Portal:Australia

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Introduction  

A view of the Blue Mountains National Park -

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The flag of Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. Australia has a total area of 7,688,287 km² (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest country by area in Oceania. It is the world's oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with some of the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct languages and had the oldest living culture in the world. Australia's written history commenced with Dutch exploration of most of the coastline in the 17th-century. British colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales. By the mid-19th century, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies federated in 1901, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, and culminating in the Australia Acts of 1986.

Australia is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories. Its population of more than 28 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Canberra is the nation's capital, while its most populous cities are Sydney and Melbourne, both with a population of more than 5 million. Australia's culture is diverse, and the country has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. It has a highly developed market economy and one of the highest per capita incomes globally. Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.

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  Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

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Yarralumla local shops

Yarralumla (/jærəlʌmlə/) is a large inner south suburb of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Located approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south-west of the city, Yarralumla extends along the south-west bank of Lake Burley Griffin from Scrivener Dam to Commonwealth Avenue. (Full article...)

More Australian featured content

Selected biography -

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

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Oliphant in 1939

Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, AC, KBE, FRS, FAA, FTSE (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapons. (Full article...)

More Australian featured biographies

Did you know (auto-generated) -  

• ... that Gil Kim played professional baseball in the Netherlands, China, Australia, Spain, and Venezuela, scouted in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and coaches in Canada?
• ... that Australiformis semoni is a parasite that infests marsupials in Australia and New Guinea and whose infestation could cause debilitating ulcerative granulomatous gastritis?
• ... that South Australian Labor premier Des Corcoran was mentioned in despatches for courage and skill in evacuating casualties during the Korean War?
• ... that Peter Read coined the term "Stolen Generations" to refer to Aboriginal children who were forcibly separated from their families by Australian governments?
• ... that Barcroft Boake, the author of one of Australia's most anthologised poems, hanged himself with a stockwhip a few months after it was published?
• ... that Jack Critchley, state parliamentarian then senator for South Australia, was invalided home from the Western Front with "wry neck"?
• ... that Australia-born rugby union player Jason Jones-Hughes was the subject of a protracted legal battle over his international eligibility after Wales called him up for the 1999 Rugby World Cup?
• ... that a baby penguin from Australia is "an absolute unit"?

More Australian facts

In the news  

30 September 2024 – Australia–Tuvalu relations, Climate change in Tuvalu

Tuvalu's climate minister denounces the Australian Labor government's decision to expand three coal mines as an existential threat to the nation, due to the role of the mines in causing rising sea levels that have forced mass displacement across Tuvalu's low-lying islands. (The Guardian)

28 September 2024 – 2024 AFL premiership season

The Brisbane Lions defeat the Sydney Swans 120–60 in the Australian Football League Grand Final to win their fourth AFL premiership title. (The Guardian Australia)

26 September 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict

Israel rejects proposals from the United States, Australia, and the European Union to initiate a temporary 21-day ceasefire with Hezbollah. (Reuters) (Reuters 2)

23 September 2024 – 2024 AFL season

In Australian football, Patrick Cripps wins his second Brownlow Medal with 45 votes, the most votes since the current voting system was introduced, and also becomes the seventeenth player to win the award more than once. (ABC News Australia)

Selected pictures -

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  Dusky Robin

  Photo: JJ Harrison

  The Dusky Robin (Melanodryas vittata) is a small passerine bird native to Tasmania. A member of the Australian Robin family, it is not related to European or American Robins. It is a brown-plumaged bird of open woodland, measuring 16–17 cm (6.3–6.7 in) in length.
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  Zizina labradus

  Photo credit: John O'Neill

  A Common Grass Blue (Zizina labradus), a small Australian butterfly. This specimen, perched on a rose, is approximately 10 millimetres (0.4 in) in size. Females generally have a larger wingspan compared to males (23 and 20 mm or 0.9 and 0.8 in respectively).
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  Metallic Ringtail

