Portal:Australia

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Introduction  

A view of the Blue Mountains National Park -

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The flag of Australia

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 has a total area of 7,688,287 km² (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from Southeast Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period. By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct languages and had one of the oldest living cultures 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 almost 28 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 more than five million. Australia's culture is diverse, and the country has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. It has a highly developed 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 -

  Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

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Grevillea juniperina, commonly known as juniper- or juniper-leaf grevillea or prickly spider-flower, is a plant of the family Proteaceae native to eastern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland in Australia. Scottish botanist Robert Brown described the species in 1810, and seven subspecies are recognised. One subspecies, G. j. juniperina, is restricted to Western Sydney and environs and is threatened by loss of habitat and housing development. (Full article...)

More Australian featured content

Selected biography -

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

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Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri (c. 1955 – 2008) was a Pintupi-Luritja-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region, and sister of artist Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri. Daisy Jugadai lived and painted at Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory. There she played a significant role in the establishment of Ikuntji Women's Centre, where many artists of the region have worked. (Full article...)

More Australian featured biographies

Did you know (auto-generated) -  

• ... that BoysTown was reported as having the largest case of child abuse in Australia's history?
• ... that Episode 8055 of the Australian television soap opera Neighbours is the first episode in the show's history to star and be directed and written entirely by women?
• ... that the Saxe–Goldstein hypothesis has been used to explain burial practices in Greece, Australia, Madagascar and Peru?
• ... that "The Potato King of Colorado" survived a shipwreck, mined for gold in Australia, and helped establish an alcohol-free Methodist colony?
• ... that Nixon's "Slaughtergate" scandal involved selling kangaroo meat as beef?
• ... that Holly Ringland wrote her second book while stuck in Australia for three years during the COVID-19 pandemic?
• ... that the developers of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number suggested that Australian customers pirate their game?
• ... that Monica Smit was ordered to pay Victoria Police's legal bill of about A$250,000, despite winning a lawsuit against them?

More Australian facts

In the news  

16 June 2025 –

Thai police raid a house in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, and arrest 13 foreigners, mostly Australians and British people, for running a fraudulent electronic trading platform that has stolen over AU$1.9 million (US$1.2 million). (AP)

11 June 2025 –

Australian flag carrier Qantas announces the closure of its Singapore-based, partly owned low-cost airline Jetstar Asia due to rising costs and regional competition. (BBC News)

10 June 2025 – War crimes in the Gaza war, Gaza humanitarian crisis

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway impose sanctions on Israeli far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, including asset freezes and travel bans, due to their conduct during the Gaza war. (Reuters)

6 June 2025 –

Radar on the Fleet Flagship of the Royal Australian Navy HMAS Canberra (L02) accidentally blocks wireless internet and radio services in New Zealand before the incident is resolved. (The Guardian)

4 June 2025 –

Chile signs an agreement with Google to build the first submarine fiber-optic cable connecting between South America and Australia. Google invested at least $300 million while the Chilean government will invest $25 million. (DW) (AP)

28 May 2025 – 2025 Australian federal election

The National Party rejoins the Opposition Coalition one week after moving to the crossbench. (The Guardian)

Selected pictures -

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  Tawny Frogmouth

  Photo: Benjamint444

  The 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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  Metallic Ringtail

  Photo: JJ Harrison

  The Metallic Ringtail (Austrolestes cingulatus) is an Australian species of damselfly, so named because of its glossy metallic colouration and the "rings" on each abdominal segment. It is widely distributed in Tasmania, Victoria, eastern New South Wales and south eastern Queensland.
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  Forked tongue

  Photo credit: LiquidGhoul

  The 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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  Sydney Opera House

  Photo credit: Chmouel

  The 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.
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  Zizina labradus

  Photo credit: John O'Neill

  A 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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  Victoria Police

