Australia

Coat of arms of Australia

 Commonwealth of
Australia, including the Australian territorial claim in the Antarctic

Portrait of Captain James Cook, the first European to map the eastern
coastline of Australia in 1770
The koala and the eucalyptus form an iconic Australian pair.

Peter Cosgrove, Governor-General of Australia

Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia

Capital Canberra
35°18′29″S149°07′28″E

Largest city Sydney

National English[
language

Government Federal parliamentaryconstitutional

monarchy

The name Australia (pronounced [əˈstɹæɪljə, -liə] in Australian English[31]) is derived from
the Latin Terra Australis ("southern land"), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern
Hemisphere since ancient times.[32] When Europeans first began visiting and mapping Australia in the
17th century, the name Terra Australis was naturally applied to the new territories.[N 4]
Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as "New Holland", a name first applied by the
Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 (as Nieuw-Holland) and subsequently anglicised. Terra
Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts.[N 5] 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".[38] 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 Lord Bathurst.[39] In
December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted.[40] In
1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially by that name.[41] The first
official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia
Directory by the Hydrographic Office.[42]
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".[43