How big is Queensland, Australia?

The size of Queensland, Australia, is enormous. The area of Queensland is 1,729,742 square kilometres, which makes the Australian state bigger than Iran or Alaska.

Queensland is Australia’s second largest state, and it has an incredibly long coastline. Most imagine that travelling from Brisbane to Cairns pretty much ticks off the Queensland coast, but then you notice the massive expanses of Cape York on top before you get to the northernmost point.

Cape York, the northernmost point on the Australian continent — Cape York is the northernmost point of Australia… or is it? Photo courtesy of Tourism and Events Queensland

Queensland area

So, just how big is Queensland? According to Geoscience Australia, the area of Queensland is 1,729,742 square kilometres. That makes Queensland approximately 68% the size of Western Australia and 22% of Australia’s total landmass.

Size of Queensland, Australia

For an international comparison, the size of Queensland makes it just over seven times bigger than the United Kingdom. If Queensland was an independent country, it would be the 18^th biggest country in the world.

Queensland’s area is slightly smaller than that of Libya, Sudan and Indonesia, but slightly bigger than that of Iran, Mongolia or Peru.

How big is Queensland compared to US states?

If comparing to US states, Queensland would be the largest state in the US. That said, it is almost exactly the same size as Alaska. The size of Queensland makes it approximately two-and-a-half times as big as Texas, though.

Queensland may be enormous, but it is not unmanageable as a visitor, even though Queensland driving times can be long. Almost everyone sticks to the coast, which has good infrastructure and a series of decent sized cities and tourist resort towns between the Gold Coast and Cairns. Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Airlie Beach and Townsville are dotted along the coast. It’s pretty easy to set up a road trip stopping somewhere with good facilities and things to do every couple of hours.

The Queensland outback is a different story, of course. Go inland in Queensland and it gets very empty, very quickly, with just a handful of sealed roads crossing the great nothing.