his article is about the country. For the continent, see Australia (continent).

For other uses, see Australia (disambiguation).

Page semi-protected
Commonwealth of Australia
A blue field with the Union Flag in the upper hoist quarter, a large white seven
-pointed star in the lower hoist quarter, and constellation of five white stars
in the fly
one small five-pointed star and four, larger, seven-pointed stars.
Flag
Coat of arms
Anthem: "Advance Australia Fair"[N 1]
MENU0:00
Capital Canberra
3518.48'S 1497.47'E
Largest city
Sydney
Official languages
None[N 2]
National language
English[N 2]
Demonym
Australian Aussie[3][4]
Government
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Monarch Elizabeth II
Governor-General
Sir Peter Cosgrove
Prime Minister Tony Abbott
Chief Justice Robert French
Legislature
Parliament
Upper house
Senate
Lower house
House of Representatives
Independence from the United Kingdom
Constitution
1 January 1901
Statute of Westminster Adoption Act
9 October 1942 (with effect
from 3 September 1939)
Australia Act 3 March 1986
Area
Total 7,692,024 km2 (6th)
2,969,907 sq mi
Population
2014 estimate 23,688,300[5] (51st)
2011 census
21,507,717[6]
Density 2.8/km2 (233rd)
7.3/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2014 estimate
Total $1.100 trillion[7] (19th)
Per capita
$46,631[7] (15th)
GDP (nominal) 2014 estimate
Total $1.483 trillion[7] (12th)
Per capita
$62,822[7] (5th)
Gini (2006)
33.6[8]
medium 19th
HDI (2013)
Steady 0.933[9]
very high 2nd
Currency
Australian dollar (AUD)
Time zone
various[N 3] (UTC+8 to +10.5)
Summer (DST)
various[N 3] (UTC+8 to +11.5)
Date format
dd-mm-yyyy
Drives on the left
Calling code
+61
ISO 3166 code AU
Internet TLD
.au
Australia /?'stre?li?/, /?-/, or colloquially /-j?/,[10][11] officially the Comm
onwealth of Australia,[12] is a country comprising the mainland of the Australia
n continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the wor

ld's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indones

ia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuat
u to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years[13] before the first British settlement in the late 18
th century,[14][15] Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians,[16] who s
poke languages grouped into roughly 250 language groups.[17][18] After the Europ
ean discovery of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern h
alf was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal tra
nsportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The populatio
n grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additio
nal five self-governing crown colonies were established.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Austr
alia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic pol
itical system that functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constituti
onal monarchy comprising six states and several territories. The population of 2
3.6 million[5] is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated in the eastern state
s and on the coast.[19]
Australia is a developed country and one of the wealthiest in the world, with th
e world's 12th-largest economy. In 2012 Australia had the world's fifth-highest
per capita income.[20] Australia's military expenditure is the world's 13th-larg
est. With the second-highest human development index globally, Australia ranks h
ighly in many international comparisons of national performance, such as quality
of life, health, education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liber
ties and political rights.[21] Australia is a member of the United Nations, G20,
Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Deve
lopment (OECD), World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and
the Pacific Islands Forum.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Government
4 States and territories
5 Foreign relations and military
6 Geography and climate
7 Environment
8 Economy
9 Demographics
9.1 Language
9.2 Religion
9.3 Education
9.4 Health
10 Culture
10.1 Arts
10.2 Media
10.3 Cuisine
10.4 Sport
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 Bibliography
15 Further reading
16 External links
Etymology
Pronounced [?'st??lj?, -li?] in Australian English,[22] the name Australia is der
ived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern". The country has been referred
to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century.[N 4] Aussie is a common col

