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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 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 democracy and 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 articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Julia Eileen Gillard AC (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia and the leader of the Labor Party (ALP) from 2010 to 2013. She was the member of parliament (MP) for the Victorian division of Lalor from 1998 to 2013. She previously served as the 13th deputy prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010, under Kevin Rudd. She is the first and only woman to hold either office in Australian history. (Full article...)
- ... that South Australian Labor premier Des Corcoran was mentioned in despatches for courage and skill in evacuating casualties during the Korean War?
- ... that Turkish international soccer player Rojin Polat was named member of the "2021 All Schools Merit Girls Team" in New South Wales, Australia?
- ... that when Australian Brihony Dawson debuted as the first non-binary host of reality TV franchise The Challenge, they decided not to imitate the "ominous" style of the U.S. host?
- ... that Australian gamer Zer0 led his team to an Apex Legends Global Series championship with a substitution teammate to whom he had never spoken before?
- ... that Towa Tei's "Sometime Samurai" remained unfinished for eight years until Australian singer Kylie Minogue re-recorded the song in 2004?
- ... that 2022 documentary The Australian Wars explores "the great Australian silence" about massacres of Indigenous Australians?
- ... that Bill Dunn, an Indigenous Australian pastoralist approaching retirement, sold his station at half-price to the Jigalong community despite receiving full-price offers from non-Indigenous people?
- ... that a dispute over paid sick leave at a chocolate factory ended up before the High Court of Australia in Mondelez v AMWU?
- 11 September 2024 – Israel–Hamas war protests
- Victoria Police arrest 39 people and fire stun grenades, rubber bullets, and pepper spray at anti-war and pro-Palestinian protestors picketing outside a military weapons expo in Melbourne, Australia. (Al Jazeera)
- 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)
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Photo: JJ HarrisonThe Tasmanian Darner (Austroaeschna tasmanica) is an Australian species of dragonfly in the Aeshnidae family, which includes some of the largest of the dragonflies on the planet. Also referred to as "hawkers", the name "darner" derives from the fact that the female abdomens look like a sewing needle, as they cut into plant stem when they lay their eggs through the ovipositor.
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Photo: JJ HarrisonThe Dusky Robin (Melanodryas vittata) is a small passerine bird native to Tasmania. A member of the Australian Robin family, it is not related to European or American Robins. It is a brown-plumaged bird of open woodland, measuring 16–17 cm (6.3–6.7 in) in length.
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Mount Lofty Botanic Garden
The Mount Lofty Botanic Garden is situated on a 97 hectare crescent-shaped estate on the eastern slopes of Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills east of Adelaide in South Australia. The cooler, wetter location suits plants from temperate climates which are difficult to grow on the Adelaide Plains. Amongst the native Australian flora are cultivated plants from cool climates including Rhododendron and Magnolia and the National Species Rose Collection.
Photo credit: Diana Quinn -
Photo credit: Fir0002A female Metallic Ringtail (Austrolestes cingulatus), an Australian damselfly, eating its prey. Each abdominal segment is marked by a pale "ring"; this combined with its glossy metallic coloration give the insect its common name.
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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. -
Photo: JJ HarrisonThe Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a carnivorous marsupial found in the wild only on the Australian island of Tasmania. It is characterised by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding. Its large head and neck allow it to generate the strongest bite per unit body mass of any living mammal.
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The cliffs looking down towards Loch Ard Gorge and the beach. Victoria, Australia.
Loch Ard Gorge (
'"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000001E-QINU`"'
38°38′S 143°04′E / 38.633°S 143.067°E) is part of Port Campbell National Park in the Australian state of Victoria. It is situated beside the Great Ocean Road, west of the popular The Twelve Apostles limestone formations. The gorge is a visible example of the process of erosion in action. It is named after the clipper ship Loch Ard, which ran aground on nearby Muttonbird Island on 1 June 1878 killing all aboard but two survivors who were washed into the gorge and found shelter.
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Photo credit: Noodle snacksThe Tasmanian Native-hen (Gallinula mortierii) is a flightless rail between 43 to 51 cm (17 to 20 in) in length, one of twelve species of birds endemic to the Australian island of Tasmania. Although flightless, it is capable of running quickly and has been recorded running at speeds up to 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).
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Blue Lake.
Blue Lake is a large lake located in an extinct volcanic caldera in Mount Gambier. It is known as Waawor in the local Aboriginal language. During summer and the surrounding months, the lake takes on a vibrant blue colour, returning to a colder steely-grey colour for winter. The exact cause of this phenomenon is still a matter of conjecture but it is generally considered likely that it revolves around the warming of the surface layers of the lake during the summer months to around 25 degrees celsius, causing calcium carbonate to precipitate out of solution and enabling micro-crystallites of calcium carbonate to form. This results in a scatter of the blue wavelength of sunlight. The movement of planktonic life-forms within the lake during the seasons and during the day may also play a part in the visibility changes.
Photo credit: Aaron Allen -
Photo credit: ChmouelThe 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. -
Photo: Benjamint444The 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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Photo credit: James Francis HurleySoldiers 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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Photo credit: Fir0002The Common bluetail (Ischnura heterosticta) is a small Australian damselfly of the family Coenagrionidae. Most males have blue eyes, blue thorax and a blue ringed tail. The females are green or light brown.
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Lake Hart in South Australia.
The Lake Eyre Basin has a drainage basin that covers one-sixth of all Australia. It is one of the largest internal drainage systems in the world, and covers roughly 1.2 million square kilometres, including much of inland Queensland, large portions of South Australia and the Northern Territory, and a part of western New South Wales.
