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Continent

Australia

Also Known As New Holland Historical name only: applied by Dutch cartographers from 1644, used on most European maps into the early 19th century, and effectively out of use by the 1850s after Matthew Flinders' proposal of Australia was adopted (Admiralty, 1824). Not a name in current use.

The smallest of the seven continents and the only one occupied by a single nation, lying entirely within the Southern Hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its interior is dominated by arid and semi-arid terrain known collectively as the outback, ringed by a narrower band of fertile coastal land where most of the population lives. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Area (sq km)
7,688,287 1
Country-level figure (this atlas's convention for the continent of Australia excludes New Guinea; see open question is-australia-alone-or-oceania-the-seventh-continent). The Sahul-inclusive figure on the australia-continent-wikipedia page (8,600,000 km2) is a different, wider definition.
Population
27,801,023 1
December 2025 estimate, country-level figure (see area-sq-km note on this atlas's continent convention).
Highest Point
Mount Kosciuszko 2
The highest point of the Australian mainland under the Bass list convention. Reinhold Messner's rival list instead names Puncak Jaya in New Guinea (4,884 m) as Australia/Oceania's representative summit; see the recorded dissent on this fact.
Highest Elevation (m)
2228 2
Lowest Point
Lake Eyre 3
Country Count
1 4
Counts the continent's own resident sovereign state, Australia, only. When Oceania rather than the Australian mainland is treated as the seventh continent, the region covers many more sovereign Pacific island states; see the recorded open question on this entity.
Tectonic Plate Context
Indo-Australian Plate 4
Australia

Countries

Australia

Australia

Federated States of Micronesia

Australia

Fiji

Australia

Kiribati

Australia

Marshall Islands

Australia

Nauru

Australia

New Zealand

Australia

Palau

Australia

Papua New Guinea

Australia

Samoa

Australia

Solomon Islands

Australia

Tonga

Australia

Tuvalu

Australia

Vanuatu

Australia

Territories

American Samoa

Australia

Cook Islands

Australia

French Polynesia

Australia

Guam

Australia

New Caledonia

Australia

Niue

Australia

Northern Mariana Islands

Australia

Wallis and Futuna

Australia

Regions

Australasia

Australia

Malay Archipelago

Australia

Melanesia

Australia

Micronesia

Australia

Oceania

Australia

Polynesia

Australia

The Indian Ocean Rim

Australia

The Pacific Rim

Australia

The South Pacific

Australia

Wallacea

Australia
Connections

Associated With

Antarctica, Continents

Australia and Antarctica were joined within the supercontinent Gondwana. Rifting between them began around 85 million years ago and progressed from west to east; the two continents finally separated south of Tasmania by about 45 million years ago, opening the Tasman Seaway between them.

Source United States Geological Survey
Oceania, Regions
Source Australia (continent) (Wikipedia)
The Indian Ocean, Bodies of Water

This source names both oceans directly: Australia lies between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Source Geography of Australia (Wikipedia)
The Pacific Ocean, Bodies of Water

This source names Australia directly: "Ocean, and bounded by Asia and Australia to the west and the Americas to the east."

Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The Pacific Ocean, Bodies of Water

This source names both oceans directly: Australia lies between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Source Geography of Australia (Wikipedia)

Demonstrates

El Nino-Southern Oscillation, Physical Processes
Source El Nino-Southern Oscillation (Wikipedia)

