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Australia is a Commonwealth country made up of the world's smallest continent in the southern hemisphere.  It comprise in a mainland, the major island of Tasmania and many other islands in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans. Australia has six states, two major mainland territories, and a few minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory.

Australia has a  population is 21 million, and is concentrated in the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

The first Australians were possibly the ancestors of the present day Indigenous Australians.  Most of these people used to be hunter-gatherers, with spiritual values based on reverence for the land. The Indigenous population — mainland Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders — was 410, 003 (2.2% of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from the 1976 census, which showed an indigenous population of 115,953.

Most of the estimated 21 million Australians today are descended from 19th and 20th century European settlers. As of 2006, around 90% of Australia's population was of European descent. For generations, most settlers came from the British Isles, and the people of Australia are still predominantly of British or Irish ethnic origin.

The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and self-image have been radically transformed.

Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous initiatives established by the government encouraged racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. In 2005–06, more than 131,000 people emigrated to Australia, mainly from Asia and Oceania. 

Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. Australia's 7,617,930 square kilometres landmass is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Australia has a total 34,218 kilometres of coastline-excluding all offshore islands.

English is the national language and is spoken and written in a distinct variety known as Australian English.  English is spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%) and Greek (1.4%).

Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP slightly higher than those of the UK, Germany and France in terms of purchasing power parity. The country was ranked third in the United Nations' 2006 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index 2005.

Since 1788, the primary basis of Australian culture has been Anglo-Celtic, although distinctive Australian features had been evolving from the environment and indigenous culture. Over the past 50 years, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture (particularly television and cinema), large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries, and Australia's Asian neighbours. The vigour and originality of the arts in Australia — literature, cinema, opera, music, painting, theatre, dance, and crafts — have achieved international recognition.

Australians are a friendly people and inspite of being located on the south Pacific, they are more Americanized or Europeanized than the other countries in the neighbourhood.