Famous landmarks in Australia
29 landmarks · 17 animals · 8 places to discover
Australia on My Earth Toy, the free 3D toy globe for kids: 29 landmarks, 17 animals, 8 places to discover. Here you can see its flag, capital and size, then fly to every place on the globe.
The flag of Australia is dark blue with the British Union Jack in the top corner, a large seven-pointed star below it, and the five white stars of the Southern Cross on the right.
Read about this flag →Australia at a glance
- Capital
- Canberra
- Continent
- Oceania
- Area
- 7,692,024 km²
- Population
- 26.7 million
Australia is both a country and the smallest continent, lying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Its capital is Canberra, and about 27 million people live there, mostly in cities along the coast such as Sydney and Melbourne. Australia is famous for its unique wildlife, red deserts, sunny beaches and the Great Barrier Reef. It is the sixth-largest country in the world.
On My Earth Toy Australia has many landmarks, including the Sydney Opera House, Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Port Arthur. Look for its famous animals too: the koala, red kangaroo, platypus, emu and saltwater crocodile.
Geography and nature
Much of inland Australia, called the Outback, is dry desert and scrubland. The Great Dividing Range runs down the east, and tropical rainforests grow in the far north. Off the northeast coast, the Great Barrier Reef stretches for more than 2,300 kilometres. Because Australia was cut off from other continents for millions of years, many of its animals live nowhere else, including marsupials like kangaroos and koalas, which carry their babies in pouches.
People, languages and culture
English is the national language. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived in Australia for tens of thousands of years, and hundreds of Indigenous languages were once spoken. Today Australians also come from families all over the world, especially Britain, Europe and Asia. People love outdoor life: swimming, surfing, cricket and Australian rules football are hugely popular. A barbecue on the weekend is a classic Aussie tradition.
History in a nutshell
Aboriginal peoples have one of the oldest living cultures on Earth, with art, songs and stories that connect them to the land. Dutch sailors reached the coast in the 1600s, and James Cook mapped the east coast in 1770. In 1788 the British First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove and began a colony that included convict settlements. Six colonies joined together to form the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901.
Fun facts
- The platypus is a mammal that lays eggs and finds food by sensing tiny electric signals in the water.
- Uluru is a huge sandstone rock that seems to change colour at sunrise and sunset.
- A red kangaroo can cover around 8 metres in a single hop.
- Australia is the only country that covers an entire continent.
Famous landmarks in Australia
Sydney Opera House
Australia · Oceania
A performing-arts centre famed for its sail-like shell roofs, one of the great buildings of the 20th century.
Uluru
Australia · Oceania
A massive sandstone monolith in the desert, sacred to the Aboriginal Anangu people.
Great Barrier Reef
Australia · Oceania
The world's largest coral reef system, stretching over 2,300 km and visible from space.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Australia · Oceania
A steel through-arch bridge nicknamed "the Coathanger", an icon of Sydney alongside the Opera House.
Port Arthur Historic Site
Australia · Oceania
A British penal settlement (1830–1877); the roofless four-storey sandstone Penitentiary, a converted flour mill, faces Mason Cove.
Adelaide Oval
Australia · Oceania
A historic cricket and Australian football ground with wave-like stands and a heritage scoreboard.
The Twelve Apostles
Australia · Oceania
Limestone sea stacks rising off the Great Ocean Road, sculpted by Southern Ocean waves.
Surfers Paradise (Q1)
Australia · Oceania
Q1 towers over Surfers Paradise beach as one of Australia's tallest buildings, with a popular sky deck.
Parliament House, Canberra
Australia · Oceania
Australia's parliament, built into a hill and topped by a giant four-legged flagmast.
Flinders Street Station
Australia · Oceania
Melbourne's landmark railway station, known for its mustard facade, green dome and row of clocks.
Sydney Tower Eye
Australia · Oceania
Sydney's tallest structure, a 309 m tower whose golden turret holds an observation deck.
Australia 108
Australia · Oceania
Fender Katsalidis's 100-storey Southbank tower, the tallest residential building in the southern hemisphere: a slim, faceted silver-glass shaft with a stepped crystalline crown.
