Australia

The name Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪliə/ in Australian English^[33]) is derived from the Latin Terra Australiscode: lat promoted to code: la ("southern land"), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times.^[34] Several sixteenth century cartographers used the word Australia on maps, but not to identify modern Australia.^[35] When Europeans began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name Terra Australiscode: lat promoted to code: la was naturally applied to the new territories.^{[N 4]}

Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as New Holland, a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 (as Nieuw-Hollandcode: nld promoted to code: nl ) and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australiscode: lat promoted to code: la still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts.^{[N 5]} The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the Earth".^[41] The first time that Australia appears to have been officially used was in April 1817, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from Lord Bathurst.^[42] In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted.^[43] In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially by that name.^[44] The first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia Directory by the Hydrographic Office.^[45]

Colloquial names for Australia include "Oz" and "the Land Down Under" (usually shortened to just "Down Under"). Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country", "the Sunburnt Country", and "the Wide Brown Land". The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar's 1908 poem "My Country".^[46]

Discover more about Etymology related topics

Name of Australia

Name of Australia

The name Australia is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern", and specifically from the hypothetical Terra Australis postulated in pre-modern geography. The name was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders from 1804, and it has been in official use since 1817, replacing "New Holland," an English translation of the Dutch name, first given by Abel Tasman in 1643 as the name for the continent.

Australian English

Australian English

Australian English is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and de facto national language; while Australia has no official language, English is the first language of the majority of the population, and has been entrenched as the de facto national language since European settlement, being the only language spoken in the home for 72% of Australians. It is also the main language used in compulsory education, as well as federal, state and territorial legislatures and courts.

Terra Australis

Terra Australis

Terra Australis was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that continental land in the Northern Hemisphere should be balanced by land in the Southern Hemisphere. This theory of balancing land has been documented as early as the 5th century on maps by Macrobius, who uses the term Australis on his maps.

New Holland (Australia)

New Holland (Australia)

New Holland is a historical European name for mainland Australia.

Abel Tasman

Abel Tasman

Abel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New Zealand and the islands of Fiji and Van Diemen's Land.

Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders

Captain Matthew Flinders was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to utilise the name Australia to describe the entirety of that continent including Van Diemen's Land, a title he regarded as being "more agreeable to the ear" than previous names such as Terra Australis.

Lachlan Macquarie

Lachlan Macquarie

Major General Lachlan Macquarie, CB was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie served as the fifth Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821, and had a leading role in the social, economic, and architectural development of the colony. He is considered by historians to have had a crucial influence on the transition of New South Wales from a penal colony to a free settlement and therefore to have played a major role in the shaping of Australian society in the early nineteenth century.

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, was a High Tory, High Church Pittite. He was an MP for thirty years before ennoblement. A personal friend of William Pitt the Younger, he became a broker of deals across cabinet factions during the Napoleonic era. After the Napoleonic Wars, Bathurst was on the conservative wing of the Tory party.

Colonial Office

Colonial Office

The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of colonies of the British Empire. Despite its name, the Colonial Office was never responsible for all Britain's Imperial territories; for example, protectorates fell under the purview of the Foreign Office, and British India was ruled by the East India Company until 1858, while the role of the Colonial Office in the affairs of the Dominions changed as time passed.

Down Under

Down Under

The term Down Under is a colloquialism which is differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or the Pacific island countries collectively. The term comes from the fact that these countries are in the Southern Hemisphere, "below" almost all other countries, on the usual arrangement of a map or globe which places cardinal north at the top.

Dorothea Mackellar

Dorothea Mackellar

Isobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar, was an Australian poet and fiction writer. Her poem My Country is widely known in Australia, especially its second stanza, which begins: "I love a sunburnt country/A land of sweeping plains,/Of ragged mountain ranges,/Of droughts and flooding rains."

My Country

My Country

"My Country" is a poem about Australia, written by Dorothea Mackellar (1885–1968) at the age of 19 while homesick in the United Kingdom. After travelling through Europe extensively with her father during her teenage years, she started writing the poem in London in 1904 and re-wrote it several times before her return to Sydney. The poem was first published in The Spectator in London on 5 September 1908 under the title "Core of My Heart". It was reprinted in many Australian newspapers, such as The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, who described the 'little poem' as striking the right note of "...the clear, ringing, triumphant note of love and trust in [Australia]." The poem quickly became well known and established Mackellar as a poet.

Indigenous peoples

Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley region of Western Australia

Indigenous Australians comprise two groups: the Aboriginal peoples of the Australian mainland (and surrounding islands including Tasmania), and the Torres Strait Islanders, who are a distinct Melanesian people. Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun 50,000 to 65,000 years ago,^{[21][47][48][49]} with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea crossings from what is now Southeast Asia.^[50] It is uncertain how many waves of immigration may have contributed to these ancestors of modern Aboriginal Australians.^[51][52] The Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land is recognised as the oldest site showing the presence of humans in Australia.^[53] The oldest human remains found are the Lake Mungo remains, which have been dated to around 41,000 years ago.^[54][55]

Aboriginal Australian culture is one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth.^[56] At the time of first European contact, Aboriginal Australians were complex hunter-gatherers with diverse economies and societies and about 250 different language groups.^[57][58] Recent archaeological finds suggest that a population of 750,000 could have been sustained.^[59][60] Aboriginal Australians have an oral culture with spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime.^[61]

The Torres Strait Islander people first settled their islands around 4000 years ago.^[62] Culturally and linguistically distinct from mainland Aboriginal peoples, they were seafarers and obtained their livelihood from seasonal horticulture and the resources of their reefs and seas.^[63]

European exploration and colonisation

Landing of James Cook at Botany Bay on 29 April 1770 to claim Australia's east coast for Great Britain

The northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically for trade by Makassan fishermen from what is now Indonesia.^[64] The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch.^[65] The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon.^[66] He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February 1606 at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York.^[67] Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through and navigated the Torres Strait Islands.^[68] The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent "New Holland" during the 17th century, and although no attempt at settlement was made,^[67] a number of shipwrecks left men either stranded or, as in the case of the Batavia in 1629, marooned for mutiny and murder, thus becoming the first Europeans to permanently inhabit the continent.^[69] In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named "New South Wales" and claimed for Great Britain.^[70]

Following the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the First Fleet, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales. A camp was set up and the Union Flag raised at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, on 26 January 1788,^[71][72] a date which later became Australia's national day. Most early convicts were transported for petty crimes and assigned as labourers or servants to "free settlers" (non-convict immigrants). While the majority of convicts settled into colonial society once emancipated, convict rebellions and uprisings were also staged, but invariably suppressed under martial law. The 1808 Rum Rebellion, the only successful armed takeover of government in Australia, instigated a two-year period of military rule.^[73] The following decade, social and economic reforms initiated by Governor Lachlan Macquarie saw New South Wales transition from a penal colony to a civil society.^[74][75]

The indigenous population declined for 150 years following settlement, mainly due to infectious disease.^[76] Thousands more died as a result of frontier conflict with settlers.^[77]

Colonial expansion

Tasmania's Port Arthur penal settlement is one of eleven UNESCO World Heritage-listed Australian Convict Sites

The British continued to push into other areas of the continent in the early 19th century, initially along the coast. In 1803, a settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania),^[78] and in 1813, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, opening the interior to European settlement.^[79] The British claim extended to the whole Australian continent in 1827 when Major Edmund Lockyer established a settlement on King George Sound (modern-day Albany).^[80] The Swan River Colony (present-day Perth) was established in 1829, evolving into the largest Australian colony by area, Western Australia.^[81] In accordance with population growth, separate colonies were carved from New South Wales: Tasmania in 1825, South Australia in 1836, New Zealand in 1841, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859.^[82] South Australia was founded as a "free province" — it was never a penal colony.^[83] Western Australia was also founded "free" but later accepted transported convicts, the last of which arrived in 1868, decades after transportation had ceased to the other colonies.^[84]

In 1823, a Legislative Council nominated by the governor of New South Wales was established, together with a new Supreme Court, thus limiting the powers of colonial governors.^[85] Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, thus becoming elective democracies managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire.^[86] The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs^[87] and defence.^[88]

In the mid-19th century, explorers such as Burke and Wills went further inland to determine its agricultural potential and answer scientific questions.^[89] A series of gold rushes beginning in the early 1850s led to an influx of new migrants from China, North America and continental Europe,^[90] as well as outbreaks of bushranging and civil unrest; the latter peaked in 1854 when Ballarat miners launched the Eureka Rebellion against gold license fees.^[91]

From 1886, Australian colonial governments began introducing policies resulting in the removal of many Aboriginal children from their families and communities (referred to as the Stolen Generations).^[92]

Federation to the World Wars

The Big Picture, a painting by Tom Roberts, depicts the opening of the first Australian Parliament in 1901.

