Talk:Australia (continent)

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Frequently asked questions

Q: Why is New Guinea/Tasmania listed as part of the Australian Continent?

A: This page uses the geological definition of a continent as an uninterrupted piece of continental plate. In this case, New Guinea and Tasmania are connected to Australia by the Australian continental shelf, as such they are geologically part of the Australian continent.

Q: Why is New Zealand not part of the Australian Continent?

A: New Zealand is not connected to Australia by a continental shelf, and as such is part of its own microcontinent, sometimes referred to as Zealandia.

Q: Isn't this the same as Oceania?

A: No. Oceania is the collective name for the island regions of the Pacific ocean, and is usually not considered a continent itself in the English-speaking world, nor are the islands of Oceania geologically part of the Australian continent. Please see Oceania for the article about this region.

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Centralized discussion on oceania as a continent[edit]

Let's use Talk:Oceania (continent), please. fgnievinski (talk) 03:28, 23 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. Finntastico2 (talk) 16:14, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Australia is not a continental this wiki is wrong and is confusing people[edit]

This is very bad 31.124.237.92 (talk) 16:11, 2 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think this talk page needs an FAQ for this statement. Georgia guy (talk) 16:48, 2 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately you are incorrect, Australia is one of the seven continents of the world, you're wrong. Aeyeu (talk) 18:33, 13 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Neither of you is wrong, but neither is right either. Continents are defined according to custom, which varies according to language and culture. Since this is English Wikipedia, we use the customary English language defintion, which accepts Australia as a continent (with a different definition from the nation of Australia), and Oceania as a geographical region. BilCat (talk) 19:06, 13 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it need some serious changes, it OCEANIA (continent) and not Australia (country). Finntastico2 (talk) 23:45, 14 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's shocking, if people don't now know the difference, between a geographical continent and a geographical region, it's scary! JellyThoughts (talk) 08:47, 30 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. By this logic, new zealand and similar islands belong to no continent 78.18.59.87 (talk) 02:38, 8 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The continent has been referred to as Australia for many years, idk why you're so salty you're literally wrong DavidMalcolm1212112221 (talk) 10:37, 2 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Some countries consider Oceania to be the continent instead. There is no universally agreed definition for the word "continent". 203.46.37.2 (talk) 02:05, 26 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

My geography books had listed Australasia (not Australia) as the continent's name.

Frankly, no offense to anyone, but the Australia, and Oceania definitions defy all logic. 188.30.72.246 (talk) 18:44, 19 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's been referred to as Australia because it's the main island in Oceania, it's a common misconception. Finntastico2 (talk) 16:12, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If Australia is a continent, what continent is New Zealand or Fuji in? Finntastico2 (talk) 16:15, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

New Zealand is in Zealandia. Fiji is not associated with a continent. HiLo48 (talk) 23:58, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

das cap Finntastico2 (talk) 20:48, 17 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Somebody explain why New Zealand isn't part of this continent?[edit]

Pleas tell me how new zealand became not part of a continent (you're wrong anyway but if nobody can give me a reason I'm changing it because this is absolutely stupid) DavidMalcolm1212112221 (talk) 10:38, 2 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

They're on different geologic and continental plates. Local consensus on this article is to use the geological definition of a continent. On that note, you might find this article to be of interest. --Licks-rocks (talk) 11:15, 2 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Because New Zealand and other island nations in the Pacific Ocean are NOT part of the Australian continent.

For the extent of the Australian continent, see: https://www.virtualoceania.net/australia/maps/australian-continent.shtml

You can also find Geoscience Australia's definition of the Australian continent in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz4mPJyERLA 203.46.37.2 (talk) 01:49, 26 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Because a "continent" is not a region. NZ is not part of the geographical continent of Australia, anymore than geographically the British Isles are part of the geographical continent of Europe! JellyThoughts (talk) 08:45, 30 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Area of the Australian continent is wrong[edit]

The area of the Australian continent in this article is wrong. This article provides 2 different areas:

8,600,000 km²
8,560,000 km²

Both of these areas are larger than the area of Oceania (8,525,989 km²). Oceania is bigger than the Australian continent as the Australian continent is entirely located in Oceania. The first area, 8,600,000 km², has no source supporting it. The second area, 8,560,000 km², uses a citation (^[1]) that doesn't even support its claim, well actually the citation's URL was put in incorrectly in the article but if you go to the correct URL and use internet archive you can browse through all of the versions of the website and find that it doesn't once mention that area, it only mentions the area of the country of Australia. I've tried to find a reliable source that mentions the actual area of the Australian continent, but I only get the area of the country of Australia or the area of Oceania. Help would be appreciated. – Treetoes023 (talk) 22:22, 19 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You are right. I can't believe that people are just so neglectful about geography, people just seem to not care about geography at all. I too couldn't find a single reliable source on the Internet which actually gives a figure for the area of the Australian continent. I think one way we could solve this problem is manually add up the areas of the country of Australia, New Guinea (including Western New Guinea), and the Aru Islands.

The area of Oceania (8,525,989 km²) is also wrong. This figure only represents the area of political Oceania, not geographical Oceania. It doesn't include the areas of Western New Guinea and the Aru Islands (both are administered by Indonesia). In pure physical geography, the whole island of New Guinea is considered a part of Oceania, not just Papua New Guinea. The real area of Oceania is approx. 8,935,502 km² (see: List of Oceanian countries by area), but again, I couldn't find any reliable source on the Internet which actually gives a correct figure for the area of Oceania, so we might have to manually add up the areas of political Oceania, Western New Guinea, and the Aru Islands too. 203.46.37.2 (talk) 01:38, 26 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Agency, Digital Transformation. "The Australian continent". info.australia.gov.au.

Conflicting definition between summary and Geograohy/Geology section[edit]

The summary claims Australia continent includes Papua New Guinea and is based on the Sahul shelf. In the geography subsection it says it's Australia only, directly contradicting the summary. The commentary about no universally accepted definition and variations depending on which region someone is from is after this. Tinytorso (talk) 17:22, 3 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Could you cite the text you are referring to? The Geology and geography subsection explains "During the past 18,000 to 10,000 years, rising sea levels overflowed the lowlands and separated the continent into today's low-lying arid to semi-arid mainland and the two mountainous islands of New Guinea and Tasmania", which is the same as the lead summary's "The continent includes mainland Australia, Tasmania, the island of New Guinea...". CMD (talk) 02:21, 4 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] Agency, Digital Transformation. "The Australian continent". info.australia.gov.au.

[1]