Portal:Australia
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Introduction
View from Connors Hill in Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia -
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It 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 in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. 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 one of the oldest living cultures 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 almost 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 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.
Nothomyrmecia, also known as the dinosaur ant or dawn ant, is an extremely rare genus of ants consisting of a single species, Nothomyrmecia macrops. These ants live in South Australia, nesting in old-growth mallee woodland and Eucalyptus woodland. The full distribution of Nothomyrmecia has never been assessed, and it is unknown how widespread the species truly is; its potential range may be wider if it does favour old-growth mallee woodland. Possible threats to its survival include habitat destruction and climate change. Nothomyrmecia is most active when it is cold because workers encounter fewer competitors and predators such as Camponotus and Iridomyrmex, and it also increases hunting success. Thus, the increase of temperature may prevent them from foraging and very few areas would be suitable for the ant to live in. As a result, the IUCN lists the ant as Critically Endangered. (Full article...)
Selected biography -
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Yagan (/ˈjeɪɡən/; c. 1795 – 11 July 1833) was an Aboriginal Australian warrior from the Noongar people. Yagan was pursued by the local authorities after he killed Erin Entwhistle, a servant of farmer Archibald Butler. It was an act of retaliation after Thomas Smedley, another of Butler's servants, shot at a group of Noongar people stealing potatoes and fowls, killing one of them. The government offered a bounty for Yagan's capture, dead or alive, and a young settler, William Keats, shot and killed him. Yagan is considered a legendary figure by the Noongar. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that the Australian Light Weight Air Warning Radar was once loaded using canoes and later manhandled up a 200-foot cliff?
- ... that St Mary's Anglican Church, Busselton, Australia, has been a part of six dioceses, namely Canterbury, Calcutta, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Bunbury?
- ... that Towa Tei's "Sometime Samurai" remained unfinished for eight years until Australian singer Kylie Minogue re-recorded the song in 2004?
- ... that Australian official Jack Emanuel was awarded the George Cross in 1971 after being stabbed to death whilst trying to resolve a land dispute with the Tolai people of New Guinea?
- ... that Bill Dunn, an Indigenous Australian pastoralist approaching retirement, sold his station at half-price to the Jigalong community despite receiving full-price offers from non-Indigenous people?
- ... that the health of prisoners in Australia is impacted by their lack of access to Medicare, the country's otherwise-universal health care system?
- ... that Monica Smit was ordered to pay Victoria Police's legal bill of about A$250,000, despite winning a lawsuit against them?
- ... that Episode 2351 of the Australian soap opera Home and Away was filmed in England, marking the first time the serial was filmed overseas?
In the news
- 7 April 2025 – Tariffs in the second Trump administration, Executive orders in the second presidency of Donald Trump
- The Nikkei 225, SSE Composite Index, and Hang Seng Index experience substantial losses following Friday’s losses on the New York Stock Exchange as a result of U.S. president Donald Trump's tariffs. European markets also decline, particularly in banking and defense sectors. The ASX 200 in Australia and the Kospi in South Korea also closes lower. (BBC News)
- 2 April 2025 – Tariffs in the second Trump administration
- In the 10% tariff, the U.S. lists the Australian territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands near Antarctica, despite the fact that it has no human inhabitants, imports or exports. In response to finding these islands in the list, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese commented that "Nowhere on earth is safe" for the tariff. (The Guardian)
- 31 March 2025 – Australia–North Korea relations
- The Royal Australian Air Force deploys a long-range maritime patrol aircraft P-8 Poseidon to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, to monitor North Korean maritime activities in the Yellow Sea, including weapons shipments prohibited under international sanctions. (NK News)
- 8 March 2025 – 2024–25 Australian region cyclone season
- Cyclone Alfred
- One person is confirmed killed and thirteen others are injured in floods caused by Cyclone Alfred as it passes through Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. (AP)
- 5 March 2025 – 2024–25 Australian region cyclone season
- Tropical Cyclone Alfred
Selected pictures -
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Photo: Fir0002A Eurocopter AS350 "Squirrel" helicopter flown by 723 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the section of the Royal Australian Navy responsible for the operation of aircraft. The FAA is currently an all-helicopter force, operating four separate models in the anti-submarine warfare and maritime support roles. -
Photo: JJ HarrisonThe 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. -
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 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. -
Photo credit: John O'NeillA 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). -
Photo: John O'Neill; edit: JJ HarrisonBrian 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. -
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: JJ HarrisonThe Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a carnivorous marsupial found in the wild only on the Australian island of Tasmania. It is characterised by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding. Its large head and neck allow it to generate the strongest bite per unit body mass of any living mammal. -
A Superb Fairy Wren perched on a fence.
The Superb fairywren (Malurus cyaneus), commonly known as the blue wren in south-eastern Australia, is the best-known of all fairy-wrens and is endemic to Australia. It is common throughout the relatively wet and fertile crescent in the south-eastern corner of the Australian continent, from lower South Australia through all of Victoria, coastal and sub-coastal New South Wales, and Queensland as far north as the Brisbane area, and also in Tasmania. Superb Fairy-wrens occupy a wide range of habitat types and are found in almost any area that has at least a little dense undergrowth for them to shelter in, including grasslands with scattered shrubs, moderately thick forest, woodland, heaths, and domestic gardens.
