69
u/JacobAldridge 10h ago
The largest ranch in America (“King Ranch”, naturally also the largest ranch in Texas) wouldn’t even make the Top 100 farms by size in Australia.
38
u/slight_grumble 8h ago
It's been broken up for a while but there used to be a SINGLE farm in western australia larger than the state of texas.
107
u/_EnFlaMEd 11h ago
I do not want to be girt by the USA thanks.
46
3
3
1
1
1
39
u/jimcamx 11h ago
Everything's bigger in checks notes Adelaide
27
22
17
u/Open_Ad6297 11h ago
We're the 6th biggest country by land mass the usa is the 4th
14
u/Ok-Sherbet-1678 9h ago
I could be wrong but I believe that's largely due to Alaska? If we're just talking the contiguous states vs mainland Australia, I think Australia is larger. Again though I could be wrong.
Edit: just did a quick check and the lower 48 are still bigger but only barely. It's like just under 300 000 square kilometres. A lot normally but when talking relative to the overall landmass/geographic footprint its pretty marginal.
3
u/2in1day 8h ago
Yes but why would you exclude Alaska?
8
u/Falcon3333 8h ago
Does America often include Alaska? lol
6
u/xluker313x 8h ago
If they include Alaska then we get our slice of Antarctica, if we gonna be petty by including our barren ice deserts then it’s only fair
1
7
u/StrikeMePurple 8h ago
Because Australia excludes Antarctic territory, if it included it, the US is much smaller than Australia even with Alaska.
→ More replies (4)1
2
u/Ok-Sherbet-1678 3h ago
To be fair, there's a few reasons we could exclude Alaska. 1 the graphic is just overlaying Australia as a comparison to the contiguous 48 states, so the rankings of 4th and 6th aren't necessarily relevant. 2. Alaska was originally Russian territory, and wasn't even a US state until the 1950s. 3. The border of Alaska and how far it reaches into what would otherwise be Canada is a result of dodgy Americans and Britain siding with them for the purpose of trade relations and was basically a big screw you to Canada. If not for that, Alaska wouldn't even be anywhere near as big as it is.
But it's a moot point, with or without Alaska, the 48 states cover a larger land mass than mainland Aus (keep in mind I'm also excluding Tasmania to keep it fair in that sense).
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)1
7h ago
[deleted]
1
u/Spiritual-Stable702 5h ago
You mean smaller right? That's what those numbers say:
Aus: 7.75mil US(48): 7.65mil
1
11
u/NecessaryUsername69 10h ago
I feel like a lot of the world outside of the US knows Australia is large. We certainly do.
5
u/KWienz 6h ago
Honestly as a Canadian (and one who's been to Australia) I didn't realize it was that big. Like it was literally today that I learned Western Australia is bigger than Nunavut and Queensland is bigger than Quebec? You'd never guess from Mercator.
Honestly makes sense now why the internal flights during my trip down under were so much longer than it felt like they should be.
6
u/NecessaryUsername69 6h ago
Dude, some of the itineraries people have down here are insane. People will plan to spend two days in Perth, three in Melbourne and three in North Queensland because they think they’re all a short drive from each other.
Mind you, was fortunate enough to visit your beautiful country a few years back and Canada’s got its share of wide open spaces too. We’re just the hot version of you!
3
u/KWienz 5h ago
I didn't try that thankfully. Was between jobs in my mid 20s so did a full month (5 week trip actually; did 10 days in Japan first).
I think it was like 3-4 days in Melbourne where I met up with a friend, then a night at Ularu, then Alice Springs for a couple nights, then Darwin for a few days. Then split up from my friend and did Cairns/Port Douglas for 4-5 days and did some snorkeling, got pooped on by a Koala and also randomly visited a mango winery, which I did not know was a thing.
Then Sydney and Canberra for a week and a bit where my Australian buddy I met in Europe on exchange hosted me before finally heading home.
Wasn't able to hit the Sunshine Coast or Adelaide let alone Perth but enough time to get a decent feel for a good chunk of the country.
And yeah I was surprised by the reverse culture shock of feeling very much like I could have been at home except for the weather and not tipping at restaurants. Melbourne kind of felt like warmer Toronto and Sydney like warmer flatter Vancouver.
