Coastline Of Australia
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The coastline of Australia comprises the coasts of mainland Australia and
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
. It nominally includes a part of all Australian states and territories; the otherwise landlocked
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...
has a coastal enclave at
Jervis Bay Territory The Jervis Bay Territory (; JBT) is an internal territory of Australia. It was established in 1915 from part of New South Wales (NSW), in order to give the landlocked Australian Capital Territory (ACT) access to the sea. It was administered ...
. According to ''
The World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...
'', Australia has the sixth longest coastline in the world, at . Due to the historical context of European discovery and exploration, the coastline has been the first point of contact over 400 years. In the IBRA bioregionalisation, the coast has 36 coastal bioregions that define the whole coast and there is the more complex
Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia The Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA), formerly the Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation for Australia, is a biogeographic regionalisation of the oceanic waters of Australia's exclusive economic zone (EE ...
, which includes ecological features that are beyond the shoreline.


History

For thousands of years,
Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
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 maritime European exploration of Australia consisted of several waves of European seafarers who sailed the edges of the Australian continent. Dutch navigators were the first Europeans known to have explored and mapped the Australian coast ...
, the Australian coastline was discovered by a group of navigators, including
Willem Janszoon Willem Janszoon (; ), sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz., was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 16031611 and 16121616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of S ...
,
Dirk Hartog Dirk Hartog (; baptised 30 October 1580 – buried 11 October 1621) was a 17th-century Dutch sailor and explorer. Dirk Hartog's expedition was the second European group to land in Australia and the first to leave behind an artefact to record his ...
,
Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New Z ...
,
Captain James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...
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 Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is an Australian statutory authority responsible for the regulation and safety oversight of Australia's shipping fleet and management of Australia's international maritime obligations. The authority ...
promotes the protection of the
marine environment Marine habitats are habitats that support marine life. Marine life depends in some way on the saltwater that is in the sea (the term ''marine'' comes from the Latin ''mare'', meaning sea or ocean). A habitat is an ecological or environmental ...
and the infrastructure of safety for navigation around the coastline, which maintains a national search and maritime rescue services.


Coastline length


See also

*
Geography of Australia The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent, while comprising the territory of the sixth-largest country in the world. The population of Australia is concentrated along ...


References

{{reflist Geography of Australia