Australia--part: Victoria, Tasmania; Macquarie Island (Australia)

How is the land laid out?

Victoria is dominated by the western extension of Australia's Great Dividing Range, here called the Australian Alps. These reach nearly 2,000 meters in the state's east. South of the mountains are coastal plains interrupted by the nearly enclosed Port Philip Bay and by nearby Western Port Bay. North of the mountains are the southern part of the Murray-Darling plains. The Murray itself forms much of the border with New South Wales.

South of Victoria is the island of Tasmania,¹ separated from the mainland by the Bass Strait. The state also includes the Furneaux island Group, King Island and South Bruny Island. The main island consists of a mountainous plateau, which rises above 1,600 mneters.

There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites honoring nature: Macquarie Island the the 'Tasmanian Wilderness.' The latter is a tourist destination.

Who lives there?

Over five and a half million people live here, the majority of them in the Melbourne metropolitan area. Most people speak English; no other language accounts for as many as one in twenty speakers, and most of the minorities are urban immigrants. National relgious statistics vary wildly, but is is safe to way that more than 19 in 20 are culturally Christian, that most of those remain observant, and that observance is represented chiefly by Anglican Protestants and Roman Catholics, with other Christians together consituting less than either of these groups.²

The only city with more than a million metropolitan residents is Melbourne, whose Royal Exhibition Hall and Carlton Gardens are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Two other cities of notes are the grain port of Geelong and Hobart.

Between Victoria and Tasnmania are the Kingfish oil field and the Bass Strait and Yolla natural gas fields.

Who was there before?

Before the 19th century only Australian and Tasmanian languages were spoken here, and the aboriginal Australians followed similar spiritualist religions. These groups may have been here for 20,000 years or more.

Contacts from the north had very little impact, but the arrival of the British overwhelmed local cultures, due to genocide, intentional cultural destruction, persistent slavery, aggressive Christian proselytyzing, and the pragmatic advangages of assimilation. Other Europeans were invited to join the English speakers and assimilate, and very recently Asians have been allowed to join them.

The Twelve Apostles (rocks), Victoria, Australia

Around the area

north
east and southeast
southwest of Tasmania and south of southwest Victoria
west of Victoria

Footnotes

1. Formerly Van Dieman's Land. It is Oceania's fourth largest island.
2. Many of the remaining Protestants have joined in a Uniting Church. I do not know the breakout of religion by state, but the pattern in each presumably approximates the national one.