The harbour city of Sydney, the oldest and largest, is capital of New South Wales state of Australia. It was founded in 1788. Thousands of tourists all around from the globe visit this city of pleasant climate and cosmopolitan culture. Sydney is not only major financial and cultural centre of Australia but also a wonderful educational centre.

Most of the global students coming to Australia eye one of the following universities.

•  University of Sydney
•  University of New South Wales
•  Macquarie University
•  University of Technology, Sydney
•  University of Western Sydney 

 Australian Catholic University Famous tourist attractions of Sydney includes:

•  Opera House
•  Sydney Harbour Bridge
•  Bondi Beach
•  Darling Harbour
•  New Year's fireworks
•  Museum, a museum of science and technology [3] (http://www.phm.gov.au/)
•  Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour
•  Port Jackson
• Taronga Zoo Sydney is well served by a well-organised transportation system. There are train, bus and ferry networks for the use of common public.

Melbourne, the capital of Victoria believes in "Vires acquirit eundo" (we gather strength as we go). Rightly in accordance with this spirit the city has grown in leaps and bounds from 1835, the year when it was founded. The city took great advantage of the Gold Rush. It grew as a port city to support the trade. In fact, it is the largest seaport besides having a well-equipped International Airport.

Melbourne is an important economic as well as industrial centre of Australia. Many large national and multinational companies have their offices here. It is the hub of Australian automotive and manufacturing industry.

Melbourne has its recognition on the world map as an educational city too. It is the home of altogether seven universities.

•  University of Melbourne
•  Monash University
•  Deakin University
•  Victoria University
•  La Trobe University
•  RMIT University
•  Swinburne University

The city has a glorious past. It was chosen the seat of power when Australia was federated in 1901. It remained Australia’s capital till 1927.

The city is known for its vibrant cultural life. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival are globally famous. The city also figures on the world sports map. It hosts the Australian Open tennis, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. Many football and cricket matches are organised here. The famed Melbourne Cricket Ground, locally known as "the G" is located here.

Melbourne's public transportation network consists of bus, tram, and train networks. The metropolitan city is well connected with its suburbs.

Some of the famous landmarks of the city are:

•  The Melbourne Museum
•  The world heritage building, The Royal Exhibition Building located in the Carlton Gardens.
•  The State Library of Victoria
•  RAAF Point Cook which is an Air Force base at the southwestern limits of the city.
•  The Port of Melbourne, which links Australia with 300 cities around the world.

Brisbane is the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The city is very interesting in its terrain. It has hilly as well as plain area. Some of the city hills scale up to 300 meters in height.

Brisbane has a diverse and vibrant economy. Many firms working in the area of information technology, financial services, petroleum refining, paper milling, and metalworking operate from here. Tourism is an integral part of the city’s economy as it is a gateway to the most of the places in Queensland.

The famous landmarks of the city are:

•  Story Bridge is a cantilever bridge connecting Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point.
•  The Brisbane Cricket Ground hosts domestic and international cricket and football matches.
•  The famous Skyneedle, which stands 88m from the ground, was built originally for World Expo '88.
•  Brisbane City Hall, the second most expensive building after the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
•  Riverside Centre is a modern heritage building which houses the Brisbane Stock Exchange.
•  The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium
•  The Queen Street Mall and Fortitude Valley, shopping avenues.

Local as well as the institutions of non-local universities make the World-class education available to domestic and international students. Here is the list of some institutions:

•  University of Queensland
•  University of Southern Queensland
•  Queensland University of Technology
•  Australian Catholic University
•  Brisbane College of Theology
•  Central Queensland University
•  Griffith University
•  University of Canberra
•  University of New South Wales

Perth, situated on the either bank of the Swan River, is the capital city of the largest state of Western Australia. The large middle class population of Perth is easy-going, relaxed, and friendly.

Educationally, five universities including one private university provide excellent opportunity. The universities located here are the University of Western Australia, Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, and the University of Notre Dame Australia. The University of Western Australia is regarded as a leading research institution.

Rain is a lucky event for this city. Perth goes without rain for weeks and even months. However there is no dearth of aquatic entertainment marvel. The Aquarium of Western Australia, AQWA, is the largest underwater walk-through aquarium located at Hillarys Boat Harbour. It is one of the major tourist attractions. The river Swan, famous for Black Swan is other place of interest for tourists.

