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Murray, Les

(Encyclopedia)Murray, Les (Leslie Allan Murray), 1938–2019, Australia's leading poet of the late 20th and early 21st cent., B.A. Univ. of Sydney, 1969. Son of an impoverished dairy farmer, he grew up in New South...

Winton, Tim

(Encyclopedia)Winton, Tim (Timothy John Winton), 1960–, Australian writer, generally regarded as the preeminent Australian novelist of his generation. Most of his books have been set in his coastal Western Austra...

dominion

(Encyclopedia)dominion, power to rule, or that which is subject to rule. Before 1949 the term was used officially to describe the self-governing countries of the Commonwealth of Nations—e.g., Canada, Australia, o...

gum tree

(Encyclopedia)gum tree, name for the eucalyptus (see myrtle) in Australia and for several other trees, e.g., the sweet gum, of the family Hamamelidaceae (witch hazel family), and the black gum or tupelo in North Am...

Geelong

(Encyclopedia)Geelong jēlôngˈ [key], city, amalgamated since 1993 with neighboring cities and shires int...

Launceston

(Encyclopedia)Launceston lônˈsĕstən, lŏnˈ– [key], city (2016 pop. 65,274), on Tasmania, SE Australia, where the North Esk and South Esk rivers join to form the Tamar estuary; founded 1806. Launceston is the...

Leichhardt, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Leichhardt, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm lo͞odˈvĭkh līkhˈhärt [key], 1813–1848?, Prussian explorer of Australia. He led (1844–45) an expedition from Moreton Bay to Port ...

Bentham, George

(Encyclopedia)Bentham, George bĕnˈthəm [key], 1800–1884, one of the greatest of English systematic botanists; nephew of Jeremy Bentham. He wrote Handbook of British Flora (1858) and, with W. J. Hooker, Genera ...

pyrolusite

(Encyclopedia)pyrolusite pīˈrōlo͞ozīt [key], naturally occurring manganese dioxide, MnO2, a black mineral that crystallizes in the tetragonal system but is usually found in earthy or massive deposits. It is th...

Shute, Nevil

(Encyclopedia)Shute, Nevil (Nevil Shute Norway), 1899–1960, English novelist, b. Ealing, Middlesex, grad. Oxford, 1922. After serving in World War I, he was manager of a construction company until 1938. He fought...