Australia Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Etymology== {{Main|Name of Australia}} The name ''Australia'' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|s|t|r|eɪ|l|i|ə}} in [[Australian English]]<ref>Australian pronunciations: ''[[Macquarie Dictionary]], Fourth Edition'' (2005) Melbourne, The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd. {{ISBN|978-1-876429-14-0}}</ref>) is derived from the Latin {{Lang|la|[[Terra Australis]]}} ("southern land"), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times.<ref>{{Cite web|title=australia {{pipe}} Etymology, origin and meaning of the name australia by etymonline|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/australia|access-date=15 January 2022|website=www.etymonline.com|language=en|archive-date=29 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129005011/https://www.etymonline.com/word/Australia|url-status=live}}</ref> Several sixteenth century cartographers used the word Australia on maps, but not to identify modern Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Clarke |first1=Jacqueline |last2=Clarke |first2=Philip |date=10 August 2014 |title=Putting 'Australia' on the map |url=http://theconversation.com/putting-australia-on-the-map-29816 |access-date=15 January 2022 |website=The Conversation |language=en |archive-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302195128/https://theconversation.com/putting-australia-on-the-map-29816 |url-status=live }}</ref> When Europeans began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name {{Lang|la|Terra Australis}} was applied to the new territories.{{Refn|The earliest recorded use of the word ''Australia'' in English was in 1625 in "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Sir [[Richard Hakluyt]]", published by [[Samuel Purchas]] in ''Hakluytus Posthumus'', a corruption of the original Spanish name "Austrialia del Espíritu Santo" (Southern Land of the Holy Spirit)<ref>[http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/queiros/index.html "He named it Austrialia del Espiritu Santo and claimed it for Spain"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817051612/http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/queiros/index.html |date=17 August 2013}} ''The Spanish quest for Terra Australis|State Library of New South Wales Page 1''</ref><ref>[http://rupertgerritsen.tripod.com/pdf/published/Austrialia_Globe_72_2013_pp23-30.pdf "A note on 'Austrialia' or 'Australia' Rupert Gerritsen – Journal of The Australian and New Zealand Map Society Inc. The Globe Number 72, 2013] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160612021158/http://rupertgerritsen.tripod.com/pdf/published/Austrialia_Globe_72_2013_pp23-30.pdf|date=12 June 2016}} ''Posesion en nombre de Su Magestad (Archivo del Museo Naval, Madrid, MS 951) p. 3''.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63620938|title=The Illustrated Sydney News|newspaper=Illustrated Sydney News|date=26 January 1888|access-date=29 January 2012|page=2|publisher=National Library of Australia|archive-date=11 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011073045/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63620938|url-status=live}}</ref> for an island in [[Vanuatu]].<ref>Purchas, vol. iv, pp. 1422–1432, 1625</ref> The Dutch adjectival form ''australische'' was used in a Dutch book in [[History of Jakarta|Batavia]] ([[Jakarta]]) in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south.<ref>{{Cite book|url={{GBurl|id=DDNEle_1NzkC|p=299}}|page=299 |last=Scott|first=Ernest|orig-year=1914 |title=The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders|isbn=978-1-4191-6948-9|year=2004|publisher=Kessinger Publishing}}</ref>|group="N"}} Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as ''[[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]]'', a name first applied by the Dutch explorer [[Abel Tasman]] in 1644 (as {{Lang|nl|Nieuw-Holland}}) and subsequently anglicised. {{Lang|la|Terra Australis}} still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts.{{Refn|For instance, the 1814 work ''[[A Voyage to Terra Australis]]''|group="N"}} The name ''Australia'' was popularised by the explorer [[Matthew Flinders]], who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the Earth".<ref>Flinders, Matthew (1814) ''[[A Voyage to Terra Australis]]'' G. and W. Nicol</ref> The first time that ''Australia'' appears to have been officially used was in April 1817, when Governor [[Lachlan Macquarie]] acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from [[Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|Lord Bathurst]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58549315|title=Who Named Australia?|newspaper=The Mail (Adelaide, South Australia)|location=Adelaide|date=11 February 1928|access-date=14 February 2012|page=16|publisher=National Library of Australia|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417085724/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58549315|url-status=live}}</ref> In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the [[Colonial Office]] that it be formally adopted.<ref>Weekend Australian, 30–31 December 2000, p. 16</ref> In 1824, the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] agreed that the continent should be known officially by that name.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Department of Immigration and Citizenship |title=Life in Australia|publisher=Commonwealth of Australia|year=2007|page=11|isbn=978-1-9214-4630-6|url=http://www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/values/book/english/lia_english_part1.pdf |access-date=30 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017070336/http://www.immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/values/book/english/lia_english_part1.pdf |archive-date=17 October 2009}}</ref> The first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of ''The Australia Directory'' by the [[United Kingdom Hydrographic Office|Hydrographic Office]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Coman|first=Brian J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5m4zNxaaSUC&pg=PA40|title=A Loose Canon: Essays on History, Modernity and Tradition|date=2007|publisher=Connor Court Publishing Pty Ltd|isbn=978-0-9802-9362-3|language=en|access-date=17 July 2023|archive-date=27 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327193458/https://books.google.com/books?id=P5m4zNxaaSUC&pg=PA40|url-status=live}}</ref> Colloquial names for Australia include "[[Name of Australia#Oz|Oz]]", "Straya" and "[[Down Under]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Straya |url=http://macquariedictionary.com.au/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=[[Macquarie Dictionary]] |archive-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209174709/https://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 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]]".<ref>{{Cite web|last1=School|first1=Head of|last2=admin.hal@anu.edu.au|title=Australian National Dictionary Centre|url=https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc|access-date=15 January 2022|website=ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics|language=en|archive-date=12 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312000501/http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/pubs/ozwords/June_98/2._aitch.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page