Albany is a port city on south coast of Western Australia, 400 km south of Perth, the state capital. It is situated on Princess Royal Harbour, a natural inlet of the Southern Ocean, 5 km east west and 3 km north south. Exports are grains, and woodchips. Imports are mainly raw materials for the production of fertilizers. The population is approximately 30,000. Albany is actually the oldest continuous settlement in Western Australia, and was founded in 1826, three years before Perth. Until the construction of Fremantle Port in 1897, Albany was the only deepwater port in Western Australia. Unlike nearly all of Western Australia, Albany is cool and wet, with a Mediterranean climate. It receives an average of 942 mm of rainfall per annum and its average summer temperature is only 22.4°C. Information is available from the City of Albany web site (http://www.albany.wa.gov.au/).
