Portal:Australia
(Redirected from P:AU)
Welcome to the Australia portal!
| Showcase | Content | Interesting facts | Contributing |
Introduction
Island Archway on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia -
.svg)
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 land area of 7,688,287 km2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world, and 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 large deserts centrally 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 more than 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 Act 1986.
Australia is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy, and a federation comprising six states and ten territories. Its population of almost 29 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, each 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.
The Riverina (/ˌrɪvəˈriːnə/) is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seasonal variation and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west. (Full article...)
Selected biography -
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
Constance Stokes (née Parkin, 22 February 1906 – 14 July 1991) was an Australian modernist painter who worked in Victoria. She trained at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School until 1929, winning a scholarship to continue her study at London's Royal Academy of Arts. Although Stokes painted few works in the 1930s, her paintings and drawings were exhibited from the 1940s onwards. She was one of only two women, and two Victorians, included in a major exhibition of twelve Australian artists that travelled to Canada, the United Kingdom and Italy in the early 1950s. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Aboriginal Australians who first saw herds of water buffalo interpreted the new animals as a manifestation of their dreaming?
- ... that Fatima Payman is the first elected woman to wear a hijab in Australia’s parliament?
- ... that in 2025 Oscar Piastri became the first Australian since 2010 to lead the Formula One World Drivers' Championship?
- ... that Australia's most threatened butterfly is confined to a native range of less than 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi)?
- ... that the Australian spider Progradungula barringtonensis has been called a "ghost of Gondwana"?
- ... that Georgina Sutton was the first woman to be appointed the chief pilot of an Australian airline?
- ... that police investigated the European Australian Movement after it distributed letters carrying a slogan from Nazi Germany?
- ... that Adamsochrysa fossils from British Columbia and Washington are most similar to an Australian green lacewing?
In the news
- 3 October 2026 –
- Ten people are injured, including some critically, in a motor vehicle hooning accident in Newcastle, Australia, during a Newcastle Knights procession before the NRL Grand Final. The driver is arrested at the scene. (DW) (Nine News)
- 29 September 2026 – Economic impact of the 2026 Iran war
- The Reserve Bank of Australia raises its cash rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.60%, the highest level since 2011, citing persistently high inflation above its 2–3% target range. (AFP via France 24) (Reuters)
- 27 September 2026 – 2026 UCI Road World Championships
- In cycling, Brandon McNulty of the United States wins the men's road race world title in Montreal, Canada, becoming the first American champion in 33 years after finishing 13 seconds ahead of Australia's Michael Matthews. (AFP)
- 26 September 2026 – 2026 AFL Grand Final
- In Australian rules football, the Brisbane Lions defeat the Fremantle Dockers to win the 2026 Australian Football League season by seven points, winning their third consecutive premiership and sixth overall. (AFL) (The Guardian)
- 23 September 2026 – 2026 OpenAI infiltration of Medicare
- Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese says that an OpenAI-deployed agent accessed public and restricted files on a Medicare database during testing in June. OpenAI notified the government in September, while investigations continue into the breach. (AFP via France 24) (The Guardian)
- 18 September 2026 –
- Vietnamese police arrest three men, including Norwegian and Australian citizens, on terrorism and document-forgery charges after authorities say they attempted to enter Vietnam illegally from Cambodia while carrying out activities linked to Việt Tân. (Reuters)
Selected pictures -
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.
The Scenic Railway at en:Luna Park, Melbourne, viewed from Shakespeare Grove
Luna Park is an amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Victoria, which is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It opened in 1912 and has been operating since. It is the first of two Luna Parks still operating in Australia; the other is on Sydney Harbour.
Photo credit: Stevage
Photo: John O'Neill; edit: JJ HarrisonBrian Nankervis (b. 1956), an Australian comedian and writer, shown here during a live performance. Nankervis rose to popularity while playing Raymond J. Bartholomeuz on Hey Hey It's Saturday; since 2005 he has been a host of the gameshow RocKwiz.
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.
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".
The Big Picture, opening of the Parliament of Australia, 9 May 1901, painted by Tom Roberts.
