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107-646: The Tremadocian is named after the village Tremadoc in Wales . The name was proposed by Adam Sedgwick in 1846 (as "Tremadoc group"). The GSSP for the beginning of the Tremadocian is the Green Point section ( 49°40′58″N 57°57′55″W  /  49.6829°N 57.9653°W  / 49.6829; -57.9653 ) in Gros Morne National Park , in western Newfoundland . It is defined as

214-479: A Mediterranean climate . The south-east ranges from oceanic (Tasmania and coastal Victoria) to humid subtropical (upper half of New South Wales), with the highlands featuring alpine and subpolar oceanic climates . The interior is arid to semi-arid . Driven by climate change , average temperatures have risen more than 1°C since 1960 . Associated changes in rainfall patterns and climate extremes exacerbate existing issues such as drought and bushfires . 2019

321-525: A belt of Brigalow grasslands lie between the coast and the mountains, while inland of the dividing range are large areas of grassland and shrubland. These include the western plains of New South Wales, and the Mitchell Grass Downs and Mulga Lands of inland Queensland. The northernmost point of the mainland is the tropical Cape York Peninsula . The landscapes of the Top End and

428-824: A large wave of immigration from across Europe , with such immigrants referred to as " New Australians ". This required a relaxation of the white Australia policy , which was justified to Australians using the slogan "populate or perish". A member of the Western Bloc during the Cold War , Australia participated in the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency during the 1950s and the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1972. During this time, tensions over communist influence in society led to unsuccessful attempts by

535-441: A corn mill and a fulling mill. The water was provided by building a dam across a small valley, to form Llyn Cwm Bach, with sluices channelling the water to feed the mill and the factory. Although Madocks initially employed a Mr Fanshawe to manage the factory, he was not happy with his performance, and soon the project was being managed by John Williams, Madocks' assistant. The building was advertised for sale in 1810, and from 1835

642-461: A date which later became Australia's national day . Most early settlers were convicts , transported for petty crimes and assigned as labourers or servants to "free settlers" (willing immigrants). Once emancipated , convicts tended to integrate into colonial society. Convict rebellions and uprisings were suppressed under martial law, which lasted for two years following the 1808 Rum Rebellion , Australia's only successful coup d'état . During

749-415: A gardener from Anglesey, who worked tirelessly to complete Madocks' plans when he was so often away, was buried in the vault when he died in 1850, as were his wife and their only son, W T Massey Williams. Music was supplied by a small barrel organ, but it was not adequate and was moved to Ynyscynhaearn, where it is still in the gallery. A replacement was bought from Bates of Ludgate Hill in 1857. In 1898,

856-641: A good quality rock climbing "crag" (another has been closed because of rock instability) which attracts climbers from all over the UK. There have been issues with access to the crags, with local farmers and the Nature Conservancy Council trying to prevent climbing, but one section, Craig Bwlch y Moch, has been owned by the British Mountaineering Council since 1979. Deteriorating conditions led to annual events to tidy up

963-500: A half years — 18 months before the church — and the first service was led by Thomas Charles from Bala . Since Madocks and his family were there, he conducted the service in English, and the two men became friends, with Charles often visiting Tan-yr-Allt, where Madocks lived. The front facade, with a large circular window, was not completed until 1849, and the work was supervised by John Williams, Madocks' agent, who continued to serve

1070-432: A mayor had been appointed, and he corrected the word "village" in a letter written soon afterward to read " borough ". He planned it himself, perhaps with some help from architectural friends and architectural books, but his letters reveal that a master plan was never produced, as he held the ideas for the settlement in his mind. Tremadog is a good example of a planned town , with an array of Georgian architecture built in

1177-689: A nearby section. In 2017, the Xiaoyangqiao section near the Dayangcha Village, North China , was proposed as the second ASSP for the base of Tremadocian/Lower Ordovician. The first planktonic graptolites can be found right below the Cordylodus lindstromi Conodont Zone in this section. Both ASSPs were approved through supermajority vote by the Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy in 2016 and 2019, respectively. However, in 2021,

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1284-618: A production of his play The Rivals there, although it was probably his son Tom, who was a contemporary of Madocks. Madocks believed that "in education and religion all ought to have fair play", and this was reflected in the provision of a Gothic revival style church for the Anglicans and a classical chapel for the Methodists . His approach did not find favour with the Bishop of Bangor, but he defended his decision by telling