On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, constitutional conventions and referendums, resulting in the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia as a nation and the entering into force of the Australian Constitution.^[93]

After the 1907 Imperial Conference, Australia and several other self-governing British settler colonies were given the status of self-governing "dominions" within the British Empire.^[94][95] Australia was one of the founding members of the League of Nations in 1920,^[96] and subsequently of the United Nations in 1945.^[97] Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the United Kingdom. Australia adopted it in 1942,^[98] but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australian Parliament during World War II.^[99][100]

The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed in 1911 as the location for the future federal capital of Canberra. Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed.^[101] The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the federal parliament in 1911.^[102] Australia became the colonial ruler of the Territory of Papua (which had initially been annexed by Queensland in 1883)^[103] in 1902 and of the Territory of New Guinea (formerly German New Guinea) in 1920. The two were unified as the Territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1949 and gained independence from Australia in 1975.^{[104][105][106]}

The 1942 Bombing of Darwin, the first of over 100 Japanese air raids on Australia during World War II

In 1914, Australia joined the Allies in fighting the First World War, and took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front.^[107] Of about 416,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded.^[108] Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli in 1915 as the nation's "baptism of fire" — its first major military action,^[109][110] with the anniversary of the landing at Anzac Cove commemorated each year on Anzac Day.^[111]

From 1939 to 1945, Australia joined the Allies in fighting the Second World War. Australia's armed forces fought in the Pacific, European and Mediterranean and Middle East theatres.^[112][113] The shock of Britain's defeat in Asia in 1942, followed soon after by the bombing of Darwin and other Japanese attacks on Australian soil, led to a widespread belief in Australia that a Japanese invasion was imminent, and a shift from the United Kingdom to the United States as Australia's principal ally and security partner.^[114] Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the United States, under the ANZUS treaty.^[115]

Post-war and contemporary eras

Postwar migrants from Europe arriving in Australia in 1954

In the decades following World War II, Australia enjoyed significant increases in living standards, leisure time and suburban development.^[116][117] Using the slogan "populate or perish", the nation encouraged a large wave of immigration from across Europe, with such immigrants referred to as "New Australians".^[118]

A member of the Western Bloc during the Cold War, Australia participated in the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency during the 1950s and the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1972.^[119] During this time, tensions over communist influence in society led to unsuccessful attempts by the Menzies Government to ban the Communist Party of Australia,^[120] and a bitter splitting of the Labor Party in 1955.^[121]

As a result of a 1967 referendum, the Federal Government received a mandate to implement policies to benefit Aboriginal people, and all Indigenous Australians were included in the Census.^[122] Traditional ownership of land ("native title") was recognised in law for the first time when the High Court of Australia held in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) that the legal doctrine of terra nullius ("land belonging to no one") did not apply to Australia at the time of European settlement.^[123]

Following the final abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973,^[124] Australia's demography and culture transformed as a result of a large and ongoing wave of non-European immigration, mostly from Asia.^[125][126] The late 20th century also saw an increasing focus on foreign policy ties with other Pacific Rim nations.^[127] While the Australia Act 1986 severed the remaining vestigial constitutional ties between Australia and the United Kingdom,^[128] a 1999 referendum resulted in 55% of voters rejecting a proposal to abolish the Monarchy of Australia and become a republic.^[129]

Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, Australia joined the United States in fighting the Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2021 and the Iraq War from 2003 to 2009.^[130] The nation's trade relations also became increasingly oriented towards East Asia in the 21st century, with China becoming the nation's largest trading partner by a large margin.^[131]

During the COVID-19 pandemic which commenced in Australia in 2020, several of Australia's largest cities were locked down for extended periods of time, and free movement across state borders was restricted in an attempt to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.^[132]

Discover more about History related topics

History of Australia

History of Australia

The history of Australia is the story of the land and peoples of the continent of Australia.

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in areas within the Australian continent before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples of the Australian mainland and Tasmania, and the Torres Strait Islander peoples from the seas between Queensland and Papua New Guinea. The term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or the person's specific cultural group, is often preferred, though the terms First Nations of Australia, First Peoples of Australia and First Australians are also increasingly common; 812,728 people self-identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the 2021 Australian Census, representing 3.2% of the total population of Australia. Of these Indigenous Australians, 91.4% identified as Aboriginal; 4.2% identified as Torres Strait Islander; while 4.4% identified with both groups. Since 1995, the Australian Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag have been official flags of Australia.

Kimberley (Western Australia)

Kimberley (Western Australia)

The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on the east by the Northern Territory.

Aboriginal Australians

Aboriginal Australians

Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as the peoples of Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands. The term Indigenous Australians refers to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders collectively. It is generally used when both groups are being discussed. Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct, despite extensive cultural exchange with some of the Aboriginal groups. The Torres Strait Islands are mostly part of Queensland but have a separate governmental status.

Arnhem Land

Arnhem Land

Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km (310 mi) from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Company captain Willem Joosten van Colster sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape Arnhem is named after his ship, the Arnhem, which itself was named after the city of Arnhem in the Netherlands.

Lake Mungo remains

Lake Mungo remains

The Lake Mungo remains are three prominent sets of human remains that are possibly Aboriginal Australian: Lake Mungo 1, Lake Mungo 3, and Lake Mungo 2 (LM2). Lake Mungo is in New South Wales, Australia, specifically the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region.

Hunter-gatherer

Hunter-gatherer

A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, honey, or anything safe to eat, and/or by hunting game, roughly as most animal omnivores do. Hunter-gatherer societies stand in contrast to the more sedentary agricultural societies, which rely mainly on cultivating crops and raising domesticated animals for food production, although the boundaries between the two ways of living are not completely distinct.

European maritime exploration of Australia

European maritime exploration of Australia

The maritime European exploration of Australia consisted of several waves of European seafarers who sailed the edges of the Australian continent. Dutch navigators were the first Europeans known to have explored and mapped the Australian coastline. The first documented encounter was that of Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, in 1606. Dutch seafarers also visited the west and north coasts of the continent, as did French explorers.

European land exploration of Australia

European land exploration of Australia

European land exploration of Australia deals with the opening up of the interior of Australia to European settlement which occurred gradually throughout the colonial period, 1788–1900. A number of these explorers are very well known, such as Burke and Wills who are well known for their failed attempt to cross the interior of Australia, as well as Hamilton Hume and Charles Sturt.

History of Australia (1788–1850)

History of Australia (1788–1850)

The history of Australia from 1788 to 1850 covers the early British colonial period of Australia's history. This started with the arrival in 1788 of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson on the lands of the Eora, and the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales as part of the British Empire. It further covers the European scientific exploration of the continent and the establishment of the other Australian colonies that make up the modern states of Australia.

James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook was a British explorer, cartographer and naval officer famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to New Zealand and Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

Botany Bay

Botany Bay

Botany Bay, an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 13 km (8 mi) south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cooks River at Kyeemagh, which flows 10 km (6 mi) to the east before meeting its mouth at the Tasman Sea, midpoint between the suburbs of La Perouse and Kurnell. The northern headland of the entrance to the bay from the Tasman Sea is Cape Banks and, on the southern side, the outer headland is Cape Solander and the inner headland is Sutherland Point.

General characteristics

Topographic map of Australia. Dark green represents the lowest elevation and dark brown the highest.

Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans,^{[N 6]} Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent^[134] and sixth largest country by total area,^[135] Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed the "island continent"^[136] and is sometimes considered the world's largest island.^[137] Australia has 34,218 km (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands),^[138] and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory.^[139]

Mainland Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44° South, and longitudes 112° and 154° East.^[140] Australia's size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with tropical rainforests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east, and desert in the centre.^[141] The desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land.^[142] Australia is the driest inhabited continent; its annual rainfall averaged over continental area is less than 500 mm.^[143] The population density is 3.4 inhabitants per square kilometre, although a large proportion of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline.^[144]

Fitzroy Island, one of 600 islands within the main archipelago of the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef,^[145] lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 km (1,200 mi). Mount Augustus, claimed to be the world's largest monolith,^[146] is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Even taller are Mawson Peak (at 2,745 m (9,006 ft)), on the remote Australian external territory of Heard Island, and, in the Australian Antarctic Territory, Mount McClintock and Mount Menzies, at 3,492 m (11,457 ft) and 3,355 m (11,007 ft) respectively.^[147]

Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range, which runs parallel to the coast of Queensland, New South Wales and much of Victoria. The name is not strictly accurate, because parts of the range consist of low hills, and the highlands are typically no more than 1,600 m (5,200 ft) in height.^[148] The coastal uplands and a belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland and shrubland.^[148][149] These include the western plains of New South Wales, and the Mitchell Grass Downs and Mulga Lands of inland Queensland.^{[150][151][152][153]} The northernmost point of the mainland is the tropical Cape York Peninsula.^[140]

Uluru in the semi-arid region of Central Australia

The landscapes of the Top End and the Gulf Country—with their tropical climate—include forest, woodland, wetland, grassland, rainforest and desert.^{[154][155][156]} At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of The Kimberley, and below that the Pilbara. The Victoria Plains tropical savanna lies south of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land savannas, forming a transition between the coastal savannas and the interior deserts.^{[157][158][159]} At the heart of the country are the uplands of central Australia. Prominent features of the centre and south include Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock), the famous sandstone monolith, and the inland Simpson, Tirari and Sturt Stony, Gibson, Great Sandy, Tanami, and Great Victoria deserts, with the famous Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast.^{[160][161][162][163]} The Western Australian mulga shrublands lie between the interior deserts and Mediterranean-climate Southwest Australia.^[162][164]

Geology

Basic geological regions of Australia, by age

Lying on the Indo-Australian Plate, the mainland of Australia is the lowest and most primordial landmass on Earth with a relatively stable geological history.^[165][166] The landmass includes virtually all known rock types and from all geological time periods spanning over 3.8 billion years of the Earth's history. The Pilbara Craton is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the Earth.^[167]

Having been part of all major supercontinents, the Australian continent began to form after the breakup of Gondwana in the Permian, with the separation of the continental landmass from the African continent and Indian subcontinent. It separated from Antarctica over a prolonged period beginning in the Permian and continuing through to the Cretaceous.^[168] When the last glacial period ended in about 10,000 BC, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait, separating Tasmania from the mainland. Then between about 8,000 and 6,500 BC, the lowlands in the north were flooded by the sea, separating New Guinea, the Aru Islands, and the mainland of Australia.^[169] The Australian continent is moving toward Eurasia at the rate of 6 to 7 centimetres a year.^[170]

The Australian mainland's continental crust, excluding the thinned margins, has an average thickness of 38 km, with a range in thickness from 24 km to 59 km.^[171] Australia's geology can be divided into several main sections, showcasing that the continent grew from west to east: the Archaean cratonic shields found mostly in the west, Proterozoic fold belts in the centre and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins, metamorphic and igneous rocks in the east.^[172]

The Australian mainland and Tasmania are situated in the middle of the tectonic plate and have no active volcanoes,^[173] but due to passing over the East Australia hotspot, recent volcanism has occurred during the Holocene, in the Newer Volcanics Province of western Victoria and southeastern South Australia. Volcanism also occurs in the island of New Guinea (considered geologically as part of the Australian continent), and in the Australian external territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands.^[174] Seismic activity in the Australian mainland and Tasmania is also low, with the greatest number of fatalities having occurred in the 1989 Newcastle earthquake.^[175]

Climate

Köppen climate types of Australia^[176]

The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low-pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia.^[177][178] These factors cause rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical, predominantly summer-rainfall (monsoon).^[143] The south-west corner of the country has a Mediterranean climate.^[179] The south-east ranges from oceanic (Tasmania and coastal Victoria) to humid subtropical (upper half of New South Wales), with the highlands featuring alpine and subpolar oceanic climates. The interior is arid to semi-arid.^[143]

Driven by climate change, average temperatures have risen more than 1°C since 1960. Associated changes in rainfall patterns and climate extremes exacerbate existing issues such as drought and bushfires. 2019 was Australia's warmest recorded year,^[180] and the 2019–2020 bushfire season was the country's worst on record.^[181] Australia's greenhouse gas emissions per capita are among the highest in the world.^[182]

Water restrictions are frequently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages due to urban population increases and localised drought.^[183][184] Throughout much of the continent, major flooding regularly follows extended periods of drought, flushing out inland river systems, overflowing dams and inundating large inland flood plains, as occurred throughout Eastern Australia in the early 2010s after the 2000s Australian drought.^[185]

Biodiversity

The koala and the eucalyptus form an iconic Australian pair.

Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, the continent includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests. Fungi typify that diversity—an estimated 250,000 species—of which only 5% have been described—occur in Australia.^[186] Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic.^[187] Australia has at least 755 species of reptile, more than any other country in the world.^[188] Besides Antarctica, Australia is the only continent that developed without feline species. Feral cats may have been introduced in the 17th century by Dutch shipwrecks, and later in the 18th century by European settlers. They are now considered a major factor in the decline and extinction of many vulnerable and endangered native species.^[189] Seafaring immigrants from Asia are believed to have brought the dingo to Australia sometime after the end of the last ice age–perhaps 4000 years ago–and Aboriginal people helped disperse them across the continent as pets, contributing to the demise of thylacines on the mainland.^[190] Australia is also one of 17 megadiverse countries.^[191]

Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions; wattles replace them as the dominant species in drier regions and deserts.^[192] Among well-known Australian animals are the monotremes (the platypus and echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, koala, and wombat, and birds such as the emu and the kookaburra.^[192] Australia is home to many dangerous animals including some of the most venomous snakes in the world.^[193] The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE.^[194] Many animal and plant species became extinct soon after first human settlement,^[195] including the Australian megafauna; others have disappeared since European settlement, among them the thylacine.^[196][197]

Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced animal, chromistan, fungal and plant species.^[198] All these factors have led to Australia's having the highest mammal extinction rate of any country in the world.^[199] The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is the legal framework for the protection of threatened species.^[200] Numerous protected areas have been created under the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity to protect and preserve unique ecosystems;^[201][202] 65 wetlands are listed under the Ramsar Convention,^[203] and 16 natural World Heritage Sites have been established.^[204] Australia was ranked 21st out of 178 countries in the world on the 2018 Environmental Performance Index.^[205] There are more than 1,800 animals and plants on Australia's threatened species list, including more than 500 animals.^[206]

Paleontologists discovered a fossil site of a prehistoric rainforest in McGraths Flat, in South Australia, that presents evidence that this now arid desert and dry shrubland/grassland was once home to an abundance of life.^[207][208]

Discover more about Geography related topics

Geography of Australia

Geography of Australia

The geography of Australia encompasses a wide variety of biogeographic regions being the world's smallest continent, while comprising the territory of the sixth-largest country in the world. The population of Australia is concentrated along the eastern and south-eastern coasts. The geography of the continent is extremely diverse, ranging from the snow-capped mountains of the Australian Alps and Tasmania to large deserts, tropical and temperate forests, grasslands, heathlands and woodlands.

Environment of Australia

Environment of Australia

The Australian environment ranges from virtually pristine Antarctic territory and rainforests to degraded industrial areas of major cities. Forty distinct ecoregions have been identified across the Australian mainland and islands. Central Australia has a very dry climate. The interior has a number of deserts while most of the coastal areas are populated. Northern Australia experiences tropical cyclones while much of the country is prone to periodic drought. This dry and warm environment and exposure to cyclones, makes Australia particularly vulnerable to climate change -- with some areas already experiencing increases in wildfires and fragile ecosystems.

Environmental issues in Australia

Environmental issues in Australia

Environmental issue in Australia describes a number of environmental issues which affect the environment of Australia. There are a range of such issues, some of the relating to conservation in Australia while others, for example the deteriorating state of Murray-Darling Basin, have a direct and serious effect on human land use and the economy.

Arafura Sea

Arafura Sea

The Arafura Sea lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea, which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea.

Coral Sea

Coral Sea

The Coral Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the French Natural Park of the Coral Sea and the Australian Coral Sea Marine Park. The sea was the location for the Battle of the Coral Sea, a major confrontation during World War II between the navies of the Empire of Japan, and the United States and Australia.

Exclusive economic zone

Exclusive economic zone

An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. It stretches from the outer limit of the territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles (nmi) from the coast of the state in question. It is also referred to as a maritime continental margin and, in colloquial usage, may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile limit. The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a "sovereign right" which refers to the coastal state's rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters are international waters.

