Top tourist attractions in Australia

Here is a list of top tourist attractions in Australia. Only the topmost tourist destinations are presented here. To see other destinations, please check the images from Australia section.

Curious if any of these place from Australia made it our best tourist attractions in the world list? Read the aformentioned article in order to find out.

You can also view all tourist attractions in Australia and other countries on our tourist attractions map.

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Cricket Stadium

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth-largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light towers at any sporting venue. The MCG is within walking distance of the city centre and is served by the Richmond railway station, Richmond, and the Jolimont railway station, East Melbourne. It is part of the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct. Internationally, the MCG is remembered as the centrepiece stadium of both the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The open-air stadium is also one of the world's most famous cricket venues, with the well-attended Boxing Day Test match commencing on Boxing Day each year. Throughout the winter, it serves as the home of Australian rules football, with at least one game held there each round. The stadium fills to capacity for the AFL Grand Final in late September. The MCG, often referred to by locals as "The G", has also hosted other major events, including International Rules between the Australian Football League and Gaelic Athletic Association, international Rugby union, State of Origin series, FIFA World Cup qualifiers and International Friendly matches, serves as the finish line for the Melbourne Marathon and also major rock concerts.

Sydney Opera House

Expressionist Structure

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the facility is adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens, between Sydney and Farm Coves. Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the facility formally opened on 20 October 1973 after a gestation beginning with Utzon's 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The NSW Government, led by Premier Joseph Cahill authorised work to begin in 1958, with Utzon directing construction. The government's decision to build Utzon's design is often overshadowed by circumstances that followed, including cost and scheduling overruns as well as the architect's ultimate resignation. Though its name suggests a single venue, the project comprises multiple performance venues which together are among the busiest performing arts centres in the world — hosting over 1,500 performances each year attended by some 1.2 million people. The venues produce and present a wide range of in-house productions and accommodate numerous performing arts companies, including four key resident companies: Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, more than seven million people visit the site each year, with 300,000 people participating annually in a guided tour of the facility.

Great Barrier Reef

World Heritage Site

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labeled it one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The Queensland National Trust named it a state icon of Queensland. A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as fishing and tourism. Other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish. According to a study published in October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985.

Suncorp Stadium

Cricket Stadium

Lang Park is the original name of the site located in the Brisbane suburb of Milton, Queensland, Australia, now occupied by the major sports facility known by its sponsorship name, Suncorp Stadium. Lang Park is also known as Brisbane Stadium when in use during AFC competitions due to conflicting sponsorship reasons. The current facility comprises a three tiered rectangular sporting stadium with a capacity of 52,500 people. Some suggest the enclosed stands situated on the sidelines make it arguably the best rectangular stadium in Australia for spectator viewing and atmosphere for rugby league, rugby union and association football. The top tier is closed for events less than 30,000 enhancing the intimacy. Lang Park was established in 1914, on the site of a former cemetery, and in its early days was home to a number of different sports, including cycling, athletics and football. The lease of the park was taken over by rugby league and it became the home of the game in Queensland in 1957. It has also been the home ground of major rugby union and football matches in Queensland since its modern redevelopment, including the Queensland Reds and the Brisbane Roar, and some Wallabies and Socceroos matches. It hosted the 2008 Rugby League World Cup Final.

Uluru

Tourist attraction

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock and officially gazetted as Uluru / Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia. It lies 335 km south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs, 450 km by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves, and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hillsong Church

Building

Hillsong Church is a Pentecostal megachurch affiliated with Australian Christian Churches and located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Brian and Bobbie Houston began the church in 1983 as the Hills Christian Life Centre in Baulkham Hills. Hills Christian Life Centre later merged with Sydney Christian Life Centre at Waterloo. Over 30,000 people attend services each week. While headquartered at its "Hills" location in Baulkham Hills' Norwest Business Park in the Hills District, Hillsong is a multi-site church with another congregation, designated the "City" location, located in Waterloo, near Sydney's central business district. In 2009, a third Sydney location, "South West", located in Campbelltown and a fourth interstate location, the "Brisbane" location in Mount Gravatt, Queensland were added. In 2012 it was announced that a fifth church, also interstate, was to be opened in late 2012 or early 2013 in Melbourne, Victoria. Apart from the four main locations, Hillsong Church currently has 12 extension services across Sydney. These extension services are based on either location or culture and rely on Hillsong Church for support and leadership. Hillsong Church's international offshoots include Hillsong Church London, in the United Kingdom, Hillsong Church Kiev in Ukraine, Hillsong Church Cape Town and Hillsong Church Pretoria in South Africa, Hillsong Church Stockholm in Sweden and Hillsong NYC, in New York, USA. Hillsong services are also held in Hillsong Church Paris, in Paris, France, Hillsong Connect Group Lyon in Lyon, Hillsong Church Germany in Konstanz and Düsseldorf, Hillsong Church Amsterdam in Amsterdam, Hillsong Barcelona in Barcelona, Hillsong Church Copenhagen in Copenhagen and Hillsong Church Moscow in Moscow. In February 2012, Hillsong Church announced that Pastors Thomas and Katherine Hansen would be sent to Denmark to start Hillsong Church Copenhagen. On 10 August 2013 Pastor Brian Housten announced that Hillsong would be setting up a church in Los Angeles, California.

Sea World Gold Coast

Amusement Park

Sea World is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, and theme park located on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It includes rides, animal exhibits and other attractions, and promotes conservation through education and through the rescue and rehabilitation of sick, injured or orphaned wildlife. The park is commercially linked to Warner Bros. Movie World and Wet'n'Wild Water World as part of the theme park division of Village Roadshow.

Australian War Memorial

Tourist attraction

The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia. The memorial includes an extensive national military museum. The Australian War Memorial was opened in 1941, and is widely regarded as one of the most significant memorials of its type in the world. The Memorial is located in Australia's capital, Canberra. It is the northern terminus of the city's ceremonial land axis, which stretches from Parliament House on Capital Hill along a line passing through the summit of the cone-shaped Mount Ainslie to the northeast. No continuous roadway links the two points, but there is a clear line of sight from the front balcony of Parliament House to the War Memorial, and from the front steps of the War Memorial back to Parliament House. The Australian War Memorial consists of three parts: the Commemorative Area including the Hall of Memory with the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier, the Memorial's galleries and Research Centre. The Memorial also has an outdoor Sculpture Garden. The Memorial is currently open daily from 10 am until 5 pm, except on Christmas Day.

Taronga Zoo

Zoo

Taronga Zoo is the city zoo of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and is located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman. It was officially opened on 7 October 1916. Taronga Zoo is managed by the Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales, under the trading name Taronga Conservation Society, along with its sister Zoo Dubbo's Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Divided into eight zoogeographic regions, the 21-hectare Taronga Zoo is home to over 2,600 animals of 340 species. It has a zoo shop, a cafe, and information centre.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Arch Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of Sydney, New South Wales, and Australia. The bridge is nicknamed "The Coathanger" because of its arch-based design. Under the directions of Dr J.J.C. Bradfield of the NSW Department of Public Works, the bridge was designed and built by British firm Dorman Long and Co Ltd of Middlesbrough and opened in 1932. The bridge's design was influenced by the Hell Gate Bridge in New York. It is also the sixth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world, and it is the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 metres from top to water level. It was also the world's widest long-span bridge, at 48.8 meters wide, until construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver.