  Photo: John O'Neill

  An officer of the Victoria Police, the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian state of Victoria. The agency was founded in 1835 from an existing colonial police force of 875 men. As of 2011, the Victoria Police has over 12,190 sworn members, and over 2,900 civilian staff across 393 police stations.
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  Passchendaele

  Photo credit: James Francis Hurley

  Soldiers 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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  Tawny Frogmouth

  Photo: JJ Harrison

  The Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) is a nocturnal species of Australian frogmouth commonly mistaken for an owl. Males and females look similar, growing to 35–53 cm (14–21 in) long and up to 680 g (1.5 lb) in weight. The Tawny Frogmouth is almost exclusively insectivorous, feeding rarely on frogs and other small prey. It generally sits very still on a low perch and catches food with its beak.
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  The Great Ocean Road winds along the coastline of Victoria, offering spectacular views of the Bass Strait and Southern Ocean

  
  
  The Great Ocean Road stretches along the South Eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Geelong and Warrnambool. It was built during the Great Depression, between World War I and World War II by returned servicemen as part of a government-funded job creation scheme. The Road hugs tightly to the coast and passes some of the most photogenic coastline in the world.
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  The Australian War Memorial is the national memorial in Australia for the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died in wars. The memorial includes an extensive national military museum and is located in the capital Canberra. It is the northern terminus of the city's ceremonial land axis, which stretches from Parliament House on Capital Hill along a line passing through the summit of the cone-shaped Mt Ainslie to the northeast.
  
  Photo credit: Fir0002
  
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  Dusky Robin

  Photo: JJ Harrison

  The 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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  Satellite image of Mawson Peak on Heard Island

  
  Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an Australian territory comprising uninhabited, barren islands in the Southern Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The islands have been a territory of Australia since 1947 and became a World Heritage Site in 1997. It contains the only two active volcanoes in Australian territory, one of which, Mawson Peak, is the highest Australian mountain.
  
  Photo credit: NASA World Wind
  
  
  
  
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  The western part of the Park. To the right is the rock formation known as The Fortress.

  
  The Grampians is a mountain range and national park in Victoria, located 235 kilometres west of Melbourne. The ranges were named in 1836 by Surveyor-General of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Mitchell, after the Grampian Mountains in his native Scotland, but are also known by the name Gariwerd, from one of the local Australian Aboriginal languages.
  
  Photo credit: Stevage
  
  
  
  
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  Cripps Pink

  Photo credit: Fir0002

  Two whole Cripps Pink apples and a cross-section of a third. More commonly known by the trademarked name "Pink Lady", this apple cultivar was originally bred by John Cripps by crossing the Australian apple Lady Williams with a Golden Delicious. The apple shape is ellipsoid, it has a distinctive pink hue mixed with a green "background," and taste is tart.
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  Cairns Birdwing

  Photo credit: Fir0002

  The Cairns Birdwing (Ornithoptera euphorion) is a birdwing butterfly of the Papilionidae family. It is Australia's largest butterfly, and is native to the tropical north of Queensland.
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  Tasmanian Native-hen

  Photo credit: Noodle snacks

  The 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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  Metallic Ringtail

  Photo credit: Fir0002

  A 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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  Meat pie topped with tomato sauce

  
  
  An Australian meat pie is a hand-sized pie containing largely minced meat and gravy and often consumed as a takeaway food snack. It is considered iconic and has been described by many, including former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr, as Australia's "national dish".
  Photo credit: Fir0002
  
  
  
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  Corymbia flowers

  
  
  Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of trees (rarely shrubs), the members of which dominate the tree flora of Australia. There are more than 700 species of Eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia, with a very small number found in adjacent parts of New Guinea and Indonesia. Eucalypts can be found in almost every part of the continent, adapted to all of Australia's climatic conditions; in fact, no other continent is so characterised by a single genus of tree as Australia is by eucalyptus. Many, but far from all, are known as gum trees; other names for various species include mallee, box, ironbark, stringybark, and ash.
  
