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The name Australia is derived from the Latin word 'australis', meaning 'southern'. The term was first used nearly two thousand years ago to refer to a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere, called 'Terra Australis Incognita' or 'Unknown Southern Land'. The name was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who pushed for its adoption as early as 1804. The British Admiralty officially named the continent Australia in 1824.
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What You'll Learn
The Latin word 'Australis'
The name Australia is derived from the Latin word 'australis', which means 'southern'. The term 'Australis' was first used nearly two thousand years ago in the name of an imaginary land called Terra Australis Incognita, or 'Unknown Southern Land'. The idea of Terra Australis dates back to the 2nd century, when it was believed that there had to be a large land mass in the south to balance the Northern Hemisphere's land mass. This theory of balancing land can be traced back to the 5th century, when it appeared on maps drawn by Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, a Roman provincial.
In the 16th century, the term 'Australia' began to appear on maps, although it was not yet used to identify the country we know today. Instead, it referred to a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere. The earliest known use of the name 'Australia' in Latin was in 1545, when the word appeared in a woodcut illustration of the globe titled "Sphere of the Winds".
In 1606, the Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós used the name 'Australia del Espiritu Santo' to describe an island in what is now Vanuatu, believing he had discovered the lost southern continent. In his memoirs, Queirós altered the name to 'Austrialia del Espíritu Santo', combining 'Australis' with 'Austria' to flatter King Philip III, who was of the royal House of Austria. This is the earliest recorded combination of the terms "Austral" and "Austria".
In 1804, the British explorer Matthew Flinders officially proposed the name 'Australia' for the continent, and it has been in official use since 1817, replacing the previous name, 'New Holland'. Flinders had used the name in his charts as early as 1804, but his 1814 publication, 'A Voyage to Terra Australis', used the term Terra Australis at the request of his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, as it was the name most familiar to the public at the time.
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Terra Australis Incognita
The name Australia is derived from the Latin word "australis", which means "southern". It was first used nearly two thousand years ago in the 2nd century to refer to an imaginary landmass called Terra Australis Incognita, or the Unknown Southern Land, which Europeans believed existed at the bottom of the world. The idea of Terra Australis was based on the hypothesis that continents in the Northern Hemisphere should be balanced by land in the south. This theory of balancing land can be traced back to the 5th century and is recorded in maps by Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, a Roman provincial.
The term "Australia" was first used in 1625 by Sir Richard Hakluyt in "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo", published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus. However, this referred to an island in Vanuatu, nearly 2,000 kilometres off the coast of Australia, which was named by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós in 1606. De Queirós believed he had reached the southern continent and named it Australia del Espiritu Santo, later altering the name to Austrialia del Espíritu Santo in his memoirs to flatter King Philip III, who was of the House of Austria.
In 1794, botanists Sir James Smith and George Shaw specifically applied the term "Australia" to the region for the first time in their book Zoology and Botany of New Holland. However, the term was popularised by the British explorer Matthew Flinders, who made three voyages to the southern ocean between 1791 and 1810 and led the first voyage around Australia, identifying it as a continent. He first used the term in 1804, and it was officially adopted in 1824 by the British Admiralty.
Before the name Australia was adopted, the continent was known as "New Holland", a name given by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1643. The Dutch were the first Europeans to visit and map Australia in the 17th century, and they named the continent after their home country.
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Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a Royal Navy officer, navigator, and cartographer who led the first circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited with being the first person to utilise the name Australia to describe the entirety of that continent, including Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).
Flinders was involved in several voyages of discovery between 1791 and 1803, the most famous of which are the circumnavigation of Australia and an earlier expedition when he and George Bass confirmed that Van Diemen's Land was an island.
Flinders was not the first person to use the word "Australia". It appears that he borrowed the term from Alexander Dalrymple's 1771 book, 'An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean'. In 1804, Flinders wrote to his brother: "I call the whole island Australia, or Terra Australis". Later that year, he wrote to Sir Joseph Banks and mentioned "my general chart of Australia", a map that Flinders had constructed.
In 1817, Lachlan Macquarie, the Governor of New South Wales, recommended to the Colonial Office that the name Australia be officially adopted. In 1824, the British Admiralty agreed that the continent should be officially known as Australia.
Flinders' name is now associated with over 100 geographical features and places in Australia, including Flinders Island in Bass Strait, Flinders Peak, Flinders Street in Melbourne, the suburb of Flinders, the federal electorate of Flinders, and the Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College in Geelong.
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New Holland
The name Austria is derived from the Latin name "Marchia Orientalis" or "eastern borderland". The Latin name is a translation of the Old High German word "Ostarrîchi", which first appeared in the "Ostarrîchi Document" in 996 AD. The Old High German name refers to the "eastern realm", specifically the Margraviate of Austria, a borderland of the Duchy of Bavaria created in 976. The name likely originates from a vernacular translation of the Latin name, with "ostar-" relating to "ōstan" (east) in Old High German and "rich" relating to "realm".
The German name for Austria, "Österreich", is derived from the same root as "Ostarrîchi" and has the same meaning of "eastern realm". The shorter Latinized name "Austria" is first recorded in the 12th century and was used to refer to the March of Austria ("Marchia austriaca" in Middle Latin). The name "Austria" is adopted in most languages, including Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Maltese, Ukrainian, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Polish, Slovene, Greek, Estonian, Turkish, and Albanian.
An alternative theory suggests that the name may have originated from the Celtic name "Noricum", which was the name of a Roman province that enclosed most of modern-day Austria. According to Friedrich Heer, a 20th-century Austrian historian, "Noricum" may have been derived from the Celtic word "Norig", meaning "eastern realm", which would be equivalent to "Ostarrîchi" and "Österreich". However, this hypothesis is not widely accepted by linguists.
Another possibility is that the name comes from the Ostrogoths, who had a kingdom in what is now Austria and northern Italy. The first record of the name "Ostarrîchi" in 996 AD referred to a small territory within the kingdom of the Ostrogoths.
It is worth noting that the territory of modern-day Austria has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic period and was home to various cultures and tribes throughout its history, including the Celts, Romans, and Germanic tribes during the Migration Period.
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Popular colloquial names
Australia has several colloquial names, including:
- Down Under: This name refers to the country's location in the Southern Hemisphere. The name was first recorded in 1886 and was later popularised by the song "Down Under" by the band Men at Work in 1980.
- Aussie: A friendly, informal term used by locals.
- Straya: Another colloquial term for Australia.
- The Lucky Country: This name reflects Australia's wealth, lifestyle, and natural beauty.
- Oz: This name was popularised by the 1907 book "Ozma of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, which inspired the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz". The author, John Algeo, speculated that Baum was inspired by Australia when naming the fictional land of Oz.
- The Land of Oz: This colloquial name for Australia is derived from the aforementioned book and film.
- New Holland: This name was given to Australia by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1643. It was used to refer to the continent until it was officially changed to Australia in 1824.
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Frequently asked questions
The name Australia is derived from the Latin word 'australis', which means 'southern'. It was first used in the 2nd century to refer to an imaginary landmass called Terra Australis Incognita, meaning the Unknown Southern Land, which Europeans believed existed at the bottom of the world.
The term Australia owes its popularity to the British navigator, cartographer, and explorer Matthew Flinders, who first used it in 1804.
Before the continent of Australia was known as such, it was called New Holland by the Dutch, who began visiting and mapping the continent in the 17th century.
In 1824, the British Admiralty agreed and officially named the continent Australia.
Australia is colloquially referred to as "Oz", "Straya", "Down Under", "Aussie", and "The Land Down Under".