Open Questions

Is Australia alone, or the wider region of Oceania, the seventh continent?, Open Questions
Source Continent (Wikipedia)
Is Zealandia, the largely submerged landmass in the southwest Pacific, an eighth continent?, Open Questions
Source Zealandia (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Australia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead paragraph, land area sentence
    It has a land area of 7,688,287 km2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world
  • Infobox, Population (December 2025 estimate)
    27,801,023 (2025 (December) estimate)
  • Home To: Australia
View the Source
2. Seven Summits (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationBass list description
Quote, Bass list description
the highest mountain of mainland Australia, Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m or 7,310 ft)
View the Source
3. Lake Eyre (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Quote, Lead section
the lowest natural point in Australia, at approximately 15 m (49 ft) below sea level
View the Source
4. Australia (continent) (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • opening paragraph, continent size ranking
    Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents.
  • Geography section, plate description
    The continent primarily sits on the Indo-Australian Plate.
  • Introduction, continent overview
    The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts as Sahul, Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, or Meganesia, to distinguish it from the country of Australia, is located within the Southern and Eastern hemispheres.
  • Lead paragraph, seven-continent classification
    Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents.
  • Associated With: Oceania, Introduction section
    Situated in the geographical region of Oceania, more specifically in the subregion of Australasia, Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents.
View the Source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
  • britannica.com/place/Australia, main article body (Land section, extent and neighbouring seas paragraph)
    The Australian mainland extends from west to east for nearly 2,500 miles (4,000 km) and from Cape York Peninsula in the northeast to Wilsons Promontory in the southeast for nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km). To the south, Australian jurisdiction extends a further 310 miles (500 km) to the southern extremity of the island of Tasmania, and in the north it extends to the southern shores of Papua New Guinea. Australia is separated from Indonesia to the northwest by the Timor and Arafura seas, from Papua New Guinea to the northeast by the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait, from the Coral Sea Islands Territory by the Great Barrier Reef, from New Zealand to the southeast by the Tasman Sea, and from Antarctica in the far south by the Indian Ocean.
  • Home To: Uluru, Uluru/Ayers Rock
View the Source
The World Factbook
Central Intelligence AgencyAustralia, population summaryView the Source
National Geographic Atlas of the World
National Geographic Society, 2019World continents area table
Dutch Australian Cultural Centre
Dutch Australian Cultural CentreNew Holland to Australia: The Name Change
Quote, New Holland to Australia: The Name Change
The name New Holland (Hollandia Novae) appeared on maps depicting the continent of Australia after the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman charted the west coast of the continent in 1644. The name Australia gradually replaced New Holland in official and popular usage and had totally disappeared by the 1850s.
View the Source
Wikidata: Australia
Wikidata Q3960, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926); EntityTypeKey=continent disambiguates against the geography country entity of the same slug.View the Source
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationHome To: The Great Barrier ReefView the Source
United States Geological Survey
United States Geological SurveyAssociated With: AntarcticaView the Source
Micronesia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: MicronesiaView the Source
Geography of Australia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Associated With: The Pacific Ocean, Lead section
    Located in the Southern Hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia's jurisdiction spreads across thousands of kilometres beyond the main landmass
  • Associated With: The Indian Ocean, Lead section
    Located in the Southern Hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia's jurisdiction spreads across thousands of kilometres beyond the main landmass
View the Source
El Nino-Southern Oscillation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationDemonstrates: El Nino-Southern Oscillation, Australia section
Quote, Demonstrates: El Nino-Southern Oscillation, Australia section
During El Nino events, the shift in rainfall away from the Western Pacific may mean that rainfall across Australia is reduced.
View the Source
Pacific Ocean (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Home To: The Pacific Ocean, Lead section, continents bounding the ocean
    is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east
  • Home To: The Pacific Ocean, Lead section, separates passage
    The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas.
View the Source
The Twelve Apostles (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: The Twelve Apostles, Lead section
Quote, Home To: The Twelve Apostles, Lead section
The Twelve Apostles are a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.
View the Source
Murray River (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Murray River, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Murray River, Lead section
a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river, spanning 2,508 km (1,558 mi).
View the Source
American Samoa (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: American Samoa, Lead section
Quote, Home To: American Samoa, Lead section
American Samoa ... is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States in the South Pacific Ocean
View the Source
Cook Islands (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Cook Islands, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Cook Islands, Lead section
in the South Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand
View the Source
French Polynesia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: French Polynesia, Lead section
Quote, Home To: French Polynesia, Lead section
islands and atolls stretching over more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in the South Pacific Ocean
View the Source
Guam (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Guam, Lead section
Quote, Home To: Guam, Lead section
Guam ... is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean
View the Source
New Caledonia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: New Caledonia, Lead section
Quote, Home To: New Caledonia, Lead section
in the southwest Pacific Ocean, ... 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia
View the Source
Niue (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Niue, Geography section
Quote, Home To: Niue, Geography section
raised coral atoll in the southern Pacific Ocean
View the Source
Northern Mariana Islands (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Northern Mariana Islands, Geography section
Quote, Home To: Northern Mariana Islands, Geography section
an archipelago ... in the northwestern Pacific Ocean
View the Source
Wallis and Futuna (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Wallis and Futuna, Geography and climate section
Quote, Home To: Wallis and Futuna, Geography and climate section
in the South Pacific Ocean
View the Source
Wikidata: Lithgow
Home To: LithgowView the Source
Wikidata: Australia
  • Home To: Kakadu National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Ningaloo Marine Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Kosciuszko National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Port Campbell National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Coral Sea Marine Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Purnululu National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Blue Mountains National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Daintree National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Freycinet National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Grampians National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Karijini National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Litchfield National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Nitmiluk National Park, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Clarkesdale Bird Sanctuary, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Wilsons Promontory, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Western Sydney Parklands, Wikidata item for Australia, property P30 (continent)
View the Source
Wikidata: New Zealand
  • Home To: Fiordland National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Tongariro National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Abel Tasman National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Arthur's Pass National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Egmont National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Kahurangi National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Mount Aspiring National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Nelson Lakes National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Paparoa National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Rakiura National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Westland Tai Poutini National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
  • Home To: Whanganui National Park, Wikidata item for New Zealand, property P30 (continent)
View the Source
Wikidata: Kiribati
Home To: Phoenix Islands Protected Area, Wikidata item for Kiribati, property P30 (continent)View the Source
Wikidata: Tuvalu
Home To: Funafuti Conservation Area, Wikidata item for Tuvalu, property P30 (continent)View the Source
Wikidata: Fiji
Home To: Colo-i-Suva Forest Reserve, Wikidata item for Fiji, property P30 (continent)View the Source
Wikidata: Niue
Home To: Niue Nukutuluea Multiple-Use Marine Park, Wikidata item for Niue, property P30 (continent)View the Source
Palau National Marine Sanctuary (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Palau National Marine Sanctuary, Lead paragraph names Palau; continent follows from the atlas record for Palau
Quote, Home To: Palau National Marine Sanctuary, Lead paragraph names Palau; continent follows from the atlas record for Palau
Palau National Marine Sanctuary is a marine protected area in Palau
View the Source
Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary National Park (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHome To: Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary National Park, Infobox location
Quote, Home To: Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary National Park, Infobox location
location = South Australia ;
View the Source
Open Questions (2 open questions)
Is Australia alone, or the wider region of Oceania, the seventh continent?

