Queensland is also Australia's most decentralised state: The capital and largest city is Brisbane, but others regional centres include the Gold Coast (the state's second largest city, the seventh largest city in the country, and a major tourism destination), Townsville, Rockhampton, Mackay, Cairns, Toowoomba, and Mount Isa. Queensland is often nicknamed the Sunshine State, since it enjoys warm weather and a sizable portion of the state is in the tropics.
On Friday, December 9, 2005 the population of Queensland officially reached 4 million. Queensland is the fastest growing state in Australia, with nine hundred people moving to the state a week.
Queensland was originally a British Crown Colony that was separated from New South Wales in 1859. What is now Brisbane was originally the Moreton Bay penal colony, intended as a place to hold convicts who re-offended while serving out their sentences in New South Wales.
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