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Australia
Australia , smallest continent, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. With the island state of Tasmania to the south, the continent makes up the Commonwealth of Australia, a federal parliamentary state (2005 est. pop. 20,090,000), 2,967,877 sq mi (7,686,810 sq km). Australia's capital is Canberr...
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Fenian movement
Fenian movement or Fenians, secret revolutionary society organized c.1858 in Ireland and the United States to achieve Irish independence from England by force. It was known variously as the Fenian Brotherhood, Fenian Society, Irish Republican Brotherhood, and Irish-American Brotherhood. The nam...
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Thomas Alexander Browne
Thomas Alexander Browne
Thomas Alexander Browne (1826-1915), who wrote under the pen name of Rolf Boldrewood, was born in England but moved to Australia with his family at the age of five. He was known for his adventure novels set in the Australian bush.
Browne's father, Sylvester Brown (the...
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megapode
megapode , common name for large, stout-bodied, long-tailed, terrestrial, nonmigratory birds comprising six genera in the family Megapodiidae. Members of the family have large, strong feet, hence the name megapode (from the Greek meaning "large foot" ). Also called mound birds and incubator birds...
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English language
English language member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages ). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. It is the mother tongue of about 60 millio...
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kangaroo
kangaroo name for a variety of hopping marsupials , or pouched mammals, of the family Macropodidae, found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. The term is applied especially to the large kangaroos of the genus Macropus. Kangaroos have powerful hind legs designed for leaping, long feet, short ...
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language
language systematic communication by vocal symbols. It is a universal characteristic of the human species. Nothing is known of its origin, although scientists have identified a gene that clearly contributes to the human ability to use language. Scientists generally hold that it has been so long in ...
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marsupial
marsupial , member of the order Marsupialia, or pouched mammals. With the exception of the New World opossums and an obscure S American family (Caenolestidae), marsupials are now found only in Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and a few adjacent islands. They are generally distinguished from placen...
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Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island , officially Territory of Norfolk Island, island (2005 est. pop. 1,800), 13 sq mi (34 sq km), South Pacific, a territory of Australia, c.1,035 mi (1,670 km) NE of Sydney. Its capital is Kingston. Now a resort, Norfolk has luxuriant vegetation and is known for its "pine" trees, whi...
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New Guinea
New Guinea , island, c.342,000 sq mi (885,780 sq km), SW Pacific, N of Australia; the world's second largest island after Greenland. Politically it is divided into two sections: the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua in the west and the independent country of Papua New Guinea in the ea...
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