States and territories of Australia

States

Areas	Abbreviation	Capital
New South Wales	NSW	Sydney
Queensland	QLD	Brisbane
South Australia	SA	Adelaide
Tasmania	TAS	Hobart
Victoria	VIC	Melbourne
Western Australia	WA	Perth

Territories

Mainland

Territory	Abbreviation	Capital
Australian Capital Territory	ACT	Canberra
Jervis Bay Territory	JBT
Northern Territory	NT	Darwin

From 1926 to 1931, Central Australia existed as a separate territory between the 20th and 26th parallels of latitude, before being becoming a part of the Northern Territory again.

Overseas territories

Former

Territory of North Australia (1927-31)
Territory of Central Australia (1927-31)
Territory of Papua (1902-49)
Territory of New Guinea (1920-49)
Territory of Papua and New Guinea (1949-72)

Background and overview

The states started as separate British colonies before Federation (in 1901). Their powers are protected by the Australian constitution. The territories are under the control of the Commonwealth government. The Australian Parliament has powers to create laws in the territories that it does not have in the states.

Most of the territories are directly administered by the Commonwealth government. Three of the territories (the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Norfolk Island) administer themselves. In the territories that govern themselves, the Australian Parliament has the power to govern, and can override laws made by the territorial governments. It has done this at times, but it is rare that it happens. The Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are usually treated as states.

Each state has a governor. This governor is chosen by the Queen, but she chooses the person on the advice of the state Premier. The Administrators of the Northern Territory and of Norfolk Island are chosen by the Governor-General. The Australian Capital Territory is governed by the Governor-General.

The head of government of each state is called the Premier. This person is chosen by the state's Governor. Normally the Governor will select as Premier whoever leads the lower house of the state Parliament. However, the Governor can chose someone else as Premier. The head of government of the self-governing mainland territories is called the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, who normally whoever controls the Legislative Assembly, is appointed by the Administrator.

Statistics

State/territory	Land area (km²)	Rank	Population (2004)	Rank	Population density (/km²)	Rank	% of population in capital	Rank
Australian Capital Territory	2358	8th	324300	7th	137.53	1st	100%	1st
New South Wales	800642	5th	6760000	1st	8.44	3rd	63%	5th
Victoria	227416	6th	5002300	2nd	22	2nd	71%	4th
Queensland	1730648	2nd	3919500	3rd	2.26	5th	46%	7th
South Australia	983482	4th	1537900	5th	1.56	6th	73.5%	2nd
Western Australia	2529875	1st	1998400	4th	0.79	7th	73.4%	3rd
Tasmania	68401	7th	484000	6th	7.08	4th	41%	8th
Northern Territory	1349129	3rd	200800	8th	0.15	8th	54%	6th

Other websites

Maps of Australia Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine
CityMayors article