Portal:Queensland

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 state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south, respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean; to the state's 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 subdivision of any country on earth; it is larger than all but 16 countries. Due to its size, Queensland's geographical features and climates are diverse, and include tropical rainforests, rivers, coral reefs, mountain ranges and white 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 5.5 million, concentrated in South East Queensland, where nearly three in four reside. The capital and largest city in the state is Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city and comprising fully half of the state's population. 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. 24.2% of the state's population were born overseas. The state has the highest inter-state net migration in Australia. (Full article...)

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Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited by Paul McGuiness, Hudson Fysh, Fergus McMaster and Arthur Baird. Initially the airline operated air mail services subsidised by the Australian government, linking railheads in western Queensland. Between 1926 and 1928 Qantas built several aircraft in Longreach and made the inaugural flight of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, departing from Cloncurry. Qantas Empire Airways Limited (QEA) was formed by Qantas and Britain's Imperial Airways in 1934. They flew internationally from May 1935, when the service from Darwin was extended to Singapore. As operations expanded with flying boat service World War disrupted air travel until 1943. In 1947, QEA was nationalised, with the Australian Labor government buying the shares. In the same year the airline took delivery of Lockheed 749 Constellations and these took over the trunk route to London. In 1958, Qantas became the second round-the-world airline, flying Super Constellations westward from Australia to London through Asia and the Middle East.

In 1956, Qantas ordered the Boeing 707-138 jet airliner and the first was delivered in June 1959. The first jet service operated by Qantas was on 29 July 1959 from Sydney to San Francisco via Nadi and Honolulu. On 5 September 1959 Qantas became the third airline to fly jets across the North Atlantic. In 1966, the airline diversified its business by opening the 450 room Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. In 1967, the airline placed orders for the Boeing 747 and Qantas Empire Airways changed its name to Qantas Airways. When Cyclone Tracy devastated the town of Darwin at Christmas 1974, Qantas established a world record for the most people ever embarked on a single aircraft when it evacuated 673 people on a single Boeing 747 flight. In March 1979, Qantas operated its final Boeing 707 flight from Auckland to Sydney, and became the only airline in the world to have a fleet that consisted of Boeing 747s only.

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Image 1Lake McKensie, K'gari (Fraser Island) (from Queensland)
Image 2Fighting between Burke and Wills's supply party and Aboriginal Australians at Bulla in 1861 (from Queensland)
Image 3The McPherson Range at Lamington National Park in South East Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 4Parade of troops in Brisbane, prior to departure for the Boer War in South Africa (from Queensland)
Image 5Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland's third largest city and a major tourist destination (from Queensland)
Image 6Aftermath 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 7Skyline of the Brisbane central business district. Brisbane is a global city and the state's largest economic hub. (from Queensland)
Image 8Köppen climate types in Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 9Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, headquarters of the Supreme Court of Queensland and District Court of Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 10The Gold Coast, Queensland's second-largest city and a major tourist destination (from Queensland)
Image 11Brisbane, capital and most populous city of Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 12Cricket game at The Gabba, a 42,000-seat round stadium in Brisbane (from Queensland)
Image 13Parliament House, seat of the Queensland Parliament (from Queensland)
Image 14Government House, seat of the Governor (from Queensland)
Image 15Gold mine at Ravenswood in North Queensland. Mining is one of the state's major industries (from Queensland)
Image 16Returned World War II soldiers march in Queen Street, Brisbane, 1944 (from Queensland)
Image 17Captain James Cook claims the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain at Possession Island in 1770 (from Queensland)
Image 18The Mossman River, flowing through the Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 19Hill Inlet at the Whitsunday Islands. (from Queensland)
Image 20Blackbirded South Sea Islanders on a Sugarcane plantation in Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 21The Great Court at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Queensland's oldest university (from Queensland)
Image 22Kanaka workers in a sugar cane plantation, late 19th century (from Queensland)
Image 23The Great Barrier Reef, which extends along most of Queensland's Coral Sea coastline (from Queensland)
Image 24The Ekka (the Royal Queensland Exhibition) is held each August at the Brisbane Showgrounds. (from Queensland)
Image 25Commonly designated regions of Queensland, with Central Queensland divided into Mackay and Fitzroy subregions (from Queensland)
Image 26Queen Elizabeth II visited Brisbane in October 1982 for the Commonwealth Games (from Queensland)
Image 27The peninsula of Seventeen Seventy, Queensland, where Captain Cook landed in 1770 (from Queensland)
Image 28Sheep shearers and farm hands at Jondaryan Woolshed, c. 1872 (from Queensland)

Selected business

(Pictured left: A Billabong brand hat)

Billabong International is a clothing company traded on the Australian Securities Exchange since 11 August 2000. Billabong was founded in 1973 by Gordon and Rena Merchant. The name came from the same word billabong, which is a stagnant body of water attached to a waterway.

As well as the Billabong brand-name, the company sells surfwear and accessories under the Palmers Surf, Honolua Surf, Swell.com, Von Zipper, Kustom (footwear), Nixon, Xcel Wetsuits and Tigerlily brands, and also Element skate clothing and hardware. The brands are available at various surf and skateboard stores locations. (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 in its two years of existence, the Hunter River Railway Company initiated construction on what would eventually become the Great Northern Railway connecting Sydney to Queensland?

More did You Know?

...that the largest island on the Great Barrier Reef is Hinchinbrook Island? (pictured)
...that the highest ever peak demand for electricity in Queensland was 8,891 MW and occurred on 18 January 2010?
...that Lockyer Creek and its tributaries cover nearly one quarter of the Brisbane River catchment?
...that the 2004 Palm Island death in custody of Mulrunji led to the first trial of an Australian police officer for a death in custody?