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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Brisbane skyline from Norman Park, looking over New Farm Park.

Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia, as well as the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland. It is set close to the Pacific Ocean, and is situated on the Brisbane River on plains between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range in south-eastern Queensland.

The city is named in honour of Sir Thomas Brisbane who was Governor of New South Wales from 1821 – 1825. The original settlement grew from a harsh penal colony established at his direction in 1824 at Redcliffe, 28 km (17.4 mi) to the north. The colony was moved to what is now the location of the Brisbane CBD in 1825, and free settlers were permitted from 1842. It was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony, in 1859. The city developed slowly until after World War II, when it played a central role in the Allied campaign as the South West Pacific headquarters for General Douglas MacArthur.

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

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Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981, then under the name Lyric Opera of Queensland, after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in December 1980.

It is after Opera Australia the second largest opera company in Australia. Each year the company presents at least three major operatic productions in Brisbane and numerous smaller productions, concerts and tours of operatic and lighter musical material in other venues throughout Queensland. As a partner in The Opera Conference, the national partnership of professional opera companies, Opera Queensland is actively involved in commissioning and presenting new productions. Opera Queensland is a "State flagship company" member of the Australian Major Performing Arts Group. (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 a replica of the HMB Endeavour (pictured), the ship sailed by James Cook in his first discovery voyage to the Pacific Ocean, exists in Cooktown harbour?
...that the Christian mission founded by Florence Young on her brothers’ sugar plantation in Queensland led her to make annual trips to the Solomon Islands for twenty years?
...that the Queensland Court of Disputed Returns once heard an election dispute from a person who claimed that the Queensland Government was unconstitutional but who still wished to be elected to it?
...that in order to stem a population decline a "dollar block" promotion was held in the Queensland town of Jandowae where 38 parcels of land were sold for one dollar each?