Australian Antarctic Territory

Australian Antarctic Territory

The Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) is a part of East Antarctica claimed by Australia as an external territory. It is administered by the Australian Antarctic Division, an agency of the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The territory's history dates to a claim on Enderby Land made by the United Kingdom in 1841, which was subsequently expanded and eventually transferred to Australia in 1933. It is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation by area. In 1961, the Antarctic Treaty came into force. Article 4 deals with territorial claims, and although it does not renounce or diminish any pre-existing claims to sovereignty, it also does not prejudice the position of Contracting Parties in their recognition or non-recognition of territorial sovereignty. As a result, only four other countries — New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, and Norway recognise Australia's claim to sovereignty in Antarctica.

9th parallel south

9th parallel south

The 9th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 9 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America.

44th parallel south

44th parallel south

The 44th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 44 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Pacific Ocean and South America.

112th meridian east

112th meridian east

The meridian 112° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.

154th meridian east

154th meridian east

The meridian 154° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Australasia, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.

Fitzroy Island (Queensland)

Fitzroy Island (Queensland)

Fitzroy Island is a continental island offshore from Cape Grafton, 29 km southeast of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is a locality in the Cairns Region. In the 2016 census, Fitzroy Island had a population of 44 people.

Charles III, King of Australia

David Hurley, Governor-General of Australia

Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia

Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy.^[209] The country has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system under its constitution, which is one of the world's oldest, since Federation in 1901. It is also one of the world's oldest federations, in which power is divided between the federal and state and territorial governments. The Australian system of government combines elements derived from the political systems of the United Kingdom (a fused executive, constitutional monarchy and strong party discipline) and the United States (federalism, a written constitution and strong bicameralism with an elected upper house), along with distinctive indigenous features.^[210][211]

The federal government is separated into three branches:^[212]

• Legislature: the bicameral Parliament, comprising the monarch (represented by the governor-general), the Senate, and the House of Representatives;
• Executive: the Federal Executive Council, which in practice gives legal effect to the decisions of the cabinet, comprising the prime minister and other ministers of state appointed by the governor-general on the advice of Parliament;^[213]

• Judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the governor-general on advice of Parliament

Charles III reigns as King of Australia and is represented in Australia by the governor-general at the federal level and by the governors at the state level, who by convention act on the advice of his ministers.^[214][215] Thus, in practice the governor-general acts as a legal figurehead for the actions of the prime minister and the Federal Executive Council. The governor-general, however, does have reserve powers which, in some situations, may be exercised outside the prime minister's request. These powers are held by convention and their scope is unclear. The most notable exercise of these powers was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.^[216]

Parliament House, Canberra

In the Senate (the upper house), there are 76 senators: twelve each from the states and two each from the mainland territories (the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory).^[217] The House of Representatives (the lower house) has 151 members elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known as "electorates" or "seats", allocated to states on the basis of population,^[218] with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats.^[219] Elections for both chambers are normally held every three years simultaneously; senators have overlapping six-year terms except for those from the territories, whose terms are not fixed but are tied to the electoral cycle for the lower house; thus only 40 of the 76 places in the Senate are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a double dissolution.^[217]

Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting for all lower house elections with the exception of Tasmania and the ACT which, along with the Senate and most state upper houses, combine it with proportional representation in a system known as the single transferable vote. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction,^[220] as is enrolment.^[221] The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms the government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. In cases where no party has majority support, the Governor-General has the constitutional power to appoint the Prime Minister and, if necessary, dismiss one that has lost the confidence of Parliament.^[222] Due to the relatively unique position of Australia operating as a Westminster parliamentary democracy with an elected upper house, the system has sometimes been referred to as having a "Washminster mutation",^[223] or as a semi-parliamentary system.^[224]

There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party and the Coalition, which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party.^[225][226] The Liberal National Party and the Country Liberal Party are merged state branches in Queensland and the Northern Territory that function as separate parties at a federal level.^[227] Within Australian political culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right and the Labor Party is considered centre-left.^[228] Independent members and several minor parties have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses. The Australian Greens are often considered the "third force" in politics, being the third largest party by both vote and membership.^[229][230]

The most recent federal election was held on 21 May 2022 and resulted in the Australian Labor Party, led by Anthony Albanese, being elected to government.^[231]

States and territories

A map of Australia's states and territories

Australia has six states — New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (TAS), Victoria (VIC) and Western Australia (WA) — and three mainland territories—the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the Northern Territory (NT), and the Jervis Bay Territory (JBT). In most respects, the ACT and NT function as states, except that the Commonwealth Parliament has the power to modify or repeal any legislation passed by the territory parliaments.^[232]

Under the constitution, the states essentially have plenary legislative power to legislate on any subject, whereas the Commonwealth (federal) Parliament may legislate only within the subject areas enumerated under section 51. For example, state parliaments have the power to legislate with respect to education, criminal law and state police, health, transport, and local government, but the Commonwealth Parliament does not have any specific power to legislate in these areas.^[233] However, Commonwealth laws prevail over state laws to the extent of the inconsistency.^[234]

Each state and major mainland territory has its own parliament — unicameral in the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the other states. The states are sovereign entities, although subject to certain powers of the Commonwealth as defined by the Constitution. The lower houses are known as the Legislative Assembly (the House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania); the upper houses are known as the Legislative Council. The head of the government in each state is the Premier and in each territory the Chief Minister. The King is represented in each state by a governor; and in the Northern Territory, the administrator.^[235] In the Commonwealth, the King's representative is the governor-general.^[236]

The Commonwealth Parliament also directly administers the external territories of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, and the claimed region of Australian Antarctic Territory, as well as the internal Jervis Bay Territory, a naval base and sea port for the national capital in land that was formerly part of New South Wales.^[213] The external territory of Norfolk Island previously exercised considerable autonomy under the Norfolk Island Act 1979 through its own legislative assembly and an Administrator to represent the monarch.^[237] In 2015, the Commonwealth Parliament abolished self-government, integrating Norfolk Island into the Australian tax and welfare systems and replacing its legislative assembly with a council.^[238] Macquarie Island is part of Tasmania,^[239] and Lord Howe Island of New South Wales.^[240]

Foreign relations

Diplomatic missions of Australia

Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a focus on relationships within the Asia-Pacific region and a continued close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact and its status as a major non-NATO ally of that country.^[241] A regional power, Australia is a member of regional and cultural groupings including the Pacific Islands Forum, the Pacific Community and the Commonwealth of Nations, and is a participant in the ASEAN+6 mechanism and the East Asia Summit.

Australia is a member of several defence, intelligence and security groupings including the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand; the ANZUS alliance with the United States and New Zealand; the AUKUS security treaty with the United States and United Kingdom; the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with the United States, India and Japan; the Five Power Defence Arrangements with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore; and the Reciprocal Access defence and security agreement with Japan.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with American President Joe Biden in Kantei, Tokyo, 2022.

Australia has pursued the cause of international trade liberalisation.^[242] It led the formation of the Cairns Group and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation,^[243][244] and is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).^[245][246] In recent decades, Australia has entered into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership multilateral free trade agreements as well as bilateral free trade agreements with the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.^[247]

Australia maintains a deeply integrated relationship with neighbouring New Zealand, with free mobility of citizens between the two countries under the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement and free trade under the Closer Economic Relations agreement.^[248] The most favourably viewed countries by the Australian people in 2021 include New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and South Korea.^[249] A founding member country of the United Nations, Australia is strongly committed to multilateralism,^[250] and maintains an international aid program under which some 60 countries receive assistance.^[251] Australia ranked fourth in the Center for Global Development's 2021 Commitment to Development Index.^[252]

Military

HMAS Canberra, a Canberra class landing helicopter dock, and HMAS Arunta, an Anzac-class frigate, sailing in formation

Australia's armed forces — the Australian Defence Force (ADF) — comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), in total numbering 81,214 personnel (including 57,982 regulars and 23,232 reservists) as of November 2015^[update]. The titular role of Commander-in-Chief is vested in the Governor-General, who appoints a Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services on the advice of the government.^[253] In a diarchy, the Chief of the Defence Force serves as co-chairman of the Defence Committee, conjointly with the Secretary of Defence, in the command and control of the Australian Defence Organisation.^[254]

In the 2016–2017 budget, defence spending comprised 2% of GDP, representing the world's 12th largest defence budget.^[255] Australia has been involved in United Nations and regional peacekeeping, disaster relief, as well as armed conflicts from the First World War onwards.

Discover more about Government and politics related topics

Charles III

Charles III

Charles III is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales, and at the age of 73, became the oldest person to accede to the British throne, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, on 8 September 2022.