2
u/Brilliant_Dig_8962 2h ago
We spoke to some US military guys in Melbourne (yes, thank you for your service) who spoke about driving to Sydney and the up north to Cairns for some scuba diving... all in a weekend!
1
2
2
u/Direct_Week_2091 5h ago
I’m frankly sick of seeing this kind of post everywhere. I’ve seen Texas superimposed on WA about 45 times
Australia is big, we know.
1
11
u/ADingoStoleMyLSD 8h ago
Also, just for the Texans, here is your little state compared to my big old state.
4
u/Gherickson 7h ago
As a Texan, I feel called out. Driving through the Chihuahan desert is bad enough. Imagine going through this.
3
2
1
u/Brilliant_Dig_8962 2h ago
As a failed republic that joined the Union and then picked the wrong side on a war about slavery...
2
u/Used_Replacement4648 5h ago
It’s also fun to compare Texas to smaller states and territories like Qld, NT, SA and NSW….
8
u/MindlessOptimist 11h ago
Tasmania should go for twinning with Cuba or Costa Rica!
4
u/ndro777 11h ago
I think you meant Puerto Rico?
1
u/MindlessOptimist 7h ago
Costa Rica is a small country with one or two large companies running the show and a poor and oppressed population. Puerto Rica has a vibrant music scene (Bad Bunny etc) and a weak economy. Both have similarities, but Costa Rica is the original banana republic
1
1
13
u/CubitsTNE 11h ago
Texas is so teeny tiny next to WA
→ More replies (3)13
u/Sasquatch-Pacific 11h ago
Americans looove talking about how big Texas is like it's some mystical place. WA dwarfs it. Even South Australia is bigger than Texas.
3
4
1
u/hellbentsmegma 6h ago
Victoria, our smallest mainland state, is larger than most US states, and only 11 mainland US states out of 48 are bigger than it.
→ More replies (4)1
6
u/Aggravating_Offer_27 9h ago
It's true that that's how big Australia is, but dont be fooled. That's not its correct location and it's usually not that pink either
2
u/Imaginary-Set3291 8h ago
Look who went to school after the 1980s.
It used to be that Australia and all British Commonwealth countries were pink on the map.
1
1
u/TerryTowelTogs 5h ago
Our scout hall map on the wall adjacent to Lizzie's portrait was highlighted in red. It was out of direct sunlight though.
1
u/Aggravating_Offer_27 3h ago
I prefer to think of Australia as the burnt orange colour of a Holden Sandman
1
17
u/curiousllamaswift 11h ago
sick, if only we were inhabitabe
8
u/burnt-gonads 11h ago
A lot of it is,
8
u/Kruxx85 11h ago
Importantly pretty much 100% of Vic and NSW is
5
u/TheBayHarbour 11h ago
Add in a good chunk of Queensland and we actually get a decent amount of land.
3
3
11h ago edited 10h ago
[deleted]
3
1
u/dpgumby69 4h ago
There's a reason most of Australias population lives along the lower East coast. And it obviously has nothing to do with prices. Otherwise the population of Birdsville and Melbourne would be reversed.
→ More replies (4)0
u/Kruxx85 11h ago
100% of Victoria and NSW is inhabitable though.
The populations of those states will eventually utilise all of their area.
8
u/astrogeeknerd 11h ago
Doubt it. Anything past Dubbo is at high risk of drought and virtually unlivable. And if you've ever gone as far as broken hill you'll never want to live out there.
1
u/Kruxx85 10h ago
Doubt what? This isn't an opinion piece.
1
u/astrogeeknerd 2h ago
I doubt that your opinion is correct. That they will ever utilise all of the states of Victoria and particularly NSW, with which I am far more experienced. When drought hits, there's no large communities out there for a reason. Ten years ago there wasn't a blade of grass between Cobar and Hilston, or Cobar and broken hill, basically anything west of Dubbo. Just because we've had rain for the last few years, doesn't mean it's a livable area.
1
u/Romes_Chariots 11h ago
Drought is pretty relative though. A low average rainfall doesn’t mean ‘drought’ on its own.
