Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area.

History
Australia is the largest country located in the continent of Oceania. It occupies the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous other small islands. Aboriginal Australians inhabited the country for 65,000 years before the arrival of European explorers in the 17th century. In 1788, the eastern half of the Australian continent was claimed by England, who initially settled the country via penal transportation. The population of the new colonies in Australia grew rapidly thanks to immigration from Europe and Asia, spurred on by several gold rushes in the 1850s.

In 1901 the Australian colonies became known as the states in the Commonwealth of Australia-a self governing federation which retained the monarch of Britain as its formal head of state. Increasing non-white immigration to Australia caused backlash from white Australians, leading to a series of laws designed to curb the flow of Asian immigrants. These laws were gradually repealed in the Second World War, which coupled with increasing contact with other countries led to the transformation of Australian society into one of a multicultural nature. The generally prosperous conditions not only encouraged immigration but also helped people from an otherwise antagonistic cultures to co-exist peacefully. There was plenty for everyone to go around, until the 1994 crash occured.

Australia was hit very hard from the crash. The economy took a dive dive and was a steady decline since the 1980s, making much of the country's assets easy pickings for foreign investors. The Australian view of the collapse was steeper than your standard decline, rather than a normal crash. Though one of the world's largest primary producers Australia couldn't compete with the rest of the worlds new economic climate. Australian mineral resources became more expensive than those from the newly opened Russia, which was much closer to the European market then Australia. The textile sales had been declining for decades already because of the cheap synthetics. Australian oil saw a larger market share after the Middle East Meltdown, however the profits were mostly seen from foreign investors who had bought up the companies for cheap in the early days during the crash in '94. Australia's vast grain crops were all but wiped out by the Food Crash of 2002. Most Australians however believed that the crash of '94 was engineered.

During the second half of the twentieth century the nation had began to question its ties to England. The two nations had already grown apart for decades. The war against Japan in the early 40s caused Australia to move more towards an American sphere of influence. The dissolving ties between the two nations caused some to ponder the appropriateness of having the British monarchy as head of state. Debates on being a Republic versus remaining under a Monarchy, and the design of the national flag went on for years, until 2001, where it wasn't fully resolved- but progress was made. The dissolution of the British monarchy removed the final impediment to the formation of the Federal Republic of Australia.

Afterwards there were many groups of monarchist Australians who refused to be part of the Republic, and only swearing loyalty to England. On the many Outback properties they had isolated themselves from the Government of Australia. They claimed that government illegally usurped power from the rightful King. When the British monarchy was disbanded it was widely theorized that the House of Windsor was liquidated to prevent a royalist uprising in the future. This concerned the fanatical Australian monarchist and some claim that Prince William, son of King Charles III, is living under an assumed name on the property in Queensland, surrounded by several other peers who escaped the purges of a Republican post-coup.

Australia in the 2020s is very much a confused and divided country. The state of Western Australia, never really comfortable with being in the Commonwealth, seceded from the Republic of Australia not soon after it was formed and is now known as the Republic of West Australia. As for the rest of Australia, it became divided between foreign-owned investments and the slums. Feuding gangs are divided along ethnic lines in Australia. The modern day Australia is a disaster, while not a complete wreck as only countries in the East.

Geography
The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of bio-geographic regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country in the world. The population of Australia is concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts. The geography of the continent is extremely diverse, ranging from the snow-capped mountains of the Australian Alps and Tasmania to large deserts, tropical and temperate forests.

The countries that govern nearby regions include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the French dependency of New Caledonia to the east, and New Zealand to the southeast.

Australia is a continent and an island located in Oceania between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. It shares its name with the country that claims control over it. Properly called the Commonwealth of Australia, its territory consists of the entire continent and smaller outlying islands. This makes it the sixth largest country in the world by area of jurisdiction, which comprises 7,686,850 square kilometres (2,967,910 sq mi) (including Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island), which is slightly smaller than the 48 states of the contiguous United States and 31.5 times larger than that of the United Kingdom.

Mostly low plateau with deserts, rangelands and a fertile plain in the southeast; mountain ranges in the east and south-east. The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent but the sixth-largest country in the world.

Weather
Australia's climate is governed mostly by its size and by the hot, sinking air of the subtropical high pressure belt. This moves north and south with the seasons. The climate is variable, with frequent droughts lasting several seasons, thought to be caused in part by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Australia has a wide variety of climates due to its large geographical size. The largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Only the south-east and south-west corners have a temperate climate and moderately fertile soil. The northern part of the country has a tropical climate, varying between tropical rainforests, grasslands and desert.

