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New Britain, island, Papua New Guinea

(Encyclopedia)New Britain, volcanic island (1990 pop. 315,649), c.14,600 sq mi (37,810 sq km), SW Pacific, largest island of the Bismarck Archipelago and part of Papua New Guinea, in which it forms two provinces (E...

numbat

(Encyclopedia)numbat nŭmˈbăt [key], small marsupial, of SW Australia, also known as the marsupial anteater. The numbat, Myrmecobius fasciatus, resembles a squirrel in size and general appearance, but is adapted ...

Niue

(Encyclopedia)Niue nēo͞oˈā [key], coral island (2015 est. pop. 2,000), c.100 sq mi (260 sq km), South Pacific, freely associated with New Zealand. Alofi is the capital. The inhabitants are mainly Protestant Pol...

Kidman, Nicole

(Encyclopedia)Kidman, Nicole (Nicole Mary Kidman), 1967–, Australian actress, b. Honolulu, Hawaii. She began acting on television as a teenager in Australia, then starred in the film Dead Calm (1989). Her later r...

Wilkins, Sir George Hubert

(Encyclopedia)Wilkins, Sir George Hubert, 1888–1958, British explorer, b. Australia. He made a number of trips to Antarctica and to the Arctic. Valuable experience gained when he accompanied Vilhjalmur Stefansson...

Wollemi pine

(Encyclopedia)Wollemi pine wŏlˈəmīˌ [key], primitive tree, Wollemia nobilis, of the conifer family Araucariaceae, named after Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, Australia, where it was discovered in 199...

White, Patrick

(Encyclopedia)White, Patrick, 1912–90, Australian novelist, b. London. Raised in England and educated at Cambridge, he returned to Australia after World War II, earning his living by farming and writing. His nove...

Blackburn, Elizabeth Helen

(Encyclopedia)Blackburn, Elizabeth Helen, 1948–, Australian-American molecular biologist, b. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1975. Blackburn was a professor at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, fro...

swan

(Encyclopedia)swan, common name for a large aquatic bird of both hemispheres, related to ducks and geese. It has a long, gracefully curved neck and an extremely long, convoluted trachea which makes possible its far...

topaz

(Encyclopedia)topaz tōˈpăz [key], aluminum silicate mineral with either hydroxyl radicals or fluorine, Al2SiO4(F,OH)2, used as a gem. It is commonly colorless or some shade of pale yellow to wine-yellow; pale bl...