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Nullarbor Plain

(Encyclopedia)Nullarbor Plain [Lat.,=no trees], vast, barren limestone plateau, c.100,000 sq mi (260,000 sq km), S Australia, extending from the Great Victoria Desert (N) to the Great Australian Bight (S) in Wester...

Bradman, Sir Donald George

(Encyclopedia)Bradman, Sir Donald George, 1908–2001, Australian cricketeer, widely considered the sport's greatest player and one of the world's most outstanding athletes, b. Cootamundra. His 20-year-long cricket...

Schmidt, Brian Paul

(Encyclopedia)Schmidt, Brian Paul, 1967–, Australian-American astrophysicist, b. Missoula, Mont., Ph.D. Harvard, 1993. He has been associated with Australian National Univ. since 1995. Schmidt and Adam Riess shar...

Eyre Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Eyre Peninsula, 200 mi (322 km) long, southern South Australia state, Australia, between Spencer Gulf and the Great Australian Bight. There are large iron ore deposits in the Middleback Range near Why...

Eccles, Sir John Carew

(Encyclopedia)Eccles, Sir John Carew kârˈē, ĕkˈəlz [key], 1903–97, Australian neurophysiologist. He was educated at the Univ. of Melbourne and at Magdalene College, Oxford. He was director (1937–44) of th...

Gorton, Sir John Grey

(Encyclopedia)Gorton, Sir John Grey, 1911–2002, Australian political leader, b. Melbourne. A fighter pilot in World War II, he was elected to the senate as a Liberal in 1949. He held a number of cabinet posts in ...

Admiralty Islands

(Encyclopedia)Admiralty Islands, group of 40 volcanic islands, c.800 sq mi (2,070 sq km), SW Pacific, in the Bismarck Archipelago and part of Papua New Guinea. Lorengau, the chief port and administrative center of ...

Solomon Islands

(Encyclopedia)Solomon Islands, independent Commonwealth nation (2015 est. pop. 587,000), c.15,500 sq mi (40,150 sq km), SW Pacific, E of New Guinea. The islands that constitute the nation of the Solomon Islands—G...

Kimberley, geographical area, Australia

(Encyclopedia)Kimberley, geographical area, c.139,000 sq mi (360,010 sq km), Western Australia, NW Australia. The Kimberley Goldfield was the site (1882) of the first major Western Australian gold strike. Cattle an...

Court, Margaret Smith

(Encyclopedia)Court, Margaret Smith, 1942–, Australian tennis player. Playing tennis from age eight, she rose to prominence in the early 1960s. Ranked first in world standings six times beginning in 1962, she ret...