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Great Barrier Reef

(Encyclopedia)Great Barrier Reef, largest complex of coral reef in the world, c.1,250 mi (2,000 km) long, in the Coral Sea, forming a natural breakwater for the coast of Queensland, NE Australia. Composed of more t...

pitta

(Encyclopedia)pitta pĭtˈə [key], name used to refer to a genus (Pitta) of small, plump, brightly colored birds. The genus, including some twenty-three species, constitutes the whole of the family Pittidae. Known...

Somare, Sir Michael Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Somare, Sir Michael Thomas sōmäˈrā [key], 1936–2021, Papua New Guinea political leader. He was a ...

Bismarck Archipelago

(Encyclopedia)Bismarck Archipelago, volcanic island group, 19,200 sq mi (49,730 sq km), SW Pacific, a part of Papua New Guinea. The group includes New Britain (the largest island), New Ireland, the Admiralty Island...

Papua New Guinea

(Encyclopedia)Papua New Guinea păpˈo͞oə, –yo͞oə, gĭnˈē [key], officially Independent State of Papua New Guinea, independent Commonwealth nation (2015 est. pop. 6,672,000), 183,540 sq mi (475,369 sq km), ...

Kenny, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Kenny, Elizabeth, 1886–1952, Australian nurse, b. New South Wales, grad. St. Ursula's College, Australia, 1902. She became “Sister” Kenny as a first lieutenant nurse (1914–18) in the Australia...

Anderson, John

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, John, 1893–1962, Scottish-Australian philosopher, b. Scotland. A graduate of the Univ. of Glasgow, he taught (1918–27) at the universities of Cardiff, Glasgow, and Edinburgh before becom...

Coningham, Sir Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Coningham, Sir Arthur kŭnˈĭng-əm [key], 1895–1948, British air marshal, b. Australia. During World War I, he served first in the New Zealand army and then joined (1916) the Royal Flying Corps, a...

Amadeus, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Amadeus, Lake əmăˈdēəs [key], large, usually dry, shallow salt lake, 340 sq mi (881 sq km), 76 mi (122 km) long, 12 mi (19 km) wide, SW Northern Territory, Australia. The lakebed is usually cover...

Róheim, Géza

(Encyclopedia)Róheim, Géza, 1891–1953, Hungarian anthropologist and psychoanalyst. He was educated at the universities of Leipzig, Berlin, and Budapest (Ph.D., 1914). From 1928 to 1931 he did fieldwork in centr...