Lord Howe Island

Geographical Feature

Lord Howe Island is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, 600 kilometres directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, and about 900 kilometres from Norfolk Island. The island is about 10 km long and between 2.0 km and 0.3 km wide with an area of 14.55 km², "of which only 398 hectares is in the lowland settled area". Along the west coast there is a sandy semi-enclosed sheltered coral reef lagoon. Most of the population lives in the north, while the south is dominated by forested hills rising to the highest point on the island, Mount Gower. The Lord Howe Island Group of islands comprises 28 islands, islets and rocks. Apart from Lord Howe Island itself the most notable of these is the volcanic and uninhabited Ball's Pyramid about 23 km to the south-east. To the north there is the Admiralty Group, a cluster of seven small uninhabited islands. The first reported sighting of Lord Howe Island was on 17 February 1788 when Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, commander of the Armed Tender HMS Supply was on its way from Botany Bay to found a penal settlement on Norfolk Island. On the return journey Ball sent a party ashore on Lord Howe Island to claim it as a British possession. It subsequently became a provisioning port for the whaling industry, and was permanently settled in June 1834. When whaling declined, the worldwide export of the endemic kentia palms began in the 1880s, which remains a key component of the Island's economy. The other continuing industry, tourism, began after World War II.

Adelaide Oval

Sports Facility

Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. In the 21st century it has been home to two cricket teams, the South Australian Redbacks and the Adelaide Strikers. It has been home to the South Australian Cricket Association since 1871. The oval has a rich history which dates back to 1871, shortly after the formation of the SACA, and is considered to be "one of the most picturesque Test cricket grounds in Australia, if not the world." Among those responsible for its formation were John Pickering and Henry Yorke Sparks. The ground is mostly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but plays host to other sports such as Rugby League and football, and is also used as an entertainment venue for performances expecting large attendance. The oval is managed by the South Australian Cricket Association. In 2006, it had a seating capacity of 36,000. The maximum crowd at a cricket game was 50,962 during the Bodyline test in 1932, and the maximum crowd was 62,543, set at the 1965 SANFL Grand Final between the Port Adelaide and Sturt Football Clubs. A $575 million redevelopment will return Australian Rules Football to the city, increase the stadium's capacity to 54,500 and result in the Oval becoming the home venue for both the Adelaide and Port Adelaide Football Clubs from 2014.

Warner Bros. Movie World

Amusement Park

Warner Bros. Movie World is a popular movie related theme park on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is owned and operated by Village Roadshow since the take over from Time Warner and is the only movie related park in Australia. It opened on 3 June 1991. The park contains various movie-themed rides and attractions ranging from motion simulators to roller coasters and slow river rides. In addition, costumed character performers also patrol the park, allowing visitors the chance to take photos with them. These include Batman, Austin Powers, Marilyn Monroe, Scooby Doo, The Mystery Inc. Gang and various Looney Tunes characters. Minor street shows including skits and singing performances are also present. The All-Star Parade showcases costumed characters alongside vehicles and movie-themed floats. There are a number of active film studios within the Movie World complex. House of Wax, the first Scooby Doo film, the 2003 Peter Pan film, Ghost Ship, The Condemned and Fortress are amongst the many films and television series produced at Warner Roadshow Studios, adjoining Warner Bros. Movie World. On 3 June 2011, Warner Bros. Movie World celebrated 20 years of being a theme park.

National Gallery of Australia

Tourist attraction

The National Gallery of Australia is the national art museum of Australia as well as the largest art museum in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art museum.

Fraser Island

Location

Fraser Island is a heritage-listed island located along the southern coast of Queensland, Australia, approximately 200 kilometres north of Brisbane. Its length is about 120 kilometres and its width is approximately 24 kilometres. 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 rainforests, eucalyptus woodland, mangrove forests, wallum and peat 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 Region and protected in the Great Sandy National Park.

Football Park

Cricket Stadium

Football Park is an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian National Football League and opened in 1974 and was until the end of the 2013 season the home ground of both the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power, who play in the Australian Football League. With a seated capacity of 51,240 Football Park is the fourth largest Australian Rules Football stadium in Australia in terms of crowd capacity, behind Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, Stadium Australia in Sydney and the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Dreamworld

Amusement Park

Dreamworld is a large theme park situated on the Gold Coast in Queensland. It is currently Australia's largest theme park with over 40 rides and attractions including five roller coasters. The park is made up of several themed lands: Ocean Parade, DreamWorks Experience, Wiggles World, Gold Rush Country, Rocky Hollow, Tiger Island and the Australian Wildlife Experience. These lands have a collection of rides, animal exhibits, shows, food outlets and merchandise shops. Dreamworld is well known as the location of the Australian Big Brother House since the program began in Australia in 2001. In December 2006, Dreamworld expanded its offerings by opening WhiteWater World next door. On several occasions during the year, Dreamworld remains open after dark. This event, known as Screamworld, includes all of the thrill rides and a selection of children's rides.

Murray River

River

The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At 2,375 kilometres in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between the states of New South Wales and Victoria as it flows to the northwest, before turning south for its final 500 kilometres or so into South Australia, reaching the ocean at Lake Alexandrina. The water of the Murray flows through several lakes that fluctuate in salinity including Lake Alexandrina and The Coorong before emptying through the Murray Mouth into the southeastern portion of the Indian Ocean, often referenced on Australian maps as the Southern Ocean, near Goolwa. Despite discharging considerable volumes of water at times, particularly before the advent of largescale river regulation, the Mouth has always been comparatively small and shallow. As of 2010, the Murray River system receives 58 percent of its natural flow. It is perhaps Australia's most important irrigated region, and it is widely known as the food bowl of the nation.

Flinders Street Station

Transit Stop

Flinders Street Station—colloquially shortened to simply Flinders Street or sometimes FSS—is a central commuter railway station at the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It serves the entire metropolitan rail network. Backing onto the city reach of the Yarra River in the heart of the city, the complex covers two whole city blocks and extends from Swanston Street to Queen Street. Each weekday, over 110,000 commuters and 1,500 trains pass through the station. It is the most used metropolitan railway station in Melbourne, in 2009 there was an average of 85,100 passenger boardings per day. Flinders Street is serviced by Metro's suburban services, and V/Line regional services to Gippsland. It was the first railway station in an Australian city, the terminus for the first use of steam rail in Australia and the world's busiest passenger station in the late 1920s. The main station building, completed in 1909, is a cultural icon to Melbourne, with its prominent dome, arched entrance, tower and clocks it is one of the city's most recognisable landmarks. As such it is frequently used to symbolise the city and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Melburnian idiom "I'll meet you under the clocks", refers to the row of clocks above the main entrance, which indicate the time-tabled time of departure for trains on each line; another idiom "I'll meet you on the steps", refers to the wide staircase underneath these clocks. Flinders Street Station is responsible for two of Melbourne's busiest pedestrian crossings, both across Flinders Street, including one of Melbourne's few pedestrian scrambles.

State Library of Victoria

Tourist attraction

The State Library of Victoria is the central library of the state of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. It is on the block bounded by Swanston, La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets, in the northern centre of the central business district. The library holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials, including the diaries of the city's founders, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and the folios of Captain James Cook, R.N.. It also houses the original armour of Ned Kelly.

Australia Zoo

Zoo

Australia Zoo is a 100-acre zoo located in the Australian state of Queensland on the Sunshine Coast near Beerwah/Glass House Mountains. It is a member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association, and is owned by Terri Irwin, the widow of Steve Irwin, whose wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter made the zoo a popular tourist attraction. The zoo is run by Director Wes Mannion. Australia Zoo was opened by Bob and Lyn Irwin on 3 June 1970 under the name Beerwah Reptile Park. Their son Steve, had helped his parents since childhood to care for crocodiles and reptiles and to maintain the growing number of animals in the zoo. In 1982 the park was renamed to the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park and the area was doubled with the purchase of another 4 acres. Steve and Terri changed the name of their now growing wildlife park to Australia Zoo. As filming generated extra funds, Steve and Terri put all money raised from filming and merchandise into conservation and building new exhibits. Australia Zoo won the Australian Tourism Awards for 2003–2004 in the category Major Tourist Attraction. In 2004, the Australian Animal Hospital was opened next to the zoo to help with animal care and rehabilitation. More recently, the zoo was a finalist in two categories for the 2010 Queensland Tourism Awards. Visitors will see a wide variety of birds, mammals, and reptiles, and can view crocodile feedings, hand-feed elephants, and have hands-on animal encounters.

