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This article is one of a series providing information about endemism among birds in the world's various zoogeographic zones. For an overview of this subject see Endemism in birds.

Patterns of endemism

Family-level endemism is prominent in Australia. The Australasian biogeographic region has the highest number of endemic families of any zoogeographic region except the Neotropics, and many of these families are endemic to Australia itself — the country therefore stakes a strong claim to be the world's greatest hotspot of bird endemism.

Australian endemic and near-endemic families

The Australian endemic families are:

Emu (Dromaiidae), a well-known monotypic family; the emu is found in rural areas throughout the continent
Plains-wanderer (Pedionomidae), a monotypic family; plains-wanderer is restricted to arid inland areas in the southeast of Australia
Lyrebirds (Menuridae), two forest-dwelling species of southeast Australia
Scrub-birds (Atrichornithidae), two forest-dwelling species, one found in southeastern Australia, the other in southwest Australia
Australian mudnesters (Struthideidae), two species found in open forest and woodland environments in eastern Australia
Bristlebirds (Dasyornithidae), three species: eastern, western and rufous bristlebirds.
Pardalotes (Pardalotidae), four species: spotted, forty-spotted, red-browed and striated pardalote

In addition to the families listed above, the following families are endemic to the Australasian region, with some of their species also found in New Guinea:

Magpie goose (Anseranatidae), a monotypic family with a portion of the population living on New Guinea
Australian treecreepers (Climacteridae), seven species, six endemic to Australia and one, the Papuan treecreeper, endemic to New Guinea.
Bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchidae), twenty species, ten found in Australia, eight in New Guinea, and two in both.
Fairy-wrens, emu-wrens, and grasswrens (Maluridae), twenty-nine species, twenty-three endemic to Australia and six to New Guinea
Australasian babblers (Pomatostomidae), four of the five species are endemic to Australia
Logrunners (Orthonychidae), three species, two endemic to Australia and one to New Guinea
Jewel-babblers and quail-thrushes (Cinclosomatidae), nine species, five Australian, four from New Guinea, sometimes broadened to Phosphodidae to include whipbirds and wedgebills (six species, five from Australia and one from New Guinea).
Sittellas (Neosittidae), two species, the varied sittella of Australia and the black sittella of New Guinea
Boatbills (Machaerirhynchidae), two species, Australia's yellow-breasted boatbill and New Guinea's black-breasted boatbill.

A further group of families endemic to the Australasian region, but where the species are predominantly New Guinea endemics are listed in the article on endemic birds of New Guinea.

Endemic Bird Areas

BirdLife International has defined the following Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) in Australia:

181		Cape York
182		Queensland wet tropics
183		Eastern Australia
184		South-east Australia
185		Tasmania
186		Southwest Australia
187		North West Australia

Christmas Island, an Australian territory, is also an EBA.

In addition the following are classified as secondary areas (areas with at least one restricted-range bird species, but not meeting the criteria to qualify as EBAs):

To be completed later.