by Rob Taylor

January 3, 2008  CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia endured bushfires, floods and record high temperatures in its drought-ravaged foodbowl in 2007 as global warming brought the nation's sixth hottest year on record, the weather bureau said on Thursday.

The crucial Murray-Darling river basin, home to 2 million people and almost half the country's fruit and cereal crop, had its hottest known year, the Bureau of Meteorology said in its 2007 Australian Climate Statement.

The mean maximum temperature of 28.6 Celsius (83.5 Fahrenheit) was almost a full degree above normal, bringing record average temperatures to the heavily populated southeast, the bureau said, pointing to climate change as the reason.

"The standout year is 2005, which was Australia's warmest year on record, but essentially all the warm years that we've had have been in recent years," climate analysis spokesman David Jones told local radio.

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