Portal:Australia
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Introduction
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, tropical savannas in the north, and mountain ranges in the south-east.
The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. This began a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, and culminating in the Australia Act 1986.
Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy, comprising six states and ten territories. Australia's population of nearly 27 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Canberra is the nation's capital, while its most populous city and financial centre is Sydney. The next four largest cities are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. It is ethnically diverse and multicultural, the product of large-scale immigration, with almost half of the population having at least one parent born overseas. Australia's abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy, which generates its income from various sources including services, mining exports, banking, manufacturing, agriculture and international education. Australia ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
Featured article -
Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.
Selected biography -
Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri (c. 1955–2008) was a Pintupi-Luritja-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region, and sister of artist Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri. Daisy Jugadai lived and painted at Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory. There she played a significant role in the establishment of Ikuntji Women's Centre, where many artists of the region have worked. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that the Australian rugby sevens player Dietrich Roache kept the Australian national sprint champion out of the Australian Olympic team with his speed?
- ... that an Australian state premier said he would be taking a spear to meetings on a tax-distribution dispute?
- ... 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 Kate Baker arranged to republish the Australian novel Such Is Life by Joseph Furphy after locating half of the original manuscript under some lumber in the offices of The Bulletin?
- ... that although the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was cancelled, Iceland's planned entry for that year was chosen as the alternative winner in several countries, including Sweden and Australia?
- ... that South Australia became the first place in the world to give women the right to stand for parliament due to an opponent's "great miscalculation"?
- ... that the Australian music festival Isol-Aid takes place entirely on Instagram?
- ... that David Dexter, who wrote the New Guinea volume in the series Australia in the War of 1939–1945, was a commando who served in East Timor and New Guinea?
In the news
- 26 September 2023 –
- Daniel Andrews announces his resignation as Premier of Victoria, Australia, after nine years in office. (The Guardian)
- 18 September 2023 –
- Three people are taken to hospital after a mass stabbing at the Australian National University in Canberra. The attacker has been detained. (ABC News Australia)
- 12 September 2023 –
- The New South Wales government in Australia bans logging in a 8,400-hectare forest area, identified as home to 106 "koala hubs", as part of a conservation effort to establish a 315,000-hectare Great Koala National Park. (AFP via RFI)
- 8 September 2023 – Australia–Philippines relations
- Australia and the Philippines upgrade their bilateral relations to a strategic partnership. (Reuters)
- 8 September 2023 –
- One person is killed and five others are injured when a car crashes into pedestrians and two other vehicles in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The driver is arrested at the scene. (ABC News Australia)
- 30 August 2023 – 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announces that the Australian Indigenous Voice referendum will be held on 14 October. (ABC News)
Selected pictures -
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A Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) male (top) and female. In this common Australian species of estrildid finch, nest-building and raising children is done collaboratively. -
Photo: John O'NeillAn officer of the Victoria Police, the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian state of Victoria. The agency was founded in 1835 from an existing colonial police force of 875 men. As of 2011, the Victoria Police has over 12,190 sworn members, and over 2,900 civilian staff across 393 police stations. -
Photo credit: ChmouelThe 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. -
Photo credit: John O'NeillA 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. -
The front of the Cathedral.
St Mary's Cathedral is the largest Roman Catholic church in Australia. It is the seat of Cardinal Archbishop George Pell and it holds the title and dignity of a Minor Basilica, bestowed upon it by Pope Pius XI in 1930. The present St Mary's is the second church of that name to occupy the site abutting College Street in Sydney. The foundation stone for the first building was laid by New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie and blessed by the colony's Catholic chaplain, Father Therry, on 3 May 1821.
Photo credit: KaiAdin
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Banknotes of the Australian pound were first issued by numerous private banks in Australia, starting with the Bank of New South Wales in 1817. Acceptance of private bank notes was not made compulsory by legal tender laws but they were widely used and accepted. The Queensland government issued treasury notes (1866–1869) and banknotes (1893–1910) which were legal tender in Queensland. The New South Wales government issued a limited series of Treasury Notes in 1893. The Commonwealth government passed an Act in 1910 which prohibited the issue of banknotes by private banks, and established Commonwealth powers to issue, re-issue, and cancel Australian notes. These notes were initially issued by the Australian Treasury, and then by the Commonwealth Bank from 1920. The Australian pound was replaced by the Australian dollar in 1966.
This note, denominated ten pounds, is part of the 1918 series.
See other denominations: 10 shillings (1918) · £1 (1918) · £5 (1918) · £20 (1918) · £50 (1918) · £100 (1918) · Half sovereign (1923) · £1 (1923) · £5 (1924) · £10 (1925) -
Adelaide seen by the Copernicus Sentinel-2A satellite on 27 January 2017 Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city of Australia.
