heritage site

The Domes Walk, Purnululu National Park. The beehive-shaped domes are Devonian calcareous sandstone, with regularly alternating, dark gray bands of cynobacterial crust.

 

The World Heritage status of the region was created and negotiated in 2003, and the adopted boundary of the existing national park.^[3] Since its listing, the Government of Western Australia has reserved additional areas located adjacent to the World Heritage Area, including the Purnululu Conservation Park and the Ord River Regeneration Reserve.^[2] The site was gazetted on the Australian National Heritage List on 21 May 2007 under the Environment and Heritage Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1), 2003 (Cth).

 5. Great Barrier Reef

 

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system^[1][2] composed of over 2,900 individual reefs^[3] and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi).^[4][5] The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms.^[6] This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps.^[7] It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.^[1][2] CNN labeled it one of the seven natural wonders of the world.^[8] The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland.^[9]

A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish. According to a study published in October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985.^[10]

The Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups' cultures and spirituality. The reef is a very popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over $3 billion per year.^[11]

In November 2014, Google launched Google Underwater Street View in 3D of the Great Barrier Reef.^[12]

 

Helicopter view of the reef and boats

6.Eucalyptus 

Giant Eucalyptus Trees of Tasmania

 Eucalyptus /ˌjuːkəˈlɪptəs/^[2] L'Heritier 1789^[3] is a diverse genus of flowering trees and shrubs (including a distinct group with a multiple-stem mallee growth habit) in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia. There are more than 700 species of eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia, and a very small number are found in adjacent areas of New Guinea and Indonesia. One species, Eucalyptus deglupta, ranges as far north as the Philippines. Only fifteen species occur outside Australia, with just nine of these not occurring in Australia. Species of eucalyptus are cultivated widely in the tropical and temperate world, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, China and the Indian Subcontinent, though most species do not tolerate frost.

Eucalyptus is one of three similar genera that are commonly referred to as "eucalypts", the others being Corymbia and Angophora. Many species, but far from all, are known as gum trees because they exude copious sap from any break in the bark (e.g., scribbly gum). The generic name is derived from the Greek words ευ (eu) "well" and κάλυπτος (kályptos) "covered", referring to the operculum on the calyx that initially conceals the flower.^[4]

Some eucalyptus species have attracted attention from horticulturists, global development researchers and environmentalists because of desirable traits such as being fast-growing sources of wood, producing oil that can be used for cleaning and as a natural insecticide, or an ability to be used to drain swamps and thereby reduce the risk of malaria. Outside their natural ranges, eucalypts are both lauded for their beneficial economic impact on poor populations^[5][6]:22 and criticised for being "water-guzzling" aliens,^[7] leading to controversy over their total impact.^[8]

On warm days eucalyptus forests are sometimes shrouded in a smog-like mist of vaporised volatile organic compounds (terpenoids); the Australian Blue Mountains take their name from the haze.

7. Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage listed 243 kilometres (151 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Allansford. Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 and dedicated to soldiers killed during World War I, the road is the world's largest war memorial. Winding through varying terrain along the coast and providing access to several prominent landmarks, including the Twelve Apostles limestone stack formations, the road is an important tourist attraction in the region.