|
Victoria lies in the
south-east corner of Australia. It is the nation’s largest city
after Sydney. Other important urban centres include Geelong; the
inland cities of Ballarat and Bendigo; the industrial towns of the
Latrobe Valley, east of Melbourne; Albury-Wodonga and
Shepparton-Kyabram-Rodney. Landscape:
Victoria occupies the
south east corner of the continent between latitudes 34 and 39 south
and longitudes 141 and 150 east. It covers 227 600 km2 -
about the same area as England, Wales and Scotland; three-fifths of
Japan and slightly larger than the US State of Utah.
About 36 per cent of Victoria is covered by forest with the major
forest belt in the east. The highest peaks are Mt Bogong (1986 m)
and Mt Feathertop (1,922 m). Victoria’s 1,800 km coastline borders
on Bass Strait, which separates the mainland from Tasmania, and in
the west on the Southern Ocean. It is a generally rugged coastline
but includes many wide sandy beaches and three large, almost fully
enclosed harbours. Melbourne and Geelong are on the shores of the
most important of these harbours, Port Phillip Bay.
Climate:
Temperatures vary widely but most of the State
falls within the warm, temperate belt of the south-east corner of
Australia, characterised by warm and dry summers and cool to mild,
wet, winters.
Daily summer temperatures range from 14°C
to 23°C in the coastal areas, 11°C
to 20°C in the mountains and 16°C
to 31°C inland. In winter, temperatures
range from 7°C to 14°C
in coastal areas, 0°C to 5°C
in the mountains and 5°C to 16°C
inland.
Snow settles on the Australian Alps in the north-east of Victoria
from June to September. Rainfall is heaviest in the eastern
highlands, in Gippsland in the east of the State and in the Otway
Ranges in western Victoria. Some areas receive annual rainfalls of
more than 1,000 mm. Lowest falls are in the Mallee region, where the
average is 327 mm. Melbourne’s average rainfall is about 660 mm a
year.
Source: Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade, International Public Affairs Branch 1994
|