  Photo: JJ Harrison

  The Metallic Ringtail (Austrolestes cingulatus) is an Australian species of damselfly, so named because of its glossy metallic colouration and the "rings" on each abdominal segment. It is widely distributed in Tasmania, Victoria, eastern New South Wales and south eastern Queensland.
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  Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory

  Photo credit: Noodle snacks

  The 26-metre (85 ft) radio telescope at Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory, located 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Hobart, Tasmania, is the southernmost antenna used in Australia's Very Long Baseline Interferometry network. The facility is owned and operated by the University of Tasmania.
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  Australian Synchrotron

  Photo credit: John O'Neill

  A panoramic view across the interior of the Australian Synchrotron (a subatomic particle accelerator) in Clayton, Victoria. Dominating the image is the storage ring, showing the optical diagnostic beamline at front right. In the middle of the storage ring is the booster synchrotron and linac. The yellow, green and red magnets on the trolley (front left) are a demonstration of the bending and focusing magnets used in the storage ring to produce the synchrotron radiation and maintain the electron beam.
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  Lauren Mitchell

  Photo: Steven Rasmussen; edit: Keraunoscopia

  Australian artistic gymnast Lauren Mitchell (b. 1991) performing a layout step-out on the balance beam during the 41st World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London, United Kingdom, on 14 October 2009; at the Championships, Mitchell won two silver medals, one for the balance beam and another for floor exercises. Since her first medal in 2007, Mitchell has placed in the World Championships, World Cup, and Commonwealth Games, and competed in two Olympic Games.
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  Hobart

  Photo credit: Noodle snacks

  A view of the greater Hobart area, as seen from Mount Wellington. The state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania, Hobart is located in the state's south-east, on the estuary of the River Derwent.
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  Yarra River from inner-city bridge

  
  
  The Yarra River is a river in southern Victoria (Australia), originally called Birrarung by the Wurundjeri people who occupied the Yarra valley prior to European settlement. The River's lower reaches travel through central Melbourne.
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  Common bluetail

  Photo credit: Fir0002

  The Common bluetail (Ischnura heterosticta) is a small Australian damselfly of the family Coenagrionidae. Most males have blue eyes, blue thorax and a blue ringed tail. The females are green or light brown.
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  Kiewa Valley

  
  
  The Kiewa River is a major tributary of the Murray River in Australia and the source of approximately 40% of the Murray's flow. The river's headwaters include Victoria's highest mountain, Mount Bogong, and wind their way north-west about 100 kilometres, gradually slowing before joining the Murray west of Albury.
  
  Photo credit: Mattinbgn
  
  
  
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  The Royal Exhibition Building, showing the fountain on the southern or Carlton Gardens side of the building.

  
  The Royal Exhibition Building is located in Victorian capital of Melbourne. Situated in the Carlton Gardens, at the north-eastern edge of the central business district, it was completed in 1880 for the Melbourne International Exhibition. It was also the site of the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia with the opening of the first Parliament of Australia.
  
  Photo credit: Diliff
  
  
  
  
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  Tawny Frogmouth

  Photo: Benjamint444

  The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is a large species of frogmouth found throughout the Australian mainland, Tasmania, and southern New Guinea. Unlike the owl for which it is often mistaken, the Tawny Frogmouth is not a bird of prey. Instead, it is almost exclusively insectivorous. For defense, it relies on cryptic camouflage, standing still to appear part of a branch.
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  Brian Nankervis

  Photo: John O'Neill; edit: JJ Harrison

  Brian Nankervis (b. 1956), an Australian comedian and writer, shown here during a live performance. Nankervis rose to popularity while playing Raymond J. Bartholomeuz on Hey Hey It's Saturday; since 2005 he has been a host of the gameshow RocKwiz.
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  A vineyard in Tasmania

  
  
  The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy through production, employment, export, and tourism.
  
  Photo credit: Fir0002
  
  
  
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  An Eastern Banjo Frog, found in eastern Australia.