The Commonwealth Parliament was opened on 9 May 1901 in the Royal Exhibition Building, the only building large enough to house the 14,000 guests. Thereafter, from 1901 to 1927 it met in Parliament House, Melbourne, which it borrowed from the parliament of the state of Victoria (which sat in the Exhibition Building). On 9 May 1927 the Parliament moved to the new national capital at Canberra, where it met in what is now called Old Parliament House. Intended to be temporary, this building in fact housed the Parliament for more than 60 years. The permanent Parliament House, Canberra was opened in 9 May 1988. The scene of the opening of the first Parliament was immortalised in The Big Picture, a painting by Australian artist Tom Roberts.
The Central Basin and Captain Cook water jet looking towards the National Library and Parliament House.
The Captain James Cook Memorial was built by the Commonwealth Government to commemorate the Bicentenary of Captain James Cook's first sighting of the east coast of Australia. The memorial includes a water jet located in the central basin and a skeleton globe sculpture at Regatta Point showing the paths of Cook's expeditions. On 25 April 1970, Queen Elizabeth II officially inaugurated the memorial. When running both pumps simultaneously, the main jet throws approximately six tons of water into the air at any instant, reaching a maximum height of 147 metres. Alternatively the jet can be run on a single pump reaching a lower height of 110 metres. During special occasions it can be illuminated, often with coloured lights.
The Art Gallery of South Australia from North Terrace.
The Art Gallery of South Australia located in Adelaide is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of almost 45,000 works of art, making it the second largest state art collection in Australia (after the National Gallery of Victoria).
Photo credit: K. Lindstrom
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.
Photo credit: Noodle snacksA view of the greater Hobart area, as seen from Mount Wellington. The state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania, Hobart is located in the state's south-east, on the estuary of the River Derwent.
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.
Photo: John O'NeillAn 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.
McHugh lookout, Atherton Tableland, Queensland.
The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. It is located west to south-west inland from Cairns, well into the tropics, but its elevated position provides a climate suitable for dairy farming. It has an area of around 32,000 km² with an avaerage altitude between 600 and 900m AHD. The area was originally explored for its tin and gold deposits, but today is primarily agricultural.
Photo credit: Mike Lehmann
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).
Photo: Fir0002A Eurocopter AS350 "Squirrel" helicopter flown by 723 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the section of the Royal Australian Navy responsible for the operation of aircraft. The FAA is currently an all-helicopter force, operating four separate models in the anti-submarine warfare and maritime support roles.
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: JJ HarrisonThe 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.
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.
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.
A panorama of the La Trobe Reading Room from ground level looking upwards to the domed roof.
The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in the city of Melbourne. It is sited on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell and Little Lonsdale Streets, in the northern centre of the central business district. The Library's combined collections contain over 1.5 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, as well as the folios of Captain James Cook.
Photo credit: John O'NeillA panoramic view across the interior of the Australian Synchrotron (a subatomic particle accelerator) in Clayton, Victoria. Dominating the image is the storage ring, showing the optical diagnostic beamline at front right. In the middle of the storage ring is the booster synchrotron and linac. The yellow, green and red magnets on the trolley (front left) are a demonstration of the bending and focusing magnets used in the storage ring to produce the synchrotron radiation and maintain the electron beam.
Photo credit: Frank HurleyA group of Australian infantry wearing Small Box Respirators (SBRs) at the Third Battle of Ypres in September 1917. After the introduction of poison gas in World War I, countermeasures were developed. SBRs represented the pinnacle of gas mask development during the war, a mouthpiece connected via a hose to a box filter (hanging around the wearer's neck in this picture), which in turn contained granules of chemicals that neutralised the gas. The SBR was the prized possession of the ordinary infantryman; when the British were forced to retreat during the German Spring Offensive of 1918, it was found that while some troops had discarded their rifles, hardly any had left behind their respirators.
.jpg)
On this day
- 1798 – George Bass and Matthew Flinders leave Sydney to explore Van Diemen's Land.
