Portal:Australia

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.

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Canberra is the capital city of Australia and with a population of just over 323,000 is Australia's largest inland city. Canberra was selected as the location of the nation's capital in 1908 as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne and is unusual amongst Australian capital cities as an entirely purpose-built, planned city. Following an international contest for the city's design, a design by Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin was selected and construction commenced in 1913. Although the growth and development of Canberra was hindered by the World Wars and the Great Depression, it emerged as a thriving city post-World War II. As Australia's seat of government, Canberra is the site of Parliament House, the High Court of Australia and numerous government departments; it is also the location of numerous social and cultural institutions of national significance. The federal government contributes the largest percentage of Gross State Product and is the largest employer in Canberra. Canberra is also a popular destination for domestic and international tourists.

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The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in the Victorian capital of Melbourne. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. At that time of the gallery's establishment, Victoria had been an independent colony for just ten years, but in the wake of the Victorian gold rush, it was the wealthiest part of Australia, and Melbourne the largest city. Generous gifts from moneyed citizens, notably industrialist Alfred Felton, made it possible for it to begin buying a large collection of overseas works from both old and modern masters.

Photo credit: Robert Merkel

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On this day...

September 12:

• 1844 - The Royal Society of Tasmania was formed, it was the first branch of the Society established outside Britain.
• 1854 - Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria Charles Hotham opens Flinders Street Station, the first city railway station in Australia.
• 1918 - George Reid, fourth Prime Minister of Australia, dies.
• 2005 - England wins The Ashes back from Australia for the first time since 1987.

Did you know...

• ... 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 a 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 Lybian 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?
• ...that in New South Wales, a Sentencing Council which is the first of its type in Australia, conducts research to improve the consistency of sentencing of criminals?
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