loquial term for "Australian". In neighbouring New Zealand, and less commonly in
Australia itself, the noun "Aussie" is also used to refer to the nation, as dis
tinct from its residents.[27][28][29] The sporting anthem C'mon Aussie C'mon is
an example of local use of Aussie as synonym for Australia.[28][30]
Legends of Terra Australis Incognita an "unknown land of the South" date back to Rom
an times and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any d
ocumented knowledge of the continent. Following European discovery, names for th
e Australian landmass were often references to the famed Terra Australis.
The earliest recorded use of the word Australia in English was in 1625 in "A not
e of Australia del Espritu Santo, written by Sir Richard Hakluyt", published by S
amuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus, a corruption of the original Spanish name
"Tierra Austral del Espritu Santo" (Southern Land of the Holy Spirit)[31] for an
island in Vanuatu.[32] The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutc
h book in Batavia (Jakarta) in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to t
he south.[33] Australia was later used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de
Jacques Sadeur dans la Dcouverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1676 Frenc
h novel by Gabriel de Foigny, under the pen-name Jacques Sadeur.[34] Referring t
o the entire South Pacific region, Alexander Dalrymple used it in An Historical
Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean in 1771. By the
end of the 18th century, the name was being used to refer specifically to Austr
alia, with the botanists George Shaw and Sir James Smith writing of "the vast is
land, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland" in their 17
93 Zoology and Botany of New Holland,[35] and James Wilson including it on a 179
9 chart.[36]
The name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who pushed
for it to be formally adopted as early as 1804.[37] When preparing his manuscrip
t and charts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis, he was persuaded by his p
atron, Sir Joseph Banks, to use the term Terra Australis as this was the name mo
st familiar to the public. Flinders did so, and published the following rational
e:
There is no probability, that any other detached body of land, of nearly equal e
xtent, will ever be found in a more southern latitude; the name Terra Australis
will, therefore, remain descriptive of the geographical importance of this count
ry, and of its situation on the globe: it has antiquity to recommend it; and, ha
ving no reference to either of the two claiming nations, appears to be less obje
ctionable than any other which could have been selected.*[38]
In the footnote Flinders wrote:
* Had I permitted myself any innovation on the original term, it would have bee
n to convert it to AUSTRALIA; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimil
ation to the names of the other great portions of the earth.[39]
This is the only occurrence of the word Australia in that text; but in Appendix
III, Robert Brown's General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botan
y of Terra Australis, Brown makes use of the adjectival form Australian througho
ut,[40] the first known use of that form.[41] Despite popular conception, the book
was not instrumental in the adoption of the name: the name came gradually to be
accepted over the following ten years.[42]
The first time that the name Australia appears to have been officially used was
in a despatch to Lord Bathurst of 4 April 1817 in which Governor Lachlan Macquar
ie acknowledges the receipt of Capt. Flinders' charts of Australia.[43] On 12 De
cember 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally ad
opted.[44] In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known offi
cially as Australia.[45]

History
Main article: History of Australia
Map of Australia with coloured arrows showing the path of early explorers around
the coast of Australia and surrounding islands
Exploration of what was then New Holland by Europeans until 1812
1606 Willem Janszoon
1606 Luis Vez de Torres
1616 Dirk Hartog
1619 Frederick de Houtman
1644 Abel Tasman
1696 Willem de Vlamingh
1699 William Dampier
1770 James Cook
1797 1799 George Bass
1801 1803 Matthew Flinders
Portrait of Captain James Cook, the first European to map the eastern coastline
of Australia in 1770.
Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun between
42,000 and 48,000 years ago,[46] possibly with the migration of people by land b
ridges and short sea-crossings from what is now South-East Asia. These first inh
abitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians.[47] At the ti
me of European settlement in the late 18th century, most Indigenous Australians
were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on
reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islande
rs, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturalists and hunter-gatherer
s.[48] The northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by
fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia.[49]
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first r
ecorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dut
ch navigator Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in ear
ly 1606, and made landfall on 26 February at the Pennefather River near the mode
rn town of Weipa on Cape York.[50] The Dutch charted the whole of the western an
d northern coastlines and named the island continent "New Holland" during the 17
th century, but made no attempt at settlement.[50] William Dampier, an English e
xplorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and
again in 1699 on a return trip.[51] In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped
the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.[5
2] With 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 f
lag raised at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, on 26 January 1788,[15] a date which be
came Australia's national day, Australia Day although the British Crown Colony o
f New South Wales was not formally promulgated until 7 February 1788. The first
settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, the establishment of farming, indust
ry and commerce; and the exploration and settlement of other regions.
A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania
, in 1803 and it became a separate colony in 1825.[53] The United Kingdom formal
ly claimed the western part of Western Australia (the Swan River Colony) in 1828
.[54] Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales: South Austral
ia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859.[55] The Northern Territory
was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia.[56] South Austral
ia was founded as a "free province" it was never a penal colony.[57] Victoria and
Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted transported convi
cts.[58][59] A campaign by the settlers of New South Wales led to the end of con
vict transportation to that colony; the last convict ship arrived in 1848.[60]