Sydney - 6.8 Million
Sydney, capital of New South Wales and one of Australia's largest cities, is best known for its harbourfront Sydney Opera House, with a distinctive sail-like design. Massive Darling Harbour and the smaller Circular Quay port are hubs of waterside life, with the arched Harbour Bridge and esteemed Royal Botanic Garden nearby. Sydney Tower's outdoor platform, the Skywalk, offers 360-degree views of the city and suburbs.

Melbourne - 5 Million
Melbourne is the coastal capital of the southeastern Australian state of Victoria. At the city's centre is the modern Federation Square development, with plazas, bars, and restaurants by the Yarra River. In the Southbank area, the Melbourne Arts Precinct is the site of Arts Centre Melbourne – a performing arts complex – and the National Gallery of Victoria, with Australian and indigenous art.

Timeline
The Australian timeline as stated from the Cyberpunk universe.

1990s

 * 1993-4
 * The Australian Government announces intention to recognize Aboriginal ownership of traditional lands. Pressure from mining and farming interest prompts the Government to give priority in land claims to holders of existing leases. While most Aboriginals protest peacefully some begin quest for foreign recognition and aid for their cause.
 * 1994
 * World stock market crash. While most national economies collapse, the Australian view is of a steeper part of the decline that has been happening since the mid-80s.
 * 1997
 * Mideast Meltdown. Australian economy rallies slightly as oil prices rise dramatically. In Europe, border skirmishes as Greek troops try to stem the flow of Turkish refugees fleeing the spreading fallout of the nuclear exchange. In suburbs of Melbourne, Greeks and Turks riot as protests get out of hand and several square kilometers of inner city suburbs are burned to the ground by a fire started during the riots.

2000s

 * 2000
 * Sydeny's attempt to stage Olympic Games fails due to bankruptcy and boycotts by nations supporting Aboriginal cause. New Zealand is one of the boycotting countries.
 * ESA/Orbital Air purchase large portion of Cape York Peninsula for construction of a spaceport. Environmental activists violently protest the destruction of vast areas of rainforest.
 * 2001
 * Collapse of the British monarchy and the imposition of martial law in England removes the last objection by Monarchists to the formation of the Federal Republic of Australia. The new Republic's constitution does little to address Aboriginal land problems. Koorie Nationalist-Front becomes the first of several native groups to take up arms to fight for an independent Aboriginal homeland and the return of sacred lands to their traditional owners.
 * Western Australia secedes from the Federal Republic declaring itself to be the Republic of West Australia. Sales of mining rights and vigorous expansion (in conjunction with Indonesia) of the North West Shelf oil fields makes West Australia quite wealthy over the next decade.
 * Federal Republic of Australia refuses to recognize West Australian independence and declares a trade embargo against the new nation.
 * Brief naval encounter at North West Shelf oilfield between Australians, Indonesians and Arasaka backed West Australians.
 * 2002
 * Food Crash wipes out most of Australia's grain crops. In New South Wales Angus Youngblood, anticipating the development of resistant strains, buys vast areas of farmland at bargain prices.
 * Tasmania quarantined in an effort to keep a virus from spreading there.
 * New Zealand begins its self-sufficiency programs, and doesn't export or import any food.
 * 2003
 * Hong Kong refugees start flooding into New Zealand.
 * 2007
 * NZ legalizes Marijuana starts using it for textiles, fuel, and many other things.
 * 2008
 * During Euro-American orbital conflict Tycho massdriver fires rocks at strategic US targets on Earth. As well as much publicized Colorado Springs hit, several other sites vital to US space communications network are obliterated. The near miss at Pine Gap in Australia's Northern Territory destroys the town of Alice Springs with the loss of nearly 25,000 lives.
 * 2009
 * Indonesia invades Papua New Guinea's government in exile sets up in Wellington, NZ.

2010s

 * 2010
 * The Ecoterrorist group EcoAction starts a campaign against Spaceports and other large construction projects in the region.
 * 2011
 * Experimental nanotech package designed to clean up radioactive contamination grows out of control at Maralinga in South Australia. European nanotech engineers go back to the drawing board, but don't offer any solutions to the massive and potentially dangerous growth in the desert.
 * 2013
 * Youngblood family sells its land holdings to Petrochem in exchange for much Petrochem stock, a place on the Board of Directors and more cash than you've ever seen. Petrochem begins mass purchasing of farms and unoccupied land in outback New South Wales for CHOOH2 production.
 * 2014
 * Cape York Spaceport Stage 1 completed.
 * Amnesty International is bombed out their London office. They move and set up shop in Christchurch, NZ.
 * 2016
 * Water Riots in Adelaide as drought, industrial pollution and river salinity reduce the city's water supply to a brackish, muddy trickle. Construction of desalination plant financed by Arasaka bank.

Australia