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Name of Australia
Etymology of the name Australia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Name of Austria.
The name Australia (pronounced /əˈstreɪliə/ in Australian English[6]) is derived from the Latin australis, meaning "southern", and specifically from the hypothetical Terra Australis postulated in pre-modern geography. The name was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders from 1804, and it has been in official use since 1817, replacing "New Holland", an English translation of the Dutch name, first given by Abel Tasman in 1643 as the name for the continent.
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Look up Australia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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![Image with text reading: The vast Island or rather Continent of Australia, Astralasia, or New Holland, which has so lately attracted the particular attention of European navigators and naturalists, seems to abound in scenes of peculiar wildness and fertility; while the wretched natives of many of those dreary districts seem less elevated above the inferior animals than in any other part of the known world; Caffraria itself not excepted; as well as less endued](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Australia_First_use_of_word_Shaw_Zoology.jpg/640px-Australia_First_use_of_word_Shaw_Zoology.jpg)