1391-581: A settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania ), and in 1813, Gregory Blaxland , William Lawson and William Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, opening the interior to European settlement. The British claim extended to the whole Australian continent in 1827 when Major Edmund Lockyer established a settlement on King George Sound (modern-day Albany ). The Swan River Colony (present-day Perth )

1498-562: A short distance off the north-east coast and extends for more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi). Mount Augustus , claimed to be the world's largest monolith, is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 m (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland. Even taller are Mawson Peak , at 2,745 m (9,006 ft), on the remote Australian external territory of Heard Island , and, in

1605-593: A spire, built in brick which was rendered with Parkers Roman Cement . It deceived the antiquarian Richard Fenton, who described it as yellow freestone in his book of travels published soon after 1813. The entrance to the churchyard is spanned by a decorative arch of Coade stone , a ceramic material manufactured in Lambeth , London, which is in Gothic horror style, with representations of boars, dragons , frogs, grimacing cherubs , owls, shrouded figures and squirrels, while

1712-411: A wide variety of landscapes, with tropical rainforests in the north-east, mountain ranges in the south-east, south-west and east, and desert in the centre. The desert or semi-arid land commonly known as the outback makes up by far the largest portion of land. Australia is the driest inhabited continent; its annual rainfall averaged over continental area is less than 500 mm. The population density

1819-436: Is 3.4 inhabitants per square kilometre, although the large majority of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline. The population density exceeds 19,500 inhabitants per square kilometre in central Melbourne. In 2021 Australia had 10% of the global permanent meadows and pastureland. Forest cover is around 17% of Australia's total land area. The Great Barrier Reef , the world's largest coral reef, lies

1926-413: Is a constitutional monarchy , a parliamentary democracy and a federation . The country has maintained its mostly unchanged constitution alongside a stable liberal democratic political system since Federation in 1901. It is one of the world's oldest federations, in which power is divided between the federal and state governments. The Australian system of government combines elements derived from

2033-417: Is a megadiverse country , and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast . The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period . By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct languages and had

2140-529: Is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent , the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands . Australia has a total area of 7,688,287 km (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest country by area in Oceania . It is the world's oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with some of the least fertile soils. It

2247-685: Is marked by the Cambrian-Ordovician extinction event . Overall the amount of biodiversity of the Cambrian was maintained. At the beginning of the Tremadocian, about 485.4 million years ago, biodiversity, which had been at a low level, began its long increase phase, known as the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event . At the Furongian ‒Tremadocian boundary, a mantle plume event occurred on

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2354-586: Is now Southeast Asia. It is uncertain how many waves of immigration may have contributed to these ancestors of modern Aboriginal Australians. The Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land is possibly the oldest site showing the presence of humans in Australia. The oldest human remains found are the Lake Mungo remains , which have been dated to around 41,000 years ago. Aboriginal Australian culture

2461-571: Is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the Earth. Having been part of all major supercontinents , the Australian continent began to form after the breakup of Gondwana in the Permian , with the separation of the continental landmass from the African continent and Indian subcontinent. It separated from Antarctica over a prolonged period beginning in

2568-466: Is one of the oldest continuous cultures on Earth. At the time of first European contact, Aboriginal Australians belonged to wide range of societies, with diverse economies spread across at least 250 different language groups . Estimates of the Aboriginal population before British settlement range from 300,000 to 3 million. Aboriginal Australians cultures were (and remain) deeply connected with

2675-411: Is unique. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds , and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic . Australia has at least 755 species of reptile, more than any other country in the world. Besides Antarctica, Australia is the only continent that developed without feline species. Feral cats may have been introduced in the 17th century by Dutch shipwrecks, and later in

2782-591: The Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales . Wern Manor, to the west, is also a Grade II* listed house with a Grade II listed garden, designed by Thomas Mawson at the very end of the 19th century. 'Ysgol y Gorlan', a primary school , is the only school in Tremadog. It is a state school which caters for 120 pupils between the ages of three and eleven. Most of

2889-768: The Colonial Office that it be formally adopted. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially by that name. The first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia Directory by the Hydrographic Office . Colloquial names for Australia include " Oz ", " Straya " and " Down Under ". Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country" (from

2996-595: The Gulf Country —with their tropical climate—include forest, woodland, wetland, grassland, rainforest and desert. At the north-west corner of the continent are the sandstone cliffs and gorges of The Kimberley , and below that the Pilbara . The Victoria Plains tropical savanna lies south of the Kimberley and Arnhem Land savannas, forming a transition between the coastal savannas and the interior deserts. At

