Queensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. The state is Australia's second largest by area, following Western Australia, and the country's third most populous after New South Wales and Victoria.
The state's population is concentrated in South East Queensland, which includes the capital Brisbane, Logan City, Redland City, Ipswich, Toowoomba, and the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Other major regional centres include Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Ingham, Mount Isa, Whitsundays.
Queensland is often nicknamed the Sunshine State, since it enjoys warm weather and a sizeable portion of the state is in the tropics.
The state capital is Brisbane, located on the coast 100 kilometres by road north of the New South Wales border. The fifth-largest city by area in the world, Mount Isa, is located in Queensland. The city area is in excess of 40,000 square kilometres. The state is divided into several officially recognised regions. Other smaller geographical regions of note include the Atherton Tablelands, the Granite Belt, and the Channel Country in the far south-west.
Queensland has many places of natural beauty, including: the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast having some of the state's most popular beaches; the Bunya Mountains and the Great Dividing Range with numerous lookouts, waterfalls and picnic areas; Carnarvon Gorge; Whitsunday Islands and Hinchinbrook Island and further to the north - North Queensland.
Queensland's economy has enjoyed a boom in the tourism and mining industries over the past 20 years. A sizeable influx of interstate and overseas migrants, large amounts of federal government investment, increased mining of vast mineral deposits and an ever expanding aerospace sector ensure that the state will remain Australia's fastest growing economy in the foreseeable future. Major tertiary industries are the retail trade and tourism and accommodation.
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