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Australie or Austrailie,[10] offeecially the Commonwalth o Australie (Inglis: Commonwealth of Australia, pronooncit [əˈstɹæɪliːə], [əˈstɹæɪjə], [əˈstɹɛliːə]), is a kintra situatit in the Soothren Hemisphere conseestin o the mainland o the Australien continent (the weest in the warld), the island o Tasmanie an puckle wee islands in the Indien an Paceefic Oceans. Neebourin kintras include Indonesie, East Timor an Papua New Guinea til the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu an New Caledon til the northeast an New Zealand til the sootheast.
Commonwalth o Austrailie | |
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| Caipital | Canberra 35°18′29″S 149°07′28″E |
| Lairgest ceety | Sydney |
| Naitional leid | Inglis[N 2] |
| Demonym(s) | |
| Govrenment | Federal pairlamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Charles III |
| Sam Mostyn | |
| Anthony Albanese | |
• Chief Juistice | Stephen Gageler |
| Legislatur | Pairlament |
• Upper house | Senate |
• Lower house | Hoose o Representatives |
| Unthirldom frae the Unitit Kinrick | |
• Federation, Constitution | 1 Januar 1901 |
• Statute of Westminster Adoption Act | 9 October 1942 (wi effect frae 3 September 1939) |
• Austrailie Act | 3 Mairch 1986 |
| Aurie | |
• Total | 7,692,024 km2 (2,969,907 sq mi) (6t) |
• Water (%) | 0.76 |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 27,281,400[5] (51st) |
• 2016 census | 23,401,892[6] |
• Density | 3.5/km2 (9.1/sq mi) (236t) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2016 estimate |
• Total | $1.189 trillion[7] (19t) |
• Per capita | $48,806[7] (17t) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2016 estimate |
• Tot | $1.257 trillion[7] (13t) |
• Per capita | $51,593[7] (9t) |
| Gini (2012) | 33.6[8] medium · 19t |
| HDI (2015) |  0.939[9]verra heich · 2nt |
| Currency | Austrailien dollar (AUD) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 to +10.5 (various[N 3]) |
| UTC+8 to +11.5 (various[N 3]) | |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
| Drivin side | caur |
| Cawin code | +61 |
| ISO 3166 code | AU |
| Internet TLD | .au |
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Fer at least 40,000 years afore European dounset in the late 18t century, Australie wis wonet bi Indigenous Australiens. Australie's eastren hauf wis claimit bi Breetain in 1770 an ti stairt wi settelt throu penal transportation til the colony o New Sooth Wales, foondit on 26 Januar 1788. The indwallers nummer grew conseestently in thae follaein years; the continent wis explorit an an eik o five, maistly self-govrenin Croun Colonies war estaiblishit in the 19t century.
On 1 Januar 1901, the sax colonies becam a federation an the Commonweel o Australie wis creatit. Syne Federation, Australie haes keepit a siccar liberal democratic poleetical seestem an is a Commonweel kinrick. The nummer o indwellers is 26 million, wi aboot 60% in an aroond the mainland state caipitals o Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth an Adelaide. The naition's caipital ceety is Canberra, locatit in the Australien Caipital Territory.
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Namit [əˈstɹæɪljə, -liə] in Australien Inglis, comes frae the Laitin australis, meanin "soothren". The kintra hae been cried Oz syne the early 20t century. Aussie is a name times uised ti refer ti the "Australien" fowk.
Leegends o an "unbekent land o the sooth" (terra australis incognita) hae been aroond syne the Roman times an wis aft seen in medieval cairts, but thae warnae o ony bekent continent. The wird Australie wis first uissit in Inglis in 1625, in "A note o Australia del Espíritu Santo, scrieved bi Master Hakluyt" an published bi Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus. The Duits adjecteeval form Australische wis ussit bi Dutch East Indie Company offeecials in Batavia ti refer ti the newlins discovered land til the sooth in 1638. Australie wis uised in a 1693 translation o Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1676 French beuk bi Gabriel de Foigny, unner the eik-name Jacques Sadeur. Alexander Dalrymple uissit hit in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (1771), whan refferin til the hail Sooth Paceefic region. In 1793, George Shaw an Sir James Smith scrieved Zoology and Botany of New Holland, an spake o "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland".
The name Australie wis popularised bi Matthew Flinders, wham pushit for the name ti be formally uissit as early as 1804. Whan reddin his manuscript an chairts for his 1814 A Voyage to Terra Australis, he wis persuaded bi his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, ti uiss the name Terra Australis as hit wis the name maist kent til the fowk. Flinders did sae, but forbye includit the fuitnote:
"Had I permitted myself any innovation on the original term, it would have been to convert it to Australia; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth."
Hit wis the ae time in the beuk; but in Appendix III, Robert Brown's General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis, Brown maks uiss o the adjectival form Australien throu the hail airticle, en is the first kent uiss o hit. Lachlan Macquarie, a Govrenor o New Sooth Wales, uissit the wird in his dispatches til Ingland, an on 12 December 1817 recommendit til the Colonial Office tha it be formally adoptit. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent shoud be kent offeecially as Australie.