3103-551: The Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation , which is correlated with periodic drought , and the seasonal tropical low-pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia. These factors cause rainfall to vary markedly from year to year. Much of the northern part of the country has a tropical, predominantly summer-rainfall ( monsoon ). The south-west corner of the country has

3210-814: The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) proposed to deny the use of specific points and replace them by Standard Auxiliary Boundary Stratotypes (SABS) for more "flexible" correlations with GSSPs. In North America the first stage of the Ordovician is the Gasconadian Stage . In the Baltic region, the stages corresponding to Tremadocian are the Pakerort stage (lower) and the Varangu stage (upper). The Cambrian-Tremadocian boundary

3317-539: The Iraq War from 2003 to 2009. The nation's trade relations also became increasingly oriented towards East Asia in the 21st century, with China becoming the nation's largest trading partner by a large margin. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , several of Australia's largest cities were locked down for extended periods and free movement across the national and state borders was restricted in an attempt to slow

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3424-558: The Llŷn Peninsula , which was intended to be the chief port for ferries to Dublin. However, this plan failed when Holyhead supplanted Porth Dinllaen as the main ferry port. He was keen that everything should enhance the village's appearance — his main interest. Unlike some contemporary town planners, he was less interested in the moral reform of the inhabitants: he felt that people had the right to work, educate their children, pray, drink, gamble, save or waste money as they saw fit; and that

3531-664: The Menzies Government to ban the Communist Party of Australia , and a bitter split in the Labor Party in 1955. As a result of a 1967 referendum , the federal government gained the power to legislate with regard to Indigenous Australians, and Indigenous Australians were fully included in the census . Pre-colonial land interests (referred to as native title in Australia) was recognised in law for

3638-798: The Pacific Community ; the Commonwealth of Nations ; and the defence and security organisations ANZUS , AUKUS , and the Five Eyes . It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States. The name Australia (pronounced / ə ˈ s t r eɪ l i ə / in Australian English ) is derived from the Latin Terra Australis ( ' southern land ' ), a name used for a hypothetical continent in

3745-532: The Permian and continuing through to the Cretaceous . When the last glacial period ended in about 10,000 BC, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait , separating Tasmania from the mainland. Then between about 8,000 and 6,500 BC, the lowlands in the north were flooded by the sea, separating New Guinea, the Aru Islands , and the mainland of Australia. The Australian continent is moving toward Eurasia at

3852-686: The Territory of Papua and New Guinea in 1949 and gained independence from Australia in 1975. In 1914, Australia joined the Allies in fighting the First World War, and took part in many of the major battles fought on the Western Front . Of about 416,000 who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 152,000 were wounded. Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in 1915 as

3959-528: The Torres Strait Islands . The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent " New Holland " during the 17th century, and although no attempt at settlement was made, a number of shipwrecks left men either stranded or, as in the case of the Batavia in 1629, marooned for mutiny and murder, thus becoming the first Europeans to permanently inhabit

4066-696: The bombing of Darwin and other Japanese attacks on Australian soil , led to a widespread belief in Australia that a Japanese invasion was imminent , and a shift from the United Kingdom to the United States as Australia's principal ally and security partner. Since 1951, Australia has been allied with the United States under the ANZUS treaty. In the decades following World War II, Australia enjoyed significant increases in living standards, leisure time and suburban development. Governments encouraged

4173-426: The emu and the kookaburra . Australia is home to many dangerous animals including some of the most venomous snakes in the world. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE . Many animal and plant species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna ; others have disappeared since European settlement, among them

4280-709: The first appearance of the conodont species Iapetognathus fluctivagus . This horizon can be found 101.8 m above the Greenpoint section datum within bed number 23. The boundary lies within the Broom Point Member, of the Green Point Formation which is part of the Cow Head Group . The first planktonic graptolites appear 4.8 m above the first appearance of Iapetognathus fluctivagus at Greenpoint section. The Tremadocian ends with

4387-595: The governor-general at the federal level and by the governors at the state level, who by section 63 of the Constitution and convention act on the advice of their ministers. Thus, in practice the governor-general acts as a legal figurehead for the actions of the prime minister and the Cabinet. The governor-general may in some situations exercise reserve powers : powers exercisable in the absence or contrary to ministerial advice. When these powers may be exercised

