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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.
Featured article -
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Yarralumla (/jærəlʌmlə/) is a large inner south suburb of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Located approximately 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south-west of the city, Yarralumla extends along the south-west bank of Lake Burley Griffin from Scrivener Dam to Commonwealth Avenue. (Full article...)
Selected biography -
Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey, OM FRS FRCP (/ˈflɔːri/; 24 September 1898 – 21 February 1968) was an Australian pharmacologist and pathologist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Ernst Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the development of penicillin. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Edward Thonen, one of the miners killed in the Eureka Rebellion, had gained notoriety in England as a jewellery thief prior to his emigration to Australia?
- ... that the Scottish Register of Tartans has registered district tartans for Australia as a whole, and also a state district tartan for each of Australia's six states?
- ... that Baillieu Myer and his siblings were born in California because their father's prior divorce was not recognised under Australian law?
- ... that Australian communist Harry Stein was personally invited by Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ to tour South Vietnam?
- ... that Holly Ringland wrote her second book while stuck in Australia for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- ... 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 Ged Kearney represented Batman in the Parliament of Australia from 2018 to 2019?
- ... that Australian Madeleine Steere played water polo professionally in Turkey after studying biomolecular science in the United States?
In the news
- 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)
- 24 June 2024 –
- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange enters a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department, in which he will be found guilty on one federal charge in exchange for his release back to Australia. (ABC News)
- 10 June 2024 – Israel–Hamas war
- The United States Consulate General in Sydney, Australia, is vandalized by a pro-Palestinian activist. (NBC News)
Selected pictures -
On this day
![Lord Howe Island](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/LordHoweIslandFromKimsLookout.jpg/100px-LordHoweIslandFromKimsLookout.jpg)
- 1826 – Charles Todd responsible for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line born.
- 1851 – News of the discovery of gold at Clunes, Victoria is published in the Geelong Advertiser.
- 1907 – The Australian Navy Cadets is established.
- 1945 – The Australian 7th Division commences operations in the Battle of Balikpapan. Operations are completed by 21 July.
- 1960 – Eight-year-old Graeme Thorne is kidnapped and held for ransom after his parents win a lottery.
- 1975 – Footballer and Brownlow Medal winner, Michael Voss is born.
- 1986 – Brian Chambers and Kevin Barlow become the first westerners executed in Malaysia under strict new Asian drug-trafficking laws.
- 1991 – The Australian Republican Movement was formed amidst a growing debate about Australian republicanism.
- 2002 – The British Naval destroyer HMS Nottingham (D91) runs aground off Lord Howe Island.
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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 6 July 2024, there are 203,620 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 594 are featured and 880 are good articles. This makes up 2.97% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.45% 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, etcetera, there are 519,738 pages in the project.
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