Australia Highseas

The tropical seas border a northern region whose scale is hard to grasp from its small population. Northern Australia makes up about fifty-three percent of the continent’s area but contains only roughly 5.2 percent of the national population. The Northern Territory and northern Queensland and Western Australia encompass monsoon coasts, dry ranges, floodplains and mineral fields. Ports and towns such as Darwin, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone and Mount Isa stand far apart across this expanse.

Between them lie long beaches, river mouths, savanna and thinly settled pastoral and mining country. The region’s economy is closely tied to wealth and distance. The Pilbara supplies natural gas and iron ore, while cattle raising and tropical horticulture use areas where soil and rainfall permit.

Most northern soils are ancient and heavily weathered, making large-scale farming difficult. That geological inheritance has left enormous mineral wealth and extensive country better suited to grazing than cultivation. Along the coast, fishing and shipping connect remote production sites to Asian and national markets. The adjoining waters thus face a continent-scale frontier of very low population density, major exports and natural systems shaped by seasonal rain, fire and long separation between settlements.