Kakadu National Park

National park

Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin. Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of 19,804 km², extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west. It is the size of Slovenia, about one-third the size of Tasmania, or nearly half the size of Switzerland. The Ranger Uranium Mine, one of the most productive uranium mines in the world, is surrounded by separation from the park.

Bondi Beach

Australian Suburb

Bondi Beach or Bondi Bay is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located 7 km east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Eastern Suburbs. Bondi, North Bondi and Bondi Junction are neighbouring suburbs.

Port Jackson

Bay

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the South Pacific Ocean. Widely considered to be one of the world's finest harbours, it is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge which connects central Sydney with the Northern Suburbs region extended metropolitan area. Its entrance is between North and South Heads, where naval and military stations are located. The location of the first European settlement in Australia, the harbour has continued to play a key role in the history and development of Sydney. The city itself lies on the southern shore. The Parramatta River forms the harbour's western arm. Many recreational events are based on or around the harbour itself particularly the Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations and the starting point of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Melbourne City Centre

Australian Suburb

Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the area in which Melbourne was established in 1835, by founders John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, and its boundaries are defined by the Government of Victoria's Melbourne Planning Scheme. Today it comprises the two oldest areas of Melbourne; the Hoddle Grid and Queen Victoria Market, as well as sections of the redeveloped areas of Docklands, Southbank/Wharf. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne. It is the core central activities district of Melbourne's inner suburbs and the major central business district of Greater Melbourne's metropolitan area, and is a major financial centre in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The Hoddle Grid is home to Melbourne's famed alleyways and arcades and is renowned for its distinct blend of contemporary and Victorian architecture as well as expansive parks and gardens which surround its edges. The City Centre is home to five of the six tallest buildings in Australia. In recent times, it has been placed alongside New York and Berlin as one of the World's great street art meccas, and designated a "City of Literature" by UNESCO in its Creative Cities Network.

Powerhouse Museum

Postmodern Structure

The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney, the other being the historic Sydney Observatory. Although often described as a science museum, the Powerhouse has a diverse collection encompassing all sorts of technology including Decorative arts, Science, Communication, Transport, Costume, Furniture, Media, Computer technology, Space technology and Steam engines. It has existed in various guises for over 125 years, and is home to some 400,000 artifacts, many of which are displayed or housed at the site it has occupied since 1988, and for which it is named — a converted electric tram power station in the Inner West suburb of Ultimo, originally constructed in 1902. It is well known, and a popular Sydney tourist destination. It has a quarterly magazine called Powerline sent free to members and available at the museum.

Melbourne Zoo

Zoo

The Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens, commonly known as the Melbourne Zoo, contains more than 320 animal species from Australia and around the world. The zoo is 4 kilometres north of the centre of Melbourne. It is accessible via Royal Park station on the Upfield railway line, and is also accessible via tram routes 55 and 19, as well as by bicycle on the Capital City Trail. Bicycles are not allowed inside the zoo itself. The Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Perth Zoo

Zoo

The Perth Zoo is a 41-acre zoo that opened in 1898 in South Perth, Western Australia. As of January 2011, it is home to 1258 animals of 164 species and includes an extensive botanical collection. In 2010/11, the zoo had a paid staff of about 248, plus about 300 volunteer docents. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Port Phillip

Bay

Port Phillip, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers 1,930 square kilometres and the shore stretches roughly 264 km. Although it is extremely shallow for its size, most of the bay is navigable. The deepest portion is only 24 metres, and half the region is shallower than 8 m. The volume of the water in the bay is around 25 cubic kilometres. Prior to British settlement the area around Port Phillip was divided between the territories of the Wathaurong, Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung Nations. Its waters and coast are home to seals, whales, dolphins, corals and many kinds of seabirds and migratory waders. The first British to enter the bay were the crews of HMS Lady Nelson, commanded by John Murray and, ten weeks later, HMS Investigator commanded by Matthew Flinders, in 1802. Subsequent expeditions into the bay took place in 1803 to establish the first settlement in Victoria, near Sorrento, but was abandoned in 1804. Thirty years later, settlers from Tasmania returned to establish Melbourne, now the state's capital city, at the mouth of the Yarra River in 1835 and Geelong at Corio Bay in 1838. Today Port Phillip is the most densely populated catchment in Australia with an estimated 4.5 million people living around the bay; Melbourne's suburbs extend around much of the northern and eastern shorelines, and the city of Geelong sprawls around Corio Bay, in the bay's western arm.

Darling Harbour

Tourist attraction

Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is also a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. The locality extends northwards from Chinatown, along both sides of Cockle Bay to King Street Wharf on the east, and to the suburb of Pyrmont on the west. Cockle Bay is just one of the waterways that makes up Darling Harbour, which opens north into the much larger Port Jackson. The precinct and its immediate surroundings are administered independently of the local government area of the City of Sydney, by a New South Wales state government statutory authority, the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.

Luna Park Sydney

Amusement Park

Luna Park Sydney is an amusement park located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Luna Park is located at Milsons Point, on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour. The park was constructed at the foot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge during 1935, and ran for nine-month seasons until 1972, when it was opened year-round. Luna Park was closed in mid-1979, immediately following the Ghost Train fire, which killed six children and one adult. Most of the park was demolished, and a new amusement park was constructed; this originally operated under the name of Harbourside Amusement Park before resuming the Luna Park name. The park was closed again in 1988 as an independent engineering inspection determined that several rides needed urgent repair. The owners failed to repair and reopen the park before a New South Wales government deadline, and ownership was passed to a new body. Reopening in 1995, Luna Park closed again after thirteen months because of the Big Dipper rollercoaster: noise pollution complaints from residents on the clifftop above the park caused the ride's operating hours to be heavily restricted, and the resultant drop in attendance made the park unprofitable. After another redevelopment, Luna Park reopened in 2004 and has continued operating since.

EnergyAustralia Stadium

Cricket Stadium

Newcastle International Sports Centre, known as Hunter Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knights and Newcastle Jets FC. It is owned by the New South Wales government and administered by the Hunter Region Sporting Venues Authority. Due to past sponsorship deals, the ground has been previously known as Marathon Stadium, EnergyAustralia Stadium and Ausgrid Stadium. Newcastle International Sports Centre is also known as Newcastle Stadium when in use during AFC competitions due to conflicting sponsorship reasons.

Eureka Tower

Skyscraper

Eureka Tower is a 297.3-metre skyscraper located in the Southbank precinct of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction began in August 2002 and the exterior completed on 1 June 2006. The plaza was finished in June 2006 and the building was officially opened on 11 October 2006. The project was designed by Melbourne architectural firm Fender Katsalidis Architects and was built by Grocon. The developer of the tower was Eureka Tower Pty Ltd, a joint venture consisting of Daniel Grollo, investor Tab Fried and one of the Tower's architects Nonda Katsalidis. It was the world's tallest residential tower when measured to its highest floor, until surpassed by Ocean Heights and the HHHR Tower in Dubai. As of May 2013 it is the 12th tallest residential building in the world.

Central Coast Stadium

Cricket Stadium

Central Coast Stadium, as of 2011 named Bluetongue Stadium due to sponsorship by Bluetongue Brewery, is a sports venue in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The stadium is home to the Central Coast Mariners Football Club who compete in the A-League. The stadium also hosts rugby league and rugby union fixtures on an ad hoc basis as well as other major social events. The stadium was originally designed to be the home stadium for the North Sydney Bears rugby league football club. The stadium is rectangular and is unusual in that seating is located on only three sides of the ground. The southern end is open giving filtered views of Brisbane Water through a row of palm trees. With an all seater capacity of 20,059 it was as of 2012 the second smallest stadium in the A-League. It is within walking distance of the Gosford CBD and Gosford railway station. The Central Coast Leagues Club and League Club Field are adjacent to the stadium, across Dane Drive.