A calm body of water is in the foreground. The shoreline is about 200 metres awa
y. To the left, close to the shore, are three tall gum trees; behind them on an
incline are ruins, including walls and watchtowers of light-coloured stone and b
rick, what appear to be the foundations of walls, and grassed areas. To the righ
t lie the outer walls of a large rectangular four-storey building dotted with re
gularly spaced windows. Forested land rises gently to a peak several kilometres
back from the shore.
Port Arthur, Tasmania was Australia's largest prison for reoffending convicts.
The indigenous population, estimated to have been between 750,000 and 1,000,000
at the time European settlement began,[61] declined for 150 years following sett
lement, mainly due to infectious disease.[62] A government policy of "assimilati
on" beginning with the Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 resulted in the removal of
many Aboriginal children from their families and communities often referred to as
the Stolen Generations a practice which may also have contributed to the decline
in the indigenous population.[63] The Federal government gained the power to mak
e laws with respect to Aborigines following the 1967 referendum.[64] Traditional
ownership of land aboriginal title was not recognised until 1992, when the High Cou
rt case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the legal doctrine that Australia ha
d been terra nullius ("land belonging to no one") before the European occupation
.[65]
A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s[66] and the Eureka Rebellion a
gainst mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience
.[67] Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible go
vernment, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British
Empire.[68] The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, not
ably foreign affairs,[69] defence,[70] and international shipping.
Photo of an ANZAC memorial with an elderly man playing a bugle. Rows of people a
re seated behind the memorial. Many small white crosses with red poppies have be
en stuck into the lawn in rows on either side of the memorial.
The Last Post is played at an Anzac Day ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Si
milar ceremonies are held in most suburbs and towns.
On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of pla
nning, consultation and voting.[71] The Commonwealth of Australia was establishe
d and it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The Federal Capital Te
rritory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed in 1911 as t
he location for the future federal capital of Canberra. Melbourne was the tempor
ary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed.[7
2] The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australi
an government to the federal parliament in 1911.[73] In 1914, Australia joined B
ritain in fighting World War I, with support from both the outgoing Commonwealth
Liberal Party and the incoming Australian Labor Party.[74][75] Australians took
part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front.[76] Of about 416
,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded.[77]
Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
(ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation its first major military action.[
78][79] The Kokoda Track campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-def
ining event during World War II.[80]
Britain's Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional
links between Australia and the UK. Australia adopted it in 1942,[81] but it was
backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed by the Australi
an Parliament during World War II.[82][83] The shock of the United Kingdom's def
eat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn
to the United States as a new ally and protector.[84] Since 1951, Australia has
been a formal military ally of the US, under the ANZUS treaty.[85] After World
War II Australia encouraged immigration from Europe. Since the 1970s and followi
ng the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and elsewh
ere was also promoted.[86] As a result, Australia's demography, culture, and sel