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4494-661: The "baptism of fire" that forged the new nation's identity . The beginning of the campaign is commemorated annually on Anzac Day , a date which rivals Australia Day as the nation's most important. From 1939 to 1945, Australia joined the Allies in fighting the Second World War. Australia's armed forces fought in the Pacific , European and Mediterranean and Middle East theatres . The shock of Britain's defeat in Singapore in 1942, followed soon after by

4601-587: The "island continent" and is sometimes considered the world's largest island . Australia has 34,218 km (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands), and claims an extensive exclusive economic zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,060 sq mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory . Mainland Australia lies between latitudes 9° and 44° south , and longitudes 112° and 154° east . Australia's size gives it

4708-428: The 18th century by European settlers. They are now considered a major factor in the decline and extinction of many vulnerable and endangered native species. Seafaring immigrants from Asia are believed to have brought the dingo to Australia sometime after the end of the last ice age—perhaps 4000 years ago—and Aboriginal people helped disperse them across the continent as pets, contributing to the demise of thylacines on

4815-539: The 1964 book of the same name ), "the Sunburnt Country", and "the Wide Brown Land". The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar 's 1908 poem " My Country ". Indigenous Australians comprise two broad groups: Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea crossings from what

4922-480: The 2011 census was 1,257. In the early 1800s, there was a thriving woollen industry , supplying garments to South Carolina and other southern states of America, the West Indies, South America, and Russia, but it was a cottage industry. One of Madocks' first projects was to build a factory where wool could be processed on an industrial scale. Although there were a few sites in Wales where the fulling of cloth

5029-543: The 2018 Environmental Performance Index . There are more than 1,800 animals and plants on Australia's threatened species list, including more than 500 animals. Paleontologists discovered a fossil site of a prehistoric rainforest in McGraths Flat , in South Australia, that presents evidence that this now arid desert and dry shrubland / grassland was once home to an abundance of life. Australia

5136-656: The Australian Antarctic Territory, Mount McClintock and Mount Menzies , at 3,492 m (11,457 ft) and 3,355 m (11,007 ft) respectively. Eastern Australia is marked by the Great Dividing Range , which runs parallel to the coast of Queensland, New South Wales and much of Victoria. The name is not strictly accurate, because parts of the range consist of low hills, and the highlands are typically no more than 1,600 m (5,200 ft) in height. The coastal uplands and

5243-438: The Australian mainland. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken , captained by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon . He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February 1606 at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York. Later that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through and navigated

5350-428: The Bishop that the church would be built on rock, while the chapel would be built on sand. This was true geologically, but was also a reference to the parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke . The church was built on a rocky outcrop, which had once been an island in the estuary, and was one of the first churches to be built in Gothic revival style in Wales. The tower supported

5457-434: The Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 , and culminating in the Australia Acts of 1986. Australia is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories . Its population of more than 28 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on

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5564-467: The English language. The church was fitted with box pews , cast iron windows with coloured glass, and a blue ceiling with stars painted on it. There was a crypt, the precise location of which is unknown, in which Madocks hoped to be buried, but he died in Paris and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery . He is commemorated by a brass plaque , which also commemorates the wedding of Mary Madocks to Martin Williams there in 1811. John Williams, originally

5671-455: The Late Tremadocian). Lithological features of the Black Mountain event are observed in Australia and Gorny Altai , Russia . The Ceratopyge Regressive Event records in Baltica at the end of the Apatokephalus serratus zone. Above the disappearance of Ceratopyge fauna, sediments are presented in a more depleted form due to the decreased sea level in the Late Tremadocian. The middle of the Tremadocian witnessed an extinction event known as

5778-535: The Mid-Tremadocian Extinction Event or the Base Stairsian Mass Extinction Event, which is particularly known to have affected Baltican conodonts. This extinction event may have been caused by anoxia . Planktonic graptolites, an important index fossil , appear during the Tremadocian. Tremadocian cephalopods were not very different from their Cambrian predecessors. Specimens of Ellesmeroceras and possibly Bassleroceras , found in Santa Rosita Formation , northwestern Argentina, show that cephalopods first migrated to

5885-586: The Southern Hemisphere since ancient times. Several 16th-century cartographers used the word Australia on maps, but not to identify modern Australia. When Europeans began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name Terra Australis was applied to the new territories. Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as New Holland , a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 (as Nieuw-Holland ) and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts. The name Australia

