Coastline of Australia

The coastline of Australia comprises the coasts of mainland Australia and Tasmania. It nominally includes a part of all Australian states and territories; the otherwise landlocked Australian Capital Territory has a coastal enclave at Jervis Bay Territory.

Satellite photo of Australia
Tallow Beach, Byron Bay, New South Wales

According to The World Factbook, Australia has the sixth longest coastline in the world, at 25,760 kilometres (16,010 mi).[1][2]

Due to the historical context of European discovery and exploration, the coastline has been the first point of contact over 400 years.[3]

In the IBRA bioregionalisation, the coast has 36 coastal bioregions that define the whole coast[4] and there is the more complex Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia, which includes ecological features that are beyond the shoreline.

History

For thousands of years, Indigenous Australian clan groups along the coastline have preserved a longstanding maritime tradition in connection of sea country, with the conservation of marine life across large areas of Australia.

In the period of the European maritime exploration of Australia, the Australian coastline was discovered by a group of navigators, including Willem Janszoon, Dirk Hartog, Abel Tasman, Captain James Cook and Matthew Flinders, who went on to become the first in leading the first inshore circumnavigation of Australia and charter much of the coast.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority promotes the protection of the marine environment and the infrastructure of safety for navigation around the coastline, which maintains a national search and maritime rescue services.

Coastline length
Coastline length of Australia[5]
State/territory Mainland
coastline length		 Island length Total
coastline length
kmmikmmikmmi
Australia35,877 22,29323,859 14,82559,736 37,118
Australian Capital Territory––––––
Jervis Bay Territory54 343 1.957 35
New South Wales2,007 1,247130 812,137 1,328
Northern Territory5,437 3,3785,516 3,42710,953 6,806
Queensland6,973 4,3336,374 3,96113,347 8,293
South Australia3,816 2,3711,251 7775,067 3,148
Tasmania2,833 1,7602,049 1,2734,882 3,034
Victoria1,868 1,161644 4002,512 1,561
Western Australia12,889 8,0097,892 4,90420,781 12,913

See also

References
  1. "Coastline". World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018.
  2. ChartsBin. "Length of Coastline by Country". ChartsBin. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  3. "Mapping Australia's coastline". Australian Government. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016.
  4. Saintilan, Neil; CSIRO (2009). Australian saltmarsh ecology (Map). CSIRO Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-643-09684-4.
  5. "Border Lengths - States and Territories". Geoscience Australia. Australian Government. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
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