Portal:Australia

Introduction - Kangaroos on a beach. 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 sixth-largest country in the world. 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. (Full article...) Selected article - The New Parliament House Canberra Canberra is the capital city of Australia and with a population of just over 323,000 is Australia's largest inland city. Canberra was selected as the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne and is unusual amongst Australian capital cities as an entirely purpose-built, planned city. Following an international contest for the city's design, a design by Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. Although the growth and development of Canberra was hindered by the World Wars and the Great Depression, it emerged as a thriving city post-World War II. As Australia's seat of government, Canberra is the site of Parliament House, the High Court of Australia and numerous government departments; it is also the location of numerous social and cultural institutions of national significance. The federal government contributes the largest percentage of Gross State Product and is the largest employer in Canberra. Canberra is also a popular destination for domestic and international tourists. Selected image - International building of the National Gallery of Victoria. The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in the Victorian capital of Melbourne. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. At that time of the gallery's establishment, Victoria had been an independent colony for just ten years, but in the wake of the Victorian gold rush, it was the wealthiest part of Australia, and Melbourne the largest city. Generous gifts from moneyed citizens, notably industrialist Alfred Felton, made it possible for it to begin buying a large collection of overseas works from both old and modern masters. Photo credit: Robert Merkel Subportals   New South Wales Queensland Western Australia (Northern Territory) South Australia Victoria Australian Capital Territory Related portals   In the news   27 August 2024 – Australian Police and New Zealand Police announce they have concluded a joint illicit drug operation that resulted in 1,611 arrests and 2,962 charges nationwide. The police also confiscated almost 1,400 kilograms (3,100 lb) of illicit drugs and over 2,500 cannabis plants, worth 93 million AUD (US$63 million). (DW) 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) On this day... - 4 September: 1897 – Essendon wins the first VFL/AFL premiership. 1914 - William Henry Strahan published "The Bugle Call" 1924 – The Commonwealth Citrus Research Station (subsumed in 1927 into the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)) opened at Griffith, New South Wales in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (which is fed by the Murrumbidgee River). 1992 – Lynn Arnold becomes Premier of South Australia after the resignation of John Bannon following the near-collapse of the State Bank. 2005 – Robert Farquharson murders his three children by driving them into a farm dam near Winchelsea, Victoria. 2006 – Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, dies after being stung by a stingray. More Australian anniversaries... Did you know... - For a topic outline on this subject, see Outline of Australia. 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