Geographers use the term Oceania for a region that includes the continent of Australia together with most of the Pacific island countries and territories, and the seven-continent model's own seventh slot is written by some sources as "Australia/Oceania", treating the two labels as interchangeable. Continents themselves are identified by convention rather than by any strict criterion, so whether the seventh continent is the single-nation Australian landmass or the wider multi-nation Oceania region is a live difference in convention, not a factual dispute with a settled answer.

What would resolve this A single, universally adopted convention for what counts as a continent, which does not currently exist; different countries' school curricula and different atlases already choose differently (a six-continent "Australia/Oceania" model is taught in parts of Europe, a seven-continent model naming Australia alone elsewhere).
Continent (Wikipedia)
Is Zealandia, the largely submerged landmass in the southwest Pacific, an eighth continent?

In 2017 a team of eleven geologists from New Zealand, New Caledonia and Australia concluded that Zealandia, a roughly 4.9 million square kilometre mass of continental crust of which about 94 percent lies underwater, meets every geological criterion for a continent, a case geologist Nick Mortimer argued would have been settled long ago if the crust were not submerged. The idea was first proposed by Bruce Luyendyk in 1995. It has been described variously as a submerged continent, a continental fragment and a microcontinent, and has not been adopted as a standard eighth continent in the conventional lists this atlas otherwise follows.

What would resolve this A shift in the standard continent count that the world's atlases, geography curricula and geological bodies converge on adopting; the underlying geology is not seriously disputed, only whether the classification "continent" is extended to a landmass this submerged.
Zealandia (Wikipedia)
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Highest Point

Messner's own list of the Seven Summits replaces Mount Kosciuszko, the highest point of the Australian mainland alone, with Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) in New Guinea at 4,884 m, arguing that the Australian continent is properly understood to include New Guinea, which shares the same Sahul continental shelf. Kosciuszko remains the standard Bass-list answer and the figure this entity records as its primary highest-point fact; Messner's reading is a real, named rival position, not an error.

A dissenting reading, from Reinhold MessnerSeven Summits (Wikipedia), Wikimedia Foundation
Frequently Asked Questions

What is the smallest continent?

Australia, the smallest of the seven traditional continents.

Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents and the only one occupied by a single sovereign nation. Its area of roughly 7.69 million square kilometres is smaller than every other continent, including Europe. When the wider region of Oceania is treated as the seventh continent instead of the Australian mainland alone, a different and much larger area is being measured; see the open question recorded on this entity.

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