140-532: Aṉangu is the name used by members of several Aboriginal Australian groups, roughly approximate to the Western Desert cultural bloc , to describe themselves. The term, which embraces several distinct "tribes" or peoples, in particular the Ngaanyatjarra , Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara groups, is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable: [ˈaɳaŋʊ] . The original meaning of
280-593: A Holocene hunter-gatherer sample ("Leang Panninge") from South Sulawesi , which shares high amounts of genetic drift with Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. This suggests that a population split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. The sample also shows genetic affinity with East Asians and the Andamanese people of South Asia. The authors note that this hunter-gatherer sample can be modelled with ~50% Papuan-related ancestry and either with ~50% East Asian or Andamanese Onge ancestry, highlighting
420-519: A counterweight to the known landmasses in the Northern Hemisphere. The cartographic depictions of the southern continent in the 16th and early 17th centuries, as might be expected for a concept based on such abundant conjecture and minimal data, varied wildly from map to map; in general, the continent shrank as potential locations were reinterpreted. At its largest, the continent included Tierra del Fuego , separated from South America by
560-481: A multicultural country . Sydney is the most multicultural city in Oceania, having more than 250 different languages spoken, with about 40 percent of residents speaking a language other than English at home. Furthermore, 36 percent of the population reported having been born overseas , with top countries being Italy , Lebanon , Vietnam and Iraq , among others. Melbourne is also fairly multicultural, having
700-771: A continent in the book, but did note that it was one of the six major divisions of the world. He considered it to encompass the insular Pacific area between Asia and the Americas, and claimed it extended up to the Aleutian Islands , which are among the northernmost islands in the Pacific Ocean. However, definitions of Oceania varied during the 19th century. In the 19th century, many geographers divided up Oceania into mostly racially-based subdivisions; Australasia , Malaysia (encompassing Malay Archipelago ) , Melanesia , Micronesia and Polynesia . Today,
840-479: A country within the continent, is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse countries in the world. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18 percent of its people live in urban centres. West Papua , a region in Indonesia, is home to an estimated 44 uncontacted tribal groups . Australia, the largest landmass in the continent, is highly urbanised , and has the world's 14th-largest economy with
980-611: A gene flow from India to Australia: firstly, signs of South Asian components in Aboriginal Australian genomes, reported on the basis of genome-wide SNP data; and secondly, the existence of a Y chromosome (male) lineage, designated haplogroup C∗, with the most recent common ancestor about 5,000 years ago. The first type of evidence comes from a 2013 study by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology using large-scale genotyping data from
1120-492: A long-standing ally of the United States when threatened by Imperial Japan during World War II . Trade with Asia increased and a post-war immigration program received more than 6.5 million migrants from every continent. Supported by immigration of people from more than 200 countries since the end of World War II, the population increased to more than 23 million by 2014. For about 40 million years Australia–New Guinea
1260-751: A person as Indigenous. (Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct, despite extensive cultural exchange with some of the Aboriginal groups, and the Torres Strait Islands are mostly part of Queensland but have a separate governmental status .) Some Aboriginal people object to being labelled Indigenous , as an artificial and denialist term, because some non-Aboriginal people have referred to themselves as indigenous because they were born in Australia. Australian Indigenous people have beliefs unique to each mob ( tribe ) and have
1400-598: A pool of Aboriginal Australians, New Guineans, island Southeast Asians, and Indians. It found that the New Guinea and Mamanwa (Philippines area) groups diverged from the Aboriginal about 36,000 years ago (there is supporting evidence that these populations are descended from migrants taking an early "southern route" out of Africa, before other groups in the area). Also the Indian and Australian populations mixed long before European contact, with this gene flow occurring during
1540-615: A profound spiritual connection. Over the millennia, Aboriginal people developed complex trade networks, inter-cultural relationships, law and religions. Contemporary Aboriginal beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent. They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues. Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared through dancing , stories , songlines , and art that collectively weave an ontology of modern daily life and ancient creation known as
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#17327648586551680-609: A role that is distinct from his position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms . The King is represented in Australia by the Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors at the state level, who by convention act on the advice of the government's ministers. There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party and
1820-495: A single group. Aboriginal identity has changed over time and place, with family lineage, self-identification, and community acceptance all of varying importance. In the 2021 census , Indigenous Australians comprised 3.8% of Australia's population. Most Aboriginal people today speak English and live in cities. Some may use Aboriginal phrases and words in Australian Aboriginal English (which also has