David Hurley

David Hurley

General David John Hurley, is an Australian former senior officer in the Australian Army who has served as the 27th governor-general of Australia since 1 July 2019. He was previously the 38th governor of New South Wales, serving from 2014 to 2019.

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Norman Albanese is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2019 and the member of parliament (MP) for Grayndler since 1996. Albanese previously was the 15th deputy prime minister under the second Kevin Rudd government in 2013, and held various ministerial positions in the governments of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from 2007 to 2013.

Constitution of Australia

Constitution of Australia

The Constitution of Australia is a constitutional document that is supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a federation under a constitutional monarchy and outlines the structure and powers of the Australian government's three constituent parts, the executive, legislature, and judiciary.

Federation of Australia

Federation of Australia

The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia, establishing a system of federalism in Australia. The colonies of Fiji and New Zealand were originally part of this process, but they decided not to join the federation. Following federation, the six colonies that united to form the Commonwealth of Australia as states kept the systems of government that they had developed as separate colonies, but they also agreed to have a federal government that was responsible for matters concerning the whole nation. When the Constitution of Australia came into force, on 1 January 1901, the colonies collectively became states of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Fusion of powers

Fusion of powers

Fusion of powers is a feature of some parliamentary forms of government where different branches of government are intermingled, typically the executive and legislative branches. It is contrasted with the separation of powers found in presidential, semi-presidential and dualistic parliamentary forms of government, where the membership of the legislative and executive powers cannot overlap. Fusion of powers exists in many, if not a majority of, parliamentary democracies, and does so by design. However, in all modern democratic polities the judiciary does not possess legislative or executive powers.

Federalism

Federalism

Federalism is a combined and compound mode of government that combines a general government with regional governments in a single political system, dividing the powers between the two. Federalism in the modern era was first adopted in the unions of states during the Old Swiss Confederacy.

Bicameralism

Bicameralism

Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single group. As of 2022, roughly 40% of world's national legislatures are bicameral, while unicameralism represents 60% nationally, and much more at the subnational level.

Governor-General of Australia

Governor-General of Australia

The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia. The governor-general is appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of government ministers. The governor-general has formal presidency over the Federal Executive Council and is commander-in-chief of the Australian Defence Force. The functions of the governor-general include appointing ministers, judges, and ambassadors; giving royal assent to legislation passed by parliament; issuing writs for election; and bestowing Australian honours.

Australian Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. There are a total of 76 senators: 12 are elected from each of the six Australian states regardless of population and 2 from each of the two autonomous internal Australian territories. Senators are popularly elected under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation.

Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.

Federal Executive Council (Australia)

Federal Executive Council (Australia)

In Australia's political system, the Federal Executive Council is a body established by Section 62 of the Australian Constitution to advise the Governor-General, and comprises, at least notionally, all current and former Commonwealth ministers and assistant ministers. As the Governor-General is bound by convention to follow the advice of the Executive Council on almost all occasions, the Executive Council has de jure executive power. In practice, this power is used to legally enact the decisions already made by Cabinet, which according to the practices of the Westminster system has no de jure authority in its own right.

The central business district of Sydney is the financial centre of Australia.

Australia's high-income mixed-market economy is rich in natural resources.^[256] It is the world's thirteenth-largest by nominal terms, and the 18th-largest by PPP. As of 2021^[update], it has the second-highest amount of wealth per adult, after Luxembourg,^[257] And has the thirteenth-highest financial assets per capita.^[258] Australia has a labour force of some 13.5 million, with an unemploynment rate of 3.5% as of June 2022.^[259] According to the Australian Council of Social Service, the poverty rate of Australia exceeds 13.6% of the population, encompassing 3.2 million. It also estimated that there were 774,000 (17.7%) children under the age of 15 living in relative poverty.^[260][261] The Australian dollar is the national currency, which is also shared with three Island states in the Pacific: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu.^[262]

Australian government debt, about $963 billion, exceeds 45.1% of the country's total GDP, and is the world's eighth-highest.^[263] Australia had the second-highest level of household debt in the world in 2020, after Switzerland.^[264] Its house prices are among the highest in the world, especially in the large urban areas.^[265] The large service sector accounts for about 71.2% of total GDP, followed by the industrial sector (25.3%), while the agriculture sector is by far the smallest, making up only 3.6% of total GDP.^[266] Australia is the world's 21st-largest exporter and 24th-largest importer.^[267][268] China is Australia's largest trading partner by a wide margin, accounting for roughly 40% of the country's exports and 17.6% of its imports.^[269] Other major export markets include Japan, the United States, and South Korea.^[270]

Australia has high levels of competitiveness and economic freedom, and is ranked eighth in the Human Development Index. As of 2022^[update], it is ranked twelfth in the Index of Economic Freedom and nineteenth in the Global Competitiveness Report.^[271][272] It attracted 9.5 million international tourists in 2019,^[273] and was ranked thirteenth among the countries of Asia-Pacific in 2019 for inbound tourism.^[274] The 2021 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Australia seventh-highest in the world out of 117 countries.^[275] Its international tourism receipts in 2019 amounted to $45.7 billion.^[274]

Energy

In 2003, Australia's energy sources were coal (58.4%), hydropower (19.1%), natural gas (13.5%), liquid/gas fossil fuel-switching plants (5.4%), oil (2.9%), and other renewable resources like wind power, solar energy, and bioenergy (0.7%).^[276] During the 21st century, Australia has been trending to generate more energy using renewable resources and less energy using fossil fuels. In 2020, Australia used coal for 62% of all energy (3.6% increase compared to 2013), wind power for 9.9% (9.5% increase), natural gas for 9.9% (3.6% decrease), solar power for 9.9% (9.8% increase), hydropower for 6.4% (12.7% decrease), bioenergy for 1.4% (1.2% increase), and other sources like oil and waste coal mine gas for 0.5%.^[277][278]

In August 2009, Australia's government set a goal to achieve 20% of all energy in the country from renewable sources by 2020.^[279] They achieved this goal, as renewable resources accounted for 27.7% of Australia's energy in 2020.^[277]

Science and technology

In 2019, Australia spent A$35.6 billion on research and development, allocating about 1.79% of GDP.^[280] A recent study by Accenture for the Tech Council shows that the Australian tech sector combined contributes $167 billion a year to the economy and employs 861,000 people.^[281] The country's most recognized and important sector of this type is mining,^[282] where Australia continues to have the highest penetration of technologies, especially drones, autonomous and remote-controlled vehicles and mine management software.^[283] In addition, the Australian recent startup ecosystem is growing annually at rates of 5.8%,^[284] and the Sydney and Melbourne ecosystems are already valued at $25 billion.^[285] Australia consistently has ranked high in the Global Innovation Index (GII). In 2022, Australia ranked 25th out of the 132 economies featured in the GII 2022, down from being 22nd in 2019. ^[286][287]

With only 0.3% of the world's population, Australia contributed 4.1% of the world's published research in 2020, making it one of the top 10 research contributors in the world.^[288][289] CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, contributes 10% of all research in the country, while the rest is carried out by universities.^[289] Its most notable contributions include the invention of atomic absorption spectroscopy,^[290] the essential components of Wi-Fi technology,^[291] and the development of the first commercially successful polymer banknote.^[292]

Australia is a key player in supporting space exploration. Facilities such as the Square Kilometre Array and Australia Telescope Compact Array radio telescopes, telescopes such as the Siding Spring Observatory, and ground stations such as the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex are of great assistance in deep space exploration missions, primarily by NASA.^[293]

Discover more about Economy related topics

Economy of Australia

Economy of Australia

Australia is a highly developed country with a mixed economy. As of 2022, Australia was the 14th-largest national economy by nominal GDP, the 20th-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP, and was the 22nd-largest goods exporter and 24th-largest goods importer. Australia took the record for the longest run of uninterrupted GDP growth in the developed world with the March 2017 financial quarter. It was the 103rd quarter and the 26th year since the country had a technical recession. As of June 2021, the country's GDP was estimated at A$1.98 trillion.

Economic history of Australia

Economic history of Australia

The economic history of Australia traces the economic history of Australia since European settlement in 1788.

Financial centre

Financial centre

A financial centre (BE), financial center (AE), or financial hub, is a location with a concentration of participants in banking, asset management, insurance or financial markets with venues and supporting services for these activities to take place. Participants can include financial intermediaries, institutional investors, and issuers. Trading activity can take place on venues such as exchanges and involve clearing houses, although many transactions take place over-the-counter (OTC), that is directly between participants. Financial centres usually host companies that offer a wide range of financial services, for example relating to mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, or corporate actions; or which participate in other areas of finance, such as private equity, hedge funds, and reinsurance. Ancillary financial services include rating agencies, as well as provision of related professional services, particularly legal advice and accounting services.

