Portal:Queensland

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The Queensland Portal

Queensland (locally /ˈkwiːnzlænd/ KWEENZ-land, commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, the second-largest and third-most populous of the Australian states. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, southwest and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean; to its north is the Torres Strait, separating the Australian mainland from Papua New Guinea, and the Gulf of Carpentaria to the north-west. With an area of 1,723,030 square kilometres (665,270 sq mi), Queensland is the world's sixth-largest subnational entity; it is larger than all but 16 countries. Due to its size, Queensland's geographical features and climates are diverse, including tropical rainforests, rivers, coral reefs, mountain ranges and sandy beaches in its tropical and sub-tropical coastal regions, as well as deserts and savanna in the semi-arid and desert climatic regions of its interior.

Queensland has a population of over 5.3 million, concentrated along the east coast, particularly in South East Queensland. The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city. Ten of Australia's thirty largest cities are located in Queensland, the largest outside Brisbane being the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Cairns, Ipswich, and Toowoomba. 28.9% of the state's population were immigrants. (Full article...)

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Selected Article

Fraser Island is an island located along the southern coast of Queensland, Australia, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Brisbane. Its length is about 120 kilometres (75 mi) and its width is approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi). It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992. The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km². It is also Queensland's largest island, Australia's sixth largest island and the largest island on the East Coast of Australia.

The island has rain forests, eucalyptus woodland, mangrove forests, wallum swamps, sand dunes and coastal heaths. It is made up of sand that has been accumulating for approximately 750,000 years on volcanic bedrock that provides a natural catchment for the sediment which is carried on a strong offshore current northwards along the coast. Unlike many sand dunes, plant life is abundant due to the naturally occurring mycorrhizal fungi present in the sand, which release nutrients in a form that can be absorbed by the plants. Fraser Island is home to a small number of mammal species, as well as a diverse range of birds, reptiles and amphibians, including the occasional saltwater crocodile. The island is part of the Fraser Coast Regional Council and protected in the Great Sandy National Park.

Fraser Island has been inhabited by humans for as much as 5,000 years. Explorer James Cook sailed by the island in May of 1770. Matthew Flinders landed near the most northern point of the island in 1802. For a short period the island was known as Great Sandy Island. The island became known as Fraser due to the stories of a shipwreck survivor named Eliza Fraser. Today the island is a popular tourism destination.

Selected images

Image 1Captain James Cook claims the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain at Possession Island in 1770 (from Queensland)
Image 2The Great Court at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Queensland's oldest university (from Queensland)
Image 3The Mossman River, flowing through the Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 4The Ekka (the Royal Queensland Exhibition) is held each August at the Brisbane Showgrounds. (from Queensland)
Image 5Cricket game at The Gabba, a 42,000-seat round stadium in Brisbane (from Queensland)
Image 6Köppen climate types in Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 7Government House, seat of the Governor (from Queensland)
Image 8Aftermath of the 1861 Cullin-La-Ringo massacre in which 19 settlers were killed by Aboriginal people, the deadliest attack on settlers in the frontier wars (from Queensland)
Image 9Cargo ships at the Port of Gladstone, Queensland's largest commodity seaport (from Queensland)
Image 10Blackbirded South Sea Islanders on a Sugarcane plantation in Queensland. (from Queensland)
Image 11Parade of troops in Brisbane, prior to departure for the Boer War in South Africa (from Queensland)
Image 12Commonly designated regions of Queensland, with Central Queensland divided into Mackay and Fitzroy subregions (from Queensland)
Image 13The Great Barrier Reef, which extends along most of Queensland's Coral Sea coastline (from Queensland)
Image 14Passenger train at Oxley railway station on the Ipswich/Rosewood line within the Queensland Rail City network (from Queensland)
Image 15Skyline of the Brisbane central business district. Brisbane is a global city and the state's largest economic hub. (from Queensland)
Image 16Gold mine at Ravenswood in North Queensland. Mining is one of the state's major industries (from Queensland)
Image 17Returned World War II soldiers march in Queen Street, Brisbane, 1944 (from Queensland)
Image 18The Gold Coast, Queensland's second-largest city and a major tourist destination (from Queensland)
Image 19The McPherson Range at Lamington National Park in South East Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 20Hill Inlet at the Whitsunday Islands. (from Queensland)
Image 21Fighting between Burke and Wills's supply party and Aboriginal Australians at Bulla in 1861 (from Queensland)
Image 22Parliament House, seat of the Queensland Parliament (from Queensland)
Image 23Lake McKensie, K'gari (Fraser Island) (from Queensland)
Image 24Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland's third largest city and a major tourist destination (from Queensland)
Image 25Kanaka workers in a sugar cane plantation, late 19th century (from Queensland)
Image 26Brisbane, capital and most populous city of Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 27Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, headquarters of the Supreme Court of Queensland and District Court of Queensland (from Queensland)

Selected business

Storm Financial Limited was a financial advice company, based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The company was founded by Emmanual Cassimatis and his wife Julie Cassimatis in 2004. On 12 December 2008, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission began investigation of Storm Financial's margin lending and related advice.

It went into administration in January 2009 and was placed in liquidation on 26 March 2009. The company had A$88 million in debts at the time. The collapse came at a time when an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 investors had suffered the effects of the financial crisis, and were facing significant losses. This left any investors who felt that had been misled or misguided with limited financial recourse against the company. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Lachlan Murdoch was forced to resign as a director of Prime Media Group because the company owned a radio station on Queensland's Sunshine Coast?
... that despite being described in 1840, the chestnut-backed buttonquail was only confirmed in Queensland in 2020?

More did You Know?

... that the Bremer River served as an important navigation route for the towns of Ipswich and Brisbane?
...that when the Tower of Terror II (pictured) at Dreamworld opened on 23 January 1997, it was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world?
...that the extinct Gastric-brooding frog genus was unique because it contained the only two known frog species that incubated the prejuvenile stages of their offspring in the stomach of the mother?
... that the University of Queensland is the oldest university in Queensland?