Portal:Australia

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Introduction

A view of the Blue Mountains National Park -

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 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 Acts of 1986.

Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy, and a federation 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, 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.

No. 79 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flight training unit that has been formed on four occasions since 1943. The squadron was established in May 1943 as a fighter unit equipped with Supermarine Spitfires, and subsequently saw combat in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II. Between June 1943 and the end of the war in August 1945 it flew air defence patrols to protect Allied bases and ships, escorted Australian and United States aircraft, and attacked Japanese positions. The squadron was disbanded in November 1945, but was re-formed between 1962 and 1968 to operate CAC Sabres from Ubon Air Base in Thailand. In this role it contributed to the defence of Thailand against a feared attack from its neighbouring states and exercised with United States Air Force units. No. 79 Squadron was active again at RAAF Base Butterworth in Malaysia between 1986 and 1988 where it operated Mirage III fighters and a single DHC-4 Caribou transport during the period in which the RAAF's fighter squadrons were transitioning to new aircraft. (Full article...)

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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...)

List of Featured biographies in portal

More Australian featured biographies

Did you know (auto-generated) -

... that the developers of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number suggested that Australian customers pirate their game?
... that Jack Fitzgerald was "father" of the South Australian House of Assembly?
... that the Greco-Australian dialect, a variety of Modern Greek, blends words with English roots into the Greek language?
... that on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia, the George Roper ran aground and was wrecked?
... that the arts magazine Paper Chained was banned in some Australian prisons due to its pen-pal program?
... that Australian Madeleine Steere played water polo professionally in Turkey after studying biomolecular science in the United States?
... that the Australian Light Weight Air Warning Radar was once loaded using canoes and later manhandled up a 200-foot cliff?
... that the United States agreed Australian staff would support the Joint Geological and Geophysical Research Station in Alice Springs, but the United States Air Force runs it instead?

More Australian facts

In the news

10 March 2026 – Australia–Iran relations, Defection of Iran women's national football team: Australia grants humanitarian visas to five Iranian women football players who sought asylum, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, Mona Hamoudi, Fatemeh Pasandideh, Atefeh Ramezanizadeh, and Zahra Sarbali, citing fears of persecution after refusing to sing Iran's national anthem before an Asian Cup match in Gold Coast, Queensland. (Reuters)
8 March 2026 – 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup, 2026 Iranian diaspora protests: Diaspora protesters surround the bus of the Iranian women's soccer team following their match against the Philippines in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, amidst fears of their safety upon returning to Iran after members of the team gave SOS hand signals from the team bus. (ABC News Australia) (DW)
5 March 2026 – Evacuations during the 2026 Iran war: Australia and New Zealand deploy military assets, including two RNZAF aircraft, and crisis response teams to the Middle East to assist and evacuate their respective nationals. (AFP via Al Arabiya)
3 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: An Iranian drone strike damages Al Minhad Air Base, the headquarters of the Australian military's Joint Task Force 633. Australian defence minister Richard Marles confirms that there were no casualties in the strike. (Reuters)
21 February 2026 – 2025–26 Australian bushfire season: The state emergency service of Victoria, Australia, issues the highest-level emergency evacuation warning for areas surrounding the A1 Mine Settlement of Gaffneys Creek, as an uncontrolled bushfire burns the settlement. (Reuters)
18 February 2026 – Terrorism in Australia: Australia issues a temporary exclusion order barring one citizen held in a Syrian detention camp from returning to the country under counter-terrorism legislation, citing the citizen's possible links to Islamic State members. (Reuters)

Selected pictures -

Image 1
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".
Image 2
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.
Image 3
Beautiful Firetail
Photo: JJ Harrison
A Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) male (top) and female. In this common Australian species of estrildid finch, nest-building and raising children is done collaboratively.
Image 4

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.
Image 5
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.
Image 6
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
Image 7
Brian Nankervis
Photo: John O'Neill; edit: JJ Harrison
Brian 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.
Image 8
Papilio ulysses
Photo credit: Fir0002
The 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.
Image 9
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.
Image 10

The Kiewa River is a major tributary of the Murray River in Australia and the source of approximately 40% of the Murray's flow. The river's headwaters include Victoria's highest mountain, Mount Bogong, and wind their way north-west about 100 kilometres, gradually slowing before joining the Murray west of Albury.

Photo credit: Mattinbgn
Image 11
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.
Image 12
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.
Image 13

Melbourne is the state capital and largest city in the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.7 million^[1] (2006 estimate). It is a coastal city located at the northern end of the Port Phillip Bay. The city's name is pronounced as either /ˈmel.bən/ or /ˈmæl.bən/. Formerly the capital city of Australia from 1901 until 1927, Melbourne is today a centre of finance and entertainment and is considered a minor world city.

Photo credit: Diliff
Image 14

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.
Image 15
Common bluetail
Photo credit: Fir0002
The 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.
Image 16
The Royal Exhibition Building is located in Victorian capital of Melbourne. Situated in the Carlton Gardens, at the north-eastern edge of the central business district, it was completed in 1880 for the Melbourne International Exhibition. It was also the site of the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia with the opening of the first Parliament of Australia.