Mining in Australia

Mining in Australia

Mining in Australia has long been a significant primary sector industry and contributor to the Australian economy by providing export income, royalty payments and employment. Historically, mining booms have also encouraged population growth via immigration to Australia, particularly the gold rushes of the 1850s. Many different ores, gems and minerals have been mined in the past and a wide variety are still mined throughout the country.

List of countries by GDP (nominal)

List of countries by GDP (nominal)

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or government official exchange rates. Nominal GDP does not take into account differences in the cost of living in different countries, and the results can vary greatly from one year to another based on fluctuations in the exchange rates of the country's currency. Such fluctuations may change a country's ranking from one year to the next, even though they often make little or no difference in the standard of living of its population.

List of countries by GDP (PPP)

List of countries by GDP (PPP)

GDP (PPP) means gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity. This article includes a list of countries by their forecast estimated GDP (PPP). Countries are sorted by GDP (PPP) forecast estimates from financial and statistical institutions that calculate using market or government official exchange rates. The data given on this page are based on the international dollar, a standardized unit used by economists. Certain regions that are not widely considered countries such as Hong Kong also show up in the list if they are distinct jurisdiction areas or economic entities.

List of countries by wealth per adult

List of countries by wealth per adult

This is a list of countries of the world by wealth per adult or household, from sources such as Credit Suisse's annual Global Wealth Databook and the OECD's Better Life Index. Wealth includes both financial and non-financial assets.

Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small landlocked country in Western Europe. It borders Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg, is one of the four institutional seats of the European Union and the seat of several EU institutions, notably the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest judicial authority. Luxembourg's culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its French and German neighbors; while Luxembourgish is the only national language of the Luxembourgish people, French is the only language for legislation, and all three — Luxembourgish, French and German — are considered official languages and are used for administrative matters in the country.

List of countries by financial assets per capita

List of countries by financial assets per capita

This shows two lists by Allianz A.G and Credit Suisse.

Australian Council of Social Service

Australian Council of Social Service

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is an Australian organisation that advocates for action to reduce poverty and inequality, and is the peak body for the community services sector in Australia. It was formed in 1956.

Australian dollar

Australian dollar

The Australian dollar is the official currency and legal tender of Australia, including its external territories, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island, and three independent sovereign Pacific Island states: Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. Within Australia, it is almost always abbreviated with the dollar sign ($), with A$ or AU$ sometimes used to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The $ symbol precedes the amount. On the introduction of the currency, the $ symbol was intended to have two strokes, but the version with one stroke has also always been acceptable. It is subdivided into 100 cents.

Kiribati

Kiribati

Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in Oceania in the Central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 (2020), with more than half of whom live on Tarawa atoll. The state comprises 32 atolls and one remote raised coral island, Banaba. Its total land area is 811 km2 (313 sq mi) dispersed over 35,000,000 km2 (14,000,000 sq mi) of ocean.

Australia has one of the world's most highly urbanised populations with the majority living in metropolitan cities on the coast, such as Gold Coast, Queensland.

Australia has an average population density of 3.4 persons per square kilometre of total land area, which makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. The population is heavily concentrated on the east coast, and in particular in the south-eastern region between South East Queensland to the north-east and Adelaide to the south-west.^[294]

Australia is highly urbanised, with 67% of the population living in the Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (metropolitan areas of the state and mainland territorial capital cities) in 2018.^[295] Metropolitan areas with more than one million inhabitants are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.^[296]

In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2018 the average age of the Australian population was 38.8 years.^[297] In 2015, 2.15% of the Australian population lived overseas, one of the lowest proportions worldwide.^[298]

Ancestry and immigration

Australian residents by country of birth, 2021 census

Between 1788 and the Second World War, the vast majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles (principally England, Ireland and Scotland), although there is significant immigration from China and Germany during the 19th century. In the decades immediately following the Second World War, Australia received a large wave of immigration from across Europe, with many more immigrants arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe than in previous decades. Since the end of the White Australia policy in 1973, Australia has pursued an official policy of multiculturalism,^[300] and there has been a large and continuing wave of immigration from across the world, with Asia being the largest source of immigrants in the 21st century.^[301]

Today, Australia has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30% of the population, the highest proportion among major Western nations.^[302][303] 160,323 permanent immigrants were admitted to Australia in 2018–2019 (excluding refugees),^[301] whilst there was a net population gain of 239,600 people from all permanent and temporary immigration in that year.^[304] The majority of immigrants are skilled,^[301] but the immigration program includes categories for family members and refugees.^[304] In 2020, the largest foreign-born populations were those born in England (3.8%), India (2.8%), Mainland China (2.5%), New Zealand (2.2%), the Philippines (1.2%) and Vietnam (1.1%).^[305]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics does not collect data on race, but asks each Australian resident to nominate up to two ancestries each census.^[306] These ancestry responses are classified into broad standardised ancestry groups.^[307] At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses within each standardised group as a proportion of the total population was as follows:^[308] 57.2% European (including 46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European), 33.8% Oceanian^{[N 7]}, 17.4% Asian (including 6.5% Southern and Central Asian, 6.4% North-East Asian, and 4.5% South-East Asian), 3.2% North African and Middle Eastern, 1.4% Peoples of the Americas, and 1.3% Sub-Saharan African. At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated individual ancestries as a proportion of the total population were:^[3]

At the 2021 census, 3.2% of the Australian population identified as being Indigenous — Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.^{[N 10][310]}

Language

Percentage of population speaking an Australian indigenous language according to the 2011 census

Although Australia has no official language, English is the de facto national language.^[2] Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon,^[311] and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.^[312] General Australian serves as the standard dialect.^[313]

At the 2021 census, English was the only language spoken in the home for 72% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%) and Punjabi (0.9%).^[310] Over 250 Australian Aboriginal languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact,^[314] of which fewer than twenty are still in daily use by all age groups.^[315][316] About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people.^[316] At the time of the 2006 census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home.^[317] Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 10,112 deaf people who reported that they use Auslan language at home in the 2016 census.^[318]

Religion

Australia is secular and hosts a diversity of religions. St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, Australia's largest religious denomination.

Australia has no state religion; Section 116 of the Australian Constitution prohibits the federal government from making any law to establish any religion, impose any religious observance, or prohibit the free exercise of any religion.^[319]

At the 2021 Census, 38.9% of the population identified as having "no religion",^[3] up from 15.5% in 2001.^[320] The largest religion is Christianity (43.9% of the population).^[3] The largest Christian denominations are the Roman Catholic Church (20% of the population) and the Anglican Church of Australia (9.8%). Multicultural immigration since the Second World War has led to the growth of non-Christian religions, the largest of which are Islam (3.2%), Hinduism (2.7%), Buddhism (2.4%), Sikhism (0.8%), and Judaism (0.4%).^[3]

In 2021, just under 8,000 people declared an affiliation with traditional Aboriginal religions.^[3] In Australian Aboriginal mythology and the animist framework developed in Aboriginal Australia, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral totemic spirit beings formed The Creation. The Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land.^[321]

Health

Australia's life expectancy of 83 years (81 years for males and 85 years for females),^[322] is the fifth-highest in the world. It has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world,^[323] while cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease, responsible for 7.8% of the total mortality and disease. Ranked second in preventable causes is hypertension at 7.6%, with obesity third at 7.5%.^[324][325] Australia ranked 35th in the world in 2012 for its proportion of obese women^[326] and near the top of developed nations for its proportion of obese adults;^[327] 63% of its adult population is either overweight or obese.^[328]

Australia spent around 9.91% of its total GDP to health care in 2021.^[329] It introduced universal health care in 1975.^[330] Known as Medicare, it is now nominally funded by an income tax surcharge known as the Medicare levy, currently at 2%.^[331] The states manage hospitals and attached outpatient services, while the Commonwealth funds the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (subsidising the costs of medicines) and general practice.^[330]

During the COVID-19 pandemic Australia had one of the most restrictive quarantine policies, resulting in one of the lowest death rates worldwide.^[332]

Education

Five Australian universities rank in the top 50 of the QS World University Rankings, including the Australian National University (19th).^[333]

School attendance, or registration for home schooling,^[334] is compulsory throughout Australia. Education is the responsibility of the individual states and territories^[335] so the rules vary between states, but in general children are required to attend school from the age of about 5 until about 16.^[336][337] In some states (Western Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales), children aged 16–17 are required to either attend school or participate in vocational training, such as an apprenticeship.^{[338][339][340][341]}

