Portal:Australia
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Introduction
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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, 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.
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From 31 May to 8 June 1942, during World War II, Imperial Japanese Navy submarines made a series of attacks on the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle. On the night of 31 May – 1 June, three Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines, (M-14, M-21 and M-24) each with a two-member crew, entered Sydney Harbour, avoided the partially constructed Sydney Harbour anti-submarine boom net, and attempted to sink Allied warships. Two of the midget submarines were detected and attacked before they could engage any Allied vessels. The crew of M-14 scuttled their submarine, whilst M-21 was successfully attacked and sunk. The crew of M-21 killed themselves. These submarines were later recovered by the Allies. The third submarine attempted to torpedo the heavy cruiser USS Chicago, but instead sank the converted ferry HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors. This midget submarine's fate was unknown until 2006, when amateur scuba divers discovered the wreck off Sydney's northern beaches. (Full article...)
Selected biography -
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Anna Burke was the second woman to give birth while a member of the Australian House of Representatives?
- ... that Paddy Morgan conceded the final of the 1976 Australian Professional Championship rather than play with Eddie Charlton's balls?
- ... that on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia, the George Roper ran aground and was wrecked?
- ... that George Jenkins was described in 1901 as "the happiest, proudest, most important and most worried individual" in Australia, but 90 years later as "a lazy, dictatorial, unctuous opportunist"?
- ... that the South Australian Labor politician Ernest Roberts served two tours in South Africa during the Second Boer War?
- ... that Nick Goiran, a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, proposed 357 amendments to a voluntary assisted dying bill?
- ... that the government of Victoria, Australia, has a program to remove 110 level crossings by 2030, the fastest rate in the state's history?
- ... that indigenous Australian artist Daniel Boyd has depicted colonial figures including Captain James Cook and Governor Arthur Phillip as pirates?
In the news
- 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)
- 29 July 2024 –
- Sakina Muhammad Jan becomes the first person to be jailed under Australia's forced marriage laws after ordering her 21-year-old daughter to marry a man who later murdered her. (BBC News)
- 28 July 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict
- Several nations, including the United States, Australia and multiple European nations, release travel advisories urging all their citizens not to travel to Lebanon, and for those residing there to leave as soon as possible in anticipation of an Israeli attack against Hezbollah. (Anadolu Ajansı)
- 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)
Selected pictures -
On this day
![Gold](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/GoldNuggetUSGOV.jpg/100px-GoldNuggetUSGOV.jpg)
- 1851 – Gold is first discovered in Ballarat, Victoria, leading to the Victorian gold rush.
- 1861 – Edith Cowan, the first Australian woman elected as a representative in an Australian parliament, was born near Geraldton, Western Australia.
- 1989 – The Australian cricket team captained by Allan Border wins the Ashes in England, for the first time since 1934.
- 1991 – The Palm Grove Hostel fire kills 12 people in Dungog, New South Wales.
- 1997 – Stuart Diver, a ski instructor, is rescued as the sole survivor of the Thredbo landslide.
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WikiProject
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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 1 August 2024, there are 204,044 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 593 are featured and 882 are good articles. This makes up 2.97% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.41% 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 521,128 pages in the project.
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