5992-533: The beginning of the Floian which is defined as the first appearance of Tetragraptus approximatus at the GSSP in Diabasbrottet quarry , Västergötland , Sweden . In 2015, the Lawson Cove section in Millard County , Utah , was proposed as an Auxiliary boundary Stratotype Section and Point (ASSP) for the Tremadocian stage and Ordovician system. In addition to the first appearance datum of I. fluctivagus , fossils of olenid trilobite Jujuyaspis and planktonic graptolite Anisograptus matanensis are present in

6099-406: The building went on to influence how other chapels in Wales during the period were built, but the site was forced to close in 2015 as its dwindling congregation was unable to keep it open. It is set to be rejuvenated, funds pending. Below these crags is a café, campsite and bunkhouse, which provides a base for climbers. Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia ,

6206-438: The centre and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins , metamorphic and igneous rocks in the east. The Australian mainland and Tasmania are situated in the middle of the tectonic plate and have no active volcanoes, but due to passing over the East Australia hotspot , recent volcanism has occurred during the Holocene , in the Newer Volcanics Province of western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia. Volcanism also occurs in

6313-460: The chancel floor was raised, and the windows were replaced. A new roof was fitted in the 1950s, and the ceiling was removed, while the spire was repaired with cement in the 1970s. The building ceased to be used for worship in 1995 and was eventually bought by Cyfeillion Cadw Tremadog, a trust dedicated to the repair and refurbishment of the historic buildings of Tremadog, in 2005. The fabric was repaired, and modern facilities installed. An upper floor

6420-413: The classical tradition of the 18th century. It is located immediately below the high ground of Snowdonia and on the edge of the modern Snowdonia National Park . Tremadog was built on flat land reclaimed from Traeth Mawr , the estuary of the Afon Glaslyn , and to enhance its appearance Madocks placed the Market Square, the centre of his project, just in front of a great crag of rock , the former edge of

6527-603: The climbs between 2007 and 2010, and negotiations with the Forestry Commission resulted in invasive sycamore trees being removed in 2009. A further event was held in April 2012, but a climber was injured in May 2012 when huge blocks of rock were dislodged during a climb. Tremadog also boasts one of the country's most iconic chapels. Peniel, a Calvinist Methodist chapel, was finished in 1810 and then expanded after Construction work, with its eye-catching and unusual columns, finishing in 1849, its temple front loosely based on St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden , in London. The design of

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6634-420: The colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, constitutional conventions and referendums , resulting in the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia as a nation under the new Australian Constitution . After the 1907 Imperial Conference , Australia and several other self-governing British settler colonies were given the status of self-governing dominions within the British Empire. Australia

6741-428: The community long after Madocks' death in 1828. As the congregation grew, galleries were built in 1840 and 1880, and extensive plasterwork was added between 1908 and 1910. The chapel is one of only five grade I listed nonconformist chapels in Wales, and it was hoped to refurbish it for the bicentenary in 2010. There is a separate electoral ward called Porthmadog-Tremadog. The total ward population of Tremadog at

6848-475: The continent. In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named " New South Wales " and claimed for Great Britain. Following the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the First Fleet , under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip , to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales . A camp was set up and the Union Flag raised at Sydney Cove , Port Jackson , on 26 January 1788,

6955-478: The convict system culminated in its abolition in the eastern colonies by the 1850s. Initially a free colony, Western Australia practised penal transportation from 1850 to 1868. The six colonies individually gained responsible government between 1855 and 1890, thus becoming elective democracies managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire . The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs. In

7062-425: The country's economy. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights. Australia is a middle power , and has the world's thirteenth-highest military expenditure . It is a member of international groups including the United Nations; the G20 ; the OECD ; the World Trade Organization ; Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ; the Pacific Islands Forum ;

7169-436: The digging of a dry cellar, and in this case, half of the scullery was replaced by a structure with a stone vaulted roof, which helped to regulate the internal temperature. Evidence of this can be seen in the bar of the Golden Fleece Inn in the village centre. Ty Pâb was the end of the first phase of the building on the road leading to the church, originally called London Road, but subsequently renamed Church Street. Arches on

7276-459: The early 2010s after the 2000s Australian drought . Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, the continent includes a diverse range of habitats from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests . Fungi typify that diversity—an estimated 250,000 species—of which only 5% have been described—occur in Australia. Because of the continent's great age, extremely variable weather patterns, and long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota

7383-481: The eastern seaboard. Canberra is the nation's capital, while its most populous cities are Sydney and Melbourne , both with a population of more than 5 million. Australia's culture is diverse, and the country has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world . It has a highly developed market economy and one of the highest per capita incomes globally . Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to

7490-439: The estuary. It towers some 100 feet (30 m) over the Town Hall , and the coaching inn , giving a theatrical effect to the area. He hoped to attract more buildings that fitted his overall plan, but this plan failed and he eventually funded most of them himself. The main streets were named Dublin Street and London Street, as Madocks wanted Tremadog to be a stopping-off point on the main route from London to Porth Dinllaen on

7597-409: The first buildings to be completed in the settlement, was quite unlike most Welsh chapels . On the outside, it looked like a Greek temple, while inside the pulpit was on the end wall rather than the more traditional long side wall. Methodists had begun a Sunday School in a house in 1805, and in 1808 Madocks gave them the land on a 99-year lease, subject to a peppercorn rent . It was completed in two and

7704-772: The first time when the High Court of Australia held in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) that Australia was neither terra nullius ( ' land belonging to no one ' ) or "desert and uncultivated land" at the time of European settlement. Following the abolition of the last vestiges of the White Australia policy in 1973, Australia's demography and culture transformed as a result of a large and ongoing wave of non-European immigration, mostly from Asia. The late 20th century also saw an increasing focus on foreign policy ties with other Pacific Rim nations. The Australia Acts severed

7811-415: The front of the building, with representations of theatrical figures. During August, the market space became a theatre. The house to the east of the town hall was quite shallow, allowing a stage to be built behind it, connected to the market space by a proscenium arch. Madocks wrote several stirring prologues and a play for the theatre, and there are rumours that the playwright and poet Sheridan acted in

7918-450: The front, overlooking the square. It was reached by stairs from the tap room in the adjacent public house so that people attending a dance did not have to pass through the market area. The roof was in a similar style to many of Madocks' buildings, with a shallow pitch of slates, and wide eaves, while a flight of steps ran across the front of the building, creating a plinth on which it stood. There were six medallions and five keystones on

8025-412: The heart of the country are the uplands of central Australia . Prominent features of the centre and south include Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock), the famous sandstone monolith, and the inland Simpson , Tirari and Sturt Stony , Gibson , Great Sandy, Tanami , and Great Victoria deserts, with the famous Nullarbor Plain on the southern coast. The Western Australian mulga shrublands lie between

8132-479: The interior deserts and Mediterranean-climate Southwest Australia . Lying on the Indo-Australian Plate , the mainland of Australia is the lowest and most primordial landmass on Earth with a relatively stable geological history. The landmass includes virtually all known rock types and from all geological time periods spanning more than 3.8 billion years of the Earth's history. The Pilbara Craton

8239-417: The island of New Guinea (considered geologically as part of the Australian continent), and in the Australian external territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands . Seismic activity in the Australian mainland and Tasmania is also low, with the greatest number of fatalities having occurred in the 1989 Newcastle earthquake . The climate of Australia is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including

8346-620: The land and the environment, with stories of The Dreaming maintained through oral tradition , songs , dance and paintings. Certain groups engaged in fire-stick farming , fish farming , and built semi-permanent shelters . These practices have variously been characterised as " hunter-gatherer ", " agricultural ", "natural cultivation" and "intensification". Torres Strait Islander people first settled their islands at least 2,500 years ago. Culturally and linguistically distinct from mainland Aboriginal peoples, they were seafarers and obtained their livelihood from seasonal horticulture and

8453-484: The leavers go to 'Ysgol Eifionydd', the nearest secondary school , in Porthmadog. Madocks enlarged a drainage ditch to the river Glaslyn to form a canal which was opened in about 1815. It was used for 35 years to carry copper ore from a local mine, before being replaced by a tramline. Tremadog is an increasingly popular tourist destination. The area's long, quiet roads attract motorcyclists, and Tremadog also has

8560-555: The location for the future federal capital of Canberra . While it was being constructed, Melbourne served as the temporary capital from 1901 to 1927. The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of South Australia to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia became the colonial ruler of the Territory of Papua (which had initially been annexed by Queensland in 1883) in 1902 and of the Territory of New Guinea (formerly German New Guinea ) in 1920. The two were unified as