Photo credit: LiquidGhoul -
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 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: 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. -
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: Fir0002The 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. -
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 -
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. -
Flinders Street Station, Melbourne, Australia (1927)
Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban rail network of the Victorian capital of Melbourne. It is on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets next to the Yarra River in the central business district, stretching from Swanston Street to Queen Street and covering two city blocks. This 1927 photo shows a mix of motor vehicles and horse drawn carts on the streets, as well as both electric and non-electric trams. The station opened in 1910, replacing an ad hoc collection of weatherboard train sheds.
Photo credit: Victoria State Transport Authority -
A panorama of Melbourne's Yarra River at twilight, showing the Central Business District on the left and the Southbank entertainment district on the right.
Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.7 million[1] (2006 estimate). It is a coastal city located at the northern end of the Port Phillip Bay. The city's name is pronounced as either /ˈmel.bən/ or /ˈmæl.bən/. Formerly the capital city of Australia from 1901 until 1927, Melbourne is today a centre of finance and entertainment and is considered a minor world city.
Photo credit: Diliff -
Elabana Falls, Lamington National Park
Lamington National Park is a 206 square kilometre conservation area situated on the Lamington Plateau in Queensland, 75 kilometres south of Brisbane. It is part of the World Heritage site, Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves. Most of the park is situated 900 m above sea level only 30 km from the Pacific's ocean shores. The plateau and cliffs, remnants of a huge volcano, remain one of the world's most special sanctuaries.
Photo credit: Malcolm Jacobson -
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 -
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. -
The Scenic Railway at en:Luna Park, Melbourne, viewed from Shakespeare Grove
Luna Park is an amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Victoria, which is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It opened in 1912 and has been operating since. It is the first of two Luna Parks still operating in Australia; the other is on Sydney Harbour.
Photo credit: Stevage
On this day
- 1921 – Bert Hinkler flies from Sydney to Bundaberg non-stop, breaking his own long-distance flying record.
- 1934 – Charles Ulm successfully delivers the first airmail from Australia to New Zealand.
- 2001 – Australia defeat American Samoa 31-0 in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying game, an international record.
General images
The following are images from various Australia-related articles on Wikipedia.
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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) -
Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature film (from Culture of Australia) -
Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly (from Culture of Australia) -
The Matildas, Australia's national women's football team (from Culture of Australia) -
Parliament House, Canberra (from Culture of Australia) -
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) -
Donald Bradman is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport. (from Culture of Australia) -
Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia) -
Anzac Day dawn services are held throughout Australia every April. (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) -
PCA of Orang Asli (Semang) and Andamanese, with worldwide populations in HGDP (from Aboriginal Australians) -
The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia) -
Founded in 1993, Sydney's Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. (from Culture of Australia) -
Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress) (from Aboriginal Australians) -
A group of Australian men wearing speedos (from Culture of Australia) -
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. -
Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most successful pop musicians (from Culture of Australia) -
The verandah is the dominant feature of this Federation Filigree-style pub in Ravenswood. (from Culture of Australia) -
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Noongar traditional dancers in Perth (from Aboriginal Australians) -
William Wentworth (1790–1872) was among the first to articulate a vision of Australian nationhood. (from Culture of Australia) -
The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia) -
House in Killara, New South Wales (from Culture of Australia) -
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A billycan used for heating water (from Culture of Australia) -
A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920) (from Culture of Australia) -
Governor Arthur Phillip hoists the British flag over the new colony at Sydney Cove in 1788 (from Culture of Australia) -
Convict architecture at Port Arthur, Tasmania (from Culture of Australia) -
The Wiggles performing in the United States in 2007 (from Culture of Australia) -
Didgeridoo performers (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) -
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) -
An Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass. (from Aboriginal Australians) -
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) -
Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (from Culture of Australia) -
Men from Bathurst Island, 1939 (from Aboriginal Australians) -
Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (from Culture of Australia) -
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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Cover of Old Bush Songs, Banjo Paterson's 1905 collection of bush ballads (from Culture of Australia) -
Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (from Culture of Australia) -
The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (from Culture of Australia) -
A swagman in bushman's apparel, wearing a brimmed hat and carrying swag and billy can (from Culture of Australia) -
Golden Wattle, Australia's floral emblem and the source of Australia's national colours, green and gold (from Culture of Australia) -
Nan Tien Temple, a Buddhist temple in Wollongong. Multicultural immigration has increased Australia's religious diversity. (from Culture of Australia) -
Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (from Culture of Australia) -
Countries of birth of Australian estimated resident population, 2006 (from Culture of Australia) -
St Mary Mackillop established an extensive network of schools and is Australia's first canonised saint of the Catholic Church. (from Culture of Australia) -
The Bulletin, founded by J. F. Archibald (left), nurtured bush poets such as Henry Lawson (right). (from Culture of Australia) -
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The first State of Origin shield (from Culture of Australia) -
Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923 (from Aboriginal Australians) -
A typical Queenslander house in Brisbane (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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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 11 April 2025, there are 207,819 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 598 are featured and 894 are good articles. This makes up 2.98% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.27% of all featured articles and lists, and 2.16% of all good articles (see WP:AUSFG). Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etc., there are 415,638 pages in the project.
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