Portal:Australia

Welcome to the Australia portal!

Introduction

Island Archway on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, 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 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 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 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 history of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as a separate administrative division began in 1911, when the land that would comprise the Territory was transferred from New South Wales to the Australian federal government. The territory contains Australia's capital city Canberra and various smaller settlements. Until 1989, it also administered the Jervis Bay Territory, a small coastal region. (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.

Morgan in 1958

Sandra Anne Morgan (born 6 June 1942), also known by her married name Sandra Beavis, or as Sandra Morgan-Beavis, is an Australian former freestyle swimmer who was part of the gold medal-winning team in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. At the age of 14 years and 6 months, she became the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal, a record that was broken by Arisa Trew at the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Full article...)

List of Featured biographies in portal

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Did you know (auto-generated) -

... that Australian judoka Josh Katz competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics six months after completely rupturing an ACL?
... 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 Voltaire Molesworth spent part of his early childhood in a utopian socialist colony in Paraguay?
... that Australian World War II veteran Reg Chard recalled using the pronunciation of "Woolloomooloo" as a test to distinguish Japanese soldiers from Australians?
... that starting at age 16, future Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci was named top sewing machine salesperson three years in a row?
... that in 1939, a teenage Robin Ordell became the youngest radio announcer in Australia?
... that Matilda Jane Evans' novels presented women's proper management of their homes as essential to maintaining civilisation in the Australian colonies?
... that the mascot of an Australian HIV prevention campaign was a condom-wielding superhero?

More Australian facts

In the news

25 August 2026 – AI boom, Artificial intelligence in music: The Australian Recording Industry Association bans wholly AI-generated music from appearing on its charts starting in September 2026. The ruling aims to distinguish fully AI-generated music and AI-assisted music, where the track is human-created but uses AI as a supporting tool. (DW)
19 August 2026 – 2026 Sydney Swans player investigation: In Australian football, the Sydney Swans suspend five of their players for the remainder of the season who are under police investigation over allegations of sexual assault against multiple women. (ABC News Australia)
5 August 2026 –: Five people are killed after two vehicles collided head-on and burst into flames on the Stuart Highway, Australia. (Xinhua)
28 July 2026 – 2026 Victorian Labor Party leadership election: In Australia, Victorian premier Jacinta Allan resigns, triggering a leadership spill. Ben Carroll is elected unanimously as the new Premier and Victorian Labor Party leader. (ABC News Australia) (Reuters)
21 July 2026 –: The Australian reports that Australian doctor Tareq Kamleh, who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State, is found alive in a prison in Baghdad, Iraq. (ABC News Australia) (The West Australian)
6 July 2026 – Australia–Fiji relations: Australia and Fiji sign a defence pact, making Fiji one of Australia's treaty-bound allies and committing both countries to consult on security threats and support mutual defence in the Pacific. (AFP via France 24)

Selected pictures -

Image 1
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.
Image 2
Tasmanian devil
Photo: JJ Harrison
The 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.
Image 3
Rainforest walk at the National Botanical Gardens

The Australian National Botanic Gardens are located in Canberra and are administered by the Commonwealth Government Department of the Environment and Heritage. The botanic gardens are a collection of native Australian flora arrange by taxonomy or natural ecological groupings. The gardens maintains a wide variety of botanical resources for researchers and cultivates native plants threatened in the wild. The concept for a national botanic gardens developed in the 1930s as Canberra was built, with the gardens officially opened in 1970 on a site of 90 hectares astride the Black Mountain

Photo credit: Fir0002
Image 4
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 5
Poison gas in World War I
Photo credit: Frank Hurley
A 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.
Image 6
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 7
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 8
The Royal Exhibition Building, showing the fountain on the southern or Carlton Gardens side of the building.

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 9
Lauren Mitchell
Photo: Steven Rasmussen; edit: Keraunoscopia
Australian 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.
Image 10
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).
Image 11
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 12
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 13
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 14
Flinders Street Station, Melbourne, Australia (1927)

Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban rail network of the Victorian capital of Melbourne. It is on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets next to the Yarra River in the central business district, stretching from Swanston Street to Queen Street and covering two city blocks. This 1927 photo shows a mix of motor vehicles and horse drawn carts on the streets, as well as both electric and non-electric trams. The station opened in 1910, replacing an ad hoc collection of weatherboard train sheds.

Photo credit: Victoria State Transport Authority
Image 15
Fleet Air Arm (RAN)
Photo: Fir0002
A 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.
Image 16
An Eastern Banjo Frog, found in eastern Australia.

The Eastern Banjo Frog, Limnodynastes dumerilli, is a frog species from the family Myobatrachidae. It is native to eastern Australia and has been introduced to New Zealand. The frog is also commonly called the "pobblebonk" after its distinctive "bonk" call, which is likened to a banjo string being plucked.

Photo credit: Fir0002
Image 17
Mawson's Hut, Cape Denison, Antarctica.

