Portal:Australia
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Introduction
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 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 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period. 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 European maritime exploration. The Dutch were the first known Europeans to reach Australia, in 1606. 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 constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories: the states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia; the major mainland Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory; and other minor or external territories. Its 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 cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, which each possess a population of at least one million inhabitants. Australian governments have promoted multiculturalism since the 1970s. Australia is culturally diverse and has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy, which generates its income from various sources: predominantly services (including banking, real estate and international education) as well as mining, manufacturing and agriculture. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.
Featured article -
The Australian raven (Corvus coronoides) is a passerine corvid bird native to Australia. Measuring 46–53 centimetres (18–21 in) in length, it has an all-black plumage, beak and mouth, as well as strong, greyish-black legs and feet. The upperparts of its body are glossy, with a purple-blue, greenish sheen; its black feathers have grey bases. The Australian raven is distinguished from the Australian crow, and other related corvids, by its long chest feathers, or throat hackles, which are prominent in mature birds. Older individuals and subadults have white irises, while the younger birds' eyes display blue inner rims; hatchlings and young birds have brown, dark irises until about fifteen months of age, at which point their irises become hazel-coloured, with an inner blue rim around each pupil, this lasting until they are roughly 2.5 to 3 years of age. Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield described the Australian raven in 1827, its species name coronoides highlighting its similarity with the carrion crow (C. corone). Two subspecies are recognised, which differ slightly in their vocalisations, and are quite divergent, genetically. (Full article...)
Selected biography -
Florence Ada Fuller (1867 – 17 July 1946) was a South African-born Australian artist. Originally from Port Elizabeth, Fuller migrated as a child to Melbourne with her family. There she trained with her uncle Robert Hawker Dowling and teacher Jane Sutherland and took classes at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, becoming a professional artist in the late 1880s. In 1892 she left Australia, travelling first to South Africa, where she met and painted for Cecil Rhodes, and then on to Europe. She lived and studied there for the subsequent decade, except for a return to South Africa in 1899 to paint a portrait of Rhodes. Between 1895 and 1904 her works were exhibited at the Paris Salon and London's Royal Academy. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Baillieu Myer and his siblings were born in California because their father's prior divorce was not recognised under Australian law?
- ... 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 Australian Madeleine Steere played water polo professionally in Turkey after studying biomolecular science in the United States?
- ... that the Scottish Register of Tartans has registered district tartans for Australia as a whole, and also a state district tartan for each of Australia's six states?
- ... that the developers of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number suggested that Australian customers pirate their game?
- ... that Holly Ringland wrote her second book while stuck in Australia for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- ... that John Dique constructed the machine used by the first Australian patient to receive dialysis?
- ... that Collingwood coach Robert Harvey gave Anton Tohill his AFL debut in 2021, having played International Rules Series against Tohill's father in the 1990s?
In the news
- 3 July 2024 – Israel–Hamas war protests in Australia
- Pro-Palestinian protesters climb the roof of the Australian Parliament building in Canberra, Australia. (Al Jazeera)
- 2 July 2024 –
- Australia issues statements to several social media and search engine websites ordering the websites to draft and enforce guidelines to prevent minors from seeing inappropriate material before October 3 or face national restrictions. (Reuters)
- 1 July 2024 –
- The Australian Government increases the visa fee for international students from A$710 (US$473) to A$1,600 (US$1,068) in an attempt to reduce record levels of migration that have increased pressure on the Australian housing market. (Reuters)
- Sam Mostyn is sworn in as the 28th Governor-General of Australia. (ABC News Australia)
- 24 June 2024 –
- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange enters a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department, in which he will be found guilty on one federal charge in exchange for his release back to Australia. (ABC News)
- 10 June 2024 – Israel–Hamas war
- The United States Consulate General in Sydney, Australia, is vandalized by a pro-Palestinian activist. (NBC News)
Selected pictures -
On this day
- 1969 – Three thousand protesters against the Vietnam War rally outside the US Consulate in Melbourne.
- 1975 – Juanita Nielsen disappears, allegedly kidnapped and murdered.
- 1986 – After 10 years in power, Neville Wran resigns as Premier of New South Wales and is replaced by Barrie Unsworth.
- 1991 – Chinese-Australian heart surgeon Victor Chang was murdered in Sydney.
- 2002 – American Steve Fossett completes his solo balloon navigation of the world landing in Durham Downs, Queensland.
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WikiProject
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 4 July 2024, there are 203,599 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 594 are featured and 880 are good articles. This makes up 2.97% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.45% of all featured articles and lists, and 2.21% of all good articles (see WP:AUSFG). Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etcetera, there are 519,678 pages in the project.
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