National Museum of Australia

Museum

The National Museum of Australia was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980. The National Museum preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. The Museum did not have a permanent home until 11 March 2001, when a purpose-built museum building was officially opened in the national capital Canberra. The Museum profiles 50,000 years of Indigenous heritage, settlement since 1788 and key events including Federation and the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The Museum holds the world's largest collection of Aboriginal bark paintings and stone tools, the heart of champion racehorse Phar Lap and the Holden prototype No. 1 car. The Museum also develops and travels exhibitions on subjects ranging from bushrangers to surf lifesaving. The National Museum of Australia Press publishes a wide range of books, catalogues and journals. The Museum's Research Centre takes a cross-disciplinary approach to history, ensuring the museum is a lively forum for ideas and debate about Australia's past, present and future. The Museum's innovative use of new technologies has been central to its growing international reputation in outreach programming, particularly with regional communities. From 2003 to 2008, the Museum hosted Talkback Classroom, a student political forum.

Melbourne Museum

Natural history Museum

Melbourne Museum is in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building. It was designed by Denton Corker Marshall Architects and finished construction in 2001. Situated in the Carlton Gardens, it was commissioned by the Victorian Government Office of Major Projects on behalf of Museums Victoria. The museum is a rich response to Melbourne’s urban condition, and provides a place for education, history, culture and society to engage with each other in a contemporary setting. It is now an important part of Melbourne’s soft infrastructure. It is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere, and is a venue of Museum Victoria, which also operates the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks Museum. The museum has seven main galleries, a Children's Gallery and a temporary exhibit gallery on three levels, Upper, Ground and Lower Level and was constructed by Baulderstone Hornibrook. The Touring Hall is where temporary exhibits are displayed. Past exhibits include mummies from Egypt and dinosaurs from China. The Big Box is part of the Children's Gallery. In addition, the museum has other facilities such as the Sidney Myer Amphitheatre and The Age Theatre. The Discovery Centre, on the Lower Level, is a free public research centre. The museum also has a cafe and a souvenir shop.

Parliament House, Canberra

Tourist attraction

Parliament House is the meeting facility of the Parliament of Australia located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. The building was designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and opened on 9 May 1988 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. Costing more than A$1.1 billion, it was the most expensive building in the world at the time of its construction. Federal Parliament meetings were first held in Melbourne until 1927. Between 1927 and 1988, the Parliament of Australia met in the Provisional Parliament House, which is now known as "Old Parliament House". Construction of Australia's permanent Parliament House was delayed while its location was debated. Construction of the new building began in 1981. The principal design of the structure is based on the shape of two boomerangs and is topped by an 81-metre flagpole. It contains 4,700 rooms and many areas are open to the public. The main foyer contains a marble staircase and leads to the Great Hall which has a large tapestry on display. The House of Representatives chamber is decorated green while the Senate chamber has a red colour scheme. Between the two chambers is the Members' Hall which has a water feature and is not open to the public. The Ministerial Wing houses the office of the Prime Minister and other Ministers.

Barossa Valley

Tourist attraction

The Barossa Valley is a major wine-producing region and tourist destination of South Australia, located 60 km northeast of Adelaide. It is the valley formed by the North Para River, and the Barossa Valley Way is the main road through the valley, connecting the main towns on the valley floor of Nuriootpa, Tanunda, Rowland Flat and Lyndoch.

Puffing Billy Railway

Railway

The Puffing Billy Railway is a narrow gauge 2 ft 6 in gauge heritage railway in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, Australia. The primary starting point, operations and administration centre, main refreshment room and ticket purchasing are located at Belgrave station. Journeys may also be commenced at out-stations of which some have limited facilities for the purchase of tickets, refreshments and souvenirs. Tickets usually may also be purchased from the conductor aboard the train.

Healesville Sanctuary

Zoo

Healesville Sanctuary, or the Sir Colin MacKenzie Fauna Park, is a zoo specializing in native Australian animals. It is located at Healesville in rural Victoria, Australia, and has a history of breeding native animals. It is one of only two places to have successfully bred a platypus, the other being Sydney's Taronga Zoo. It also assists with a breeding population of the endangered Helmeted Honeyeater. The zoo is set in a natural bushland environment where paths wind through different habitat areas showcasing wallabies, wombats, dingoes, kangaroos, and over 200 native bird varieties. Conducted tours, bird shows and information areas are available to visitors.

Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Structure

The Adelaide Entertainment Centre is an indoor arena located in the South Australian capital of Adelaide, and is used for sporting and entertainment events. It is the principal venue for concerts, events and attractions for audiences between 2,000 and 12,000. It is located on Port Road in the suburb of Hindmarsh, just north of the Adelaide city centre. With modern architecture and acoustics, function rooms and award winning catering, the Adelaide Entertainment Centre provides a live entertainment venue for hundreds of thousands of people each year. In 2010 the Adelaide Entertainment Centre completed a $52m redevelopment with a new entry and Theatre complex.

Adelaide Zoo

Zoo

Adelaide Zoo is Australia's second oldest zoo, and the only major metropolitan zoo in Australia to be owned and operated on a non-profit basis. It is located in the parklands just north of the city centre of Adelaide, South Australia. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The zoo also owns the Monarto open plains zoo near Murray Bridge. The zoo houses about 300 native and exotic species, with over 1,800 animals on site. The zoo's most recent enclosures are in the second phase of the South-East Asia exhibit, known as Immersion, providing visitors with the experience of walking through the jungle, with Sumatran Tigers and Orangutans seemingly within reach. Many features of the zoo are of architectural importance and are heritage listed by the National Trust of South Australia, including the front entrance on Frome Road and the former Elephant House. The zoo is also a botanical garden and the grounds contain significant exotic and native flora, including a Moreton Bay Fig planted in 1877. The Giant Panda exhibit, which opened in December 2009, is home to two Giant Pandas, Wang Wang and Funi.

Melbourne Aquarium

Zoo

Melbourne Aquarium is a Southern Ocean and Antarctic aquarium in central Melbourne, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Yarra River beside and under the Flinders Street Viaduct and the King Street Bridge.

Queensland Raceway

Tourist attraction

Queensland Raceway nicknamed "the paperclip" is a motor racing circuit located at Willowbank in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. The circuit plays host to V8 Supercars, the Australian Superbike Championship, drifting as well as club level racing and ride days. Queensland Raceway is 3.12 kilometres long and 12 metres wide, running clockwise. There are six corners. The circuit was designed by Tony Slattery with input from car and motorcycle racing authorities including CAMS circuit expert Professor Rod Troutbeck. The circuit is licenced by Australian motorsport's two peak bodies, CAMS Limited and Motorcycling Australia, but generally sanctions its race meeting under the Australian Auto Sport Alliance. It runs its own championship series, the Queensland Racing Drivers Championship. Spectator viewing at the track is excellent with the flat layout of the circuit and spectator mounds. However the flat layout makes racing less exciting for the competitors than undulating circuits like Phillip Island. The track became infamous for its bumps, although the track was re-surfaced late in 2011. Queensland Raceway is located within the bounds of the Ipswich Motorsport Precinct, which is also home to the Willowbank Raceway dragstrip, a kart track and a short dirt circuit. The track is also located near RAAF Base Amberley and shares the base's 6 kilometres noise exclusion zone.

Whitsunday Islands

Tourist attraction

The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some 900 kilometres north of Brisbane. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial centre is Hamilton Island. The traditional owners of the area are the Ngaro People and the Gia People, the Juru Clan of which has the only recognised Native Title in the Region.