Perth gives fantastic experience to the tourists. Some of the places which tourist admire are:

•  Kings Park on the Mt Eliza is a botanical garden as well as vast tracts of natural bushland. It is four times larger than New York's Central Park. It has 620-metres long elevated walkway, the Lotterywest Federation Walkway, through the treetops. It provides bird's eye view of the park.
• Australian Maritime Museum located at the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River.
• Islands like Rottnest Island, Carnac Island, Garden Island, Penguin Island and Seal Island off the Perth coast are significant tourist attraction.
• The Perth Zoo that is on the bank of Swan River.

Adelaide, the capital city of the Australian state of South Australia, is a coastal city. It is named after Queen Adelaide. The motto of the city is "Ut Prosint Omnibus Conjuncti. This means, “United for the common good”. This represents the spirit of the city.

The city is famous for Australian defence and research facilities besides large manufacturing units. Some electronic components are also produced here.

The City Of Churches, another name for Adelaide is ironically also famous for grape production for the purpose of making wine. The Barossa Valley is here.

The city is home to three well-known research-oriented universities, viz.,

•  The University of Adelaide,
•  The University of South Australia, and
•  The Flinders University.

The annual events of the city are:

•  The Barossa Music Festival,
•  The Adelaide Festival of Arts,
•  The Adelaide Film Festival, and
•  The Fringe Festival.

Canberra is Australia's capital city and largest inland city. It is developed around Lake Burley Griffin, after the name of the city designer, Walter Burley Griffin.

Canberra, being the national capital, is administrative town in nature. Probably this is why it is called “Canberra” which means, "meeting place", in one of the local languages.

Many of the features of a normal town are not present here. You will find no commercial activities on highly trafficked streets. It owes its development more on the planning than by the commercial activities or because of the settling of the people.

One striking features of the roads are that they are mostly circular, again an outcome of planning. The city is one of the few capital cities that can boast of almost no traffic congestions. The city was built keeping the traffic in mind.

The city is located at an altitude range of 550m to 700m. The annual temperature ranges from -5° C to 35° C.

Many foreign embassies are located in the city. The Yarralumla embassy area is a tourist attraction. The buildings of the embassies are built in the style of their home country.

The Australian National University and the University of Canberra are based in Canberra. The Australian Defence Force Academy and the Royal Military College are also located here. They provide education and training to army officers.

Though Hobart is a busy seaport, seat of University of Tasmania and above all the second-oldest city in Australia after Sydney, it is still very small with the population of nearly 190,000. The city is very serene and free from all serious problems of big city like pollution, traffic congestions. The place is just excellent to visit, stay, and study.

The local attractions for tourists are:

Salamanca Place – the old warehouses developed into shops, restaurants, and nightspots

Battery Point – the old port area

Theatre Royal – the oldest theatre in Australia

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery – displays relics of the states colonial past and the life of aboriginals

The Maritime Museum of Tasmania – keeps record of glorious shipping past of Tasmania

Cadbury Chocolate Factory – a popular attraction for the tourists

Royal Tasmania Botanical Gardens – is small but it has the largest collection of the mature conifers in the southern hemisphere.

Darwin, situated on the coast of the Timor Sea, is the capital city of the Northern Territory state of Australia. The motto of the city is Progrediamur “Let us go forward”.And the harbour city that was first sighted in 1839 has proved it. It was almost destroyed in 1974 by Cyclone Tracy. About 70% of the city’s real estates were destroyed. 30,000 people were airlifted in the evacuation operations. And the capital city has really gone forward with the progress. The Darwin Reconstruction Commission rebuilt it.

Darwin economics runs on two major sectors-- mining and tourism. Gold, bauxite, manganese and many other minerals are mined here. A significant deposit of uranium has been found near Darwin. Tourism is a big industry, it employs about one tenth of local population. Darwin is consolidating its position as a tourist centre. The number of tourists has increased in recent time.

Charles Darwin University is the main provider of the higher education. It acts as both a university and an Institute recognised under TAFE.

Darwin is often referred as the "multicultural capital of Australia".

Darwin is an important port city. The port handles the export of line sheep and cattle, and minerals too.

Tourists like to visit Darwin Botanic Gardens, Parliament House, Australian Aviation Heritage Centre, Crocodylus Park, and Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.