Australia's neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east.
Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
Australia led the formation of the Cairns Group and APEC, and is a member of the OECD and the WTO.
Australia is an independent sovereign nation within the Commonwealth, retaining the British monarch as head of state, represented by a governor general.
Australia was one of the first countries to feel the effects of the great depression that followed the Wall Street crash of 1929.
Australia became the base for the Allied campaign in the Pacific, and under the supreme command of Gen Douglas MacArthur the Allied forces halted the Japanese drive in 1942–43, and in mid-1943 began the recapture of the islands and the slow reconquest of the New Guinea coastline.
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