Mawson's Huts are a collection of buildings located at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, in the far eastern sector of the Australian Antarctic Territory. The buildings were built and occupied by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) of 1911-1914, led by geologist and explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. The buildings are of international heritage significance, being one of just six survivings sites from the golden age of Antarctic exploration.

Photo credit: David Killick
Image 18
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 19
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 20
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 21
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 22
Alpine Range scenery as viewed just past Mt Hotham.

The Australian Alps are the highest mountain ranges of mainland Australia. They are located in south-eastern Australia, straddling far southern New South Wales and eastern Victoria. The Alps contain the Australian mainland's only peaks exceeding 2,000 metres AHD and it is only here that snow occurs regularly.

Photo credit: Fir0002

On this day

1 September:

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.

More Australian anniversaries...

General images

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

Image 1Tudor Revival house in Killara, New South Wales (from Culture of Australia)
Image 2Countries of birth of Australian estimated resident population, 2006 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 3Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 4Golden wattle, Australia's floral emblem and the source of Australia's national colours, green and gold (from Culture of Australia)
Image 5The University of Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 6Calisthenics class at the Goodwood Boys Technical School, 1945 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 7Dame Edna Everage, a comic creation of Barry Humphries (from Culture of Australia)
Image 8St Mary Mackillop established an extensive network of schools and is Australia's first canonised saint of the Catholic Church. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 9Portrait of Madame Melba by Rupert Bunny (from Culture of Australia)
Image 10The SBS building in Melbourne's Federation Square. SBS is Australia's multicultural broadcaster. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 11Corroboree 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 12A group of Australian men wearing speedos (from Culture of Australia)
Image 13The Wiggles performing in the United States in 2007 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 14Bush tucker harvested in Alice Springs (from Culture of Australia)
Image 15A typical Queenslander house in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
Image 16Federation Bungalow in Killara, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 17The verandah is the dominant feature of this Federation Filigree-style pub in Ravenswood. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 18Cricket match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1860s (from Culture of Australia)
Image 19A swagman in bushman's apparel, wearing a brimmed hat and carrying swag and billy can (from Culture of Australia)
Image 20The Matildas, Australia's national women's football team, in 2021 (from Culture of Australia)
Image 21Anzac Day dawn services are held throughout Australia every April. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 22Phar Lap winning the Melbourne Cup, "the race that stops a nation" (from Culture of Australia)
Image 23The Princess Theatre in Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
Image 24Nan Tien Temple, a Buddhist temple in Wollongong. Multicultural immigration has increased Australia's religious diversity. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 25A billycan used for heating water (from Culture of Australia)
Image 26Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly (from Culture of Australia)
Image 27Convict architecture at Port Arthur, Tasmania (from Culture of Australia)
Image 28Statue in Fremantle of an Australian rules footballer taking a spectacular mark (from Culture of Australia)
Image 29Historical image of Aboriginal Australian women and children, Maloga, New South Wales around 1900 (in European dress) (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 30Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature film (from Culture of Australia)
Image 31Birdsville Hotel, an Australian pub in outback Queensland (from Culture of Australia)
Image 32C. J. Dennis, poetic humourist of Australian English (from Culture of Australia)
Image 33An Eastern Arrernte man of the Arltunga district, Northern Territory, in 1923. His hut is decked with porcupine grass. (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 34A Luritja man demonstrating method of attack with boomerang under cover of shield (1920) (from Culture of Australia)
Image 35Didgeridoo performers (from Culture of Australia)
Image 36The Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (from Culture of Australia)
Image 37Sydney Opera House (foreground) and Sydney Harbour Bridge (from Culture of Australia)
Image 38A high-set Victorian-era Queenslander with a large veranda in Brisbane (from Culture of Australia)
Image 39Skiing in Australia began in Kiandra, a goldmining town in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, in the 1860s. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 40A commemorative statue of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a famous stretcher bearer who was killed in the Gallipoli Campaign. (from Culture of Australia)
Image 41William Wentworth (1790–1872) was among the first to articulate a vision of Australian nationhood (from Culture of Australia)
Image 42South 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 43Interior of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney (from Culture of Australia)
Image 44Cover of Old Bush Songs, Banjo Paterson's 1905 collection of bush ballads (from Culture of Australia)
Image 45Dwellings accommodating Aboriginal families at Hermannsburg Mission, Northern Territory, 1923 (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 46Sheep 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 47Kylie Minogue, one of Australia's most successful pop musicians (from Culture of Australia)
Image 48An Aboriginal encampment near the Adelaide foothills in an 1854 painting by Alexander Schramm (from Aboriginal Australians)
Image 49The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia. Pictured: surf lifesavers, Bondi Beach, 1930s (from Culture of Australia)
Image 50The Bulletin, founded by J. F. Archibald (left), nurtured bush poets such as Henry Lawson (right). (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 31 August 2026, there are 218,856 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 609 are featured and 981 are good articles. This makes up 3.03% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.14% 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 577,068 pages in the project.