Western Australia
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The Gap
Western Australia
Western Australia, state of western Australia occupying that part of the continent most isolated from the major cultural centres of the east. The state is bounded to the north by the Timor Sea, to the northwest and west by the Indian Ocean, and to the south by the portion of the Indian Ocean commonly called the Southern Ocean (or Antarctic Ocean) in Australia. To the east lie the deserts of the Northern Territory and South Australia. The capital is Perth.
Western Australia occupies roughly one-third of the total area of the continent. It extends about 1,490 miles (2,400 km) from the monsoonal, tropical north to the windswept coastal heaths of the far south. Most of the state is subarid, and the combination of low rainfall and high temperatures restricts most of the population and agricultural activities to the so-called comfortable zone southwest of an imaginary line stretching from north of Geraldton on the state’s western coast to Esperance on its southern coast. The overwhelming majority of the population lives in the greater Perth area, which is one of the largest metropolitan regions in Australia. Among the most isolated of the world’s administrative centres, Perth is closer in distance and time zone to Jakarta and Singapore than to Sydney. Area 976,790 square miles (2,529,875 square km). Population (2021) 2,660,026.
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