"Newcastle is the second oldest city, not just in New South Wales but in the country of Australia," she said. "It was settled just after Sydney, and it is a very significant piece of not just local history, but national history."
Newcastle – or 'Newie' as it's affectionately known – is Australia's second oldest city and is located just a two-hour drive north of Sydney.
A coastal town located on the east bank of the mouth of the Tamar River, George Town is Australia's third oldest European settlement and Australia's oldest town.
The most populated cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Darwin. Sydney is the most heavily populated, with a whopping 5.312 million inhabitants, but it is in fact not the capital of Australia as many people believe.
While Sydney topped the list of best cities to live, its position in other fields put it at fifth overall. See where other Australian cities ranked, and who took out the number one spot. Click through to see the top 20.
Indigenous Australia culture is tens of thousands of years older than many other ancient civilisations that are revered around the world, such as Mesopotamia (dating back as early as 3500 B.C.), Egypt (3100 B.C.), Greece (2700 B.C.), Maya (2600 B.C.) and China (1600 B.C.).
Pillinger, Tasmania
Pillinger is an abandoned town on Macquarie Harbour, on Tasmania's west coast. It was constructed in 1897 by Irish prospector James Crotty, who founded North Mount Lyell Company, and it quickly became a thriving port.
In 1835, they established the beginning of the renowned Melbourne city, about 47 years after Sydney.
Earth's oldest known piece of continental crust dates to the era of the moon's formation. Australia holds the oldest continental crust on Earth, researchers have confirmed, hills some 4.4 billion years old.
The town is an ex-Hydro village and now a residence for Inland Fisheries Services (IFS) and a Tasmania Police station. It is known for its exceptional fishing at nearby Great Lake and hosts several trout fishing events. Liawenee is the coldest permanently-inhabited place in Australia.
Small Towns in Australia
The smallest town in Australia is the quirky Cooladdi (Aboriginal meaning “Black Duck”), which is placed between Quilpie and Charleville in southwest Queensland. Coolidge is actually a ghost town and, even though it once had a population of 270, now it's home to only four people.
She is one of hundreds of young Australians continuing to call the Northern Territory home, with Darwin claiming the title of having the youngest capital city population in the country.
Jericho, Palestine
A small city with a population of 20,000 people, Jericho, which is located in Palestine, is believed to be the oldest city in the world. Indeed, some of the earliest archeological evidence from the area dates back 11,000 years.
One reason behind this large landmass being so desolate is the shortage of rainfall. More than two-third part of the country only receives less than 500 mm annual rain. This arid, uninhabitable part of Australia lies in the middle of the continent (the Outback), away from the coasts.
The “No Man's Land”, between South Australia's western border at the 132 meridian and the Western Australian border at the 129 meridian, remained part of New South Wales until 1861. South Australia sought for many years to have this area of about 80,000 square miles annexed to its colony.
Steiglitz. Located between Geelong and Ballarat, Steiglitz is an almost-literal ghost town, home to only a handful of residents. Once a busy goldmining hub, it contained shops, hotels and hurches, and even had its own newspaper. Now mostly abandoned, it's a popular place for bushwalking and picnics.
Aboriginal people are known to have occupied mainland Australia for at least 65,000 years. It is widely accepted that this predates the modern human settlement of Europe and the Americas.
The first Aboriginal people arrived on the north west coast of Australia between 65,000 and 40,000 years ago.
Anatomically modern humans are known to have left Africa approximately 72,000 years ago, eventually spreading across Asia and Europe. Outside Africa, Australia has one of the longest histories of continuous human occupation, dating back about 50,000 years.
Australia is colloquially known as "the Land Down Under" (or just "Down Under"), which derives from the country's position in the Southern Hemisphere, at the antipodes of the United Kingdom.
Australia ranks amongst the highest in the world for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
With 126,900 millionaires, Sydney made it to number 10 with the report noting especially strong growth in wealth in the Harbour City over the past 20 years, making it Australia's wealthiest city. It's also predicted to reach the top 5 wealthiest cities in the world by 2040.