Australia's area is 769 million hectares, with about one quarter mostly desert and not used commercially. Early settlements tended to be established near reliable water supplies leading to Australia's population being concentrated along the coast, mainly in the comparatively fertile, well-watered east, south-east and far south-west. The establishment of irrigation schemes, largely by government, also played an important role in populating inland Australia. The discovery of the Great Artesian Basin provided reliable water for the pastoral industry in the dry inland grazing country.
The most extensive land use in Australia is livestock grazing in arid and semi-arid regions and covers 430 million hectares or 56 percent of Australia. In total, the area of agricultural land is 473 million hectares or nearly 62 percent of the continent. With 120 million sheep, 24 million beef cattle and 3 million dairy cattle in 1996/97, Australian agriculture is predominantly livestock based. Agriculture was worth $28 billion with $11.9 billion from livestock industries, $11.6 billion from cropping, and $4.1 billion from horticulture. Although agriculture is still an important player in the Australian economy, mining, manufacturing, service and construction now contribute more to the economy than agriculture.
While going these grazing land I was remembering that how the farm land and grazing pastures in India are being destroyed with the rapid urbanization.
