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Economic Activities of Australia

According to the geographical diversity and climatic diversity the economic activities
of Australia is different. About 10% people out of the total population engaged in
agriculture, 15% are engaged in manufacturing and rest of the population is engaged
in trade, industries, tourism, services, fishing, forestry, mining, drilling and sheep
rearing, etc.

Agriculture and Sheep Rearing

About 10% of people are engaged in agriculture. People practice scientific method of
farming and produce crops on large scale. The crops like wheat and other cereals,
oilseeds, legumes and citrus fruits are mainly grown in the southern part. There
are wine industries too. The Murray-Darling Basin has fertile land also used for
agriculture. The tropical grassland, Downs is favourable for wheat production and
livestock farming in large scale.
The Dingo dog is used for looking after sheep. Australia exports high quality of wool
in large scale. It also exports meat, dairy products, mutton, beef, mostly to European
countries and other countries.

Fishing

Australia is surrounded by water from all sides. So, fishing is the prominent activities
of Australia. The people follow commercial fishing and produce various breeds. More
than 500 different marine and freshwater sea food species are prepared and sold in
local as well as international market.

Forestry

Forestry is largely commercialized in Australia. Lumbering is the main economic
activity because of fast growing trees, such as Eucalyptus and Montbretia. The
Eucalyptus tree is fast growing used for timber, oil, resin and gum. The forest products
are paper, wood chips, sawn wood and wood-based panels.

Mining and Industry

A large amount of minerals and metal depositions are found in Australia. It is rich
in natural resources. It is highly industrialized and holds its position as one of the
leading producers of opal, a gemstone and exporter of coal. It equally produces iron,
ore, uranium, gold, diamond, zinc and nickel. Industries for manufacturing vehicles,
ship and other machinery goods highly prospered in Australia. It is also advanced in
power generation. The Murray River alone generates 1500 MW electricity.
The other island nations at Oceania are also highly advanced in various means. It
carries fishery, wine production and sheep rearing in a commercial way. Papua New
Guinea is the leading producer of fishes and other products like sugar cane, potato,

237 Dynamic Social Studies - Book IX