We have a lot of fertile land on the east of the Great Dividing Range which runs from Melbourne up to the very top of Queensland. As the moisture laden Pacific Ocean winds hit the divide they suddenly rise up 6 000' and dump their water. I live just to the west of the divide and we're in the rain shadow. But even here we have lots of dairy, beef, oil seed, maize etc.
The further west you go from Melbourne the drier it gets. Adelaide is a very dry place and after that there is just deseret country all the way across to the south of Western Australia where you get into forrest again, but its only the southern part. North from Perth its all desert, right down to the beach.
Across the Top End, Kimberly, Gulf Country and western Queensland its all desert basically with scraggly bush called 'tropical savana'. Darwin is the big city (300 000) and its dry and hot in the dry season and wet and hot in the wet season. Mangos are a big deal, lots of mango farms. And Brahman cattle as they are tick resistant.
Move 500 km south and you're entering into semi desert country. By Tennant Creek its full desert, down past Alice to Port Augusta on the coast. Just dry desert. Big properties run a lot of cattle with less than one head per acre. But they have a lot of acres...