8667-448: The mainland. Australia is also one of 17 megadiverse countries. Australian forests are mostly made up of evergreen species, particularly eucalyptus trees in the less arid regions; wattles replace them as the dominant species in drier regions and deserts. Among well-known Australian animals are the monotremes (the platypus and echidna ); a host of marsupials , including the kangaroo , koala , and wombat , and birds such as

8774-474: The mid-19th century, explorers such as Burke and Wills charted Australia's interior. A series of gold rushes beginning in the early 1850s led to an influx of new migrants from China , North America and continental Europe, as well as outbreaks of bushranging and civil unrest; the latter peaked in 1854 when Ballarat miners launched the Eureka Rebellion against gold license fees. The 1860s saw

8881-602: The next two decades, social and economic reforms, together with the establishment of a Legislative Council and Supreme Court , saw the penal colony transition to a civil society. The indigenous population declined for 150 years following European settlement, mainly due to infectious disease. British colonial authorities did not sign any treaties with Aboriginal groups . As settlement expanded, tens of thousands of Indigenous people and thousands of settlers were killed in frontier conflicts while settlers dispossessed surviving Indigenous peoples of most of their land. In 1803,

8988-498: The oldest living culture in the world. Australia's written history commenced with Dutch exploration of most of the coastline in the 17th-century. British colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales . By the mid-19th century, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies federated in 1901, forming

9095-428: The political systems of the United Kingdom (a fused executive , constitutional monarchy and strong party discipline ) and the United States ( federalism , a written constitution and strong bicameralism with an elected upper house), resulting in a distinct hybrid. Federal government power is partially separated between three groups: Charles III reigns as King of Australia and is represented in Australia by

9202-594: The protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created under the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia's Biological Diversity to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 65 wetlands are listed under the Ramsar Convention , and 16 natural World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 21st out of 178 countries in the world on

9309-480: The rate of 6 to 7 centimetres a year. The Australian mainland's continental crust , excluding the thinned margins, has an average thickness of 38   km, with a range in thickness from 24 km to 59 km. Australia's geology can be divided into several main sections, showcasing that the continent grew from west to east: the Archaean cratonic shields found mostly in the west, Proterozoic fold belts in

9416-545: The remaining constitutional ties between Australia and the United Kingdom while maintaining the monarch in her independent capacity as Queen of Australia . In a 1999 constitutional referendum , 55% of voters rejected abolishing the monarchy and becoming a republic. Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, Australia joined the United States in fighting the Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2021 and

9523-419: The resources of their reefs and seas. Agriculture also developed on some islands and villages appeared by the 1300s. By the mid-18th century in northern Australia, contact, trade and cross-cultural engagement had been established between local Aboriginal groups and Makassan trepangers , visiting from present-day Indonesia. The Dutch are the first Europeans that recorded sighting and making landfall on

9630-491: The rise of blackbirding , where South Sea Islanders were coerced or abducted into indentured labour, mainly by Queensland colonists. From 1886, Australian colonial governments began removing many Aboriginal children from their families and communities, justified on the grounds of child protection and forced assimilation policies. The Second Boer War (1899–1902) marked the largest overseas deployment of Australia's colonial forces . On 1 January 1901, federation of

9737-434: The side of the building mark the planned location of a cross street, which was never built. The ordinary houses were supplemented by several gentlemen's villas. Tŷ Nanney is a good example in the village itself, and is a Grade II* listed building . Tan-yr-Allt, Madocks' home, is situated to the north-east of the village centre. It is listed at Grade II* and stands in gardens and a small park which are designated Grade II on

9844-741: The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus . Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas, with the Coral Sea lying off the Queensland coast, and the Tasman Sea lying between Australia and New Zealand. The world's smallest continent and sixth-largest country by total area , Australia—owing to its size and isolation—is often dubbed

9951-734: The territory of the northwestern Gondwana , which is now the Iberian Peninsula . Ollo de Sapo magmatic event continued in this region further into Ordovician. Several global events are observed in sediments of the Tremadocian age: the Acerocare Regressive Event, Black Mountain Transgressive Event (both in the Early Tremadocian), Peltocare Regressive Event , Kelly Creek Regressive Event, and Ceratopyge Regressive Event (the last two in

10058-406: The thylacine. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced animal, chromistan , fungal and plant species. All these factors have led to Australia's having the highest mammal extinction rate of any country in the world. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is the legal framework for