Photo credit: User:Tannin -
Photo credit: Fir0002The Ulysses Butterfly (Papilio ulysses) is a large Australian swallowtail with a wingspan of about 14 cm (5.5 in). The top of the butterfly’s wings are an iridescent electric blue; the underside is a more subdued black and brown coloration. When the butterfly is perched the intense blue of its wings is hidden (as seen here), helping it to blend in with its surroundings.
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Photo: Steven Rasmussen; edit: KeraunoscopiaAustralian artistic gymnast Lauren Mitchell (b. 1991) performing a layout step-out on the balance beam during the 41st World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in London, United Kingdom, on 14 October 2009; at the Championships, Mitchell won two silver medals, one for the balance beam and another for floor exercises. Since her first medal in 2007, Mitchell has placed in the World Championships, World Cup, and Commonwealth Games, and competed in two Olympic Games.
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Photo credit: John O'NeillA 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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Flinders Street Station, Melbourne, Australia (1927)
Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban rail network of the Victorian capital of Melbourne. It is on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets next to the Yarra River in the central business district, stretching from Swanston Street to Queen Street and covering two city blocks. This 1927 photo shows a mix of motor vehicles and horse drawn carts on the streets, as well as both electric and non-electric trams. The station opened in 1910, replacing an ad hoc collection of weatherboard train sheds.
Photo credit: Victoria State Transport Authority -
THE PIONEER, 1904 oil on canvas (triptych).
Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 - 20 December 1917) was an Australian painter who was prominent in the famous Heidelberg School, one of the most important periods in Australia's visual arts history. McCubbin painted a broad range of scenes, from portraits to landscapes, but his narrative paintings of bush life were his most prominent works. His triptych (set of three paintings) The Pioneer, produced in 1906, is an iconic Australian painting. It depicts the 'selectors' who settled much of Australia's farmland in the latter years of the 19th century.
Photo credit: Frederick McCubbin -
Photo credit: John O'NeillFuel 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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Photo credit: LiquidGhoulThe 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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Photo: Sport the LibraryJeremy 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.
- 1797 – John Shortland is the first European to enter the port of Newcastle.
- 1954 – Australian author Miles Franklin dies.
- 1981 – The ALP government of Neville Wran is re-elected in New South Wales.
- 1992 – The Queensland Labor Government of Wayne Goss re-elected for second term.
- 2003 – Australian singer Slim Dusty dies.
- 2003 – Construction of Alice Springs to Darwin rail link is completed.
- 2005 – The Latham Diaries is published by former Labor leader Mark Latham.
The following are images from various Australia-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923 (from Aboriginal Australians)
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Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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Nan Tien Temple, a Buddhist temple in Wollongong. Multicultural immigration has increased Australia's religious diversity. (from Culture of Australia)
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The first State of Origin shield (from Culture of Australia)
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St Mary Mackillop established an extensive network of schools and is Australia's first canonised saint of the Catholic Church. (from Culture of Australia)
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PCA of Orang Asli (Semang) and Andamanese, with worldwide populations in HGDP. (from Aboriginal Australians)
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The 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)
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Sheep 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)
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Countries of birth of Australian estimated resident population, 2006 (from Culture of Australia)
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The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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The Matildas, Australia's national women's football team (from Culture of Australia)
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The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
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Golden Wattle, Australia's floral emblem and the source of Australia's national colours, green and gold (from Culture of Australia)
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A typical Queenslander house in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
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South 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)
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Anzac Day dawn services are held throughout Australia every April. (from Culture of Australia)
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Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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The Bulletin, founded by J. F. Archibald (left), nurtured bush poets such as Henry Lawson (right). (from Culture of Australia)
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Founded in 1993, Sydney's Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. (from Culture of Australia)
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A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920) (from Culture of Australia)
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The Wiggles performing in the United States in 2007 (from Culture of Australia)
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Cover of Old Bush Songs, Banjo Paterson's 1905 collection of bush ballads (from Culture of Australia)
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Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature film (from Culture of Australia)
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Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly (from Culture of Australia)
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Didgeridoo performers (from Culture of Australia)
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Corroboree 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)
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Men from Bathurst Island, 1939 (from Aboriginal Australians)
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An Aboriginal encampment near the Adelaide foothills in an 1854 painting by Alexander Schramm (from Aboriginal Australians)
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Skiing in Australia began in Kiandra, a goldmining town in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, in the 1860s. (from Culture of Australia)
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Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most successful pop musicians (from Culture of Australia)
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A billycan used for heating water (from Culture of Australia)
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Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia)
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An Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass. (from Aboriginal Australians)
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A swagman in bushman's apparel, wearing a brimmed hat and carrying swag and billy can (from Culture of Australia)
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A commemorative statue of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a famous stretcher bearer who was killed in the Gallipoli Campaign. (from Culture of Australia)
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Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (from Culture of Australia)
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William Wentworth (1790–1872) was among the first to articulate a vision of Australian nationhood. (from Culture of Australia)
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The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia. (Pictured: surf lifesavers, Bondi Beach, 1930s). (from Culture of Australia)
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Parliament House, Canberra (from Culture of Australia)
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Donald Bradman is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport. (from Culture of Australia)
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Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress) (from Aboriginal Australians)
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House in Killara, New South Wales (from Culture of Australia)
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The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
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A group of Australian men wearing speedos (from Culture of Australia)
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The SBS building in Melbourne's Federation Square. SBS is Australia's multicultural broadcaster. (from Culture of Australia)
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Convict architecture at Port Arthur, Tasmania (from Culture of Australia)
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Governor Arthur Phillip hoists the British flag over the new colony at Sydney Cove in 1788 (from Culture of Australia)
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Noongar traditional dancers in Perth (from Aboriginal Australians)
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Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (from Culture of Australia)
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