Portal: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. 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 including deserts and tropical rainforests.

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 on the continent and 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 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 constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories. Its population of over 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 and Melbourne, both with a population of over 5 million. Australia is culturally diverse and 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.

Z33 under attack by Allied aircraft on 9 February 1945

On 9 February 1945, a force of Allied Bristol Beaufighter aircraft suffered many losses during an attack on the German destroyer Z33 and its escorting vessels; the operation was called Black Friday by the survivors. The German ships were sheltering in a strong defensive position in Førde Fjord, Norway, forcing the Allied aircraft to attack through massed anti-aircraft fire (FlaK). (Full article...)

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

Self-portrait

Bronwyn Bancroft (born 1958) is an Aboriginal Australian artist, administrator, book illustrator, and among the first three Australian fashion designers to show their work in Paris. She was born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, and trained in Canberra and Sydney. (Full article...)

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... that in the 1920s, Australian journalist E. George Marks predicted military conflict in the Pacific between Japan and the United States?
... that South Australian Labor premier Des Corcoran was mentioned in despatches for courage and skill in evacuating casualties during the Korean War?
... that Nixon's "Slaughtergate" scandal involved selling kangaroo meat as beef?
... that politician John D'Orazio helped to secure a three-year trial of daylight saving time in Western Australia?
... that BoysTown was reported as having the largest case of child abuse in Australia's history?
... 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 Jack Critchley, state parliamentarian then senator for South Australia, was invalided home from the Western Front with "wry neck"?
... that the Bluey special "The Sign" reminded a Sydney Morning Herald reporter of Australia's housing crisis?

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In the news

12 August 2024 –: One person is killed and several others are injured when a helicopter stolen from Cairns Airport crashes into a hotel in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. (The Guardian)
7 August 2024 – 2024 Summer Olympics: French police detain Australian field hockey player Tom Craig for allegedly purchasing cocaine. (DW)
6 August 2024 – 2024 Summer Olympics: Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics; Fourteen-year-old Arisa Trew wins the gold medal in Women's park skateboarding, becoming the youngest Australian to ever win an Olympic gold medal. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
30 July 2024 –: Rex Airlines, Australia's third-largest airline, suspends all domestic Boeing 737 flights and enters voluntary administration. (AFR)
30 July 2024 – 2024 Summer Olympics: Several athletes test positive for COVID-19, including Australian swimmer Lani Pallister, forcing her to withdraw from the 1500 metre freestyle swimming event. (Al Arabiya)

More Australian current events
See also: Current events on Wikinews

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Image 1
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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Image 2
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

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Image 3
A view of Manly Beach looking North from above the Manly Surf Lifesaving Club at the Southern end of the beach.

Manly Beach is a well-known beach situated off Manly in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney.

Photo credit: Petesmiles

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Image 4
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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Image 5
Fuel dumping
Photo credit: John O'Neill
Fuel dumping is a practice used by aircraft that are equipped to jettison fuel in the event of certain types of emergency situations. This RAAF F-111 aircraft is performing a dump-and-burn fuel dump at the Australian International Airshow, a procedure where the fuel is intentionally ignited using the plane's afterburner. This type of fuel dumping is also referred to as "torching" or a "zippo".
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Image 6
Meat pie topped with tomato sauce

An Australian meat pie is a hand-sized pie containing largely minced meat and gravy and often consumed as a takeaway food snack. It is considered iconic and has been described by many, including former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr, as Australia's "national dish".
Photo credit: Fir0002

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Image 7
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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Image 8
Victoria Police
Photo: John O'Neill
An 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.
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Image 9
Fleet Air Arm (RAN)
Photo: Fir0002
A 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.
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Image 10
Jeremy Doyle
Photo: Sport the Library
Jeremy 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.
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Image 11
View of Limestone cliffs and beach looking towards Point Avoid in Coffin Bay National Park circa March 2006.

Coffin Bay is a national park in on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, 301 kilometres west of Adelaide, and 46 kilometres west of Port Lincoln. The township of Coffin Bay is near the entrance to the National Park. The National Park features a long peninsula with a sheltered bay, coastal dunes, swamps and a spectacular coastline of islands, reefs, limestone cliffs and white surf beaches.

Photo credit: Takver
Image 12
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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Image 13
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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Image 14
Beautiful Firetail
Photo: JJ Harrison
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.
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Image 15
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.
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Image 16
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
Image 17
Cripps Pink
Photo credit: Fir0002
Two 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.
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Image 18
Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain in the Central Tasmanian Highlands

Cradle Mountain forms the northern end of the wild Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, itself a part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
The jagged contours of Cradle Mountain epitomise the feel of a wild landscape, while ancient rainforest and alpine heathlands, buttongrass and stands of colourful deciduous beech provide a wide range of environments.
Cradle Mountain is a feature of the Overland Track.
Image 19
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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Image 20
Cairns Birdwing
Photo credit: Fir0002
The Cairns Birdwing (Ornithoptera euphorion) is a birdwing butterfly of the Papilionidae family. It is Australia's largest butterfly, and is native to the tropical north of Queensland.
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Image 21
Brisbane CBD and the Story Bridge, with CityCat cruising the Brisbane River.

