rainfall is recorded throughout Australia and on the national radio regular weather information is given including forecasts, rainfall figures and the changing depth of water in the large rivers.
Even in winter the warmth of the sun can be felt and in summer it is often very hot. At times forest fire warnings are given on the radio and in the newspaper. At such times it is forbidden to light fires in the open. In spite of precautions forest fires do break out, sometimes caused by lightning
Australia is a land of sun and clear bright light. The characteristic sky is a hard, bright blue
To the man on the land, the sun is often the destroyer as well as the giver of life. For weeks and even months the man on the land may watch the sky for rain because mountains are not high enough to catch them.
Because Australia is not generally mountainous and because the highlands are near the sea, many of the rivers are short. Australia has few big rivers which flow continuously. Although lines are drawn on the maps to indicate rivers, in some Australian rivers water flows only after heavy rain. During dry seasons they are no more than a series waterholes. In wet seasons they can flood many hundreds of square kilometres. It is a fact that on the average more water flows down the Amur river in China than down all the river systems of Australia taken together.