Showcase | Content | Interesting facts | Contributing |
Introduction
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Flag_of_Australia_%28converted%29.svg/175px-Flag_of_Australia_%28converted%29.svg.png)
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 -
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Cscr-featured.png/23px-Cscr-featured.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Sarcophilus_harrisii_taranna.jpg/220px-Sarcophilus_harrisii_taranna.jpg)
Selected biography -
Sir Michael Francis Addison Woodruff, FRS, FRSE, FRCS (3 April 1911 – 10 March 2001) was an English surgeon and scientist principally remembered for his research into organ transplantation. Though born in London, Woodruff spent his youth in Australia, where he earned degrees in electrical engineering and medicine. Having completed his studies shortly after the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Australian Army Medical Corps, but was soon captured by Japanese forces and imprisoned in the Changi Prison Camp. While there, he devised an ingenious method of extracting nutrients from agricultural wastes to prevent malnutrition among his fellow POWs. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Turkish international soccer player Rojin Polat was named member of the "2021 All Schools Merit Girls Team" in New South Wales, Australia?
- ... that Australian rules football coach Sampson Hosking named himself in Port Adelaide's team at the age of 48?
- ... that Lowe Kong Meng imported goods for Chinese miners during the Victorian gold rush and became one of the wealthiest men in Victoria?
- ... 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 an Australian High Court case found a hotel chain to have used third-party contractors to avoid paying employees their required benefits?
- ... that the blind cave eel is the longest cavefish in Australia?
- ... that Mark Hutton was the first Australian to be a starting pitcher in a Major League Baseball game?
- ... that Australia has three major Japanese language schools?
In the news
- 13 July 2024 – Australia–Russia relations
- Russia accuses Australia of inciting "anti-Russian paranoia" after Australia charges a Russian-born Australian couple with espionage. (Reuters)
- 10 July 2024 –
- Two Australian tourists and a Filipino woman are killed during a mass stabbing at a hotel in Tagaytay, Philippines. (AP)
- 3 July 2024 – Israel–Hamas war protests
- 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)
Selected pictures -
On this day
![Members of the Australian 53rd Battalion on July 19, 1916 before the Battle of Fromelles. Only three of the men pictured survived the battle; all three were wounded.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Australian_53rd_Bn_Fromelles_19_July_1916.jpg/80px-Australian_53rd_Bn_Fromelles_19_July_1916.jpg)
- 1915 – Albert Jacka becomes the first Australian to win the Victoria Cross during the First World War.
- 1916 – Battle of Fromelles, the first battle on the Western Front involving Australia; the Australian 5th Division suffered 5,533 casualties in one night.
- 1940 – The Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney takes part in the sinking of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni.
- 1946 – Orange, New South Wales is proclaimed a city.
- 1958 – The last tram service runs in Perth, Western Australia.
- 1987 – The final episode of music program Countdown is broadcast on the ABC.
General images
Topics
More portals
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 19 July 2024, there are 203,812 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 594 are featured and 882 are good articles. This makes up 2.97% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.43% 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, etc., there are 520,582 pages in the project.
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus