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Coastline of Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
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According to The World Factbook, Australia has the sixth longest coastline in the world, at 25,760 kilometres (16,010 mi).[1][2]
Due to the historical context of European discovery and exploration, the coastline has been the first point of contact over 400 years.[3]
In the IBRA bioregionalisation, the coast has 36 coastal bioregions that define the whole coast[4] and there is the more complex Integrated Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia, which includes ecological features that are beyond the shoreline.