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Hughes, William Morris

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, William Morris, 1862–1952, Australian statesman, b. England. He emigrated in 1884 and after a varied career entered the New South Wales legislature (1894) and, with confederation, the first ...

Heard Island

(Encyclopedia)Heard Island, barren, uninhabited subantarctic island, 142 sq mi (368 sq km), S Indian Ocean, located some 300 mi (483 km) SE of the Kerguelen Islands. Mountainous and largely covered by snow and glac...

strawflower

(Encyclopedia)strawflower, garden annual (Helichrysum bracteatum) of the family Asteraceae (aster family), a favorite as an everlasting but also grown for its fresh flowers. The plant is native to Australia. The fl...

Brown, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Robert, 1773–1858, Scottish botanist and botanical explorer. In 1801 he went as a naturalist on one of Matthew Flinders's expeditions to Australia, returning (1805) to England with valuable c...

watershed

(Encyclopedia)watershed, elevation or divide separating the catchment area, or drainage basin, of one river system or group of river systems from another system or group of systems. The term is also often used syno...

megapode

(Encyclopedia)megapode mĕgˈəpōdˌ [key], common name for large, stout-bodied, long-tailed, terrestrial, nonmigratory birds comprising six genera in the family Megapodiidae. Members of the family have large, str...

Keneally, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Keneally, Thomas kənēˈlē [key], 1935–, Australian novelist, b. Sydney. For a time a student of religion, and later of law, Keneally has ranged over a wide spectrum of subjects in his many novels...

Carey, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Carey, Peter, 1943–, Australian novelist, b. near Melbourne. Carey's combination of science fiction and fantasy motifs with a realistic style, displayed in the short stories in The Fat Man in Histor...

nux vomica

(Encyclopedia)nux vomica nŭks vŏmˈəkə [key], bitter-tasting drug obtained from the poisonous seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica, a tree that grows in Sri Lanka, India, and N Australia. The dried seeds contain stryc...

mutton

(Encyclopedia)mutton, flesh of mature sheep prepared as food (as opposed to the flesh of young sheep, which is known as lamb). Mutton is deep red with firm, white fat. In Middle Eastern countries it is a staple mea...