  
  The Eastern Banjo Frog, Limnodynastes dumerilli, is a frog species from the family Myobatrachidae. It is native to eastern Australia and has been introduced to New Zealand. The frog is also commonly called the "pobblebonk" after its distinctive "bonk" call, which is likened to a banjo string being plucked.
  
  Photo credit: Fir0002
  
  
  
  
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  Passchendaele

  Photo credit: James Francis Hurley

  Soldiers of an Australian 4th Division field artillery brigade on a duckboard track passing through Chateau Wood, near Hooge in the Ypres salient, October 29, 1917. The photo was taken in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, which was one of the major battles of World War I.
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  Nitmiluk National Park from the air.

  
  Nitmiluk National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located 244 kilometres southeast of Darwin. Established around a series of gorges on the Katherine River and Edith Falls, the park has great ceremonial significance to the local Jawoyn people, who are custodians of Nitmiluk National Park. In Jawoyn, Nitmiluk means place of the cicada dreaming.
  
  Photo credit: Brian Voon Yee Yap
  
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  Tawny Frogmouth

  Photo: JJ Harrison

  The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is a nocturnal species of Australian frogmouth commonly mistaken for an owl. Males and females look similar, growing to 35–53 cm (14–21 in) long and up to 680 g (1.5 lb) in weight. The Tawny Frogmouth is almost exclusively insectivorous, feeding rarely on frogs and other small prey. It generally sits very still on a low perch and catches food with its beak.
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  Tasmanian Native-hen

  Photo credit: Noodle snacks

  The Tasmanian Native-hen (Gallinula mortierii) is a flightless rail between 43 to 51 cm (17 to 20 in) in length, one of twelve species of birds endemic to the Australian island of Tasmania. Although flightless, it is capable of running quickly and has been recorded running at speeds up to 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).
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  Sydney Opera House

  Photo credit: Chmouel

  The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
  
  Situated on Bennelong Point at Sydney Harbour, the Sydney Opera House is one of the most distinctive and famous 20th-century buildings, and one of the most famous performing arts venues in the world.
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  Sunset at Uluru.

  
  
  Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. It is located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 440 km southwest of Alice Springs. Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara (Aboriginal people of the area) and has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight. The rock is made of sandstone infused with minerals like feldspar that reflect the red light of sunrise and sunset, making it appear to glow.
  
  Photo credit: Thomas Schoch
  
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  Forked tongue

  Photo credit: LiquidGhoul

  The head of a Coastal Carpet Python, the largest subspecies of Morelia spilota, a non-venomous Australian python, showing its forked tongue, a feature common to many reptiles, who smell using the tip of their tongue. Having a forked tongue allows them to tell which direction a smell is coming from.

On this day  

20 November:

Ernest Giles

• 1980 – Death of Sir John McEwen, 18th Prime Minister of Australia, aged 80.
• 2002 – Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that Australia would begin withdrawing its 150 commandos from Afghanistan later that month.
• 2004 – Death of Janine Haines, 59, former Australian Democrats senator.

More Australian anniversaries...

General images  

The following are images from various Australia-related articles on Wikipedia.