10165-411: The tops of the towers are surrounded by elephants ' heads. Madocks wanted it to become a parish church, but it was only ever a chapel of ease , as Tremadog was part of the parish of Ynyscynhaearn. The population of the parish as a whole in 1841 was 1,888. Although he provided a churchyard, no burials took place, but it was one of the few buildings in the region where services were regularly conducted in

10272-471: The town should give its residents opportunities to get on with their own lives, providing that they were congenial neighbours. Tremadog Town Hall is located in the Market Square. Five round arches supported the front of the building, and the ground floor was used as a market hall. The dancing room had a fireplace at both ends, a minstrels' gallery on the back wall, and five large sash windows at

10379-470: The upper floor. Shops were not a common feature of Welsh villages at the time, but the Mayor opened a general store, which was supplied from London, and Madocks instructed his assistant to look out for a shoemaker, a tailor, a butcher and a weaver. At the back of the houses, there was a lean-to scullery , running across the full width of the buildings. For the two inns, the nature of the reclaimed land prevented

10486-593: The waters off western Gondwana already in the early Tremadocian. In the middle Tremadocian, cephalopods became more diverse and occupied new ecological niches . During Tremadocian there was an exchange of fauna between Avalonia and Gondwana across the Rheic Ocean , as evidenced by the findings of morphologically similar trilobites of the genus Platypeltoides in Belgium, Wales (both were parts of Avalonia) and Morocco (Gondwana). The Early Ordovician in general

10593-615: Was Australia's warmest recorded year, and the 2019–2020 bushfire season was the country's worst on record . Australia's greenhouse gas emissions per capita are among the highest in the world. Water restrictions are frequently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages due to urban population increases and localised drought. Throughout much of the continent, major flooding regularly follows extended periods of drought, flushing out inland river systems, overflowing dams and inundating large inland flood plains, as occurred throughout Eastern Australia in

10700-455: Was a time of transgression. The climate was slowly cooling throughout the Ordovician. Tremadog Tremadog (formerly Tremadoc ) is a village in the community of Porthmadog , in Gwynedd , north west Wales ; about one mile (1.6 km) north of Porthmadog town centre. It was a planned settlement , founded by William Madocks , who bought the land in 1798. The centre of Tremadog

10807-545: Was complete by 1811 and remains substantially unaltered. Tremadog hosted an unofficial National Eisteddfod event in 1872. By mid-1805, Madocks had already built some houses on the site of Tremadog, for he wrote to the Post-Master at Caernarfon informing him that letters addressed to Pentre-Gwaelod should be delivered to the new houses he had built on Traeth Mawr , near Tan-yr-Allt. Pentre-Gwaelod translates as Bottom Village, but Madocks had grander plans, for aldermen and

10914-413: Was established in 1829, evolving into the largest Australian colony by area, Western Australia . In accordance with population growth, separate colonies were carved from New South Wales: Tasmania in 1825, South Australia in 1836, New Zealand in 1841, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. South Australia was founded as a free colony—it never accepted transported convicts. Growing opposition to

11021-466: Was fitted, and the building was subsequently used as offices by Cartrefi Cymru ("Homes of Wales"), a charity which assists disabled people living in the community. Repair of the coadestone arch, requiring the manufacture of several replacement parts, was completed in 2007. In December 2017, Ffestiniog Travel moved into the church. Capel Peniel , which was built by the Methodists, and was one of

11128-531: Was one of the founding members of the League of Nations in 1920, and the United Nations in 1945. The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended the ability of the UK to pass federal laws without Australia's consent. Australia adopted it in 1942, but it was backdated to 1939 to confirm the validity of legislation passed during World War II. The Australian Capital Territory was formed in 1911 as

11235-470: Was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders , who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the Earth". The first time that Australia appears to have been officially used was in April 1817, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from Lord Bathurst . In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to

11342-402: Was powered by water, this was one of the first woollen mills where water power was used for carding and spinning . The building was located close to his home at Tan-yr-Allt, because the high ground behind it provided a good head of water. It had a characteristic shallow-pitched slate roof, and Madocks instructed that the walls should be yellow, and the windows painted dark green. Nearby were

11449-535: Was used as a tannery . It still stands but has a temporary roof. In the 1990s, the Tremadog Buildings Preservation Trust obtained permission for its repair and conversion but failed to acquire the site. Most of the houses of Tremadog were of a similar plan, and in common with townhouses of the period, opened directly onto the square. They had a central doorway, with a parlour or a shop on each side, and there were two bedrooms on

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