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 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.
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The Barry Sheene Medal is an annual award honouring the achievements of a driver in the Supercars Championship, an Australian touring car series. Tony Cochrane, the chairman of the championship's organising body Australian Vee Eight Supercar Company (AVESCO), instigated the award in 2003. The medal is named after the two-time Grand Prix motorcycle world champion and motor racing television commentator Barry Sheene. It is presented to the driver adjudged to have displayed "outstanding leadership, media interaction, character, personality, fan appeal and sportsmanship throughout the season". A panel of motor racing journalists individually award three drivers scores of three, two and one points after every event of the season. The results are announced at the series' end-of-season gala in Sydney. (Full article...)
Selected biography -
Kylie Ann Minogue AO OBE (/mɪˈnoʊɡ/; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer and actress. She is the highest-selling female recording artist from Australia, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. Referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has been recognised for reinventing herself in music and fashion as a style icon. Her accolades include two Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards and eighteen ARIA Music Awards. In 2024, Time named her one of the most influential people in the world. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that an exhibition match of Australian rules football was contested in London on 28 October 1916 between two teams of elite footballers also serving in the First AIF?
- ... that Jack Critchley, state parliamentarian then senator for South Australia, was invalided home from the Western Front with "wry neck"?
- ... that Lord Stonehaven, Governor-General of Australia, called Hay War Memorial High School the "finest war memorial in the British Empire"?
- ... that the search for a lost radioactive capsule along a 1,400-kilometre (870 mi) stretch of road in Western Australia was likened to looking for a needle in a haystack?
- ... that Episode 2351 of the Australian soap opera Home and Away was filmed in England, marking the first time the serial was filmed overseas?
- ... that Eva Duldig, who was interned by Australia during the Second World War, later represented the country at the Wimbledon Championships?
- ... that the Victoria State Government has ordered 100 G-class trams, which is the largest domestic order in Australian history?
- ... that pumices erupted by the Protector Shoal volcano in 1962 floated to Australia and South America?
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)
Selected pictures -
On this day
![Golden Wattle](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Acacia_pycnantha_Golden_Wattle.jpg/100px-Acacia_pycnantha_Golden_Wattle.jpg)
- 1906 – Papua New Guinea is made an Australian protectorate.
- 1912 – The Golden Wattle is declared as Australia's national flower but only declared as Australia's official floral emblem in 1988.
- 1925 – Thomas Blamey becomes Chief Commissioner of Police in Victoria.
- 1934 – The Pyjama Girl is discovered in Albury, New South Wales.
- 1951 – The ANZUS Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States is signed in San Francisco.
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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 31 August 2024, there are 204,554 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 522,672 pages in the project.
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