State · 1901 – present

Australia

A state of 1901 – present — 125 years, still standing in the Americas and Oceania. It followed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The atlas records 56 things within it — wars and battles 6 · unrest and atrocity 4 · famine and plague 1 · natural disasters 3 · people 42. Its line of rulers holds 18 people.

Still standing: the span runs to the year of the build, 2026.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 125 years; and still standing
Rulers: 18; the monarch of Australia
Most ground: 8.25 million km²; in 1945
Within it: 56; recorded rows
Symbols: 2; on record, with years

Map: Australia in 1945, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Australia in 1945, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 8.25 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland · follows · 1801 – 1927

Rulers

The line of monarch of Australia - the office this state names as its head of state.

died in officeleft alive by a regular roadstill in officeending not on recorda second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source
George VI	1942 – 1952	10 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death
William McKell	1947 – 1953	6 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Elizabeth II	1952 – 2022	70 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim	1953 – 1960	7 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil	1960 – 1961	1 year	served out the term, the article saysread from the ruler's own article
William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle	1961 – 1965	4 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Richard Casey, Baron Casey	1965 – 1969	4 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Paul Hasluck	1969 – 1974	5 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
John Kerr	1974 – 1977	3 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Zelman Cowen	1977 – 1982	5 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Ninian Stephen	1982 – 1989	7 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Bill Hayden	1989 – 1996	7 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
William Deane	1996 – 2001	5 years	ending not on record
Peter Hollingworth	2001 – 2003	2 years	resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article
Michael Jeffery	2003 – 2008	5 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Quentin Bryce	2008 – 2014	6 years	ending not on record
Peter Cosgrove	2014 – in office	in office since 2014	still in office
Charles III	2022 – in office	in office since 2022	still in office

18 rulers, 18 with terms dated as terms, covering 1942 – 2022. Median reign 5 years. 3 of 17 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. The violent-handover count is withheld: power changed hands so often that any rising falls beside one (exposure 1.00, limit 0.6). A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Heads of government

The line of Prime Minister of Australia, drawn and never measured: a cabinet is not a reign.

Edmund Barton	1901 – 1903
Alfred Deakin	1903 – 1904
Chris Watson	1904 – 1904
George Reid	1904 – 1905
Alfred Deakin	1905 – 1908
Andrew Fisher	1908 – 1909
Alfred Deakin	1909 – 1910
Andrew Fisher	1910 – 1913
Joseph Cook	1913 – 1914
Andrew Fisher	1914 – 1915
Billy Hughes	1915 – 1923
S. M. Bruce	1923 – 1929
James Scullin	1929 – 1932
Joseph Lyons	1932 – 1939
Robert Menzies	1939 – 1941
Earle Page	1939 – 1939
Arthur Fadden	1941 – 1941
John Curtin	1941 – 1945
Ben Chifley	1945 – 1949
Frank Forde	1945 – 1945
Robert Menzies	1949 – 1966
Harold Holt	1966 – 1967
John McEwen	1967 – 1968
John Gorton	1968 – 1971
William McMahon	1971 – 1972
Gough Whitlam	1972 – 1975
Malcolm Fraser	1975 – 1983
Bob Hawke	1983 – 1991
Paul Keating	1991 – 1996
John Howard	1996 – 2007
Kevin Rudd	2007 – 2010
Julia Gillard	2010 – 2013
Tony Abbott	2013 – 2015
Kevin Rudd	2013 – 2013
Malcolm Turnbull	2015 – 2018
Scott Morrison	2018 – 2022
Anthony Albanese	2022 – …

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

7.79 million km² in 1911, 7.81 million km² in 2021; at its largest 7.81 million km² in 1951. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flags and arms, in order

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

coat of arms, from 1908Coat of arms of the Commonwealth of Australia · Public domain
flag, from 1908Flag of Australia (converted) · Public domain

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

1900 – 199947 rows · 6 wars and battles · 2 risings, regime changes and massacres

Julian Assange · writer · 1971 – present
J. M. Coetzee · writer · 1940 – present
Julia Gillard · politician · 1961 – present
Kevin Rudd · politician · 1957 – present
Scott Morrison · politician · 1968 – present
Patrick White · writer · 1912 – 1990
Anthony Albanese · politician · 1963 – present
John Howard · politician · 1939 – present

and 39 more in the atlas.

2000 – 20995 rows · 2 risings, regime changes and massacres

Bondi Beach shooting · atrocity · 2025
COVID-19 pandemic in Australia · plague · 2020
2010–2011 Queensland floods · disaster · 2011
2005 Cronulla riots · unrest · 2005
2021 Mansfield earthquake · disaster · 2021

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood125 years
stood longer than 51% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held8,248,800 km²
held more ground at its peak than 98% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median5 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 18% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record18
has more rulers on record than 90% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 36 causes the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linkedcoincidence

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1888 – 2039, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1945, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q408 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.