The Story Bridge is a crossing of the Brisbane River in the Queensland capital of Brisbane. It is a six lane dual-carriageway connecting Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point. Designed by John Bradfield, the bridge was opened in 1940 at the height of the Great Depression. It is a Brisbane landmark, and a focus of the Riverfestival.

Photo credit: Stuart Edwards
Image 22
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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On this day

14 August:

1963 – Yolngu people petitioned the Australian House of Representatives with a bark petition after the government sold part of the Arnhem Land reserve on 13 March to a bauxite mining company.
1984 – The racehorse Fine Cotton is the centre of a substitution scam at Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane, Queensland.

More Australian anniversaries...

General images

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

Image 1Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (from Culture of Australia)
Image 2William Wentworth was among the first advocates for Australian nationhood, supporting the rights of emancipists and leading the creation of Australia's first parliament (from Culture of Australia)
Image 3A commemorative statue of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a famous stretcher bearer who was killed in the Gallipoli Campaign. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 4Bush tucker harvested in Alice Springs (from Culture of Australia)
Image 5Birdsville Hotel, an Australian pub in outback Queensland (from Culture of Australia)
Image 6House in Killara, New South Wales (from Culture of Australia)
Image 7The first State of Origin shield (from Culture of Australia)
Image 8Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (from Culture of Australia)
Image 9Skiing in Australia began in Kiandra, a goldmining town in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, in the 1860s. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 10Governor Arthur Phillip hoists the British flag over the new colony at Sydney Cove in 1788. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 11The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 12Golden Wattle, Australia's floral emblem and the source of Australia's national colours, green and gold (from Culture of Australia)
Image 13An Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass. (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 14Phar Lap winning the Melbourne Cup, "the race that stops a nation" (from Culture of Australia)
Image 15Countries of birth of Australian estimated resident population, 2006 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 16A billycan used for heating water (from Culture of Australia)
Image 17The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia. (Pictured: surf lifesavers, Bondi Beach, 1930s). (from Culture of Australia)
Image 18Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 19The 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)
Image 20Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress) (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 21A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920) (from Culture of Australia)
Image 22Anzac Day dawn services are held throughout Australia every April. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 23The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
Image 24Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia)
Image 25Nan Tien Temple, a Buddhist temple in Wollongong. Multicultural immigration has increased Australia's religious diversity. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 26Men from Bathurst Island, 1939 (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 27A group of Australian men wearing speedos. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 28Dame Edna Everage, a comic creation of Barry Humphries (from Culture of Australia)
Image 29Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly (from Culture of Australia)
Image 30Noongar traditional dancers in Perth (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 31Convict architecture at Port Arthur, Tasmania (from Culture of Australia)
Image 32The Bulletin, founded by J. F. Archibald (left), nurtured bush poets such as Henry Lawson (right). (from Culture of Australia)
Image 33Sydney Opera House (foreground) and Sydney Harbor Bridge (from Culture of Australia)
Image 34C. J. Dennis, poetic humourist of Australian English (from Culture of Australia)
Image 35A typical Queenslander house in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
Image 36Cover of Old Bush Songs, Banjo Paterson's 1905 collection of bush ballads (from Culture of Australia)
Image 37South 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)
Image 38Kylie Minogue is hailed as one of Australia's most successful pop musicians (from Culture of Australia)
Image 39The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
Image 40PCA of Orang Asli (Semang) and Andamanese, with worldwide populations in HGDP. (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 41Victorian era buildings in Collins Street, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
Image 42A swagman in bushman's apparel, wearing a brimmed hat and carrying swag, and billy can. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 43Didgeridoo performers (from Culture of Australia)
Image 44Sheep 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)
Image 45An Aboriginal encampment near the Adelaide foothills in an 1854 painting by Alexander Schramm (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 46Founded in 1993, Sydney's Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 47Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 48Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature film (from Culture of Australia)
Image 49Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923 (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 50The SBS building in Melbourne's Federation Square. SBS is Australia's multicultural broadcaster. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 51Federation Bungalow in Killara, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 52Donald Bradman is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 53St Mary Mackillop established an extensive network of schools and is Australia's first canonised saint of the Catholic Church. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 54Parliament House, Canberra (from Culture of Australia)
Image 55Corroboree 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)
Image 56The Wiggles performing in the United States in 2007 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 57The Matildas, Australia's national women's football team (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 13 August 2024, there are 204,248 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 593 are featured and 883 are good articles. This makes up 2.97% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.4% of all featured articles and lists, and 2.2% of all good articles (see WP:AUSFG). Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etc., there are 521,652 pages in the project.