What was Australia first called?

After Dutch navigators charted the northern, western and southern coasts of Australia during the 17th Century this newly found continent became known as 'New Holland'. It was the English explorer Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Early life

Matthew Flinders was born in Donington, Lincolnshire, the son of Matthew Flinders, a surgeon, and his wife Susannah, née Ward. He was educated at Cowley's Charity School, Donington, from 1780 and then at the Reverend John Shinglar's Grammar School at Horbling in Lincolnshire.
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who made the suggestion of the name we use today.
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What was Australia called before it separated?

Gondwana, also called Gondwanaland, ancient supercontinent that incorporated present-day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica.
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What was Australia called before 1788?

Australia, once known as New South Wales, was originally planned as a penal colony. In October 1786, the British government appointed Arthur Phillip captain of the HMS Sirius, and commissioned him to establish an agricultural work camp there for British convicts.
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What was Australia called when it was joined?

"Combine Australia!" Australia became a nation on 1 January 1901 when 6 British colonies—New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania—united to form the Commonwealth of Australia. This process is known as Federation.
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What other names did Australia have?

Colloquial names for Australia include “Oz” and “the Land Down Under” (usually shortened to just “Down Under”). Other epithets include “the Great Southern Land”, “the Lucky Country”, “the Sunburnt Country”, and “the Wide Brown Land”. The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar's 1908 poem “My Country”.
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The Animated History of Australia



What was Australia named after?

The name Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪliə/ in Australian English) is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern", and specifically from the hypothetical Terra Australis postulated in pre-modern geography.
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Was Australia called New Holland?

After Dutch navigators charted the northern, western and southern coasts of Australia during the 17th Century this newly found continent became known as 'New Holland'. It was the English explorer Matthew Flinders who made the suggestion of the name we use today.
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What was Australia before 1901?

Before 1900, there was no actual country called Australia, only the six colonies – New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia. While these colonies were on the same continent, they were governed like six rival countries and there was little communication between them.
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How did Aboriginal get to Australia?

Aboriginal origins

Humans are thought to have migrated to Northern Australia from Asia using primitive boats. A current theory holds that those early migrants themselves came out of Africa about 70,000 years ago, which would make Aboriginal Australians the oldest population of humans living outside Africa.
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Who actually discovered Australia?

James Cook was the first recorded explorer to land on the east coast in 1770. He had with him maps showing the north, west and south coasts based on the earlier Dutch exploration.
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What was the original continent called?

They all existed as a single continent called Pangea. Pangea first began to be torn apart when a three-pronged fissure grew between Africa, South America, and North America. Rifting began as magma welled up through the weakness in the crust, creating a volcanic rift zone.
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Was Australia originally part of Antarctica?

Australia and Antarctica were once part of the same land mass — a supercontinent called Gondwana. The fossil record of the 2 continents is similar. Antarctica has fossils of dinosaurs, amphibians and even marsupials from prehistory. Australia began to separate from Antarctica 85 million years ago.
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Is Australia the oldest continent?

Earth's oldest known piece of continental crust dates to the era of the moon's formation. Australia holds the oldest continental crust on Earth, researchers have confirmed, hills some 4.4 billion years old.
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How old is Australia?

Australia is 117 years old.
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Who discovered Australia in 1770?

Lieutenant James Cook, captain of HMB Endeavour, claimed the eastern portion of the Australian continent for the British Crown in 1770, naming it New South Wales.
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Who lived in Australia first?

Aboriginal people are known to have occupied mainland Australia for at least 65,000 years. It is widely accepted that this predates the human settlement of Europe and the Americas.
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Why are Aborigines called?

"Aborigine"

'Aborigine' comes from the Latin words ab meaning from and origine meaning beginning or origin. It expresses that Aboriginal people have been there from the beginning of time. 'Aborigine' is a noun for an Aboriginal person (male or female).
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When did Australia change its name from New Holland?

On 12 December 1817, Governor Lachlan Macquarie recommended to the British Colonial Office that the "Australia" be adopted as the name of the continent still being referred to as New Holland. Finally, in 1824, the British Admiralty agreed that the continent should be officially called Australia.
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Why is Australia called Oceania?

Most of Australia and Oceania is under the Pacific, a vast body of water that is larger than all the Earth's continental landmasses and islands combined. The name “Oceania” justly establishes the Pacific Ocean as the defining characteristic of the continent.
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Why is the word Aborigine offensive?

'Aborigine' is generally perceived as insensitive, because it has racist connotations from Australia's colonial past, and lumps people with diverse backgrounds into a single group. You're more likely to make friends by saying 'Aboriginal person', 'Aboriginal' or 'Torres Strait Islander'.
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What race are Australian Aboriginal?

Genetic studies have revealed that Aboriginal Australians largely descended from an Eastern Eurasian population wave, and are most closely related to other Oceanians, such as Melanesians.
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What is the oldest culture in the world?

An unprecedented DNA study has found evidence of a single human migration out of Africa and confirmed that Aboriginal Australians are the world's oldest civilization.
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Was Australia ever a part of Africa?

Subscribe today. Australia was once part of a much larger land mass called Gondwana, which included the modern continents of Africa, South America, Antarctica and India.
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Was New Zealand ever joined to Australia?

Between 105 to 90 million years ago Australia and New Zealand were joined at the hip along with Antarctica in a massive land mass called Gondwana.
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