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Photo credit: Fir0002Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg at corner 6 of the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, during one of the race's safety car periods. This first race of the 2008 Formula One season was won by McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Heidfeld and Rosberg finished second and third, respectively. -
Photo credit: Fir0002Two whole Cripps Pink apples and a cross-section of a third. More commonly known by the trademarked name "Pink Lady", this apple cultivar was originally bred by John Cripps by crossing the Australian apple Lady Williams with a Golden Delicious. The apple shape is ellipsoid, it has a distinctive pink hue mixed with a green "background," and taste is tart. -
Photo credit: Noodle snacksThe 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. -
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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Photo: Sport the LibraryJeremy Doyle (1983–2011) was an Australian wheelchair basketball player. Left paraplegic after a car accident, he was classified as a 1 point player. While representing his country Doyle won two gold medals, first at the 2009 Paralympic World Cup and again at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship. -
Alpine Range scenery as viewed just past Mt Hotham.
The Australian Alps are the highest mountain ranges of mainland Australia. They are located in south-eastern Australia, straddling far southern New South Wales and eastern Victoria. The Alps contain the Australian mainland's only peaks exceeding 2,000 metres AHD and it is only here that snow occurs regularly.
Photo credit: Fir0002
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Photo: JJ HarrisonThe 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. -
Photo: JJ HarrisonThe Tasmanian Darner (Austroaeschna tasmanica) is an Australian species of dragonfly in the Aeshnidae family, which includes some of the largest of the dragonflies on the planet. Also referred to as "hawkers", the name "darner" derives from the fact that the female abdomens look like a sewing needle, as they cut into plant stem when they lay their eggs through the ovipositor. -
Photo credit: James Francis HurleySoldiers 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. -
Photo credit: Noodle snacksA 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. -
Photo credit: LiquidGhoulThe 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. -
Photo: Benjamint444The 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. -
Photo credit: Frank HurleyA group of Australian infantry wearing Small Box Respirators (SBRs) at the Third Battle of Ypres in September 1917. After the introduction of poison gas in World War I, countermeasures were developed. SBRs represented the pinnacle of gas mask development during the war, a mouthpiece connected via a hose to a box filter (hanging around the wearer's neck in this picture), which in turn contained granules of chemicals that neutralised the gas. The SBR was the prized possession of the ordinary infantryman; when the British were forced to retreat during the German Spring Offensive of 1918, it was found that while some troops had discarded their rifles, hardly any had left behind their respirators. -
The Great Ocean Road winds along the coastline of Victoria, offering spectacular views of the Bass Strait and Southern Ocean
The Great Ocean Road stretches along the South Eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Geelong and Warrnambool. It was built during the Great Depression, between World War I and World War II by returned servicemen as part of a government-funded job creation scheme. The Road hugs tightly to the coast and passes some of the most photogenic coastline in the world. -
Perth Mint
The Perth Mint is Australia's oldest operating mint. After the foundation stone was laid in 1896 by John Forrest, the Mint opened on June 20, 1899 as a branch of the Royal Mint in London to refine gold and manufacture gold sovereigns and half sovereigns to be used as currency in the colony.
Photo credit: Moondyne
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On this day
- 1888 – Prince's Bridge over the Yarra River in Melbourne is officially opened.
- 1914 – Jim Cairns, Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government, was born in Carlton.
- 1935 – Luna Park in Sydney is officially opened.
General images
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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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Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress) (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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The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia. (Pictured: surf lifesavers, Bondi Beach, 1930s). (from Culture of Australia)
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C. J. Dennis, poetic humorist of Australian English (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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The Wiggles performing in the United States in 2007 (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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Convict architecture at Port Arthur, Tasmania (from Culture of Australia)
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The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (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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Victorian era buildings in Collins Street, Melbourne (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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Federation Bungalow in Killara, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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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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Donald Bradman is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport. (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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Anzac Day dawn services are held throughout Australia every April. (from Culture of Australia)
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Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (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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A group of Australian men wearing speedos. (from Culture of Australia)
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Birdsville Hotel, an Australian pub in outback Queensland (from Culture of Australia)
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Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia)
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Didgeridoo performers (from Culture of Australia)
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Men from Bathurst Island, 1939 (from Aboriginal Australians)
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The first State of Origin shield (from Culture of Australia)
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Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly (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 swagman in bushman's apparel, wearing a brimmed hat and carrying swag, and billy can. (from Culture of Australia)
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Kylie Minogue is hailed as one of Australia's most successful pop musicians (from Culture of Australia)
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Parliament House, Canberra (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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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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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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The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (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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Bush tucker harvested in Alice Springs (from Culture of Australia)
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Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (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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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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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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A typical Queenslander house in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
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Phylogenetic position of the Aboriginal Australian lineage among other East Eurasians. (from Aboriginal Australians)
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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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William Wentworth was among the first colonial-era Australians to advocate for Australian nationhood, supporting the rights of emancipists and playing a key role in the establishment of Australia's first parliament (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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Noongar traditional dancers in Perth (from Aboriginal Australians)
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Golden Wattle, Australia's floral emblem and the source of Australia's national colors, green and gold (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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Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (from Culture of Australia)
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The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (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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Sydney Opera House (foreground) and Sydney Harbor Bridge (from Culture of Australia)
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A billycan used for heating water (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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Governor Arthur Phillip hoists the British flag over the new colony at Sydney Cove in 1788. (from Culture of Australia)
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