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Portal:Australia - Wikipedia

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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 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 country by area in Oceania. It is the world's oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with some of the least fertile soils. 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 south-east 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 the oldest living culture 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 more than 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 5 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 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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Shrine of Remembrance

The Shrine of Remembrance (commonly referred to as The Shrine) is a war memorial in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but now functions as a memorial to all Australians who have served in any war. It is a site of annual observances for Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November), and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. (Full article...)

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Childe in the 1930s

Vere Gordon Childe (14 April 1892 – 19 October 1957) was an Australian archaeologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. He spent most of his life in the United Kingdom, working as an academic for the University of Edinburgh and then the Institute of Archaeology, London. He wrote twenty-six books during his career. Initially an early proponent of culture-historical archaeology, he later became the first exponent of Marxist archaeology in the Western world. (Full article...)

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... that 2022 documentary The Australian Wars explores "the great Australian silence" about massacres of Indigenous Australians?
... that audience members interrogated suspects in an Australian Cluedo game show based on the board game?
... that in 1919 nurse Hilda Hope McMaugh became the first Australian woman to qualify as a pilot?
... that Australian judoka Josh Katz competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics six months after completely rupturing an ACL?
... that David Dexter, who wrote the New Guinea volume in the series Australia in the War of 1939–1945, was a commando who served in East Timor and New Guinea?
... that the government of Victoria, Australia, has a program to remove 110 level crossings by 2030, the fastest rate in the state's history?
... that Eva Duldig, who was interned by Australia during the Second World War, later represented the country at the Wimbledon Championships?
... that Episode 7921 of Neighbours featured Australia's first televised fictional same-sex wedding since the country voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage?
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In the news

22 November 2024 – 2024 Laos methanol poisoningA second Australian tourist dies of alcohol poisoning in Vang Vieng, Laos, bringing the death toll from the incident to six. Eight others remain hospitalized. (ABC News Australia)21 November 2024 – 2024 Laos methanol poisoningAn Australian and a British tourist die after consuming poisoned alcohol in Vang Vieng, Laos, bringing the death toll from the incident to five. Nine others are hospitalized. (BBC News) (AP)30 September 2024 – Australia–Tuvalu relations, Climate change in Tuvalu Tuvalu's climate minister denounces the Australian Labor government's decision to expand three coal mines as an existential threat to the nation, due to the role of the mines in causing rising sea levels that have forced mass displacement across Tuvalu's low-lying islands. (The Guardian)28 September 2024 – 2024 AFL premiership seasonThe Brisbane Lions defeat the Sydney Swans 120–60 in the Australian Football League Grand Final to win their fourth AFL premiership title. (The Guardian Australia)

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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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On this day

25 November:

1789 – For the purposes of understanding Aboriginal culture, Captain Arthur Phillip captures Bennelong and Colebec.
1910 – The Royal Australian Navy is established by the Naval Defence Act.
1985 – A man wearing a chicken suit walks into the Australian House of Representatives and sits on the government front bench. He is later removed.
2001 – The Socceroos lose 0–3 to Uruguay and fail to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
2003 – Marilyn Warren is appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, becoming the first woman to head an Australian superior court.

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