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This article is written in Australian English, which has its own spelling conventions (centre, colour, realise, program, travelled) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

	Australia is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on August 16, 2005.
Article milestones Date Process Result May 28, 2005 Peer review Reviewed June 22, 2005 Featured article candidate Promoted June 29, 2010 Featured article review Kept
Current status: Featured article

This  level-3 vital article is rated FA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects.

Australia Top‑importance Australia is within the scope of WikiProject Australia, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Australia and Australia-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page.AustraliaWikipedia:WikiProject AustraliaTemplate:WikiProject AustraliaAustralia Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Need help improving this article? Ask a LibrarianWhat's this? at the National Library of Australia. The Wikimedia Australia chapter can be contacted via email to helpwikimedia.org.au for non-editorial assistance. Countries This article is within the scope of WikiProject Countries, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of countries on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CountriesWikipedia:WikiProject CountriesTemplate:WikiProject Countriescountry WikiProject Countries to-do list: edit history watch purge Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Check out the article alerts; see if anything catches your fancy. Cleanup : clean-up listing for Countries Stubs : de-stub articles in Category:Stubs by region. Other : add {{WPCountries}} to talk pages of related articles, and assess. Oceania Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Oceania, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Oceania on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.OceaniaWikipedia:WikiProject OceaniaTemplate:WikiProject OceaniaOceania Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Commonwealth This article is within the scope of WikiProject Commonwealth, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Commonwealth of Nations on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CommonwealthWikipedia:WikiProject CommonwealthTemplate:WikiProject CommonwealthCommonwealth

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Section sizes Section size for Australia (40 sections) Section name Byte count Prose size (words) Header Total Header Total (Top) 17,353 17,353 408 408 Etymology 2,669 2,669 180 180 History 92 40,732 0 1,943 Indigenous prehistory 14,761 14,761 287 287 European exploration and colonisation 5,161 5,161 363 363 Colonial expansion 6,442 6,442 440 440 Federation to the World Wars 6,689 6,689 435 435 Post-war and contemporary eras 7,587 7,587 418 418 Geography 120 23,710 0 1,649 General characteristics 7,255 7,255 406 406 Geology 2,963 2,963 291 291 Climate 3,586 3,586 292 292 Biodiversity 9,786 9,786 660 660 Government and politics 9,600 44,978 435 1,887 Elections 6,184 6,184 274 274 States and territories 7,367 7,367 285 285 Foreign relations 13,716 13,716 503 503 Military 5,269 5,269 265 265 Human rights 2,842 2,842 125 125 Economy 10,114 18,578 344 689 Energy 3,329 3,329 143 143 Science and technology 5,135 5,135 202 202 Demographics 2,096 37,117 167 1,567 Cities 699 699 23 23 Ancestry and immigration 9,343 9,343 335 335 Language 5,096 5,096 215 215 Religion 3,314 3,314 194 194 Health 5,078 5,078 191 191 Education 11,491 11,491 442 442 Culture 5,504 34,004 193 1,357 Arts 10,156 10,156 447 447 Media 6,191 6,191 279 279 Cuisine 5,656 5,656 192 192 Sport and recreation 6,497 6,497 246 246 See also 91 91 0 0 Notes 33 33 0 0 References 416 416 0 0 Bibliography 9,475 9,475 0 0 Further reading 1,763 1,763 0 0 External links 2,141 2,141 0 0 Total 233,060 233,060 9,680 9,680

Hello all

I have change the population estimate to the official Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimate for September 2025. The previous estimate was based on the ABS population clock but for some reason gave the wrong figure. The current population clock estimate is here and does not correspond to the population estimate I deleted. Happy to discuss. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 23:28, 27 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

@Aemilius Adolphin: You're right that the current template is problematic (I didn't check to ensure it was in fact the same). I'm gonna re-add the 2021 census number since census numbers are normally put on these pages along with the more recent estimate. ~UN6892 ^t_c 02:48, 28 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

@Username6892Thanks, I removed the Census estimate in error. My brain isn't working today. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 03:15, 28 March 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have time to write an article right now, but this is my first post on Wikipedia!! I'm so excited & I read a bunch of the rules, not that this is the most rule-abiding start; it feels impolite not to introduce myself somewhere. Bye for now :) Hymn to Proserpine (talk) 10:57, 14 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Hello. I hope you enjoy editing wikipedia. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 12:06, 14 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

The first European landing/exploration of Australia is limited to: "The Dutch East India Company ship, Duyfken, captained by Willem Janszoon, made the first documented European landing in Australia in 1606".^[1]

This warrants further information. Also, there is no mention of the first European contact with the Indigenous inhabitants.

Thus, something along the lines of the following could follow the above-quoted sentence to provide more information in this regard: 'A Duyfken chart (found in 1933) that shows the whole course of the vessel from Banda on the outward and the homeward voyages indicates the actual landfall on the coast of Australia, and it locates the position of Cape Keerweer where the Duyfken turned back to Banda (after mapping 360 km of the west side of the Cape York peninsula and making contact with indigenous inhabitants)'.^[2] GranZebru (talk) 06:39, 25 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

This is a high level article on Australia. The article is already very long and there is no room for such detail on every early explorer and every historical incident. Detail on early European exploration of the continent can be found in the article European maritime exploration of Australia. Please see wikipedia policy on WP:summary style. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 06:50, 25 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

First landfall and contact is significant (more so than other sentences in the European exploration and colonisation subheading, such as "Luís Vaz de Torres sailed to the north of Australia through Torres Strait, along New Guinea's southern coast" and "On his second voyage of 1644, he mapped the north coast of Australia south of New Guinea"). It is not merely 'detail on every early explorer and every historical incident'.

As I said, this is a high-level article on Australia as a whole and the detail of the Duyfken voyage can be found in the linked articles. If you want, I can expand the sentence to: "In 1606, the Dutch East India Company ship, Duyfken, captained by Willem Janszoon, made the first documented European landing in Australia and encounter with Aboriginal Australians." Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 09:31, 26 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Your suggested expanded sentence adequately and clearly conveys the information regarding first landfall and contact. Please alter the source text accordingly. Thank you. GranZebru (talk) 01:11, 30 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Hello all

An editor has twice tried to add content on this map to the lead and body of the article. It has been reverted by two editors. I reverted it because I don't think it is important enough to go in the lead, nor in a high level article about Australia. While the Freycinet map is certainly important for history of mapping of Australia, as far as an article on Australia is concerned it is only a footnote at best. Flinders was the first to circumnavigate and map the entire outline of Australia. The Freycinet map was only published first because the French imprisoned Finders for seven years.

Happy to discuss Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 22:21, 21 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

To put it into context, the Freycinet map is already in European maritime exploration of Australia, about 2/3 of the way down in the article, so I agree with the comment above. Bahudhara (talk) 06:31, 22 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]