f-image were transformed.[87] The final constitutional ties between Australia an

d the UK were severed with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any Bri
tish role in the government of the Australian States, and closing the option of
judicial appeals to the Privy Council in London.[88] In a 1999 referendum, 55% o
f voters and a majority in every state rejected a proposal to become a republic
with a president appointed by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of the Australian
Parliament. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972,[89] there has
been an increasing focus in foreign policy on ties with other Pacific Rim natio
ns, while maintaining close ties with Australia's traditional allies and trading
partners.[90]
Government
Main articles: Government of Australia, Politics of Australia and Monarchy of Au
stralia
A large white and cream coloured building with grass on its roof. The building i
s topped with a large flagpole.
Parliament House, Canberra was opened in 1988, replacing the provisional Parliam
ent House building opened in 1927.
Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Australia
Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It use
s a parliamentary system of government[91] with Queen Elizabeth II at its apex a
s the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch o
f the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen resides in the United Kingdom, and sh
e is represented by her viceroys in Australia (the Governor-General at the feder
al level and by the Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the
advice of her ministers. Supreme executive authority is vested by the Constituti
on of Australia in the sovereign, but the power to exercise it is conferred by t
he Constitution specifically on the Governor-General.[92][93] The most notable e
xercise to date of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minis
ter's request was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional
crisis of 1975.[94]
The federal government is separated into three branches:
The legislature: the bicameral Parliament, defined in section 1 of the constitut
ion as comprising the Queen (represented by the Governor-General), the Senate, a
nd the House of Representatives;
The executive: the Federal Executive Council, in practice the Governor-General a
s advised by the Prime Minister and Ministers of State;[95]
The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts, whose judge
s are appointed by the Governor-General on advice of the Council.
Government House, Canberra, also known as "Yarralumla", is the official residenc
e of the Governor-General.
In the Senate (the upper house), there are 76 senators: twelve each from the sta
tes and two each from the mainland territories (the Australian Capital Territory
and the Northern Territory).[96] The House of Representatives (the lower house)
has 150 members elected from single-member electoral divisions, commonly known
as "electorates" or "seats", allocated to states on the basis of population,[97]
with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats.[98] 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 a
re 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 i
nterrupted by a double dissolution.[96]
Australia's electoral system uses preferential voting for all lower house electi
ons 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 ci
tizens 18 years and over in every jurisdiction,[99] as is enrolment (with the ex
ception of South Australia).[100] The party with majority support in the House o
f Representatives forms the government and its leader becomes Prime Minister. In
cases where no party has majority support, the Governor-General has the constit
utional power to appoint the Prime Minister and, if necessary, dismiss one that
has lost the confidence of Parliament.[101]
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 g
rouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party.[102][103
] Independent members and several minor parties have achieved representation in
Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.
Within Australian political culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right an
d the Labor Party is considered centre-left. Queensland in particular, along wit
h Western Australia and the Northern Territory, are regarded as comparatively co
nservative.[104][105][106][107][108][109][110] Victoria, South Australia, Tasman
ia, and the Australian Capital Territory are regarded as comparatively socially
liberal.[106][110][111][112][113] New South Wales has often been regarded as a p
olitically moderate bellwether state.[110][113]
Following a partyroom leadership challenge, Julia Gillard became the first femal
e Prime Minister in June 2010.[114] The most recent federal election was held on
7 September 2013 and resulted in a majority government for the Coalition with L
iberal Party of Australia leader Tony Abbott as Prime Minister-elect. He was swo
rn into office by the Governor-General of Australia on 18 September.
States and territories
Main article: States and territories of Australia
A clickable map of Australia's states and mainland territories
Australia has six states New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), South Australia
(SA), Tasmania (TAS), Victoria (VIC) and Western Australia (WA) and two major main
land territories the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory
(NT). In most respects these two territories function as states, but the Common
wealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast
, federal legislation overrides state legislation only in areas that are set out
in Section 51 of the Australian Constitution; state parliaments retain all resi
dual legislative powers, including those over schools, state police, the state j
udiciary, roads, public transport and local government, since these do not fall
under the provisions listed in Section 51.[115]
Each state and major mainland territory has its own parliament unicameral in the N
orthern Territory, the ACT and Queensland and bicameral in the other states. The s
tates are sovereign entities, although subject to certain powers of the Commonwe
alth as defined by the Constitution. The lower houses are known as the Legislati
ve Assembly (the House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania); the upper h
ouses are known as the Legislative Council. The head of the government in each s
tate is the Premier and in each territory the Chief Minister. The Queen is repre
sented in each state by a Governor; and in the Northern Territory, the Administr
ator.[116] In the Commonwealth, the Queen's representative is the Governor-Gener
al.[117]
The federal parliament directly administers the following territories:[95]
Ashmore and Cartier Islands
Australian Antarctic Territory
Christmas Island