Question: What is a mirror site?

Answer: On the internet a mirror sit refers to an exact copy of another site. (ideally) 

Many larger sites get so much traffic (requests for information) that they have a hard time handling all of the requests. The administrator of the site makes arrangements with another site (usually across the country) to mirror the same information. This reduces the bandwidth across the entire internet. Ideally, if users are given a choice to get information from several different mirror sites - they will choose the geographically closest location.

Mirroring makes the information more accessible to users of the Internet. Mirroring also allows for a backup of information - in case the server crashes, is down for maintanence, or problem exists anywhere along the path of the information.

Question: Are mirrors always exactly the same?
    Answer: Depending on how the information is disseminated to the mirror sites - there might be a short time where there is a discrepancy. Administrators of the site can run programs to compare and update the mirror sites so that they contain an exact duplicate of the original files.
Question: Why can I get information faster from a mirror in Australia than I can get the same information from a local server?
 
 
    Answer: Short answer - traffic. Most people are probably asleep in Australia when we (in the US) are awake. Therefore, the server in Australia is not trying to fill as many requests.
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