For other uses, see Australia (disambiguation).
Commonwealth of Australia
Flag
Coat of arms
Anthem: Advance Australia FairN1
Capital
Canberra35°18′S, 149°08′E
Largest city
Sydney
Official languages
English (de facto N2)
Demonym
Australian
Government
Parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy
-
Monarch
Queen Elizabeth II
-
Governor-General
Michael Jeffery
-
Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd
Independence
from the United Kingdom
-
Constitution
1 January 1901
-
Statute of Westminster
11 December 1931 (adopted 9 September 1939)
-
Australia Act
3 March 1986
Area
-
Total
7,741,220 km² (6th)2,988,888 sq mi
-
Water (%)
1
Population
-
2008 estimate
21,250,000[1] (53rd)
-
2006 census
19,855,288
-
Density
2.6/km² (224th)6.7/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2007 estimate
-
Total
US$718.4 billion (IMF) (17th)
-
Per capita
US$34,359 (IMF) (14th)
GDP (nominal)
2007 estimate
-
Total
US$889.7 billion (AU $1.1 trillion) (15th)
-
Per capita
US$42,553 (DFAT) (16th)
HDI (2007)
▬ 0.962 (high) (3rd)
Currency
Australian dollar (AUD)
Time zone
variousN3 (UTC+8 to +10.5)
-
Summer (DST)
variousN3 (UTC+9 to +11.5)
Internet TLD
.au
Calling code
+61
The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and a number of other islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.N4 The neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east.
The Australian mainland has been inhabited for more than 42,000 years by Indigenous Australians.[2] After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and then European discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606,[3] the eastern half of Australia was later claimed by the British in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation as part of the colony of New South Wales, commencing on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were established during the 19th century.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies became a federation, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth realm. The capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The population is just over 21 million, with approximately 60% of the population concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
Contents[hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Politics
4 States and territories
5 Foreign relations and the military
6 Geography and environment
7 Economy
8 Demography
9 Culture
10 See also
11 Notes
12 References
13 External links
//
Etymology
Artists rendition of Port Jackson, the site where Sydney was established, viewed from the South Head. (From A Voyage to Terra Australis.)
The name "Australia" is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning "Southern". Legends of an "unknown land of the south" (terra australis incognita) date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, but were not based on any actual knowledge of the continent. The first use of the word "Australia" in English was in 1625—the words "A note of Australia del Espiritu Santo, written by Master Hakluyt", published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus.[4] The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south in 1638. "Australia" was used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny under the pen name Jacques Sadeur.[5] Alexander Dalrymple then used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (1771), to refer to the entire South Pacific region. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland."
The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders, the first recorded person to circumnavigate Australia. Though its title reflected the British Admiralty's usage, Flinders used the word "Australia" in his book and as it was widely read it gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England, and on 12 December 1817 recommended to the Colonial Office that it be officially adopted.[6] In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as "Australia".
The word "Australia" in Australian English is pronounced /əˈstɹæɪljə, -liːə, -jə/.
History
Main article: History of Australia
The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago.[7][8] These first Australians were possibly the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they may have arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day South-East Asia. Most of these people 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 Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; their cultural practices were and remain distinct from those of the Aborigines.
Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia on HM Bark Endeavour, claiming the land for Great Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988; photographed in Cooktown Harbour where Cook spent seven weeks.
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there.
The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory (NT) was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South Australia was founded as a "free province"—that is, it was never a penal colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts.[9][10] The transportation of convicts to the colony of New South Wales ceased in 1848 after a campaign by the settlers.[11]
Port Arthur, Tasmania was Australia's largest gaol for transported convicts.
The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at 350,000 at the time of European settlement,[12] declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease combined with forced re-settlement and cultural disintegration.[13] The removal of children from their families, which some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by some definitions,[14] may have contributed to the decline in the indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some commentators as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.[15] This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars. Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land—native title—was not recognised until 1992, when the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius ("empty land") at the time of European occupation.
The Last Post is played at an ANZAC Day ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria, 25 April 2005. Such ceremonies are held in virtually every suburb and town in Australia.
A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence, and international shipping. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation, and voting. The Commonwealth of Australia was born as a Dominion of the British Empire. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed from a part of New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed). The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia willingly participated in World War I.[16] 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. The Kokoda Track Campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the United Kingdom when Australia adopted it in 1942. The shock of the United Kingdom's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US under the auspices of the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and other non-European parts of the world was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and self-image have been radically transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council.[17] In 1999, Australian voters rejected by a majority of less than 5% a move to become a republic with a president appointed by Parliament.[18] Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the expansion of ties with other Pacific Rim nations.
