- published: 06 Oct 2015
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Coordinates: 23°0′S 143°0′E / 23°S 143°E / -23; 143 Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state of Australia, located in the northeast of the country. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, southwest and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. Queensland has a population of 4,580,700, concentrated along the coast and particularly in the state's South East. The state is the world's sixth largest subnational entity, with an area of 1,852,642 km2. The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane, Australia's third largest city. Referred to as the 'Sunshine State', Queensland is home to 10 of Australia's 30 largest cities and is the nation's third largest economy.
Queensland was first occupied by Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, who arrived at least 40,000 years ago. The first European to land in Queensland was Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1607. In 1770, Lieutenant James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain. The colony of New South Wales was founded in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip at Sydney; New South Wales at that time included all of what is now Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. Queensland was explored in subsequent decades until the establishment of a penal colony at Brisbane in 1824 by John Oxley. Penal transportation ceased in 1839 and free settlement permitted in 1842. Queensland was separated from New South Wales, forming a self-governing colony, on 6 June 1859, a date now celebrated state-wide as Queensland Day. Queensland achieved statehood with the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901.
Southeast or south east is the ordinal direction halfway between east and south, the opposite of northwest.
Southeast, south east, or Southeastern may also refer to:
South East Queensland (SEQ) is a region of the state of Queensland in Australia, which contains 3.05 million people out of the state's population of 4.6 million. The SEQ region covers 22,420 square kilometres and incorporates ten Local Government Areas, extending 240 km from Noosa in the north to the Gold Coast and New South Wales border in the south (some sources include Tweed Heads (NSW) which is contiguous as an urban area with Brisbane/Gold Coast), and 140 km west to Toowoomba (not officially part of SEQ).
South East Queensland was the first part of Queensland to be settled and explored.
The economy of South East Queensland supports and relies on a wide diversity of agricultural manufacturing industries, commerce and tourism. The region has an integrated public transport system, TransLink.
The physical geographical definition of South East Queensland is the coastal river basins from the New South Wales border to the Mary River catchment. The western boundary is by definition, the Great Dividing Range water shed, the continental divide.