Australia covers an area of about 7.692 million square kilometers, ranking sixth in the world and about 80% the size of China. Surrounded by the sea, Australia is the only country in the world whose territory covers the entire continent, and the part of the Australian continent is also called Australia.
The Great Dividing Range in the eastern part of Australia, from the Cape York Peninsula in the north to the southeast coast in the south, is more than 3,000 kilometers long, 160-320 kilometers wide, and about 800-1,000 meters above sea level, which is the highest place in Australia. The Great Dividing Range, which blocks the water vapor of the Pacific Ocean tightly, hence the name Watershed, gradually desertified to the west.
Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, is only 2,228 meters, not in the central part of Australia, but in the southeast corner of Australia. The Great Dividing Range is indeed misplaced when Pangu opened the world, and if the Great Dividing Range is placed in the middle of Australia, and Mount Theusco is also in the middle, the topography of Australia is much better.
The central part of Australia is roughly a flat land of about six or seven million square kilometers. This terrain would quickly dry up if all the water from the Great Lakes of North America were to be filled in, because there would be no water storage here.
New Zealand is located in the southeast of the Australian mainland, across the Tasman Sea, about 1,600 kilometers apart. New Zealand is an island nation with a coastline of about 15,000 kilometers and two main islands: the North Island, the South Island, and the Cook Strait in the middle. New Zealand covers an area of about 270,000 square kilometers, ranking ninth among the provincial administrative regions of the mainland, of which the North Island covers an area of about 113,700 square kilometers and the South Island covers an area of about 150,400 square kilometers.
New Zealand is mountainous, with mountains and hills accounting for more than 75% of the country's area, with narrow plains, volcanoes and hot springs in the North Island, and glaciers and lakes in the South Island. Cook's Peak, the highest peak in the South Island of New Zealand, is 3,754 meters above sea level, the highest peak in the North Island, Ruapehu, is 2,797 meters above sea level, and Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, is only 2,228 meters.
New Zealand is located in the Pacific Rim Volcanic Seismic Zone, especially the North Island with many volcanoes and hot springs, and the highest peak, Ruapehu, is 2,797 meters above sea level, about 40 kilometers southwest of Lake Taupo.
In terms of territorial size and population size and structure, New Zealand can be considered Australia's "little brother".
[1] Australia covers an area of 7.69 million square kilometers, and New Zealand covers an area of about 270,000 square kilometers, which is far from a fraction of Australia's.
[2] Australia's population is 26.39 million (2023), and New Zealand's is 5.22 million (2023), which is less than a fraction of Australia's.
[3] In Australia, 71.1% are of British and Irish descent, 5.5% are Chinese, and about 3.2% are Indigenous. New Zealand is 45% British and Irish, 17% Māori, 15% Asian and 8% Pacific Islander (partly ethnically diverse).
Looking at the demographics of the two countries, New Zealand has a smaller proportion of British and Irish people in Australia and a larger proportion of indigenous people.
Australia is close to Indonesia, which has a population of more than 260 million and has historically been quite populous. During the colonial period, Australia could also be regarded as isolated overseas, and its economy was very dependent on the most populous regions. In the colonial era, if there was no population, who would the colonizers exploit?
New Zealand is geographically distressed, with a straight-line distance of more than 2,300 kilometers from Wellington, New Zealand to Canberra, Australia, which is equivalent to the straight-line distance from Beijing to Guangzhou on the mainland.
During the colonial period, there were no airplanes, and from Australia to New Zealand, you had to take a boat, which was a long time and risky. At that time, the first choice of the British in Oceania was Australia, but many people from other European countries went to New Zealand, so there are many Europeans in New Zealand, but the British and Irish are far inferior to Australia.
As for the proportion of indigenous people, it has to do with the topography. Although Australia is large, it has a low overall elevation, with only some decent mountains along the eastern seaboard. When the British invasion began, the Australian coastal mountains were bloody, and the indigenous people of the mountains either disappeared or fled to the island of Tasmania across the sea.
New Zealand's mountains and hills cover more than 75% of the country's area, with an average elevation much higher than Australia's. Cook's Peak, the highest point in the South Island, is 3,754 meters above sea level, the highest point in the North Island, Ruapehu is 2,797 meters above sea level, and Mount Cosciusco, the highest point in Australia, is only 2,228 meters. Although a series of wars broke out between the British colonists and the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand, the Maori fled to the mountains, and the British settled in New Zealand in the first place.
From 1788 to 1841, New Zealand was part of the British colony of New South Wales in Australia, and was only later carved out separately.
In 1901, the Australian colonies were converted into states and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. New Zealand came close to joining Australia, but gave up because of British opposition. In 1931, Australia became independent. In 1947, New Zealand became independent, but Britain still did not keep the colony.
Australia and New Zealand both have British roots, and the flags of both countries are almost indistinguishable, both with a rice flag and a blue background.
The flag of Australia has a rice character in the upper left corner, and a total of 6 stars on the right and lower left. The seven-pointed star on the lower left side is the largest, which means that Australia has seven first-class administrative regions (6 states and 1 district).
The national flag of New Zealand also has a rice flag in the upper left corner and four five-pointed stars with white and red hearts on the right side, symbolizing the constellation of the Southern Cross. The five small stars on the right side of the Australian flag also symbolize the constellation of the Southern Cross.
Economically, Australia and New Zealand also have something in common, and the largest exporters are China. However, there are structural differences between the two countries, with Australia mainly exporting non-ferrous metals and coal, while New Zealand mainly exporting dairy products and meat.
Australia and New Zealand are both members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and the head of state is the King (or Queen) of the United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom sends a Governor-General to Australia and New Zealand respectively, who is the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces. From this point of view, Australia and New Zealand are not completely independent sovereign states.
Australia and New Zealand are both members of the Five Eyes Alliance, which is five English-speaking countries that share achievements in the fields of military, intelligence, communications, and surveillance. The Five Eyes alliance includes: the United Kingdom in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and the United States and Canada in North America. The Five Eyes alliance was formed in World War I and became more formed in World War II, and militarily it was an immovable monolith, and Britain called them "Anglo-Saxon" countries.
Figure - Uluru, Australia
Internationally, Australia tends to be more belligerent and much louder than New Zealand. The "quadripartite alliance" of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India often holds meetings together to calculate other countries, and from time to time conducts military exercises in the Indian Ocean or the South China Sea. If the United States wants to maintain world hegemony, Japan covets the East Asian continent, and India wants to dominate the Indian Ocean and dreams of becoming the new P5. Australia, an extraterritorial country, has unclear strategic demands and is purely belligerent.
Figure - Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand
In terms of diplomacy, New Zealand is relatively low-key, after all, increasing the income of its residents and peaceful development is the pursuit of most mankind.