  Photo credit: Fir0002
  
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  Fuel dumping

  Photo credit: John O'Neill

  Fuel 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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  Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory

  Photo credit: Noodle snacks

  The 26-metre (85 ft) radio telescope at Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory, located 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Hobart, Tasmania, is the southernmost antenna used in Australia's Very Long Baseline Interferometry network. The facility is owned and operated by the University of Tasmania.
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  A Fig-lined avenue in Hyde Park.

  
  
  Hyde Park is a large park in the New South Wales capital of Sydney. Named after the original Hyde Park in London, it is the southernmost of a chain of parkland that extends north to the shore. It takes the form of an approximate rectangle. Around the park's boundaries lie the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Hyde Park Barracks and Sydney Hospital to the north, St Mary's Cathedral to the east and the central business district to the west. The centrepiece of Hyde Park is the majestic Archibald Fountain, unveiled in 1932 in honour of Australia's contribution to the Great War in France.
  
  Photo credit: Greg O'Beirne
  

On this day  

24 June:

Rt Hon Sir Joseph Cook

• 1826 – Birth of George Goyder, surveyor-general of South Australia.
• 1856 – Queen Victoria makes Norfolk Island a separate settlement from Tasmania to be administered by the Governor of New South Wales.
• 1913 – Joseph Cook becomes the sixth Prime Minister of Australia.
• 1953 – British and Australian governments announced Britain was developing atomic weapons and they would be tested in Australia.
• 1978 – The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held to mark International Gay Solidarity Day.
• 1987 – Christopher Skase buys the Seven Network.
• 1992 – Nick Greiner resigns as Premier of New South Wales after corruption finding against him.
• 2010 – Julia Gillard becomes the first female Prime Minister of Australia.

More Australian anniversaries...

General images  

The following are images from various Australia-related articles on Wikipedia.

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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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  Corroboree at Newcastle by convict artist Joseph Lycett, c. 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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  The Bulletin, founded by J. F. Archibald (left), nurtured bush poets such as Henry Lawson (right). (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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  Bush tucker harvested in Alice Springs (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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  Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (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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  Founded in 1993, Sydney's Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. (from Culture of Australia)
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  C. J. Dennis, poetic humourist of Australian English (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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  Dame Edna Everage, a comic creation of Barry Humphries (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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  A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920) (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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  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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  Federation Bungalow in Killara, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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  Birdsville Hotel, an Australian pub in outback Queensland (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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  A typical Queenslander house in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
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  The first State of Origin shield (from Culture of Australia)
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  Convict architecture at Port Arthur, Tasmania (from Culture of Australia)
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  Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (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.
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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 group of Australian men wearing speedos (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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  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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  The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
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  Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia)
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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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  Cover of Old Bush Songs, Banjo Paterson's 1905 collection of bush ballads (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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  House in Killara, New South Wales (from Culture of Australia)
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  Parliament House, Canberra (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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  Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (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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  Donald Bradman is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport. (from Culture of Australia)
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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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  Didgeridoo performers (from Culture of Australia)
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  Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923 (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  Men from Bathurst Island, 1939 (from Aboriginal Australians)
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  The verandah is the dominant feature of this Federation Filigree-style pub in Ravenswood. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Sydney Opera House (foreground) and Sydney Harbor Bridge (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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  The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia. Pictured: surf lifesavers, Bondi Beach, 1930s. (from Culture of Australia)
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  The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
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  A high-set Victorian-era Queenslander with a large veranda in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
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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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  William Wentworth (1790–1872) was among the first to articulate a vision of Australian nationhood. (from Culture of Australia)
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  Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
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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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  Phar Lap winning the Melbourne Cup, "the race that stops a nation" (from Culture of Australia)
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  The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia)

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WikiProject  

Flag of the Commonwealth of Australia	Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia

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 24 June 2025, there are 208,631 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 599 are featured and 906 are good articles. This makes up 2.97% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.24% of all featured articles and lists, and 2.16% of all good articles (see WP:AUSFG). Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etc., there are 536,580 pages in the project.

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