Queensland

State in northeast Australia, including the adjacent islands in the Pacific Ocean and in the Gulf of Carpentaria; bordered on the west by Northern Territory, on the southwest by South Australia, on the south by New South Wales, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, and on the extreme northwest by the Gulf of Carpentaria; area 1,727,200 sq km/666,900 sq mi; population (2001 est) 3,635,100, concentrated in the southeast. The capital is Brisbane. Products include sugar, wheat, pineapples, beef, cotton, wool, tobacco, copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, coal, nickel, bauxite, uranium, natural gas, oil, and fish.

Queensland is predominantly agricultural; the main crops are sugar cane, wheat, oats, peanuts, bananas, and pineapples. Cattle (beef and dairy) and sheep are raised. The state has rich mineral reserves; coal, lead, silver, zinc, copper, gold, and bauxite are mined, and there are deposits of oil and natural gas. Industries are mainly connected with the processing of primary produce: sugar refining, food processing, oil refining. Other industries include engineering, textile manufacture, and shipbuilding. Many tourists are attracted to the Great Barrier Reef and the beaches of the southeast coast, especially the Gold Coast, a 32-km/20-mi long stretch south of Brisbane and running into Queensland, and the Sunshine Coast, a 100-km/60-mi stretch of coast north of Brisbane, between Rainbow Beach and Bribie Island, including the resorts of Noosa Heads, Coolum Beach, and Caloundra.