- 1816 – Reverend Samuel Leigh opens the first Methodist church in Australia, at Castlereagh, New South Wales.
- 1830 – The "Black Line" campaign of the Black War begins in an attempt to capture all Tasmanian Aborigines. The campaign lasts seven weeks and only succeeds in bringing two Aborigines to the authorities.
- 1919 – Sir Zelman Cowen, 19th Governor-General of Australia, was born in Melbourne.
- 1919 – Death of Alfred Deakin, leader of the movement for Australian federation and second Prime Minister of Australia, aged 63.
- 1935 – Thomas Keneally, novelist and author of Schindler's List, was born in Homebush, New South Wales.
- 1941 – John Curtin becomes the fourteenth Prime Minister of Australia.
General images
The following are images from various Australia-related articles on Wikipedia.
Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Calisthenics class at the Goodwood Boys Technical School, 1945 (from Culture of Australia)
The first State of Origin shield (from Culture of Australia)
Founded in 1993, Sydney's Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. (from Culture of Australia)
Anzac Day dawn services are held throughout Australia every April. (from Culture of Australia)
The verandah is the dominant feature of this Federation Filigree-style pub in Ravenswood. (from Culture of Australia)
The Wiggles performing in the United States in 2007 (from Culture of Australia)
An Aboriginal encampment near the Adelaide foothills in an 1854 painting by Alexander Schramm (from Aboriginal Australians)
St Mary Mackillop established an extensive network of schools and is Australia's first canonised saint of the Catholic Church. (from Culture of Australia)
The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
A commemorative statue of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a famous stretcher bearer who was killed in the Gallipoli Campaign. (from Culture of Australia)
Men from Bathurst Island, 1939 (from Aboriginal Australians)
Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (from Culture of Australia)
Didgeridoo performers (from Culture of Australia)
Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923 (from Aboriginal Australians)
The Bulletin, founded by J. F. Archibald (left), nurtured bush poets such as Henry Lawson (right). (from Culture of Australia)
Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature film (from Culture of Australia)
Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most successful pop musicians (from Culture of Australia)
Skiing in Australia began in Kiandra, a goldmining town in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, in the 1860s. (from Culture of Australia)
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.
Australians by the waterside at the Portsea Hotel, a pub in Melbourne, Victoria (from Culture of Australia)
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)
The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
Nan Tien Temple, a Buddhist temple in Wollongong. Multicultural immigration has increased Australia's religious diversity. (from Culture of Australia)
The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920) (from Culture of Australia)
Donald Bradman is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport. (from Culture of Australia)
Parliament House, Canberra (from Culture of Australia)
The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia. Pictured: surf lifesavers, Bondi Beach, 1930s (from Culture of Australia)
An Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass. (from Aboriginal Australians)
A group of Australian men wearing speedos (from Culture of Australia)
Noongar traditional dancers in Perth (from Aboriginal Australians)
The Matildas, Australia's national women's football team, in 2021 (from Culture of Australia)
Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress) (from Aboriginal Australians)
Governor Arthur Phillip hoists the British flag over the new colony at Sydney Cove in 1788 (from Culture of Australia)
A swagman in bushman's apparel, wearing a brimmed hat and carrying swag and billy can (from Culture of Australia)
Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (from Culture of Australia)
Golden wattle, Australia's floral emblem and the source of Australia's national colours, green and gold (from Culture of Australia)
A billycan used for heating water (from Culture of Australia)
Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia)
The SBS building in Melbourne's Federation Square. SBS is Australia's multicultural broadcaster. (from Culture of Australia)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Killara_house_023.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Topics
Sub-portals
(Northern Territory) Australian Capital Territory |
Categories
Select [►] to view subcategories
More portals
.svg){kind=small}
WikiProject
|
 |
 | |
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 7 October 2026, there are 219,535 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 610 are featured and 985 are good articles. This makes up 3.03% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.13% of all featured articles and lists, and 2.19% of all good articles (see WP:AUSFG). Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etc., there are 579,574 pages in the project.
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
More portals
Discover Wikipedia using portals
