Is Australia a country or a continent?
Australia is both. It is the only nation in the world that covers an entire continent, and the Australian mainland is the smallest of the seven continents. The country also includes Tasmania and thousands of smaller islands.
Geographers often place the mainland on a continental shelf known as Sahul or the Australian continent, which also includes New Guinea and Tasmania. These lands were joined by dry land during the last ice age, when sea levels were much lower.
As a country, Australia is a federation of six states and two major mainland territories, with its capital in Canberra. It became a nation on 1 January 1901, when the separate British colonies federated.
Australia and Oceania
In many school atlases, Australia is grouped with New Zealand and the Pacific Islands in a wider region called Oceania. In that sense, some people describe Oceania as the continent, while others use the name Australia for the landmass itself.
Either way, Australia is unusual. Most continents are shared by many nations, but Australia is one country stretching about 4,000 kilometres from east to west, with deserts, rainforests, snowfields and tropical reefs within its borders.
Did You Know?
Australia is often called the island continent because it is surrounded entirely by ocean.