The Twelve Apostles

Tourist attraction

The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction.

Port Stephens

Geographical Feature

Port Stephens, an open youthful tide dominated drowned valley estuary, is a large natural harbour of approximately 134 square kilometres located in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Port Stephens lies within the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park and is situated about 160 kilometres north-east of Sydney. The harbour lies wholly within the local government area of Port Stephens; although its northern shoreline forms the boundary between the Port Stephens and Great Lakes local government areas. According to the 2006 Census, more than 26,000 people lived within 3 km of its 113 km long shoreline and more than 32,000 lived within 10 km.

Grampians National Park

National park

The Grampians National Park is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 235 kilometres west of Melbourne. The Park was listed on the Australian National Heritage List on 15 December 2006 for its outstanding natural beauty and being one of the richest indigenous rock art sites in south-eastern Australia. The Grampians feature a striking series of sandstone mountain ranges. The ranges were named in 1836 by Surveyor General of New South Wales Sir Thomas Mitchell after the Grampian Mountains in his native Scotland, but are also known by the name Gariwerd, from one of the local Australian Aboriginal languages, either the Jardwadjali or Djab Wurrung language. After a two-year consultation process, the park was renamed Grampians National Park in 1991, however this controversial formality was reversed after a change of state government in 1992. The Geographic Place Names Act 1998 reinstated dual naming for geographical features, and this has been subsequently adopted in the Park based on Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung names for rock art sites and landscape features with the National Heritage List referring to Grampians National Park.

Fremantle Prison

Museum

Fremantle Prison is a former Australian prison on The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. The 6-hectare site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art. The prison was one of 11 former convict sites in Australia inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2010 as the Australian Convict Sites. The prison was built by convict labour in the 1850s, and transferred to the colonial government in 1886 for use as a gaol for locally-sentenced prisoners. It closed as a prison in 1991 and reopened as a historic site. It is now a public museum, managed by the Government of Western Australia with daily and nightly tours being operated. Some tours include information about the possible existence of ghosts within the prison. There are also tours of the flooded tunnels and aqueducts under the prison. The prison is also widely referred to as Fremantle Gaol.

The Rocks

Australian Suburb

The Rocks is an urban locality, tourist precinct and historic area of Sydney's city centre, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, immediately north-west of the Sydney central business district. The precinct and its immediate surroundings are administered independently of the local government area of the City of Sydney, by a New South Wales state government statutory authority, the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. The Rocks area borders on the Bradfield Highway, leading to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with the localities of Dawes Point and Millers Point, to the west. It is immediately adjacent to Circular Quay on Sydney Cove, the site of Australia's first European settlement in 1788.

Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Museum

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, is dedicated to the moving image in all its forms. It is located in Federation Square, in Melbourne, Australia, across four levels of the Alfred Deakin Building. ACMI is a state-of-the-art facility purpose-built for the preservation, exhibition and promotion of Victorian, Australian and International screen content.

Queensland Museum

Natural history Museum

The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland. The museum currently operates four separate campuses; at South Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Townsville. The museum is funded by the State Government of Queensland.

Western Australian Museum

Museum

The Western Australian Museum is the state museum for Western Australia. It has six main sites: in Perth within the Perth Cultural Centre, two in Fremantle, and one each in Albany, Geraldton, and Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the Museum Act 1969.

Murrumbidgee River

River

Murrumbidgee River, a major tributary of the Murray River within the Murray–Darling basin, flows through the Australian state of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory; descending 1,500 metres as it flows 900 kilometres in a west-northwesterly direction from the foot of Peppercorn Hill in the Fiery Range of the Snowy Mountains towards its confluence with the Murray River near Boundary Bend. The word Murrumbidgee means "big water" in the Wiradjuri language, one of the local Aboriginal languages.

Art Gallery of South Australia

Art Gallery

The Art Gallery of South Australia, located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in Adelaide, is one of three significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of over 35,000 works of art, making it, after the National Gallery of Victoria, the second largest state art collection in Australia. It was known as the National Gallery of South Australia until 1967 when the current name was adopted. The Art Gallery is located adjacent to State Library of South Australia, the South Australian Museum and the University of Adelaide, AGSA is part of Adelaide's North Terrace cultural precinct and had 712,994 visitors in the year ending 30 June 2011. As well as its permanent collection, the AGSA displays a number of visiting exhibition every year, and also contributes travelling exhibitions to regional galleries.

Shrine of Remembrance

Tourist attraction

The Shrine of Remembrance, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Australia was built as a memorial to the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I and is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in war. It is a site of annual observances of ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. Designed by architects Phillip Hudson and James Wardrop who were both World War I veterans, the Shrine is in a classical style, being based on the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus and the Parthenon in Athens. Built from Tynong granite, the Shrine originally consisted only of the central sanctuary surrounded by the ambulatory. The sanctuary contains the marble Stone of Remembrance, upon which is engraved the words "Greater love hath no man". Once a year, on 11 November at 11 a.m., a ray of sunlight shines through an aperture in the roof to light up the word "Love" in the inscription. Beneath the sanctuary lies the crypt, which contains a bronze statue of a soldier father and son, and panels listing every unit of the Australian Imperial Force. In 2002-2003 a Visitor Centre was built within the foundations of the Shrine. The visitor centre incorporates an education centre, an audio-visual centre, gallery space, a retail shop and an administration office, as well the Hall of Columns Gallery of Medals, entry courtyard and Remembrance Garden. The walls of both the entry courtyard and Remembrance Garden have been built to complement the Ray of Light ceremony that takes place on 11 November of every year.

Luna Park, Melbourne

Amusement Park

Melbourne's Luna Park is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. It opened on 13 December 1912 and has been operating almost continuously ever since.

Daintree Rainforest

Tourist attraction

The Daintree Rainforest is a tropical rainforest on the north east coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Mossman and Cairns. At around 1,200 km², the Daintree is the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest on the Australian continent. Along the coastline north of the Daintree River, tropical rainforest grows right down to the edge of the sea.

Kings Park, Western Australia

Tourist attraction

Kings Park is a 4.06-square-kilometre park located on the western edge of the central business district in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. The park is a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland on Mount Eliza with two thirds of the grounds conserved as native bushland. With panoramic views of the Swan River and Darling Range, it is home to over 300 native plant varieties and 80 bird species. It overlooks the city as well as Perth Water and Melville Water on the Swan River. It is one of the largest inner city parks in the world and the most popular visitor destination in Western Australia, being visited by over five million people each year. The park is larger than New York's Central Park which is 3.41 km². Besides tourist facilities Kings Park contains the State War Memorial, the Royal Kings Park Tennis club and a reservoir. The streets are tree lined with individual plaques dedicated by family members to Western Australian service men and women who died in World War I and World War II. During September of each year Kings Park hosts Australia's largest wildflower show and exhibition - the Kings Park Festival.

Sea Life Sydney Aquarium

Zoo

Sea Life Sydney Aquarium is a public aquarium located in the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the eastern side of Darling Harbour to the north of the Pyrmont Bridge. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The aquarium contains a large variety of Australian aquatic life, displaying more than 650 species comprising more than 6,000 individual fish and other sea and water creatures from most of Australia's water habitats. Its key exhibits in the aquarium are a series of underwater, see-through, acrylic glass tunnels where sharks swim above visitors, and recreation of a Great Barrier Reef coral environment.

Hindmarsh Stadium

Cricket Stadium

Hindmarsh Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian A-League team, Adelaide United. The stadium now has a capacity of 17,000, of which 15,500 is seated. Home team, Adelaide United regularly fill this capacity, and averaged crowds of over 12,000 to its matches during the 2006/2007 Season and 2007/2008 Season. United used the stadium for its home matches in the 2008 AFC Asian Champions League, the 2010 AFC Asian Champions League, and the 2012 AFC Asian Champions League.

Dandenong Ranges

Mountain range

The Dandenong Ranges are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in thick temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees and dense ferny undergrowth. After European settlement in the region, the range was used as a main source of timber for Melbourne. The ranges were popular with day-trippers from the 1870s onwards. Much of the Dandenongs were protected by parklands as early as 1882 and by 1987 these parklands were amalgamated to form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which was added to again in 1997. The range experiences light to moderate snow falls a few times most years, frequently between late winter and late spring. Today, the Dandenongs are home to over 100,000 residents and the area is popular amongst visitors, many of which stay for the weekend at the various Bed & Breakfasts through the region. The popular Puffing Billy Railway, a heritage steam railway, runs through the southern parts of the Dandenongs.

Lamington National Park

National park

Lamington is a national park in Queensland, Australia, lying on the Lamington Plateau of the McPherson Range on the Queensland/New South Wales border. From Southport on the Gold Coast the park is 85 kilometres to the southwest and Brisbane is 110 kilometres north. Lamington National Park is known for its natural beauty, rainforests, birdlife, ancient trees, waterfalls, walking tracks and mountain views. The park is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed in 1986 and added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2007. The park is part of the Scenic Rim Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance in the conservation of several species of threatened birds.

Perth Mint

Tourist attraction

The Perth Mint played a central role in the development of Western Australia's gold industry. During the 19th Century, three branches of the Royal Mint of London were established in the Australian colonies to refine gold from the gold rushes and to mint gold sovereigns and half-sovereigns for the British Empire. The Sydney branch opened in 1855, the Melbourne branch in 1872 and the Perth branch on 20 June 1899, two years before Australia's Federation in 1901. The Sydney Mint and Melbourne Mint no longer operate, making the Perth Mint Australia's oldest currently operating mint. After the foundation stone was laid in 1896 by Sir John Forrest, the Mint opened on 20 June 1899 as a branch of the Royal Mint in London to refine gold and manufacture gold sovereigns and half sovereigns to be used as currency in the colony. At that time, Western Australia's population was growing rapidly due largely to the discovery of rich gold deposits in Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie and Murchison areas of the colony. As there was very little money available in Perth for which miners could exchange gold to pay for goods, the Diggers who flocked to the then colony of Western Australia in huge numbers from other parts of Australia and from around the world, deposited their raw gold at The Perth Mint where it was minted into gold coins.

Art Gallery of Western Australia

Art Gallery

The Art Gallery of Western Australia is a public gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth, Western Australia. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia. The current gallery opened in 1979. The State's art collection consists of over 15,500 works of art, and the Art Gallery is visited by approximately 400,000 people annually.

Kata Tjuta

Geographical Feature

Kata Tjuta, sometimes written Tjuṯa, and also known as Mount Olga, are a group of large domed rock formations or bornhardts located about 365 km southwest of Alice Springs, in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. Uluru, 25 km to the east, and Kata Tjuta form the two major landmarks within the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The 36 domes that make up Kata Tjuta cover an area of 21.68 km², are composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone. The highest point, Mount Olga, is 1,066 m above sea level, or approximately 546 m above the surrounding plain. Kata Tjuta is located at the eastern end of the Docker River Road.

Old Parliament House, Canberra

Tourist attraction

Parliament House, known formerly as the Provisional Parliament House, was the house of the Parliament of Australia from 1927 to 1988. The building began operation on 9 May 1927 as a temporary base for the Commonwealth Parliament after its relocation from Melbourne to the new capital, Canberra, until a more permanent building could be constructed. In 1988, the Commonwealth Parliament transferred to the new Parliament House on Capital Hill. It also serves as a venue for temporary exhibitions, lectures and concerts. On 2 May 2008 it was made an Executive Agency of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. On 9 May 2009, the Executive Agency was renamed the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, reporting to the Special Minister of State. Designed by John Smith Murdoch and a team of assistants, the building was intended to be neither temporary nor permanent—only to be a ‘provisional’ building that would serve as a parliament for fifty years. The design extended from the building to include its gardens, décor and furnishings. The building is in the Simplified or "Stripped" Classical Style, commonly used for Australian government buildings constructed in Canberra during the 1920s and 1930s. It does not include such classical architectural elements as columns, entablatures or pediments, but does have the orderliness and symmetry associated with neoclassical architecture.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne

Tourist attraction

The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are internationally renowned botanical gardens located near the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the south bank of the Yarra River. They are 38 hectares of landscaped gardens consisting of a mix of native and exotic vegetation including over 10,000 individual species. They are widely regarded as the finest botanical gardens in Australia, and among the best in the world. The Royal Botanic Gardens have a second division in the outer Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne, some 45 km south-east of the city. The 363 hectare Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne have a focus solely on Australian native plants, and feature an award-winning special section called the Australian Garden, which was opened in May 2006. The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are adjacent to a larger group of parklands directly south-east of the city, between St. Kilda Road and the Yarra River known as the Domain Parklands, which includes; ⁕Kings Domain ⁕Alexandra Gardens ⁕Queen Victoria Gardens

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Art Gallery

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia is an Australian museum solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art, both from across Australia and around the world. It is housed in the Art Deco-style former Maritime Services Board Building on the western edge of Circular Quay. This area was the traditional lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. The museum was opened in 1991 and from 2010 underwent a $58 million expansion and re-development, fully reopening as the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia on 29 March 2012.

Lake Macquarie

Body Of Water

Lake Macquarie or Awaba, an open and trained youthful wave dominated barrier estuary, is Australia's largest coastal salt water lake, covering an area of 110 square kilometres, that is located in the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Most of the residents of the City of Lake Macquarie live near the shores of the lake; that is connected to the Tasman Sea by a short channel. Lake Macquarie is twice as large as Sydney Harbour and is the largest permanent salt water lake in the southern hemisphere. However, it is slightly smaller than Port Stephens, which is about 43 kilometres to the northeast of the lake.

Museum of Old and New Art

Museum

The Museum of Old and New Art is an art museum located within the Moorilla winery on the Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest privately funded museum in Australia. The museum presents antiquities, modern and contemporary art from the David Walsh collection. Walsh has described the museum as a "subversive adult Disneyland." MONA was officially opened on 21 January 2011. Along with its frequently updated indoor collection, MONA also hosts the annual MOFO and Dark Mofo festivals which showcase large-scale public art and live performances.

Questacon

Museum

Questacon – the National Science and Technology Centre, is located on the southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, Australia. It is a large centre with more than 200 interactive exhibits relating to science and technology. It has many science programs that are devoted to inspiring the children of Australia to love science.

Museum Victoria

Natural history Museum

Museum Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; these are: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage facility in Melbourne's City of Moreland. Museum Victoria is the caretaker of the body of Phar Lap, Australia's most famous race horse. Phar Lap's skeleton is housed at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and his heart is kept at the National Museum of Australia.

South Bank Parklands

Tourist attraction

The South Bank Parklands are located at South Bank in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The parkland, on the transformed site of Brisbane's World Expo 88, was officially opened to the public on 20 June 1992. The South Bank Parklands are located on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, at South Bank, directly opposite the City. The parklands are connected to the City by the Victoria Bridge at the northern end, and to Gardens Point by the Goodwill Bridge at the southern end. The parklands consist of a mixture of rainforest, water, grassed areas and plazas as well as features such as the riverfront promenade, the Streets Beach, the Grand Arbour, the Courier Mail Piazza, the Nepal Peace Pagoda, the Wheel of Brisbane, restaurants, shops and fountains. The parklands are also home to the Queensland Conservatorium. South Bank and its parklands are one of Brisbane's most important cultural precincts and they regularly host large scale festivals and events. Approximately 11,000,000 people visit South Bank Parklands each year.