Photo credit: Diliff
Image 17
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).
Image 18

The Weedy Sea Dragon or Common Sea Dragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) is a marine fish related to the seahorse. It is the only member of the genus Phyllopteryx. They occur in water 3 to 50 metres deep round the southern coastline of Australia, approximately between Port Stephens, New South Wales and Geraldton, Western Australia, as well as around Tasmania. Weedy Sea Dragons are named for the weed-like projections on their bodies that camouflage them as they move among the seaweed beds where they are usually found.

Photo credit: Richard Ling
Image 19
2008 Australian Grand Prix
Photo credit: Fir0002
Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg at corner 6 of the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, during one of the race's safety car periods. This first race of the 2008 Formula One season was won by McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Heidfeld and Rosberg finished second and third, respectively.
Image 20
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.
Image 21
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.
Image 22
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.

On this day

15 March:

1877 – Cricketers representing England and Australia played the first Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
1973 – Attorney-General Lionel Murphy and the Commonwealth Police conduct a raid on the ASIO offices in Melbourne.
1989 – Plans for the controversial Wesley Vale pulp mill are scrapped following protests over the environmental impact of the mill.
2003 – Cricketer Brett Lee takes a One-day International hat-trick at Kingsmead, Durban.
2006 – The 2006 Commonwealth Games begin in Melbourne.

More Australian anniversaries...

General images

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

Image 1Sheep 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)
Image 2Men from Bathurst Island, 1939 (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 3A commemorative statue of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a famous stretcher bearer who was killed in the Gallipoli Campaign. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 4South 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.
Image 5Convict architecture at Port Arthur, Tasmania (from Culture of Australia)
Image 6Golden wattle, Australia's floral emblem and the source of Australia's national colours, green and gold (from Culture of Australia)
Image 7The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 8Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (from Culture of Australia)
Image 9Birdsville Hotel, an Australian pub in outback Queensland (from Culture of Australia)
Image 10The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
Image 11William Wentworth (1790–1872) was among the first to articulate a vision of Australian nationhood (from Culture of Australia)
Image 12Skiing in Australia began in Kiandra, a goldmining town in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, in the 1860s. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 13Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most successful pop musicians (from Culture of Australia)
Image 14Sydney Opera House (foreground) and Sydney Harbour Bridge (from Culture of Australia)
Image 15Dame Edna Everage, a comic creation of Barry Humphries (from Culture of Australia)
Image 16Noongar traditional dancers in Perth (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 17A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920) (from Culture of Australia)
Image 18The verandah is the dominant feature of this Federation Filigree-style pub in Ravenswood. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 19Australians by the waterside at the Portsea Hotel, a pub in Melbourne, Victoria (from Culture of Australia)
Image 20The first State of Origin shield (from Culture of Australia)
Image 21Anzac Day dawn services are held throughout Australia every April. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 22Didgeridoo performers (from Culture of Australia)
Image 23The SBS building in Melbourne's Federation Square. SBS is Australia's multicultural broadcaster. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 24Founded in 1993, Sydney's Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 25A typical Queenslander house in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
Image 26An Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass. (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 27Bush tucker harvested in Alice Springs (from Culture of Australia)
Image 28A group of Australian men wearing speedos (from Culture of Australia)
Image 29Tudor Revival house in Killara, New South Wales (from Culture of Australia)
Image 30The Matildas, Australia's national women's football team, in 2021 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 31Cover of Old Bush Songs, Banjo Paterson's 1905 collection of bush ballads (from Culture of Australia)
Image 32Federation Bungalow in Killara, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 33Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 34Corroboree 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)
Image 35Countries of birth of Australian estimated resident population, 2006 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 36A billycan used for heating water (from Culture of Australia)
Image 37Phar Lap winning the Melbourne Cup, "the race that stops a nation" (from Culture of Australia)
Image 38A swagman in bushman's apparel, wearing a brimmed hat and carrying swag and billy can (from Culture of Australia)
Image 39St Mary Mackillop established an extensive network of schools and is Australia's first canonised saint of the Catholic Church. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 40Donald Bradman is often cited as statistically the greatest sportsman of any major sport. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 41Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly (from Culture of Australia)
Image 42C. J. Dennis, poetic humourist of Australian English (from Culture of Australia)
Image 43Governor Arthur Phillip hoists the British flag over the new colony at Sydney Cove in 1788 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 44Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 45Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature film (from Culture of Australia)
Image 46Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923 (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 47Nan Tien Temple, a Buddhist temple in Wollongong. Multicultural immigration has increased Australia's religious diversity. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 48The Wiggles performing in the United States in 2007 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 49Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia)
Image 50The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
Image 51The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia. Pictured: surf lifesavers, Bondi Beach, 1930s (from Culture of Australia)
Image 52An Aboriginal encampment near the Adelaide foothills in an 1854 painting by Alexander Schramm (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 53Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (from Culture of Australia)
Image 54Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress) (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 55The Bulletin, founded by J. F. Archibald (left), nurtured bush poets such as Henry Lawson (right). (from Culture of Australia)
Image 56Parliament House, Canberra (from Culture of Australia)
Image 57A high-set Victorian-era Queenslander with a large veranda in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)

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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 15 March 2026, there are 215,017 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 600 are featured and 946 are good articles. This makes up 3.01% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.15% of all featured articles and lists, and 2.17% of all good articles (see WP:AUSFG). Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etc., there are 561,110 pages in the project.

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