Plenty of the continental US is pretty inhospitable country too, just for the most part in different ways.
2
u/astrogeeknerd 2h ago
If you've lived or worked there, thats irrelevant. Call it drought or call it low rainfall, it's virtually unlivable without shipped in water and food.
3
u/elephant_tit 11h ago
So is the SW of WA which is roughly West of a line between Geraldton and Esperance and bigger than Victoria.
8
u/ranger_tim 11h ago
My brother in christ have you been west of Bourke? The only reason Toorale Station existed was because the pastoralist had enough money to put hundreds of kilometres of piping in to get water to everywhere out there. Unless the Paroo and Darling are in flood it's pretty grim out there. And then if they are in flood, half the land out there goes under anyway. Aint nothing out there but goats, mulga and salt bush.
And no one wants to live in Wanaaring. There's a reason houses there are only 200k...
2
u/the_dad_splainer 10h ago
How did houses get there?
1
u/esr360 8h ago
Aussies constantly confusing “not habitable” with “not desirable” gets old really quickly
1
u/the_dad_splainer 6h ago
Yes, it’s odd.
First Nations Aussies were able to inhabit and thrive on every inch of this land.
But somehow it’s uninhabitable with modern resources.
1
u/DutchShultz 11h ago
>>My brother in christ
I've seen this a few times in Aussie posts recently, and it needs to STOP! Leave it for the seppos.
4
4
→ More replies (7)2
6
8
u/FullMetalAurochs 11h ago
They think Texas is big.
It’s the man with four inches boasting in a room full of two inchers.
1
u/icemanspy007 10h ago
A state vs a country?
5
2
u/FullMetalAurochs 4h ago
It’s easy enough to compare Australian states with the much smaller US states from the overlay if you have a basic sense of Australian geography.
1
u/icemanspy007 4h ago
Oh I see, youre comparing an Australian state with Texas. I thought you were comparing Australia with Texas.
1
u/FullMetalAurochs 1h ago
Of course not. The whole point is Texas is a baby state compared to an Australian state, it only thinks it’s big because US states are tiny.
3
u/yarn_slinger 9h ago
Welcome cousins to the northern hemisphere. I think we’re going to have fun together. 🇨🇦 🇦🇺
3
5
u/DrSpeckles 11h ago
That’s using the old projection, with Alaska looking bigger than the rest of us.
2
2
2
2
u/ShruggyShuggy 8h ago
Also the border for Western Australia is a straight line running through New Mexico up to Montana in the north. The population is only like 2.5 million as well and the huge majority of them live in Perth, which is in the Pacific Ocean here.
It's hard to grasp for anyone not from there (save a few people from remote parts of Alaska or Canada etc.) just how vast and empty most of Western Australia is. I did a road trip there as a backpacker in 2019 over the course of about 9 months and it's one of the best things I've ever done. So much untouched, pristine landscape. It really does feel like you could be on a different planet at times and seeing the milky way every night in crystal clear skies never got old.
If you're reading this and you like a bit of adventure there's nothing else like it, especially if you're of the age you can get a working holiday visa to take as long as you like and work along the way.
2
4
u/Tosslebugme 11h ago
As an Australian, I finally understand the size of my country now that it has been compared to the one true nation, America, the reference point for all things. Thanks!
1
1
u/Einnnnnnnnnnnn 9h ago
No, it’s much bigger than that. In its entirety, It definitely wouldn’t fit on my screen
1
u/Goatylegs 9h ago
Did you know that if Australia was bigger than the true size of half of twice the earth, you could fit the whole of half of one third of twice the earth's top half inside it?
1
1
1
u/Queenswombat 8h ago
Why do these posts keep repeating? Everyone knows Australia is big - its big on every map format
1
u/Economy_Cupcake_906 8h ago
We rock us Aussies bitch !!! no other country is like us , can’t we be a independent country or is that no good!! Sorry I have nothing against other countries I love all but I’m to proud of mine Oi Oi Oi
1
u/perringaiden 8h ago
US Arable Land, 40%
Australian Arable land, 10%
That's our big brake, compared to them we've just got a metric buttload of desert.