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Indwellen o Australie is estimatit ti hae stairt atween 42,000 an 48,000 year aby, mibbe wi the migration o fowk bi land brigs an short sea-crossins frae whit is nou Sootheast Asie. Thae fowk mey hae been sib til modren Indigenous Australiens. At the time of European dounset in the late 18t century, maist Indigenous Australiens war hunter-gaithrers, wi a complex oral cultur an spiritual values basit on unnersaundin o the land an a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Kyle Islanders, sib til the Melanesien fowk, war oreeginally horticulturalists an hunter-gaithrers.
The first screived European sichtin o the Australien continent an the first screived European landin on the Australien continent war bi the Dutchman Willem Janszoon, wham sichtit the coast o Cape York Hauf-Island on an unkent day in early 1606; he landit on 26 Februar at the Pennefather River on the wastren shore o Cape York, near the modren toun o Weipa. The Dutch chairtit the hail o the wastren an northren coasts o "New Holland" in the 17t century. William Dampier, an Inglish explorer/privateer landit on the northwast coast o Australie in 1688 an oweragain in 1699. In 1770, James Cook sailed alang an chairtit the east coast o Australie, an cried hit New Sooth Wales an claimit hit for Great Breetain. Hit wis Cook's wark tha prepared the wey for establishment o a new penal colony. The Breetish Croun Colony o New Sooth Wales wis foondit on 26 Januar 1788, whan Captain Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet til Port Jackson.> This date wis ti becam Australie's naitional day, Australie Day. Van Diemen's Land, kent nou as Tasmanie, wis settlt in 1803 an becam a separate colony in 1825. The Unitit Kinrick formally claimit the wastren pairt o Australie in 1828.
Ither colonies war pairtit frae New Sooth Wales: Sooth Australie in 1836, Victoria in 1851, an Queensland in 1859. The Northren Territory wis foondit in 1911 whan hit wis takken frae Sooth Australie. Sooth Australie wis foondit as a "free province"—it wis neer uissit as a penal colony. Victoria an Wastren Australie war an aa foondit "free", but later alloud convicts. A campaign bi the indwellers o New Sooth Wales led ti the end o convict transportation til tha colony; the last convict ship wis in 1848.
The Indigenous Australien fowk, estimatit ti be 350,000 at the time o European dounset, dwyned steeply for 150 year thare efter, maistly ti infectious illness. The "Stealt Generations" (the takin o Aboriginal bairns frae thair kin) cud hae contributit ti the decline in the Indigenous fowk an aa. Sic interpretations o Aboriginal history arnae supportit bi conservative commentators an sic lik. The Federal govrenment gained the pouer ti mak laws for Aborigines ahint the 1967 referendum. Tradeetional awnership o land—native title—wisna recognised till 1992, whan the Hie Court case Mabo v Queensland (No 2) owerturned the conceit o Australie as terra nullius ("land belongin til naebody") afore European occupation.
1 Januar 1901, federation o the colonies wis achieved efter ten year o plannin, consultation, an votin. The Commonweel o Australie wis foondit an hit becam a dominion o the Breetish Empire in 1907. The Federal Caipital Territory (later renamed the Australian Caipital Territory) wis foondit in 1911 as the location for the future caipital o Canberra an aa. Melbourne wis the temporary seat o govrenment frae 1901 tae 1927 while Canberra wis biggit. The Northren Territory wis transferred frae the control o the Sooth Australien govrenment til the federal pairliament in 1911. In 1914, Australie jynt Breetain in fechtin Warld War I, wi help frae baith the ootgoin Leeberal Pairty an the incomin Labor Pairty. Australians teuk pairt in mony o the muckler battles focht on the Wastren Front. Mony Australiens see the defeat o the Australien an New Zealand Airmy Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth o the Australie naition—bein the first muckle military action. The Kokoda Track campaign is seen bi mony as a seemilar naition-definin event in Warld War II.
Breetain's Statute o Westminster 1931 endit maist o the constitutional links atween Australie an the UK. Australie adoptit hit in 1942. The shock o the UK's defeat in Asie in 1942 an the threit o Japanees invasion gart Australie ti turn til the Unitit States as a new fere an protector. Syne 1951, Australie haes been a formal military fere o the US, unner the ANZUS treaty. Ahint Warld War II, Australie increasit immigration frae Europe. Syne the 1970s an efter the abolition o the White Australie Policy, immigration frae Asie an ither kintras wis promotit an aa. The eftercast o this wis tha Australie's demography, cultur, an sel-perception wis changit. The final constitutional ties atween Australie an the UK wis sned wi the passin o the Australie Act 1986, endin ony Breetish role in the govrenment o Australie, an closin the chaunce o appealin til the Privy Council in Lunnon. In a referendum, 55% o Australian voters an afeck in ivery Australien state didnae want a republic wi a preses appointit bi a twa-thrids vote in baith Hooses o the Australien Pairliament. Syne the election o the Whitlam Govrenment in 1972, foreign policy hae stairtit ti mak stranger ties wi ilke Paceefic Rim naitions, while keepin close ties wi Australie's tradeetional feres an tradin pairtners.
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The kintra o Australie is pairtit atween sax states an twa territories, leetit ablo:
- Australie's ryal anthem is "God Save the King", played in the presence o a member o the Ryal faimily whan thay are in Australie. In ither contexts, the naitional anthem o Australie, "Advance Australia Fair", is played.[1]
- Thare are minor variations frae three basic time zones; see Time in Austrailie.
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