Fort Glanville Conservation Park is a
protected area located in the Australian state of
South Australia located in
Semaphore Park, a seaside suburb of
Adelaide consisting of a functional 19th century
fort listed on the
South Australian Heritage Register and some adjoining land used as a
caravan park. The fort was built after more than 40 years of indecision over the defence of South Australia. It was the first colonial fortification in the state and is the best preserved and most functional in Australia. Fort Glanville was designed by Governor Major General Sir
William Jervois and Lieutenant Colonel
Peter Scratchley, both important figures in early Australian colonial defence. When built it was designed to defend both
Semaphore's anchorage and shipping entering the
Port River from
naval attack. (
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The
Australian Defence Force (
ADF) is the
military organisation responsible for the defence of the
Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It has three branches: the
Royal Australian Navy (RAN),
Australian Army and the
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The ADF has a strength of just over 89,000 personnel and is supported by the
Department of Defence alongside other civilian entities. (
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On 9 February 1945, a force of Allied
Bristol Beaufighter aircraft suffered many losses during an attack on the German destroyer
Z33 and its escorting vessels; the operation was called
Black Friday by the survivors. The German ships were sheltering in a strong defensive position in
Førde Fjord,
Norway, forcing the Allied aircraft to attack through massed
anti-aircraft fire (
FlaK). (
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Hamersley is a residential
suburb 14 kilometres (8.7 miles) north-northwest of the
central business district of
Perth, the capital of
Western Australia, and six kilometres (4 mi) from the
Indian Ocean. The suburb adjoins two major arterial roads—
Mitchell Freeway to the west and
Reid Highway to the south—and is within the
City of Stirling local government area. It was built during the late 1960s and 1970s as part of the
Government of Western Australia's response to rapidly increasing land prices across the metropolitan area. (
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Australia entered
World War II on 3 September 1939, following the government's acceptance of the
United Kingdom's declaration of war on
Nazi Germany. Australia later entered into a state of war with other members of the
Axis powers, including the
Kingdom of Italy on 11 June 1940, and the
Empire of Japan on 9 December 1941. By the end of the war almost one million Australians had served in the
armed forces, whose military units fought primarily in the
European theatre,
North African campaign, and the
South West Pacific theatre. In addition, Australia
came under direct attack for the first time in its post-colonial history. Its casualties from enemy action during the war were 27,073 killed and 23,477 wounded. Many more suffered from
tropical disease, hunger, and harsh conditions in captivity; of the 21,467 Australian prisoners taken by the Japanese, only 14,000 survived. (
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The
red-bellied black snake (
Pseudechis porphyriacus) is a
species of
venomous snake in the
family Elapidae, indigenous to
Australia. Originally described by
George Shaw in 1794 as a species new to science, it is one of
eastern Australia's most commonly encountered snakes. Averaging around 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) in length, it has glossy black upperparts, bright red or orange flanks, and a pink or dull red belly. It is not aggressive and generally retreats from human encounters, but can attack if provoked. Although its
venom can cause significant illness, no deaths have been recorded from its bite, which is less venomous than other Australian elapid snakes. The venom contains
neurotoxins,
myotoxins, and
coagulants and has
haemolytic properties. Victims can also lose their sense of smell. (
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Section 116 of the Constitution of Australia precludes the
Commonwealth of Australia (
i.e., the federal parliament) from making laws for establishing any religion, imposing any religious observance, or prohibiting the free exercise of any religion. Section 116 also provides that no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth. The product of a compromise in the pre-
Federation constitutional conventions, Section 116 is based on similar provisions in the
United States Constitution. However, Section 116 is more narrowly drafted than its US counterpart, and does not preclude the
states of Australia from making such laws. (
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The
Shrine of Remembrance (commonly referred to as
The Shrine) is a war memorial in
Melbourne,
Victoria,
Australia, located in
Kings Domain on
St Kilda Road. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in
World War I, but now functions as a memorial to all Australians who have served in any war. It is a site of annual observances for
Anzac Day (25 April) and
Remembrance Day (11 November), and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. (
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From 31 May to 8 June 1942, during
World War II,
Imperial Japanese Navy submarines made a series of attacks on the Australian cities of
Sydney and
Newcastle. On the night of 31 May – 1 June, three
Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines, (M-14, M-21 and M-24) each with a two-member crew, entered
Sydney Harbour, avoided the partially constructed
Sydney Harbour anti-submarine boom net, and attempted to sink Allied warships. Two of the midget submarines were detected and attacked before they could engage any Allied vessels. The crew of M-14
scuttled their submarine, whilst M-21 was successfully attacked and sunk. The crew of M-21 killed themselves. These submarines were later recovered by the Allies. The third submarine attempted to torpedo the heavy cruiser
USS Chicago, but instead sank the converted ferry
HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors. This midget submarine's fate was unknown until 2006, when amateur scuba divers discovered the wreck off
Sydney's northern beaches. (
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The
Victoria Cross for Australia is the highest award in the
Australian honours system, superseding the British
Victoria Cross for issue to Australians. The Victoria Cross for Australia is the "decoration for according recognition to persons who in the presence of the enemy, perform acts of the most conspicuous gallantry, or daring or pre-eminent acts of valour or self-sacrifice or display extreme devotion to duty". (
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The
Australian raven (
Corvus coronoides) is a
passerine corvid bird native to
Australia. Measuring 46–53 centimetres (18–21 in) in length, it has an all-black plumage, beak and mouth, as well as strong, greyish-black legs and feet. The upperparts of its body are glossy, with a purple-blue, greenish sheen; its black feathers have grey bases. The Australian raven is distinguished from the
Australian crow, and other related corvids, by its long chest feathers, or
throat hackles, which are prominent in mature birds. Older individuals and
subadults have white
irises, while the younger birds' eyes display blue inner rims;
hatchlings and young birds have brown, dark irises until about fifteen months of age, at which point their irises become hazel-coloured, with an inner blue rim around each
pupil, this lasting until they are roughly 2.5 to 3 years of age.
