Queensland  - QLD

Located in the north eastern section of Australia bordered by Northern Territory to the west and South Australia to the South which makes it second largest state with populations around 4.1 million and Brisbane its capital. It was first occupied by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders approximately 40,000 years ago with European explores the Dutch, French and Portuguese before being a British Crown Colony by Captain James Cook in 1770 and later on making it separation from New South Wales on 6 June 1859 that Queensland celebrates each year as Queensland Day.
With Brisbane being its capita with interior desert and lush coast reefs and bordered to the north by the Torres Strait with Boigu Island representing the absolute northern extreme of the territory with hundreds of islands that are scattered off its coastline such as Whitsunday Island, Brampton Island and Hamilton Island being its few and because its situated in the tropics its also known as the Sunshine State. It has five World heritage sites at Riversleigh the Australian fossil mammal, Gulf Country, Fraser Island, great Barrier Reef, Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves and the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

Climate – it varies because of its size with hot summers mild winters and low rainfall
Floral Emblem – Cooktown orchid

Emblems
Faunal – Koala
Floral – Cooktown orchid
Bird- Brolga
Aquatic – Barrier Reef Anemonefish
Gem – Sapphire
Colours - Maroon

Brisbane – The capital of Queensland situated on the Brisbane river with the first European settlement in Queensland being the penal colony at Redcliffe in 1824 with the local Turrbal indigenous people whose ancestors migrated to the region from across the Torress Strait knowing the area as Mian-jin which means place shaped as a spike. With heritage-style buildings renowned for its culture and architecture being surrounded by rivers, national parks, bays and inlets. Being third most populous city in Australia and has major companies located in the central business district, with numerous electronics businesses and being known as a ‘Smart Stat’ where the government has been developing technology and science industries since the late 1990 and early 2000s with areas such as Port of Brisbane country’s fastest grown economic development area with Institutes and Universities with Queensland state government initiative for research and innovation.

The Great Barrier Reef – being listed as a world heritage site in 1981 and being world largest coral reef system witch can be seen from the outer space making it the worlds biggest single structure made by living organisms, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands, it has beautiful reefs which extend over 3,000 km, with the world larges marine park with individual reef systems and coral cays being located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland.

Tropical North – Port Douglas, The Daintree Rainforests, tropical Islands and Cape Tribulation are one of the great natural attractions.

Far North-Gulf Savannah – Cape York and Gulf Country with the extremely remote region with river systems.