Queensland
Population: Over 4.5 million
Size: 1,730,648sq km
State Capital: Brisbane
With its relaxed lifestyle, gorgeous natural environment and famous tourist attractions, Queensland has long been a popular destination for visitors and residents alike. Tourism is very big business in this state – Queensland attracts over 2.2 million international visitors every year and the industry contributes a huge amount to the state economy. But it’s not just international visitors who fall for Queensland’s charms – since 1980 over half a million Australians from other states have relocated here.
Queensland is a casual, friendly, laid-back place and its glorious, sub-tropical climate (think clear skies, warm sunny days and mild nights) encourages a healthy, outdoor lifestyle. But it is the state’s natural environment that makes Queensland such a must-see destination. Right up in the tropical far north of the state lies the Daintree Rainforest, one of the oldest rainforests on earth and home to some incredible wildlife.
Just a little further south, you’ll find Queensland’s second World Heritage listed natural wonder – the Great Barrier Reef. The Reef stretches for over 2,000 kilometres along Queensland’s coastline and offers some of the world’s most spectacular sights – not to mention diving! Travel west, inland over the Great Dividing Range, and you’ll come to the mining sites and enormous cattle and sheep stations that make up Queensland’s Outback, while back out east on the coast, moving closer to Brisbane, lie Stradbroke, Moreton and Fraser Islands.
The capital of Queensland, Brisbane, is currently Australia’s third largest city behind Sydney and Melbourne. Brisbane is a safe, friendly, multicultural place with plenty to see and do – there are lots of parks, recreational facilities, gardens, convention facilities, museums, art galleries, shopping, restaurants and cafés to be explored in the city.
Universities in Queensland