Nicholas Aylward Vigors and
Thomas Horsfield described the Australian raven in 1827, its species name
coronoides highlighting its similarity with the
carrion crow (
C. corone). Two
subspecies are recognised, which differ slightly in their vocalisations, and are quite
divergent, genetically. (
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The
Australian Air Corps (
AAC) was a temporary formation of the Australian military that existed in the period between the disbandment of the
Australian Flying Corps (AFC) of World War I and the establishment of the
Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1921. Raised in January 1920, the AAC was commanded by Major
William Anderson, a former AFC pilot. Many of the AAC's members were also from the AFC and would go on to join the RAAF. Although part of the
Australian Army, for most of its existence the AAC was overseen by a board of senior officers that included members of the
Royal Australian Navy. (
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The
Australian green tree frog (
Ranoidea caerulea/
Litoria caerulea), also known as simply
green tree frog in Australia,
White's tree frog, or
dumpy tree frog, is a
species of
tree frog native to Australia and
New Guinea, with
introduced populations in the United States and New Zealand, though the latter is believed to have died out. It is morphologically similar to some other members of its genus, particularly the
magnificent tree frog (
R. splendida) and the
white-lipped tree frog (
R. infrafrenata). (
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The
short-beaked echidna (
Tachyglossus aculeatus), also called the
short-nosed echidna, is one of four living species of
echidna, and the only member of the genus
Tachyglossus. It is covered in fur and spines and has a distinctive
snout and a specialised
tongue, which it uses to catch its insect prey at a great speed. Like the other extant
monotremes, the short-beaked echidna lays
eggs; the monotremes are the only living group of
mammals to do so. (
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The history of the
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as a separate
administrative division began in 1911, when it was transferred from
New South Wales to the
Australian federal government. The territory contains Australia's capital city
Canberra and various smaller settlements. Until 1989, it also administered the
Jervis Bay Territory, a small coastal region. (
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St James' Church, commonly known as
St James', King Street, is an Australian heritage-listed
Anglican parish church located at 173
King Street, in the
Sydney central business district in
New South Wales. Consecrated in February 1824 and named in honour of
St James the Great, it became a parish church in 1835. Designed in the style of a
Georgian town church by the
transported convict architect
Francis Greenway during the governorship of
Lachlan Macquarie, St James' is part of the historical precinct of
Macquarie Street which includes other early colonial era buildings such as the
World Heritage listed Hyde Park Barracks. (
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The
koala (
Phascolarctos cinereus), sometimes called the
koala bear, is an
arboreal herbivorous
marsupial native to Australia. It is the only
extant representative of the
family Phascolarctidae. Its closest living relatives are the
wombats. The koala is found in coastal areas of the island's eastern and southern regions, inhabiting
Queensland,
New South Wales,
Victoria, and
South Australia. It is easily recognisable by its stout, tailless body and large head with round, fluffy ears and large, dark nose. The koala has a body length of 60–85 cm (24–33 in) and weighs 4–15 kg (8.8–33.1 lb).