Australian War Memorial
Australia · Oceania
Australia's national memorial and museum (opened 1941); the Unknown Australian Soldier lies in the Byzantine-domed Hall of Memory, and a Last Post Ceremony is held every day at closing.
Royal Exhibition Building
Australia · Oceania
A domed hall built for the 1880 international exhibition, where Australia's first federal parliament opened in 1901.
Fremantle Prison
Australia · Oceania
Built by convicts from local limestone in the 1850s and used as a prison until 1991; its twin-towered Gatehouse and four-storey Main Cell Block are UNESCO World Heritage.
Eureka Tower
Australia · Oceania
A residential skyscraper with a gold-plated crown and a glass cube that slides out from the 88th floor.
Shrine of Remembrance
Australia · Oceania
Victoria's war memorial (1934), modelled on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Parthenon; at 11 am each 11 November a ray of sunlight falls on the word "LOVE" on the Stone of Remembrance.
Story Bridge, Brisbane
Australia · Oceania
A heritage steel cantilever bridge over the Brisbane River, famous for its night lighting and bridge climbs.
Elizabeth Quay & Swan Bells
Australia · Oceania
A waterfront precinct on the Swan River beside the Swan Bells, a glass spire housing historic church bells.
St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide
Australia · Oceania
A Gothic Revival Anglican cathedral in North Adelaide with twin spires overlooking the city.
Wheel of Brisbane
Australia · Oceania
A 60 m observation wheel in the South Bank Parklands with views over the city and river.
WRC Rally Australia (Coffs Harbour)
Australia · Oceania
The Australian round of the World Rally Championship; in the 2010s it was based at Coffs Harbour, NSW, racing on red gravel stages through eucalyptus forest — the Wedding Bells forest stage with its jump and water splash was a fan favourite.
Rialto Towers
Australia · Oceania
The twin dark-glass towers on Collins Street (251 m south, 185 m north): a vertical-ribbed curtain wall, a pyramidal crown, and a cream Venetian-Gothic podium.
Australia Square Tower
Australia · Oceania
Harry Seidler's cylindrical 50-storey tower in the Sydney CBD (1967): white precast-concrete ribs run its full height between bands of bronze windows, with the 13-storey Plaza Building beside it.
Chifley Tower
Australia · Oceania
KPF's 53-storey Sydney CBD tower (1992): a pink stone shaft with punched windows, a glazed cylindrical bay up one corner ending in a white ring, and a stepped crown holding a glass lantern and lightning rod.
Aurora Place
Australia · Oceania
Renzo Piano's 41-storey glass tower in Sydney (2000): a D-shaped glass 'sail' whose roof slants down from a dark spine edge topped by a mast, with a residential wing of rust-red louvres and a glass drum in front.
Frome Central Tower One
Australia · Oceania
Completed in 2020, Adelaide's tallest building (138 m), housing a Crowne Plaza hotel and apartments: dark glass with thin pale slab edges, chamfered balcony corners, a mid-height terrace and a black glass podium.
RAA Place (Westpac House)
Australia · Oceania
Built in 1988 as the State Bank Building, this 31-storey tower was Adelaide's tallest until 2019: a flat-topped slab of brick-red granite with a grid of pale-green windows and bands of dark louvre slots near the base and top.
Telstra House (30 Pirie Street)
Australia · Oceania
The 23-storey former Telecom House (1987): weathered bronze-grey ribbed cladding, a faceted front stacked with projecting sun-shade fins on every floor, solid slit-window cores at both ends, a rooftop logo and a lower wing.
Animals in Australia
Places to discover in Australia
Questions
What is the capital of Australia?
The capital of Australia is Canberra.
Which continent is Australia in?
Australia is in Oceania.
How big is Australia?
Australia covers about 7,692,024 km².
How many people live in Australia?
About 26.7 million people live in Australia.
What are the most famous landmarks in Australia?
Some of the best-known landmarks in Australia are Sydney Opera House, Uluru, Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Port Arthur Historic Site. My Earth Toy has 29 landmarks from Australia on its free 3D globe, each with a photo and quick facts.
Which animals can you find in Australia on My Earth Toy?
On the globe you can find Koala, Red kangaroo, Platypus, Emu and Saltwater crocodile in Australia.
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-30