Queensland

With the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, sun-kissed beaches, lush rainforests and rugged Outback…Queensland offers something for everyone.

Queensland is the second largest and third most populous state of Australia. It occupies the north-east corner of the mainland continent. The state is neighboured by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean.

The area was first colonised by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, who arrived between 40 000 and 65 000 years ago, according to various dating methods[1]. Later, Queensland was made a British Crown Colony that was separated from New South Wales in 1859. The area that currently forms Brisbane was originally the Moreton Bay penal colony, intended as a place for recidivist convicts who had offended while serving out their sentences in New South Wales. The state later encouraged free settlement, and today Queensland's economy is dominated by the agricultural, tourist and natural resource sectors.

The population is concentrated in the south-east corner, which includes the capital Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan City, and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. Other major regional centres include Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, and Mount Isa. Queensland is often nicknamed the Sunshine State, since it enjoys warm weather and a sizable portion of the state is in the tropics.