Fur colour ranges from silver grey to chocolate brown. Koalas from the northern populations are typically smaller and lighter in colour than their counterparts further south. These populations possibly are separate
subspecies, but this is disputed. (
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Lake Burley Griffin is an
artificial lake in the centre of
Canberra, the capital of
Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the
Molonglo River, which ran between the city centre and
Parliamentary Triangle, was dammed. It is named after
Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra. (
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Muckaty Station, also known as
Warlmanpa, is a 2,380-square-kilometre (920 sq mi)
Aboriginal freehold landholding in Australia's
Northern Territory, 110 kilometres (68 mi) north of
Tennant Creek, and approximately 800 kilometres (500 mi) south of
Darwin. Originally under traditional
Indigenous Australian ownership, the area became a
pastoral lease in the late 19th century and for many years operated as a
cattle station. It is traversed by the
Stuart Highway, built in the 1940s along the route of the service track for the
Australian Overland Telegraph Line. It is also crossed by the
Amadeus Gas Pipeline built in the mid-1980s, and the
Adelaide–Darwin railway, completed in early 2004. Muckaty Station was returned to its Indigenous custodians in 1999. (
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Persoonia lanceolata, commonly known as
lance-leaf geebung, is a shrub native to
New South Wales in eastern Australia. It reaches 3 m (10 ft) in height and has smooth grey bark and bright green foliage. Its small yellow flowers grow on
racemes and appear in the austral summer and autumn (January to April), followed by green fleshy fruits (known as
drupes) which ripen the following spring (September to October). Within the genus
Persoonia,
P. lanceolata belongs to the lanceolata group of 58 closely related species. It interbreeds with several other species found in its range. (
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The
Riverina ()
is an agricultural
region of southwestern
New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for
irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of
Victoria and on the east by the
Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the
Murray and
Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west. (
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The
Sydney Riot of 1879 was an instance of
civil disorder that occurred at an early international
cricket match. It took place on 8 February 1879 at what is now the
Sydney Cricket Ground (at the time known as the Association Ground), during a match between
New South Wales, captained by
Dave Gregory, and a touring
English team, captained by
Lord Harris. (
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The
Tasmanian devil (
Sarcophilus harrisii) (
palawa kani:
purinina) is a carnivorous
marsupial of the family
Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now confined to the island of
Tasmania. The size of a small dog, the Tasmanian devil became the
largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the
extinction of the
thylacine in 1936. It is related to
quolls, and distantly related to the thylacine. It is characterised by its stocky and muscular build, black fur, pungent odour, extremely loud and disturbing screech, keen sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding. The Tasmanian devil's large head and neck allow it to generate among the strongest bites per unit body mass of any extant predatory land mammal. It hunts prey and scavenges on
carrion. (
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Waterfall Gully is an eastern
suburb of the
South Australian capital city of
Adelaide. It is located in the
foothills of the
Mount Lofty Ranges around 5 km (3.1 mi) east-south-east of the
Adelaide city centre. For the most part, the suburb encompasses one long
gully with First Creek at its centre and Waterfall Gully Road running adjacent to the creek. At the southern end of the gully is First Falls, the
waterfall for which the suburb was named. Part of the
City of Burnside, Waterfall Gully is bounded to the north by the suburb of
Burnside, from the north-east to south-east by
Cleland National Park (part of the suburb of
Cleland), to the south by
Crafers West, and to the west by
Leawood Gardens and
Mount Osmond. (
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The
Aboriginal Memorial is a work of
contemporary Indigenous Australian art from the late 1980s, and comprises 200 decorated
hollow log coffins (also known as memorial poles, dupun, ḻarrakitj and other terms). It was conceived by
Djon (John) Mundine in 1987–88 and realised by 43 artists from
Ramingining and neighbouring communities of Central
Arnhem Land, in the
Northern Territory. Artists who participated in its creation included
David Malangi and
George Milpurrurru. (
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Nuclear weapons testing,
uranium mining and export, and
nuclear power have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the
anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–1973 debate over
French nuclear testing in the Pacific and the 1976–1977 debate about
uranium mining in Australia. (
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The
Gallipoli campaign, the
Dardanelles campaign, the
Defence of Gallipoli or the
Battle of Gallipoli (
Turkish:
Gelibolu Muharebesi,
Çanakkale Muharebeleri or
Çanakkale Savaşı) was a military campaign in the
First World War on the
Gallipoli peninsula (now Gelibolu) from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The
Entente powers,
Britain,
France and the
Russian Empire, sought to weaken the
Ottoman Empire, one of the
Central Powers, by taking control of the
Ottoman straits. This would expose the Ottoman capital at
Constantinople to bombardment by Entente battleships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. With the Ottoman Empire defeated, the
Suez Canal would be safe and the
Bosphorus and
Dardanelles straits would be open to Entente supplies to the
Black Sea and warm-water ports in Russia. (
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The
history of the Royal Australian Navy traces the development of the
Royal Australian Navy (RAN) from the colonisation of Australia by the British in 1788. Until 1859, vessels of the
Royal Navy made frequent trips to the new colonies. In 1859, the
Australia Squadron was formed as a separate squadron and remained in Australia until 1913. Until
Federation, five of the six Australian colonies operated their own colonial naval force, which formed on 1 March 1901 the Australian Navy's (AN) Commonwealth Naval Force which received Royal patronage in July 1911 and was from that time referred to as Royal Australian Navy (RAN). On 4 October 1913 the new replacement fleet for the foundation fleet of 1901 steamed through
Sydney Heads for the first time. (
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