Australia has an adult literacy rate that was estimated to be 99% in 2003.^[342] However, a 2011–2012 report for the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that Tasmania has a literacy and numeracy rate of only 50%.^[343]

Australia has 37 government-funded universities and three private universities, as well as a number of other specialist institutions that provide approved courses at the higher education level.^[344] The OECD places Australia among the most expensive nations to attend university.^[345] There is a state-based system of vocational training, known as TAFE, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople.^[346] About 58% of Australians aged from 25 to 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications^[347] and the tertiary graduation rate of 49% is the highest among OECD countries. 30.9% of Australia's population has attained a higher education qualification, which is among the highest percentages in the world.^{[348][349][350]}

Australia has the highest ratio of international students per head of population in the world by a large margin, with 812,000 international students enrolled in the nation's universities and vocational institutions in 2019.^[351][352] Accordingly, in 2019, international students represented on average 26.7% of the student bodies of Australian universities. International education therefore represents one of the country's largest exports and has a pronounced influence on the country's demographics, with a significant proportion of international students remaining in Australia after graduation on various skill and employment visas.^[353] Education is Australia's third-largest export, after iron ore and coal, and contributed over $28 billion to the economy in 2016–17.^[289]

Discover more about Demographics related topics

List of cities in Australia by population

List of cities in Australia by population

These lists of Australian cities by population provide rankings of Australian cities and towns according to various systems defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast, Queensland

The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately 66 kilometres (41 mi) south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nation's largest non-capital city, and Queensland's second-largest city after Brisbane. The city's Central Business District is located roughly in the centre of the Gold Coast in the suburb of Southport, with the suburb holding more corporate office space than anywhere else in the city. The urban area of the Gold Coast is concentrated along the coast sprawling almost 60 kilometers, joining up with the Greater Brisbane Metropolitan Area to the north and to the state border with New South Wales to the south.

Population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term. In simple terms, population density refers to the number of people living in an area per square kilometre, or other unit of land area.

South East Queensland

South East Queensland

South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. The area covered by South East Queensland varies, depending on the definition of the region, though it tends to include Queensland's three largest cities: the capital city Brisbane; the Gold Coast; and the Sunshine Coast. Its most common use is for political purposes, and covers 35,248 square kilometres (13,609 sq mi) and incorporates 11 local government areas, extending 240 kilometres (150 mi) from Noosa in the north to the Gold Coast and New South Wales border in the south, and 140 kilometres (87 mi) west to Toowoomba.

Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide or the Adelaide city centre. The demonym Adelaidean is used to denote the city and the residents of Adelaide. The Traditional Owners of the Adelaide region are the Kaurna people. The area of the city centre and surrounding parklands is called Tarndanya in the Kaurna language.

Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a 9,993 km2 (3,858 sq mi) metropolitan area known as Greater Melbourne, comprising an urban agglomeration of 31 local municipalities, although the name is also used specifically for the local municipality of City of Melbourne based around its central business area. The metropolis occupies much of the northern and eastern coastlines of Port Phillip Bay and spreads into the Mornington Peninsula, part of West Gippsland, as well as the hinterlands towards the Yarra Valley, the Dandenong and Macedon Ranges. It has a population over 5 million, mostly residing to the east side of the city centre, and its inhabitants are commonly referred to as "Melburnians".

Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of South East Queensland, which includes several other regional centres and cities. The central business district is situated within a peninsula of the Brisbane River about 15 km (9 mi) from its mouth at Moreton Bay. Brisbane is located in the hilly floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Taylor and D'Aguilar mountain ranges. It sprawls across several local government areas, most centrally the City of Brisbane. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite.

Perth

Perth

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of the metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which the city's central business district and port of Fremantle are situated. Perth is located on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 45,000 years.

Australian diaspora

Australian diaspora

The Australian diaspora are those Australians living outside of Australia. It includes approximately 527,255 Australian-born people living outside of Australia, people who are Australian citizens and live outside Australia, and people with Australian ancestry who live outside of Australia.

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Australian Bureau of Statistics

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for statistical collection and analysis and for giving evidence-based advice to federal, state and territory governments. The ABS collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, environmental and social issues, publishing many on their website. The ABS also operates the national Census of Population and Housing that occurs every five years.

List of cities in Australia

List of cities in Australia

The definition of a city in Australia varies between the states. State capital cities may include multiple local government areas (LGAs) within their boundaries and these LGAs may be cities in their own right.

States and territories of Australia

States and territories of Australia

The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing polities with incomplete sovereignty and have their own constitutions, legislatures, departments, and certain civil authorities that administer and deliver most public policies and programs. Territories can be autonomous and administer local policies and programs much like the states in practice, but are still constitutionally and financially subordinate to the federal government and thus have no true sovereignty.

The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne was the first building in Australia to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.^[354]

The country is home to a diversity of cultures, a result of its history of immigration.^[355] Prior to 1850, Australia was dominated by Indigenous cultures.^[356][357] Since then, Australian culture has primarily been a Western culture, strongly influenced by Anglo-Celtic settlers.^[358][359] Other influences include Australian Aboriginal culture, the traditions brought to the country by waves of immigration from around the world,^[360] and the culture of the United States.^[361] The cultural divergence and evolution that has occurred over the centuries since European settlement has resulted in a distinctive Australian culture.^[362][363]

Arts

Sidney Nolan's Snake mural (1970), held at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania, is inspired by the Aboriginal creation myth of the Rainbow Serpent, as well as desert flowers in bloom after a drought.^[364]

Australia has over 100,000 Aboriginal rock art sites,^[365] and traditional designs, patterns and stories infuse contemporary Indigenous Australian art, "the last great art movement of the 20th century" according to critic Robert Hughes;^[366] its exponents include Emily Kame Kngwarreye.^[367] Early colonial artists showed a fascination with the unfamiliar land.^[368] The impressionistic works of Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts and other members of the 19th-century Heidelberg School—the first "distinctively Australian" movement in Western art—gave expression to nationalist sentiments in the lead-up to Federation.^[368] While the school remained influential into the 1900s, modernists such as Margaret Preston, and, later, Sidney Nolan, explored new artistic trends.^[368] The landscape remained central to the work of Aboriginal watercolourist Albert Namatjira,^[369] as well as Fred Williams, Brett Whiteley and other post-war artists whose works, eclectic in style yet uniquely Australian, moved between the figurative and the abstract.^[368][370]

Australian literature grew slowly in the decades following European settlement though Indigenous oral traditions, many of which have since been recorded in writing, are much older.^[371] In the 19th-century, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson captured the experience of the bush using a distinctive Australian vocabulary.^[372] Their works are still popular; Paterson's bush poem "Waltzing Matilda" (1895) is regarded as Australia's unofficial national anthem.^[373] Miles Franklin is the namesake of Australia's most prestigious literary prize, awarded annually to the best novel about Australian life.^[374] Its first recipient, Patrick White, went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973.^[375] Australian Booker Prize winners include Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally and Richard Flanagan.^[376] Australian public intellectuals have also written seminal works in their respective fields, including feminist Germaine Greer and philosopher Peter Singer.^[377]

Many of Australia's performing arts companies receive funding through the federal government's Australia Council.^[378] There is a symphony orchestra in each state,^[379] and a national opera company, Opera Australia,^[380] well known for its famous soprano Joan Sutherland.^[381] At the beginning of the 20th century, Nellie Melba was one of the world's leading opera singers.^[382] Ballet and dance are represented by The Australian Ballet and various state companies. Each state has a publicly funded theatre company.^[383]

Media

Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature-length narrative film

The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature-length narrative film, spurred a boom in Australian cinema during the silent film era.^[384] After World War I, Hollywood monopolised the industry,^[385] and by the 1960s Australian film production had effectively ceased.^[386] With the benefit of government support, the Australian New Wave of the 1970s brought provocative and successful films, many exploring themes of national identity, such as Wake in Fright and Gallipoli,^[387] while Crocodile Dundee and the Ozploitation movement's Mad Max series became international blockbusters.^[388] In a film market flooded with foreign content, Australian films delivered a 7.7% share of the local box office in 2015.^[389] The AACTAs are Australia's premier film and television awards, and notable Academy Award winners from Australia include Geoffrey Rush, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger.^[390]

Australia has two public broadcasters (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the multicultural Special Broadcasting Service), three commercial television networks, several pay-TV services,^[391] and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Each major city has at least one daily newspaper,^[391] and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review.^[391] In 2020, Reporters Without Borders placed Australia 25th on a list of 180 countries ranked by press freedom, behind New Zealand (8th) but ahead of the United Kingdom (33rd) and United States (44th).^[392] This relatively low ranking is primarily because of the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia;^[393] most print media are under the control of News Corporation and Nine Entertainment Co.^[394]

Cuisine

The meringue-based pavlova is generally eaten at Christmas time.