Royal Australian Mint

Tourist attraction

The Royal Australian Mint is a coin mint situated in the Australian federal capital city of Canberra, in the suburb of Deakin. All new Australian circulating coins are minted at the Royal Australian mint. Before the opening of their mint, Australian coins were struck at branches of The Royal Mint - the Sydney Mint, Melbourne Mint and Perth Mint. The Royal Australian Mint is the first mint in Australia not to be a branch of The Royal Mint in London. The only other operational mint in Australia is the Perth Mint. Planning for the mint started in 1959, when it was proposed to move the Royal Mint branch in Melbourne to Canberra. It was officially opened by The Duke of Edinburgh on 22 February 1965, coinciding with decimal coinage, which was introduced into circulation on 14 February 1966. The new mint and the Melbourne Mint operated concurrently as the new coinage was produced. When the initial demand for decimal coinage was satisfied, the Melbourne mint was closed. Some staff from the Melbourne mint relocated to Canberra to operate the new mint. The new mint cost A$5 million to build, with an additional $4 million for equipment. The mint consists of two buildings, an administration building and a process building. The administration building houses the engravers, a laboratory, and a vibration-free basement where coinage is measured to ensure correct size and weight.

Springbrook National Park

National park

Springbrook National Park is a national park at Springbrook on the McPherson Range in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland, 96 km south of Brisbane.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Zoo

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is a 4.6-hectare Koala Sanctuary located in the Brisbane suburb of Fig Tree Pocket in Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1927, it is the world's oldest and largest Koala sanctuary.

Mount Coot-tha, Queensland

Australian Suburb

Mount Coot-tha, which is 287 metres above sea level, has the highest peak in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Mount Coot-tha forms the eastern extent of the Taylor Range and is a prominent landmark approximately 6 km to the west of the Brisbane central business district. Visible from much of the city, Mount Coot-tha is a popular bushland tourist destination including the Brisbane Botanic Gardens and Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, as well as a mountain drive, bike trails, parks including a waterfall, and television and radio towers. Mount Coot-tha is the source of Ithaca Creek. Mount Coot-tha is also a suburb of Brisbane. The suburb does not house any residents.

Jenolan Caves

Tourist attraction

Jenolan Caves are caves in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia; 175 kilometres west of Sydney. They are the most visited of several similar groups in the limestone of the country, and the oldest discovered open caves in the world. They include numerous Silurian marine fossils and the calcite formations, sometimes pure white, are noted for their beauty. The cave network is very large, with over 40 km of multi-level passages, and the complex is still undergoing active exploration. The caves are a popular tourist destination, with several kilometres of the caves rendered accessible to paying visitors and well lit.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo

Zoo

Taronga Western Plains Zoo, formerly known as Western Plains Zoo and commonly known as Dubbo Zoo, is a large zoo near Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. It opened to the public on 28 February 1977, to provide more living and breeding space for large animals such as elephants and antelopes which needed more space than was available at the restricted Sydney site. The zoo is run by the Taronga Conservation Society, along with Taronga Zoo. Western Plains Zoo is located on the Newell Highway in west Dubbo about 4 km from the city.

South Australian Museum

Natural history Museum

The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultural precinct of the Adelaide Parklands.

Old Melbourne Gaol

Museum

The Old Melbourne Gaol is a museum and former prison located in Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings. It was first constructed starting in 1839, and during its operation as a prison between 1845 and 1924, it held and executed some of Australia's most notorious criminals, including bushranger Ned Kelly and serial killer Frederick Bailey Deeming. In total, 133 people were executed by hanging. Though it was used briefly during World War II, it formally ceased operating as a prison in 1924; with parts of the gaol being incorporated into the RMIT University, and the rest becoming a museum. The three-storey museum displays information and memorabilia of the prisoners and staff, including death masks of the executed criminals. At one time the museum displayed Ned Kelly's skull, before it was stolen in 1978; as well as the pencil used by wrongly convicted Colin Campbell Ross to protest his innocence in writing, before being executed. Paranormal enthusiasts claim the museum is haunted, with claims of ghostly apparitions and unexplained voices near cells.

National Zoo & Aquarium

Zoo

The National Zoo and Aquarium is a privately owned 25-acre zoo and aquarium in the Australian capital city of Canberra. It is located in Yarralumla at the western end of Lake Burley Griffin also next to Scrivener Dam. It is currently undergoing major expansion works, with a further 30-acre of Open Range exhibits being constructed, which is due to open late 2013/early 2014.

Great Otway National Park

National park

The Great Otway National Park is a national park in Victoria, 162 km southwest of Melbourne. It contains a diverse range of landscapes and vegetation types.

Collins Street, Melbourne

Road

Collins Street is a major street in the central Melbourne running approximately east to west. It is notable as Melbourne's traditional main street and best known street. It is also often regarded as Australia's premier street, with some of the country's finest Victorian era buildings and most prestigious boutiques and high-end retailers. The 'Paris end' is a part of "Marvellous Melbourne" mythology. The length of Collins Street between Elizabeth and King Street has long been the financial heart of Melbourne and is home to various banks and insurance companies.

Adelaide Festival Centre

Venue

The Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre, was built in 1973 and opened three months before the Sydney Opera House. The Festival Centre is located approximately 50 metres north of the corner of North Terrace and King William Street, lying near the banks of the River Torrens and adjacent to Elder Park. It is distinguished by its three silvery-white geometric dome roofs and its plaza consisting of lego block-like structures to the south and lies on a 45-degree angle to the city's grid. It is the home of South Australia's performing arts. The Centre is managed by a statutory authority under the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust Act 1971 which is responsible for encouraging and facilitating artistic, cultural and performing arts activities, as well as maintaining and improving the building and facilities of the Adelaide Festival Centre complex. As well as the now annual Adelaide Festival, the Centre hosts the annual Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June and OzAsia Festival in September, and the biennial Adelaide International Guitar Festival.

Lady Elliot Island

Island

Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The island lies 46 nautical miles north-east of Bundaberg and covers an area of approximately 45 hectares. It is part of the Capricorn and Bunker Group of islands and is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia. The island is home to a small eco resort and an airstrip, which is serviced daily by flights from Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Lady Elliot Island is located within the 'Green Zone' of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which is the highest possible classification designated by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Marine National Park Green Zones protect the biodiversity within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park by protecting important breeding and nursery areas such as seagrass beds, mangrove communities, deepwater shoals and reefs. The island is particularly renowned for its scuba diving and snorkelling, as its location far offshore at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef results in excellent water clarity.

Yarra Valley

Wine Region

The Yarra Valley is the name given to the region surrounding the Yarra River in Victoria, Australia. The river originates approximately 90 kilometres east of the City of Melbourne and flows towards it and out into Port Phillip Bay. The name Yarra Valley is usually used in reference to the upper regions surrounding the Yarra River and generally does not encompass the lower regions including the city and suburban areas, where the topography flattens out, or the upper reaches which are in inaccessible bushland. Included in the Yarra Valley is the sub-region of Upper Yarra which encompasses the towns of the former Shire of Upper Yarra in the catchment area upstream of and including Woori Yallock. The Yarra Valley a popular day-trip and tourist area, featuring a range of natural features and agricultural produce, as well as the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail. The Yarra Valley is host to a thriving wine growing industry. The area's relatively cool climate makes it particularly suited to the production of high-quality chardonnay, pinot noir and sparkling wine. Yarra Valley towns fall under the Nillumbik and Yarra Ranges Shire Councils. Major towns include Yarra Glen, Healesville and Warburton.

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

Natural history Museum

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is a museum located in Hobart, Tasmania. The museum was established in 1843, by the Royal Society of Tasmania under the leadership of Sir John Franklin, the oldest Royal Society outside of England. It receives 300,000 visitors annually.

