Portal:Victoria

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The Victoria Portal


Location of Victoria in Australia
The flag of Victoria

Victoria (commonly abbreviated as Vic) is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state, with a land area of 227,444 km2 (87,817 sq mi); the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 6.7 million; and the most densely populated state in Australia (29.5 per km2). Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north and South Australia to the west and is bounded by the Bass Strait to the south (with the exception of a small land border with Tasmania located along Boundary Islet), the Great Australian Bight portion of the Southern Ocean to the southwest, and the Tasman Sea (a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean) to the southeast. The state encompasses a range of climates and geographical features from its temperate coastal and central regions to the Victorian Alps in the northeast and the semi-arid northwest.

The majority of the Victorian population is concentrated in the central-south area surrounding Port Phillip, and in particular within the metropolitan area of Greater Melbourne, Victoria's state capital and largest city and also Australia's second-largest city, where over three-quarters of the Victorian population live. The state is home to four of Australia's 20 largest cities: Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. The population is culturally diverse, with 35.1% of inhabitants being immigrants.

Victoria's economy is the second-largest among Australian states and is highly diversified, with service sectors predominating. Culturally, Melbourne hosts a number of museums, art galleries, and theatres, and is also described as the world's sporting capital, and the spiritual home of Australian cricket and Australian rules football. (Full article...)

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Middle Island, Warnambool.
Middle Island, Warnambool.
Credit: Danimations

Middle Island is a small (c. 2 ha), rocky island lying close to the shore of south-western Victoria, Australia, in Stingray Bay next to the city of Warrnambool. It is a wildlife sanctuary that is home to breeding colonies of little penguins (Eudyptula minor) and short-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris). It is closed to general public access because of the low penguin population.

Because of the proximity of the island to the coast, it is accessible at low tide to predators such as foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and stray dogs. As a result, the penguin colony declined to a low of ten breeding pairs by 2005. In 2006 an attempt began to protect the birds from foxes by the use of Maremma Sheepdogs trained to protect penguins rather than sheep and to act as a deterrent to foxes. The dogs, who work in pairs, spend five or six days a week on the island during the breeding season from October to March. Since then the penguin population has been increasing and by 2016 had reached nearly two hundred. In 2017, when high tides and bad weather prevented the dogs from being taken to the island, as many as 140 penguins were killed by foxes. Numbers have since rebounded, and the project inspired a similar effort that began in late 2020 to protect newly released eastern barred bandicoots at Werribee Open Range Zoo by having the dogs mind a flock of sheep. The island is featured prominently in the 2015 film Oddball.

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Melbourne To-do
Here are some WikiProject Melbourne articles which attract a high number of "page hits" but are only rated as Stub Class, or otherwise need additonal citations or attention:
Suburbs: Derrimut, South Wharf, Menzies Creek, Save Our State (Australia)
Landmarks: 101 Collins Street, 120 Collins Street, Bourke Place, Hamer Hall, Melbourne Mint
Events: Melbourne International Festival of Brass, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Great Bookie Robbery, Extreme weather events in Melbourne
Transport: All of the stations on the Puffing Billy Railway need expanding or merging to the main article, especially the request stops which are just tin sheds
Sporting Clubs: Caroline Springs George Cross FC
Streets: Little Bourke Street, Hardware Lane, Hosier Lane
People: Alannah Hill, Meek (street artist), Vexta
Institutions: Eltham High School, Glen Eira Town Hall, Boxing Day Test
Venues:
Miscellaneous: Collins St., 5 pm, Yarra Valley, Coops Shot Tower, Melbourne Talk Radio, Melbourne University Publishing, The Herald and Weekly Times,
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