Most Indigenous Australian groups subsisted on a simple hunter-gatherer diet of native fauna and flora, otherwise called bush tucker.^[395] The first settlers introduced British and Irish cuisine to the continent.^[396][397] This influence is seen in the enduring popularity of several British dishes such as fish and chips, and in quintessential Australian dishes such as the Australian meat pie, which is related to the British steak pie. Post-war immigration transformed Australian cuisine. For instance, Southern European migrants helped to build a thriving Australian coffee culture which gave rise to Australian coffee drinks such as the flat white,^[398] while East Asian migration led to dishes such as the Cantonese-influenced dim sim and Chiko Roll,^[399] as well as a distinct Australian Chinese cuisine. Sausage sizzles, pavlovas, lamingtons, meat pies, Vegemite and Anzac biscuits are regarded as iconic Australian foods.^[400]

Australia is a leading exporter and consumer of wine.^[401] Australian wine is produced mainly in the southern, cooler parts of the country.^[402] The nation also ranks highly in beer consumption,^[403] with each state and territory hosting numerous breweries. Australia is also known for its cafe and coffee culture in urban centres.^[404]

Sport and recreation

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is strongly associated with the history and development of cricket and Australian rules football, Australia's two most popular spectator sports.^[405]

Cricket and football are the predominant sports in Australia during the summer and winter months, respectively. Australia is unique in that it has professional leagues for four football codes. Originating in Melbourne in the 1850s, Australian rules football is the most popular code in all states except New South Wales and Queensland, where rugby league holds sway, followed by rugby union.^[406] Soccer, while ranked fourth in popularity and resources, has the highest overall participation rates.^[407] Cricket is popular across all borders and has been regarded by many Australians as the national sport. The Australian national cricket team competed against England in the first Test match (1877) and the first One Day International (1971), and against New Zealand in the first Twenty20 International (2004), winning all three games. It has also participated in every edition of the Cricket World Cup, winning the tournament a record five times.^[408]

Australia is one of five nations to have participated in every Summer Olympics of the modern era,^[409] and has hosted the Games twice: 1956 in Melbourne and 2000 in Sydney.^[410] It is also set to host the 2032 Games in Brisbane.^[411] Australia has also participated in every Commonwealth Games,^[412] hosting the event in 1938, 1962, 1982, 2006 and 2018.^[413] As well as being a regular FIFA World Cup participant, Australia has won the OFC Nations Cup four times and the AFC Asian Cup once—the only country to have won championships in two different FIFA confederations.^[414]

Other major international events held in Australia include the Australian Open tennis grand slam tournament and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. The annual Melbourne Cup horse race and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race also attract intense interest.^[415] Australia is also notable for water-based sports, such as swimming and surfing.^[416] The surf lifesaving movement originated in Australia, and the volunteer lifesaver is one of the country's icons.^[417] Snow sports take place primarily in the Australian Alps and Tasmania.^[418]

Discover more about Culture related topics

Culture of Australia

Culture of Australia

The culture of Australia is primarily a Western culture, originally derived from Britain but also influenced by the unique geography of Australia and the cultural input of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other Australian people. The British colonisation of Australia began in 1788, and waves of multi-ethnic migration followed. Evidence of a significant Anglo-Celtic heritage includes the predominance of the English language, the existence of a democratic system of government drawing upon the British traditions of Westminster government, parliamentarianism and constitutional monarchy, American constitutionalist and federalist traditions, and Christianity as the dominant religion.

Multiculturalism in Australia

Multiculturalism in Australia

Multiculturalism in Australia is today reflected by the multicultural composition of its people, its immigration policies, its prohibition on discrimination, equality before the law of all persons, as well as various cultural policies which promote diversity, such as the formation of the Special Broadcasting Service.

Immigration history of Australia

Immigration history of Australia

The immigration history of Australia began with the initial human migration to the continent around 80,000 years ago when the ancestors of Aboriginal Australians arrived on the continent via the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea. From the early 17th century onwards, the continent experienced the first coastal landings and exploration by European explorers. Permanent European settlement began in 1788 with the establishment of a British penal colony in New South Wales. From early federation in 1901, Australia maintained the White Australia Policy, which was abolished after World War II, heralding the modern era of multiculturalism in Australia. From the late 1970s there was a significant increase in immigration from Asian and other non-European countries.

Anglo-Celtic Australians

Anglo-Celtic Australians

Anglo-Celtic Australians is an ancestral grouping of Australians whose ancestors originate wholly or partially in the British Isles - predominantly in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Australian Aboriginal culture

Australian Aboriginal culture

Australian Aboriginal culture includes a number of practices and ceremonies centered on a belief in the Dreamtime and other mythology. Reverence and respect for the land and oral traditions are emphasised. Over 300 languages and other groupings have developed a wide range of individual cultures. Due the colonization of Australia under terra nullius concept these cultures were treated as one monoculture. Australian Aboriginal art has existed for thousands of years and ranges from ancient rock art to modern watercolour landscapes. Aboriginal music has developed a number of unique instruments. Contemporary Australian Aboriginal music spans many genres. Aboriginal peoples did not develop a system of writing before colonisation, but there was a huge variety of languages, including sign languages.

Culture of the United States

Culture of the United States

The culture of the United States of America, also referred to as American culture, encompasses various social behaviors, institutions, and norms in the United States, including forms of speech, literature, music, visual arts, performing arts, food, religion, law, technology as well as other customs, beliefs, and forms of knowledge. American culture has been shaped by the history of the United States, its geography, and various internal and external forces and migrations.

Australian art

Australian art

Australian art is any art made in or about Australia, or by Australians overseas, from prehistoric times to the present. This includes Aboriginal, Colonial, Landscape, Atelier, early-twentieth-century painters, print makers, photographers, and sculptors influenced by European modernism, Contemporary art. The visual arts have a long history in Australia, with evidence of Aboriginal art dating back at least 30,000 years. Australia has produced many notable artists of both Western and Indigenous Australian schools, including the late-19th-century Heidelberg School plein air painters, the Antipodeans, the Central Australian Hermannsburg School watercolourists, the Western Desert Art Movement and coeval examples of well-known High modernism and Postmodern art.

Australian literature

Australian literature

Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, the narrative art of Australian writers has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent into literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, democracy, national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and geography, the complexities of urban living, and "the beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.

Dance in Australia

Dance in Australia

Ceremonial dancing has a very important place in the Indigenous cultures of Australia. They vary from place to place, but most ceremonies combine dance, song, rituals and often elaborate body decorations and costumes. The different body paintings indicate the type of ceremony being performed. They play an important role in marriage ceremonies, in the education of Indigenous children, as well as storytelling and oral history. The term corroboree is commonly used to refer to Australian Aboriginal dances, although this term has its origins among the people of the Sydney region. In some places, Aboriginal people perform corroborees for tourists. In the latter part of the 20th century the influence of Indigenous Australian dance traditions has been seen with the development of concert dance, with the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA) providing training in contemporary dance.

Museum of Old and New Art

Museum of Old and New Art

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is an art museum located within the Moorilla winery on the Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere. MONA houses ancient, modern and contemporary art from the David Walsh collection. Noted for its central themes of sex and death, the museum has been described by Walsh as a "subversive adult Disneyland".

Rainbow Serpent

Rainbow Serpent

The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion of many Aboriginal Australian peoples. Much like the archetypal mother goddess, the Rainbow Serpent creates land and diversity for the Aboriginal people, but when disturbed can bring great chaos.

Contemporary Indigenous Australian art

Contemporary Indigenous Australian art

Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians, that is, Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. It is generally regarded as beginning in 1971 with a painting movement that started at Papunya, northwest of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, involving Aboriginal artists such as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, and facilitated by white Australian teacher and art worker Geoffrey Bardon. The movement spawned widespread interest across rural and remote Aboriginal Australia in creating art, while contemporary Indigenous art of a different nature also emerged in urban centres; together they have become central to Australian art. Indigenous art centres have fostered the emergence of the contemporary art movement, and as of 2010 were estimated to represent over 5000 artists, mostly in Australia's north and west.