The trade winds
are the east to southeasterly winds (in the Southern Hemisphere)
which affect tropical and subtropical regions,
including the northern areas of Australia.
During the
monsoon
season in northern Australia,
the easterly trade winds are replaced by
moist northwesterly (monsoonal) winds from the Indian Ocean
and southern Asian ocean waters.
As mentioned above, the trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere are
east to southeasterly in direction.
In the Northern Hemisphere however,
the trade winds are east to northeasterly in direction.
It means that in both hemispheres,
they tend to blow from the east to the west and towards the equator.
Sometimes the trade winds will just be called "easterly" to avoid
having to specify the hemisphere.