Australia, Commonwealth of Australia(noun)
a nation occupying the whole of the Australian continent; Aboriginal tribes are thought to have migrated from southeastern Asia 20,000 years ago; first Europeans were British convicts sent there as a penal colony
the smallest continent; between the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean
A country in Oceania. Official name: Commonwealth of Australia.
The continent of Australia-New Guinea. New Guinea and the intervening islands are also on the Australian tectonic plate and are thus geologically considered part of the continent.
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. For at least 40,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established. On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Since Federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The federation comprises six states and several territories. The population of 23 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated in the eastern states.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
a continent entirely within the Southern Hemisphere, about one-fourth smaller than Europe, its utmost length from E. to W. being 2400 m., and breadth 1971; the coast has singularly few inlets, though many and spacious harbours, only one great gulf, Carpentaria, on the N., and one bight, the Great Australian Bight, on the S.; the interior consists of a low desert plateau, depressed in the centre, bordered with ranges of various elevation, between which and the sea is a varying breadth of coast-land; the chief mountain range is in the E., and extends more or less parallel all the way with the E. coast; the rivers are few, and either in flood or dried up, for the climate is very parching, only one river, the Murray, 2345 m. long, of any consequence, while the lakes, which are numerous, are shallow and nearly all salt; the flora is peculiar, the eucalyptus and the acacia the most characteristic, grains, fruits, and edible roots being all imported; the fauna is no less peculiar, including, in the absence of many animals of other countries, the kangaroo, the dingo, and the duck-bill, the useful animals being likewise all imported; of birds, the cassowary and the emu, and smaller ones of great beauty, but songless; minerals abound, both the precious and the useful; the natives are disappearing, the colonists in 1904 numbering close upon 4,000,000; and the territory divided into Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, S. Australia, and W. Australia, which with Tasmania federated in 1900 and became the Commonwealth.
U.S. National Library of Medicine
The smallest continent and an independent country, comprising six states and two territories. Its capital is Canberra.
Etymology and Origins
From the Latin Australis, southern.
British National Corpus
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'Australia' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2080
Written Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'Australia' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2907
The numerical value of Australia in Chaldean Numerology is: 4
The numerical value of Australia in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3
Examples of Australia in a Sentence
An Australian swimmer returning a positive result is both bitterly disappointing and embarrassing to our team, our sport and our country, the ASADA agreement requires Swimming Australia to maintain confidentiality until such time as either ASADA or the individual athlete release details of an adverse result.
I think if Australia really wants to protect its tax base, we really need to think about something like a Google Tax or this kind of unilateral action.
I was getting worried because my right ear is my good ear, my left ear is just about totally deaf. And when we got (to Australia), that’s when Dr. Chang found out that the fluids had crystallised and had been eating away at my ear.
As a defence partner, you need assets. It is no good saying that you uphold the international rules-based order, you need something that will be useful for Australia and the United States, the most obvious way is to have the same system, the P-8.
Some El Nino-like impacts have already been seen this spring in Australia and several regions around the globe, including Asia, South America and southern Africa, the Bureau's December–February Climate Outlook shows a drier and warmer summer is likely for many parts of Australia.
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Translations for Australia
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
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