Coastline of Australia
The coastline of Australia comprises the coasts of mainland Australia and Tasmania. It nominally includes a part of all Australian states and territories; the otherwise landlocked Australian Capital Territory has a coastal enclave at Jervis Bay Territory.
By some measurements[which?] it is the 6th longest coastline in the world.
Due to the historical context of European discovery and exploration, the coastline has been the first point of contact over 400 years.[1]
In the IBRA bioregionalisation the coast has 36 coastal bioregions that define the whole coast[2] and there is the more complex Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia, which includes ecological features that are beyond the shoreline.
Notes
- ^ http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/mapping-australias-coastline
- ^ Map and list on page 29 of Saintilan, Neil; CSIRO (2009), Australian saltmarsh ecology, CSIRO Publishing, ISBN 978-0-643-09684-4