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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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Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in eastern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth. Although the land is mostly flat and about half of the area is used for grazing cattle, and wildlife is threatened by introduced species and weeds, the relatively undisturbed eucalyptus wooded savannahs, tropical rainforests and other types of habitat are now recognized for their global environmental significance.

The west coast borders the Gulf of Carpentaria and the east coast borders the Coral Sea. At the peninsula’s widest point, it is 430 km from the Bloomfield River, in the southeast, across to the west coast (just south of the Aboriginal community of Kowanyama). It is some 660 km from the southern border of Cook Shire, to the tip of Cape York. At the tip of the peninsula lies Cape York, the northernmost point on the Australian continent. It was named by Lieutenant James Cook on 21 August 1770 in honor of Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, a brother of King George III of the United Kingdom

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Image 1Government House, seat of the Governor (from Queensland)
Image 2Returned World War II soldiers march in Queen Street, Brisbane, 1944 (from Queensland)
Image 3Cargo ships at the Port of Gladstone, Queensland's largest commodity seaport (from Queensland)
Image 4Skyline of the Brisbane central business district. Brisbane is a global city and the state's largest economic hub. (from Queensland)
Image 5The Gold Coast, Queensland's second-largest city and a major tourist destination (from Queensland)
Image 6Commonly designated regions of Queensland, with Central Queensland divided into Mackay and Fitzroy subregions (from Queensland)
Image 7Parliament House, seat of the Queensland Parliament (from Queensland)
Image 8Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, headquarters of the Supreme Court of Queensland and District Court of Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 9Lake McKensie, K'gari (Fraser Island) (from Queensland)
Image 10Parade of troops in Brisbane, prior to departure for the Boer War in South Africa (from Queensland)
Image 11Köppen climate types in Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 12The Mossman River, flowing through the Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 13Brisbane, capital and most populous city of Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 14Hill Inlet at the Whitsunday Islands. (from Queensland)
Image 15Cricket game at The Gabba, a 42,000-seat round stadium in Brisbane (from Queensland)
Image 16Passenger train at Oxley railway station on the Ipswich/Rosewood line within the Queensland Rail City network (from Queensland)
Image 17The Great Court at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Queensland's oldest university (from Queensland)
Image 18Captain James Cook claims the east coast of Australia for the Kingdom of Great Britain at Possession Island in 1770 (from Queensland)
Image 19Gold mine at Ravenswood in North Queensland. Mining is one of the state's major industries (from Queensland)
Image 20The Ekka (the Royal Queensland Exhibition) is held each August at the Brisbane Showgrounds. (from Queensland)
Image 21Fighting between Burke and Wills's supply party and Aboriginal Australians at Bulla in 1861 (from Queensland)
Image 22The McPherson Range at Lamington National Park in South East Queensland (from Queensland)
Image 23Kanaka workers in a sugar cane plantation, late 19th century (from Queensland)
Image 24Aftermath 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 25Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland's third largest city and a major tourist destination (from Queensland)
Image 26Blackbirded South Sea Islanders on a Sugarcane plantation in Queensland. (from Queensland)
Image 27The Great Barrier Reef, which extends along most of Queensland's Coral Sea coastline (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 despite being described in 1840, the chestnut-backed buttonquail was only confirmed in Queensland in 2020?
... 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?

More did You Know?

...that as part of the defence of South East Queensland during the Second World War, fortifications were constructed on Bribie Island? (pictured)
...that the use of registered go cards allows the Queensland Police Service to track the movements of users?
...that Lakefield National Park has Queensland's largest concentration of crocodiles, both fresh and saltwater?
...that Kogan Creek Power Station houses the largest single unit electric generator in Australia?