Australia, Australasia or Oceania?

[MKR&*42]

Right,

I have debated with so many people about this because I fail to believe that Australia itself is a continent. In some fact book from 2004, it said that Australia is the only continent containing 1 island + quite a few people I know are convinced Australia is its own continent.

Can someone please tell me if I am right; Australia isn't a continent itself because New Zealand (and another country right above Australia) would also be its own continent. The continent is actually 'Oceania' or 'Australasia' isn't it?

Just wondering aha, I'm fed up of people thinking that Australia is a continent because I'm 99% sure it isn't. Can someone clarify this?

* Also, didn't know where to put this so I shoved it here... close enough.

[Blinger]

I thought Oceania is Australia, New Zealand, Christmas Island, Indonesia (although I doubt it) etc. Its just a part of the world to describe us from down under whereas Australia is the actual continent- that's what I've always been told

[Red]

I was always taught the continent was Australasia. Australia is a country.

[Milarz]

Australia "should" be a country. But it's known as an Island. The reason it should be a country, is because it is the 5th largest country/continent (whatever you wanna call it), in the world.

[Blinger]

Read the wikipedia.

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. [1] Opinions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific (ethnologically divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia [2] ) to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago.

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Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean.

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Australia is the world's smallest continent, comprising the mainland of Australia and proximate islands including Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Raja Ampat Islands.

[orientalframe?]

i have always thought the continent was australasia, as australia is just a county. but i have never heard of oceania :(

[MKR&*42]

Read the wikipedia.

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. [1] Opinions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific (ethnologically divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia [2] ) to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago.

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Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean.

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Australia is the world's smallest continent, comprising the mainland of Australia and proximate islands including Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Raja Ampat Islands.

Hmm, they never make these things easy do they aha. Anyway, thank you for this answer & to everyone else, I'll +Rep all I can :)

[Lee]

Edited - what an idiot I misread the whole thread :S

Oceania is the continent housing Australia.

[Jordan]

I have heard of all three but I've never seen Australia as a continent. Always known the continent as 'Oceania' which has Australia and all the other bits in it.

[Cerys]

I've always used the term Australasia as New Zealand and Australia etc.
Never used the term Oceania, though!

But Australia is definitely not a continent. xD

[Rixion]

I always call it Oceania because that's what I was taught.

[Eric]

I think Australia is a continent and a country as well. Australasia is a region consists of Australia, New Zealand and the islands of the South West Pacific. I never heard of Oceania but according to the information on Wikipedia, i believe Oceania is a large region of the world consisting of the Pacific Islands and the seas around them.

[Milarz]

i have always thought the continent was australasia, as australia is just a county. but i have never heard of oceania
Australia is a continent/island, not a country lol.

[Sloths]

Hell no Aussie is not a continent! ..get slightly annoyed with that haha anyways Australasia is Aussie, NZ and Pacific islands whereas Oceania is all those plus from what I can remember Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. I say I live in Australasia if I had to say, I never use Oceania tbh :P

[le harry]

What are they teaching people in Geography these days!? Australia is a continent. Every country in the world does not have to belong to a continent. A continent is a just a large land mass separated by water.

[MissAlice]

What are they teaching people in Geography these days!? Australia is a continent. Every country in the world does not have to belong to a continent. A continent is a just a large land mass separated by water.

Agreed, I was always taught that Australia is a continent.

Below is a short reference.

The Continent of Australia and Oceania:

The "continent" of Australia/Oceania is a somewhat artifical construct, designed to link together the continental landmass of Australia with the huge number of widely scattered islands across the Pacific Ocean.

[Blinger]

Australia is a continent/island, not a country lol.

what the **** did you get taught at school? How the **** are we not a country?

[Milarz]

Someones got an anger problem. Maybe if you look it up, you'll find out it's an island, not a Country.

[Recursion]

Someones got an anger problem. Maybe if you look it up, you'll find out it's an island, not a Country.

What're you smoking? Of course it's a country, what governments do you think they follow?


Australia (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia,[10] is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of theAustralian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.[N 4] It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia

[Milarz]

We call it a country, it's not classed as a country, how many times do i have to say look it up? Pretty sure you'd find it all over google + i am 20 years old, i think i know info on Australia. lol.

[Rozi]

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLL at above

I was always taught Australia is a country, and when adding New Zealand and some of Indonesia it becomes Australasia/Oceana

I think it's one of those things that doesn't have a definitive answer

[Circadia]

I thought it was Australia as the country/island and Australasia was the name of the continent
never heard of it being called oceania though :')

[Kasabian]

i wanna go to christmas island

Edited by Lee (Forum Moderator): Please don't post pointlessly.

[Grig]

Oceania is considered a continent and sometimes Australia is grouped as being in the Asia-Pacific.

But deffo. not its own continent and I would very worried if they teach you that in geography.