Portal:Australia

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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 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.

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Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

The Murrumbidgee River at Wagga Wagga

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...)

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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...)

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Did you know (auto-generated) -

... that "Australasia" by William Charles Wentworth, the first book of verse by a native-born Australian, "celebrates the development of a new Britannia in another world"?
... that Lord Stonehaven, Governor-General of Australia, called Hay War Memorial High School the "finest war memorial in the British Empire"?
... that all Aboriginal languages in mainland Australia may have descended from a common ancestor spoken around 6,000 years ago?
... that Stephanie Scott's favourite colour became a symbol of national remembrance across Australia following her murder in 2015?
... that the Saxe–Goldstein hypothesis has been used to explain burial practices in Greece, Australia, Madagascar and Peru?
... that pumices erupted by the Protector Shoal volcano in 1962 floated to Australia and South America?
... that Charles Strong founded the Australian Church after facing heresy charges, and attracted many elite congregants including a future prime minister?
... that in 2025 Oscar Piastri became the first Australian since 2010 to lead the Formula One World Drivers' Championship?

More Australian facts

In the news

24 March 2026 – Australia–European Union relations: Australia and the European Union sign a free trade agreement after eight years of negotiations. (AP)
21 March 2026 – 2026 South Australian state election: In South Australia, the Labor Party wins a landslide victory over the Liberal Party. One Nation also secures second place in first-preference votes. (The Guardian)
21 March 2026 – 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup: In women's association football, the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup concludes with Japan defeating hosts Australia in the final to win their third title. (BBC Sport) (Reuters)
16 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: Australia rules out sending warships to lift the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. (Nine News Australia)
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)

Selected pictures -

Image 1
Hobart
Photo credit: Noodle snacks
A 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.
Image 2
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 3
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 4
The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a thickset arboreal marsupial herbivore native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae. It is found all along the eastern coast of Australia from near Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, and as far into the hinterland as there is enough rainfall to support suitable forests.

Photo credit: Diliff
Image 5
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 6
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 7
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 8

Hyde Park is a large park in the New South Wales capital of Sydney. Named after the original Hyde Park in London, it is the southernmost of a chain of parkland that extends north to the shore. It takes the form of an approximate rectangle. Around the park's boundaries lie the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Hyde Park Barracks and Sydney Hospital to the north, St Mary's Cathedral to the east and the central business district to the west. The centrepiece of Hyde Park is the majestic Archibald Fountain, unveiled in 1932 in honour of Australia's contribution to the Great War in France.

Photo credit: Greg O'Beirne
Image 9
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 10
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 11

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 12
Jeremy Doyle
Photo: Sport the Library
Jeremy Doyle (1983–2011) was an Australian wheelchair basketball player. Left paraplegic after a car accident, he was classified as a 1 point player. While representing his country Doyle won two gold medals, first at the 2009 Paralympic World Cup and again at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship.
Image 13
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 14
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 15
The Dog on the Tuckerbox is an Australian historical monument and tourist attraction, located at Snake Gully, eight kilometres from Gundagai in New South Wales. It was sculpted by local stonemason Frank Rusconi and was unveiled by the then Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons on 28 November 1932 as a tribute to pioneers.

Photo credit: AYArktos
Image 16
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 17
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 18

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. It is located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 440 km southwest of Alice Springs. Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara (Aboriginal people of the area) and has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight. The rock is made of sandstone infused with minerals like feldspar that reflect the red light of sunrise and sunset, making it appear to glow.

Photo credit: Thomas Schoch
Image 19
Australian Synchrotron
Photo credit: John O'Neill
A 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.
Image 20
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 21
The Three Sisters are a famous rock formation in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Located close to the town of Katoomba in the Jamison Valley, the sandstone monuments are one of the most popular attractions in the Blue Mountains National Park. The name of each mount in order of height is Meehni (922 m), Wimlah (918 m), and Gunnedoo (906 m). The Three Sisters feature in stories of the Indigenous Australian Dreamtime.

Photo credit: Diliff
Image 22
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

On this day

25 March:

1900 – The SS Glenelg is wrecked off the Victorian coast, resulting in 31 deaths.
1935 – An unnamed cyclone strikes the northwest coast of Western Australia, killing 140 people.
1936 – Tasmania is connected to mainland Australia by telephone for the first time.
1995 – Bob Carr leads the Labor Party to victory in the New South Wales state election, deposing the Liberal/National coalition government of John Fahey.
1998 – Melbourne lawyer Max Green is found murdered in his Cambodian hotel room.

More Australian anniversaries...

General images

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

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

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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 25 March 2026, there are 215,277 articles within the scope of WikiProject Australia, of which 600 are featured and 949 are good articles. This makes up 3.01% of the articles on Wikipedia, 5.15% of all featured articles and lists, and 2.18% of all good articles (see WP:AUSFG). Including non-article pages, such as talk pages, redirects, categories, etc., there are 561,844 pages in the project.

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