Wikipedia articles related to Australia are overwhelmingly centred on cities, new research has found, with negative aspects of a place sometimes “sanitised” in articles by editors – avoiding mention of discriminatory Australian government policies or violence against First Nations peoples.
Debate around central questions of Australian history and identity is sparking conflict between editors, with place names especially contentious. Only around 6% of Australian places are given their First Nation names on Wikipedia, along with an English one.
Yet while many parts of the nation are not represented, especially near the arid centre, a series of well-developed articles have been written about fictional places.