Australian Reptile Park

Zoo

The Australian Reptile Park is located at Somersby on the Central Coast, New South Wales in Australia. It is about 50 kilometres North of Sydney, and is just off the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway. The park is home to a variety of reptiles, including snakes, lizards and crocodiles, as well as other Australian animals, such as kangaroos, cassowaries and Tasmanian devils. The park is heavily involved in snake and spider venom collection for use in the production of Antivenom and is credited for saving the lives of thousands. It is an institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association.

Wild Life Sydney

Zoo

Wild Life Sydney Zoo is a wildlife park in the heart of the city of Sydney, Australia. Officially opened in September 2006, it is located on the city side of the Darling Harbour leisure and retail precinct, next to Sydney Aquarium and Madame Tussauds Sydney. WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Palais Theatre

Art Deco Structure

The Palais Theatre is a former cinema, now functioning exclusively as a concert venue, located in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. With a capacity of 2,896 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia. The building, which retains many of its original features, is considered one of the finest examples of Art deco architecture in Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register. In 2006, the City of Port Phillip, which owns the site, called for tenders by private operators to restore the theatre, as part of the proposed redevelopment of the Triangle Site. However, the redevelopment failed to go ahead and the planned $20 million restoration of the Palais was also abandoned.

New South Wales Rail Transport Museum

Museum

The New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, located in Thirlmere, New South Wales, is a museum dedicated to displaying locomotives and passenger and freight rolling stock formerly operated by the New South Wales Government Railways and various private operators. The collection features steam, diesel and electric locomotives and other rolling stock. A large proportion of the collection is owned by RailCorp. The Blue Mountains division of the museum is located at the Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum. The museum operates steam heritage trains on the Picton - Mittagong railway line between Picton, Thirlmere and Buxton. It also hosts the Thirlmere Festival of Steam in March each year. In addition to this, the museum operates mainline tours under the Heritage Express branding. These can consist of day or extended tours, usually over a weekend. Heritage Express has an office on the main concourse at Central Station in Sydney.

Mount Warning

Mountain

Mount Warning is a volcanic plug of the now-gone Tweed Volcano located in Australia, 14 kilometres west-south-west of Murwillumbah, in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, near the border with Queensland. Due to Mount Warning's proximity to Cape Byron, the Australian continent's easternmost point, it is the first place on mainland Australia to receive the sun's rays each day. Over 60,000 people a year make the 4.4 km, five-hour round-trip trek to the top from Breakfast Creek. It was on 17 May 1770 that Lieutenant James Cook, seeing the mountain from the sea, used it and a point he named Point Danger Fingal Head to warn others that came after him; named it Mount Warning.

Mount Buffalo National Park

National park

Mount Buffalo is a mountain plateau in Victoria, 350 km northeast of Melbourne in the Australian Alps. On 4 November 1898 an area of 1,166 hectares was reserved around the plateau and Eurobin Falls as Mount Buffalo National Park, making it one of the oldest national parks in Australia. In 1908 a road was opened to the plateau and the park was expanded to 10,406 hectares. In 1980 the park was expanded again to 31,000 hectares to take in most of the surrounding foothill country. Mount Buffalo is a moderately tall mountain plateau on the west side of the Victoria Alpine region. The top of the mountain has striking granite boulders and rock formations. From the north, the mountain is quite remarkable, with the highest accessible point being a prominent peak called The Horn. A walking track leads to The Horn and visitors can enjoy a 360 degree view from the top. Visitor accommodation was available at the historic guest house, the Mount Buffalo Chalet, built in 1910, until January 2007. A consortium is currently negotiating with Parks Victoria regarding plans to reopen the Chalet. Tatra Inn, located at the west end of the plateau near the Cathedral, was destroyed in 2006 by an escaped fuel reduction burn. The view from the chalet overlooks large sheets of granite and spectacular views of the Ovens Valley and Buckland Valley below. This is a popular rock climbing, abseiling and hang-gliding site. There is also adventure caving at Mount Buffalo. The camping ground at Lake Catani is open from November to April.

Australian National Botanic Gardens

Tourist attraction

The Australian National Botanic Gardens are located in Canberra and are administered by the Australian Government's Department of the Environment and Heritage. The botanic gardens are the largest living collection of native Australian flora, the mission of the ANBG is to study and promote Australia's flora. The gardens maintains a wide variety of botanical resources for researchers and cultivates native plants threatened in the wild.

Queen Street Mall

Tourist attraction

The Queen Street Mall is a pedestrian mall located on Queen Street in the centre of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The mall extends approximately 500 metres from George Street to Edward Street, and has more than 700 retailers over 40,000 square metres of retail space, which includes six major shopping centres. It receives over 26 million visitors each year. It was intended to bring more people into the central business district.

Heide Museum of Modern Art

Art Gallery

Heide Museum of Modern Art, or Heide as it is affectionately known, is a contemporary art museum located in Bulleen, east of Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum comprises several detached buildings and surrounding gardens of historical importance that are used as gallery spaces to exhibit works in various mediums by contemporary Australian artists. The museum occupies the site of a former dairy farm that was purchased by the prominent Melbourne art benefactors John and Sunday Reed in 1934 and became home to a collective known as the Heide Circle, which included many of Australia's best-known modernist painters, such as; Albert Tucker, Sidney Nolan, Laurence Hope, Joy Hester and others, who lived and worked in the former farm house. Between 1964 and 1967, a new residence was built. It is considered to be one of the finest examples of modernist architecture in Victoria. In 1980, the Reeds sold Heide II, most of the adjoining property and significant works from their art collection to the Victorian State Government after several years of negotiations for the creation of a public art gallery and park. The main gallery was constructed in 1993 and the Heide Collection has since expanded through many individual gifts as well as four significant collections—the Museum of Modern Art and Design Collection, the Baillieu Myer Collection of the 80s, the Barrett Reid Collection, and most recently, the Albert Tucker Gift donated by Barbara Tucker.

Wakefield Park

Tourist attraction

Wakefield Park is a 2.2 km motor racing circuit located near Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. It is named after Charles Cheers Wakefield, the founder of Castrol Oil. The founder of Wakefield Park, amateur racer and former motor dealer, Paul Samuels felt that Castrol had been so influential in helping amateurs go motor racing that CC Wakefield should be honoured, especially as Samuels' circuit was intended for amateur racers in the likelihood in the 1990s of both Amaroo and Oran Parks closing and amateur racers being unable to afford the daily hire rate at Eastern Creek. The local arm of Castrol appreciated this and committed to a three-year sum for sponsorship. Consequently all the buildings, which were all designed by Samuels, were in Castrol colours, an appropriate but subtle recognition of the Company's involvement. However it was then decided that Castrol was not getting any appreciable value from the modest sponsorship, so it stopped. It was the first privately funded circuit built in NSW in the last 35 years and, says Samuels, "when confronting neighbours and the EPA, I can see why". It took him more than a year, despite the help of Goulburn Council and the local member John Fahey, to find a place that finally gained all the necessary approvals. However it took less than eight months from turning the first sod in mid-October 1993 to its first meeting on 8 May 1994. The total cost of the land and work was $1.2 mill.²

Waterfall Gully

Australian Suburb

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 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 Conservation Park, to the south by Crafers West, and to the west by Leawood Gardens and Mount Osmond. Historically, Waterfall Gully was first explored by European settlers in the early-to-mid-19th century, and quickly became a popular location for tourists and picnickers. The government chose to retain control over portions of Waterfall Gully until 1884, when they agreed to place the land under the auspices of the City of Burnside. 28 years later the government took back the management of the southern part of Waterfall Gully, designating it as South Australia's first National Pleasure Resort. Today this area remains under State Government control, and in 1972 the Waterfall Gully Reserve, as it was then known, became part of the larger Cleland Conservation Park.