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. It 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.
Featured article -
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Selected biography -
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Monique Ryan ran for election to the Parliament of Australia after seeing an advertisement in the newspaper calling for an independent candidate?
- ... that Aboriginal soldier Tim Hughes was decorated for remarkable bravery, exceptional coolness and initiative during the Battle of Buna–Gona?
- ... that in 1919 nurse Hilda Hope McMaugh became the first Australian woman to qualify as a pilot?
- ... that Ged Kearney represented Batman in the Parliament of Australia from 2018 to 2019?
- ... that Peter Read coined the term "Stolen Generations" to refer to Aboriginal children who were forcibly separated from their families by Australian governments?
- ... that the developers of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number suggested that Australian customers pirate their game?
- ... that Australia has three major Japanese language schools?
- ... that Marie Breen retired from the Australian Senate to care for her husband, who had been badly injured in a car accident?
In the news
- 25 August 2024 –
- Four people are injured in a mass stabbing in Engadine, New South Wales, Australia. The suspect is later taken into custody. (Reuters)
- 15 August 2024 – Israel–Hamas war
- Peter Dutton, the leader of Australia’s Liberal Party, calls on the Australian government to ban the entry of Palestinian refugees fleeing from conflict in the Gaza Strip, which is met with significant condemnation from several politicians and organizations as promoting racial stereotypes. (ABC Australia) (Al Jazeera)
- SBS World News reports that the Australian government has rejected a majority of Palestinian visa applications, accepting 2,922 applications and rejecting 7,111 applications while granting 8,746 visas to Israeli citizens and rejecting only 235 applications. (Al Jazeera)
- 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
Selected pictures -
On this day
![Arthur Fadden, the thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/FaddenPEO.jpg/100px-FaddenPEO.jpg)
- 1896 – Arthur Calwell, Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967, is born in Melbourne.
- 1933 – The Brisbane newspaper, The Courier-Mail, first appears.
- 1941 – Arthur Fadden becomes the thirteenth Prime Minister 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 28 August 2024, there are 204,486 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, 5.38% 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 522,318 pages in the project.
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