Year 8 JacPlus 14.2 Lesson

At the end of this lesson...

You should be able to:
1. Outline the patterns of settlement in Australia: where people live.
2. Explain the spatial distribution of settlement areas: why people live where they do in Australia.

Australia's Population Future: BTN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzloNFU0GDQ
3:46 mins

An "urban" area is a town or city. A "rural" area is a country area, outside the city.
Urbanisation is the growth and expansion of urban areas and involves:
1. the movement of people to towns and cities

2. the growth or getting larger of the physical city environment

Australians live on the smallest continent and in the sixth largest country on Earth.

With an estimated population of 26.6 million in 2024 and an area of 7 690 000 square kilometres, our population density is 3.3 people per square kilometre.

We mostly live near the coast.

Population density the number of people living within one square kilometre of land.

Population distribution is the pattern of where people live.

Go to this link: https://content2.learnon.com.au/player?isbn=9780730387718&assetid=17900

• Most Australians currently live within a narrow coastal strip that extends from Brisbane in the north to Adelaide in the south.

• 71% of Australians live in major cities

• About 85% of Australians live within 50 kilometres of the coast.

• One in ten people live in small towns of less than 10 000 people.

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It would be easy to say that Australians live in places where rainfall is higher, but if you look at these maps carefully there are major exceptions to this spatial pattern.
Is the population distribution high in the regions of high rainfall in Queensland and the Northern Territory?

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Digging Deeper

Coastal locations and rainfall are not the only reasons Australians live where they do.
Other reasons include:
1. The availability of mineral resources for mining (see map)
2. Irrigation planning to support farming
3. Attractive tourist destinations

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Other reasons

The average population density for Australia is well below the global average.

We are easily the lowest of any of the permanently inhabited continents.

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Population Density

Another important factor in where people live is climate (or weather over a long period of time).

Climate affects our lifestyle, health, safety, types of farming, and the types of industry we can develop.



Use this link to study further:
https://content2.learnon.com.au/player?isbn=9780730387718&assetid=17916

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Climate and Weather

At the end of this lesson...

You should be able to:
1. Outline the patterns of settlement in Australia: where people live.
2. Explain the spatial distribution of settlement areas: why people live where they do in Australia.

Complete the following 10 Questions

Each question will focus on a key aspect you have learned today.

You must get at least 50% or 5 out of 10 to pass.

If you don't, you will have to do this again for homework online.