Politics
Commonwealth of Australia
Flag
Coat of arms
Anthem: Advance Australia FairN1
Capital
Canberra35°18′S, 149°08′E
Largest city
Sydney
Official languages
English (de facto N2)
Demonym
Australian
Government
Parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy
-
Monarch
Queen Elizabeth II
-
Governor-General
Michael Jeffery
-
Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd
Independence
from the United Kingdom
-
Constitution
1 January 1901
-
Statute of Westminster
11 December 1931 (adopted 9 September 1939)
-
Australia Act
3 March 1986
Area
-
Total
7,741,220 km² (6th)2,988,888 sq mi
-
Water (%)
1
Population
-
2008 estimate
21,250,000[1] (53rd)
-
2006 census
19,855,288
-
Density
2.6/km² (224th)6.7/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2007 estimate
-
Total
US$718.4 billion (IMF) (17th)
-
Per capita
US$34,359 (IMF) (14th)
GDP (nominal)
2007 estimate
-
Total
US$889.7 billion (AU $1.1 trillion) (15th)
-
Per capita
US$42,553 (DFAT) (16th)
HDI (2007)
▬ 0.962 (high) (3rd)
Currency
Australian dollar (AUD)
Time zone
variousN3 (UTC+8 to +10.5)
-
Summer (DST)
variousN3 (UTC+9 to +11.5)
Internet TLD
.au
Calling code
+61
The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and a number of other islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.N4 The neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor, and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east.
The Australian mainland has been inhabited for more than 42,000 years by Indigenous Australians.[2] After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north and then European discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606,[3] the eastern half of Australia was later claimed by the British in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation as part of the colony of New South Wales, commencing on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were established during the 19th century.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies became a federation, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth realm. The capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The population is just over 21 million, with approximately 60% of the population concentrated in and around the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
Contents[hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Politics
4 States and territories
5 Foreign relations and the military
6 Geography and environment
7 Economy
8 Demography
9 Culture
10 See also
11 Notes
12 References
13 External links
//
Etymology
Artists rendition of Port Jackson, the site where Sydney was established, viewed from the South Head. (From A Voyage to Terra Australis.)
The name "Australia" is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning "Southern". Legends of an "unknown land of the south" (terra australis incognita) date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, but were not based on any actual knowledge of the continent. The first use of the word "Australia" in English was in 1625—the words "A note of Australia del Espiritu Santo, written by Master Hakluyt", published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus.[4] The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south in 1638. "Australia" was used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1676 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny under the pen name Jacques Sadeur.[5] Alexander Dalrymple then used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (1771), to refer to the entire South Pacific region. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland."
The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders, the first recorded person to circumnavigate Australia. Though its title reflected the British Admiralty's usage, Flinders used the word "Australia" in his book and as it was widely read it gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England, and on 12 December 1817 recommended to the Colonial Office that it be officially adopted.[6] In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as "Australia".
The word "Australia" in Australian English is pronounced /əˈstɹæɪljə, -liːə, -jə/.
History
Main article: History of Australia
The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago.[7][8] These first Australians were possibly the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they may have arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day South-East Asia. Most of these people 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 Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; their cultural practices were and remain distinct from those of the Aborigines.
Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia on HM Bark Endeavour, claiming the land for Great Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988; photographed in Cooktown Harbour where Cook spent seven weeks.
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there.
The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory (NT) was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South Australia was founded as a "free province"—that is, it was never a penal colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts.[9][10] The transportation of convicts to the colony of New South Wales ceased in 1848 after a campaign by the settlers.[11]
Port Arthur, Tasmania was Australia's largest gaol for transported convicts.
The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at 350,000 at the time of European settlement,[12] declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease combined with forced re-settlement and cultural disintegration.[13] The removal of children from their families, which some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by some definitions,[14] may have contributed to the decline in the indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some commentators as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.[15] This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars. Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land—native title—was not recognised until 1992, when the High Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius ("empty land") at the time of European occupation.
The Last Post is played at an ANZAC Day ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria, 25 April 2005. Such ceremonies are held in virtually every suburb and town in Australia.
A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence, and international shipping. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation, and voting. The Commonwealth of Australia was born as a Dominion of the British Empire. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed from a part of New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the temporary seat of government from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed). The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia willingly participated in World War I.[16] 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. The Kokoda Track Campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the United Kingdom when Australia adopted it in 1942. The shock of the United Kingdom's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US under the auspices of the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and other non-European parts of the world was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and self-image have been radically transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council.[17] In 1999, Australian voters rejected by a majority of less than 5% a move to become a republic with a president appointed by Parliament.[18] Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the expansion of ties with other Pacific Rim nations.
Politics
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