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  Skiing in Australia began in Kiandra, a goldmining town in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, in the 1860s. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Federation Bungalow in Killara, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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  Nan Tien Temple, a Buddhist temple in Wollongong. Multicultural immigration has increased Australia's religious diversity. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Anzac Day dawn services are held throughout Australia every April. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Parliament House, Canberra (from Culture of Australia)
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  A swagman in bushman's apparel, wearing a brimmed hat and carrying swag and billy can (from Culture of Australia)
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  An Aboriginal encampment near the Adelaide foothills in an 1854 painting by Alexander Schramm (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  William Wentworth (1790–1872) was among the first to articulate a vision of Australian nationhood. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Sheep grazing in rural Australia. Early British settlers introduced Western stock and crops and Australian agriculture now produces an abundance of fresh produce. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (from Culture of Australia)
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  Convict architecture at Port Arthur, Tasmania (from Culture of Australia)
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  Golden Wattle, Australia's floral emblem and the source of Australia's national colours, green and gold (from Culture of Australia)
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  A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920) (from Culture of Australia)
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  The Wiggles performing in the United States in 2007 (from Culture of Australia)
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  Dame Edna Everage, a comic creation of Barry Humphries (from Culture of Australia)
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  Corroboree at Newcastle by convict artist Joseph Lycett, ca. 1818. Aboriginal Australian religious practices associated with the Dreamtime have been practised for tens of thousands of years. (from Culture of Australia)
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  A commemorative statue of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a famous stretcher bearer who was killed in the Gallipoli Campaign. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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  The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
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  A typical Queenslander house in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
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  The initial human settlement of Oceania is estimated to have been between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago. Archaeogenetic results indicate a colonisation of southern Sahul (Australia) before 37,000 years ago and an incubation period in northern Sahul (Papua New Guinea), followed by westward expansions within Australia after about 28,000 years ago. (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  Men from Bathurst Island, 1939 (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  Cover of Old Bush Songs, Banjo Paterson's 1905 collection of bush ballads (from Culture of Australia)
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  Victorian era buildings in Collins Street, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
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  The SBS building in Melbourne's Federation Square. SBS is Australia's multicultural broadcaster. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature film (from Culture of Australia)
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  Phar Lap winning the Melbourne Cup, "the race that stops a nation" (from Culture of Australia)
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  Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress) (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  Bush tucker harvested in Alice Springs (from Culture of Australia)
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  Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly (from Culture of Australia)
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  Sydney Opera House (foreground) and Sydney Harbor Bridge (from Culture of Australia)
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  Didgeridoo performers (from Culture of Australia)
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  A billycan used for heating water (from Culture of Australia)
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  House in Killara, New South Wales (from Culture of Australia)
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  The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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  Founded in 1993, Sydney's Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Noongar traditional dancers in Perth (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  Birdsville Hotel, an Australian pub in outback Queensland (from Culture of Australia)
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  The first State of Origin shield (from Culture of Australia)
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  St Mary Mackillop established an extensive network of schools and is Australia's first canonised saint of the Catholic Church. (from Culture of Australia)
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  PCA of Orang Asli (Semang) and Andamanese, with worldwide populations in HGDP. (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (from Culture of Australia)
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  Governor Arthur Phillip hoists the British flag over the new colony at Sydney Cove in 1788 (from Culture of Australia)
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  The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
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  An Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass. (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  A group of Australian men wearing speedos (from Culture of Australia)
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  The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia. (Pictured: surf lifesavers, Bondi Beach, 1930s). (from Culture of Australia)
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  Countries of birth of Australian estimated resident population, 2006 (from Culture of Australia)
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  Donald Bradman is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport. (from Culture of Australia)
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  The Bulletin, founded by J. F. Archibald (left), nurtured bush poets such as Henry Lawson (right). (from Culture of Australia)
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  South Australian suffragette Catherine Helen Spence (1825–1910). The Australian colonies established democratic parliaments from the 1850s and began to grant women the vote in the 1890s. (from Culture of Australia)
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  The verandah is the dominant feature of this Federation Filigree-style pub in Ravenswood. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923 (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  C. J. Dennis, poetic humourist of Australian English (from Culture of Australia)
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  Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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  Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia)
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  Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most successful pop musicians (from Culture of Australia)
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  The Matildas, Australia's national women's football team (from Culture of Australia)

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WikiProject  

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Consider joining WikiProject Australia, a WikiProject dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to Australia. The project page and its subpages contain suggestions on formatting and style of articles, which can be discussed at the project's notice board. To participate, simply add your name to the project members page.

As of 19 November 2024, there are 205,582 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 594 are featured and 885 are good articles. This makes up 2.97% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.34% of all featured articles and lists, and 2.18% of all good articles (see WP:AUSFG). Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etc., there are 526,388 pages in the project.

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