Portal:Australia

The AUSTRALIAN Portal Topics Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology For a topic outline on this subject, see Outline of Australia. Main   Indices   Projects The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and a number of islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Australia's neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. The continent of Australia has been inhabited for more than 42,000 years by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. After sporadic visits by European explorers and merchants from the 17th century onwards, the eastern half of the continent was claimed by the British in 1770, and officially settled as the penal colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown colonies were successively established over the course of the 19th century. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth realm. The current population of around 21 million is concentrated mainly in the coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. Selected article - Karmichael Hunt (born 17 November 1986 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a professional rugby league footballer for the Brisbane Broncos in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition. Hunt primarily plays in the fullback position, but he also played on the wing and at halfback. Hunt has played first-grade rugby league for Brisbane since 2004, and was part of the Broncos' competition-winning team in 2006. He has represented the Queensland Maroons in the interstate State of Origin series and the Australian Kangaroos at international level. Hunt made his NRL debut in 2004 and played every game that season, winning the Dally M Rookie of the Year award. In a controversial move, Hunt chose to play for Australia instead of his native New Zealand, citing a lifelong dream of playing for Queensland in State of Origin. After a downturn in 2005, Hunt's 2006 performances resulted in his selection for Queensland and Australia. Selected picture - The Yarra River is a river in southern Victoria, Australia. It is the river on which the city of Melbourne was founded. The river measures in at 242 kilometres (150 mi), starting in swamps of the Yarra Ranges National Park and eventually flows into Port Phillip, Melbourne's busiest sea port. Photo credit: David Iliff Subportals   New South Wales Queensland Western Australia Northern Territory South Australia Victoria Tasmania Australian Capital Territory Other Australia portals Related portals   Oceania New Zealand Antarctica Commonwealth realms British Empire In the news   14 September – The Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill elects Malcolm Turnbull to become Australia's 29th Prime Minister, when he defeated Tony Abbott for the position of leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 21 July – Australian federal politician Don Randall dies, necessitating a by-election in his seat of Canning. 5 June – Businessman and backer of the successful 1983 America's Cup, Alan Bond died in Perth 1 June – Former Victorian Premier Joan Kirner dies in Melbourne. 13 May – Musician, author and 1999 NAIDOC Person of the Year Bob Randall dies, aged approximately 80. 28 March – The Liberal Party, led by Mike Baird, and their National Party coalition colleagues, are re-elected at the 2015 New South Wales state election. 20 February – Cyclone Marcia makes landfall in Queensland, damaging the city of Rockhampton and surrounds. 5 February – Journalist Peter Greste returns to Australia after 400 days in an Egyptian prison. 31 January – Labor led by Annastacia Palaszczuk wins the 2015 Queensland state election. On this day... - 24 November: 1642 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania). 1934 – The ANZAC War Memorial in Sydney was opened. 1986 – Pope John Paul II began an Australian tour. 1987 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen sacks three ministers from his cabinet, accusing them of gross disloyalty. More Australian anniversaries Did you know... - ... that Troughman is mythically famous in Sydney, Australia for lying down in urinals? ... that Jordan Rankin, at 16 years and 238 days, is the youngest player to make his first-grade debut in Australian rugby league in over 70 years? ... that Reg Lindsay was an Australian Country and Western singer who won three Golden Guitars Awards and wrote more than five hundred songs in his fifty year music career? ... that the murder of Celia Douty was the first murder in Australia to be solved using DNA profiling, after remaining unsolved for 18 years? ...that the town of Bismarck in Tasmania was renamed Collinsvale due to anti-German sentiment during World War I? ...that Indigenous Australian activist Michael Mansell convinced Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi to officially recognise a separate Aboriginal Australian passport in order to draw international attention to the issue of native land rights? ...that Wally Koochew was the first VFL player of Chinese background? ...that Wing Commander Stanley Goble and Flying Officer Ivor McIntyre, piloting a single-engined seaplane (pictured), became the first men to circumnavigate Australia by air in 1924? ...that a series of storms in south-east Queensland spawned two of the most powerful supercells and tornadoes in recorded Australian history? ...that the lamington cake is believed to have been named after Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, the Governor of Queensland at the time of its invention? ...that during the first seven years of the Australian edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? nobody won the top prize of one million dollars?

Wikipedia's Portals

All Portals Overview Glossaries Indices Lists Outlines Categories

Reference Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology

• Featured portals
• About portals