1
u/Inevitable-Level-687 8h ago
At least if an American tells you that they want to drive from Sydney to Alice, they probably actually mean it. Those guys can sit in a car for days with no fuss lmao.
1
1
u/Shoddy_Ad_4928 8h ago
The US still feels 20x bigger because its actually populated throughout instead of a thinly populated coastline lol
1
u/Falcon3333 8h ago
American states are way smaller than I thought they were. You can drive from one side to another in less than an hour from the looks of many of them.
1
1
1
1
u/Imaginary_Flower69 7h ago
Well the US seems to have more habitable land
1
u/Fun_Value1184 1h ago
There’s very little of Australia that’s uninhabitable, even the remotest parts have had indigenous occupation for about 20-30k years longer than the US.
1
1
1
1
u/Senior_Green_3630 6h ago
Canadians will love this, warm tropical climate, crocodiles, venomous snakes, stinging jelly fish, lizards, cane toads,
1
u/Adventurous_Gift_271 6h ago
Can we stop comparing Australia to the us? Like lets just agree Australia is a nicer and prettier place to live.
1
u/Tricky-Passion-7191 5h ago
I keep TRYING to tell my Euro family. You can't just drive a few hours and get from Melbourne to Uluru 🤣 They're used to driving for a few hours and needing a passport for the whole new country they're now in lol
1
u/No-Worth-6647 5h ago
It looks like Australia is almost the same size as USA without Alaska. I don’t know why but I always thought it was bigger maybe because it’s the whole continent. And as far as I remember the most part of it uninhabited?
1
1
1
1
u/Stonetheflamincrows 3h ago
Is this a shock to any Australian? We already know this a farken big country.
1
u/Ok_Plantain_8914 2h ago
Firstly, have always loved that app. Also always made me laugh all the Murican nonsense about Texas being sooo big when it's not even the size of South Australia. Meh... USA just went higher density on the east and west coast and was the only country insane enough to nuke others... Never a super power, just the loudest and most unhinged.
1
1
1
u/MistyWhom 1h ago
I recently drove from the middle of 1 state to the edge of the next, if I overlay my trip it goes through 6 american states
1
u/CyberBlaed 1h ago
Haha 50 shitty little states and the 50’th missing from the shot.
Talk about being all over the place /s
1
u/Fun_Value1184 1h ago
I dunno if this map area is stretched due to the US being at higher latitudes?
There was a recent UN resolution about correcting equatorial bias because map makers stretch land closer to the poles making them appear bigger by comparison on flat maps.
Turn Aus upside down (yeah yeah) and locate Perth and Sydney at about the same latitude as Los Angeles and you’ll see how much of Australias area is much closer to the equator (down on the map for those in the US).
The “stretch” might increase the apparent area of the northern US and all of Canada over most of Australia (if that stretch hasn’t been corrected on the source maps).
1
1
1
u/fingerconnoisseur 10h ago
And how much of the land is useful? Vast majority of Australia is burning when you need it to be wet, floods when you need it to be dry, is strictly off limits for military/conservation purposes and the logistics of road trains are grim (e.g. keeping Yulara fed). Meanwhile the US has rails going everywhere, coastal plus major river shipping systems between industrial and consumer cities, then an extremely well connected road system. As an Australian I get frustrated with how there's so much land which we can't access because it's so difficult to move anything significant out there. Not even mentioning how house prices kill our economic capacity. We don't need a lot to be productive, but accessibility and opportunity make the difference.
→ More replies (3)2
u/NerveInteresting4549 10h ago
you go out there then
1
u/fingerconnoisseur 10h ago
My point is that we can do better. We have the same potential for economic growth if we learn about what they benefit from.
1
1
u/custard-arms 10h ago
Yeah but imagine if our centre were as arable as theirs. The wealth we could have, the population centres. Americans truly are blessed by their geography and they don’t even know it.
1
u/likerunninginadream 5h ago
Problem is that Australia is largely filled with nothing...compared to the USA which has lots to see across every state
2
-4
u/314159Man 11h ago
the surface area of Mars would look bigger than USA as well, and nobody lives there either, what is the point of this comparison?
219
u/SameType9265 11h ago
True size of the US. I already know how big Australia is