1960-569: A small strait; New Guinea ; and what would come to be called Australia. In 1606, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon made the first documented European sight and landing on the continent of Australia in Cape York Peninsula . Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman circumnavigated and landed on parts of the Australian continental coast and discovered Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania ), New Zealand in 1642, and Fiji islands. He
2100-411: A spirit creates the earth then tells the humans to treat the animals and the earth in a way which is respectful to land. In Northern Territory this is commonly said to be a huge snake or snakes that weaved its way through the earth and sky making the mountains and oceans. But in other places the spirits who created the world are known as wandjina rain and water spirits. Major ancestral spirits include
2240-470: A strong connection to the land. Contemporary Indigenous Australian beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent. They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues. Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared by dancing , stories , songlines and art —especially Papunya Tula (dot painting)—collectively telling
2380-427: A tangible influence of Aboriginal languages in the phonology and grammatical structure ). Many but not all also speak the various traditional languages of their clans and peoples. Aboriginal people, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of severe health and economic deprivations in comparison with the wider Australian community. DNA studies have confirmed that "Aboriginal Australians are one of
2520-615: A unique fauna , flora and mycobiota developed. Marsupials and monotremes also existed on other continents, but only in Australia–New Guinea did they out-compete the placental mammals and come to dominate. New Guinea has 284 species and six orders of mammals: monotremes, three orders of marsupials, rodents and bats ; 195 of the mammal species (69%) are endemic. New Guinea has a rich diversity of coral life and 1,200 species of fish have been found. Also about 600 species of reef-building coral—the latter equal to 75 percent of
2660-504: A wide variety of cultural practices and beliefs that some scientists believe make up the oldest continuous cultures in the world, although this is disputed. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, the Aboriginal people consisted of complex cultural societies with more than 250 languages and varying degrees of technology and settlements. Languages (or dialects) and language-associated groups of people are connected with stretches of territory known as "Country", with which they have
2800-504: Is an English creole language spoken in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country, with over 820 indigenous languages, representing 12% of the world's total, but most have fewer than 1,000 speakers. Since 1945, more than 7 million people have settled in Australia. From the late 1970s, there was a significant increase in immigration from Asian and other non-European countries, making Australia
2940-773: Is an increase in allele sharing between the Denisovan and Aboriginal Australian genomes, compared to other Eurasians or Africans. Examining DNA from a finger bone excavated in Siberia , researchers concluded that the Denisovans migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia and that they interbred with modern humans in Southeast Asia 44,000 years BP, before Australia separated from New Guinea approximately 11,700 years BP. They contributed DNA to Aboriginal Australians and to present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in
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#17327648586553080-521: Is associated with seasonal abnormality in many areas in the world. Australia is one of the continents most affected and experiences extensive droughts alongside considerable wet periods. Christianity is the predominant religion in the continent, although large proportions of Australians belong to no religion . Other religions in the region include Islam , Buddhism and Hinduism , which are prominent minority religions in Australia. Traditional religions are often animist , found in New Guinea. Islam
3220-477: Is based on the Aboriginal peoples' geographical isolation, with little or no interaction with outside cultures before some contact with Makassan fishermen and Dutch explorers up to 500 years ago. The Rasmussen study also found evidence that Aboriginal peoples carry some genes associated with the Denisovans (a species of human related to but distinct from Neanderthals ) of Asia; the study suggests that there
3360-669: Is difficult to type, so the word is very commonly, but incorrectly, rendered as anangu . The Aṉangu dwell primarily in the Central Western desert, to the south of the traditional lands of the Arrernte and Walpiri peoples. The inma is a cultural ceremony of Aṉangu women, involving song and dance and embodying the stories and designs of the tjukurpa (Ancestral Law, or Dreamtime). The ceremony carries camaraderie, joy, playfulness and seriousness, and may last for hours. There are many different inma, all profoundly significant to
3500-480: Is no evidence for South Asian gene flow to Australia .... Despite Sahul being a single connected landmass until [8,000 years ago], different groups across Australia are nearly equally related to Papuans, and vice versa, and the two appear to have separated genetically already [about 30,000 years ago]." Aboriginal Australians possess inherited abilities to adapt to a wide range of environmental temperatures in various ways. A study in 1958 comparing cold adaptation in
3640-453: Is only in the last two hundred years that they have been defined and started to self-identify as a single group, socio-politically. While some preferred the term Aborigine to Aboriginal in the past, as the latter was seen to have more directly discriminatory legal origins, use of the term Aborigine has declined in recent decades, as many consider the term an offensive and racist hangover from Australia's colonial era. The definition of
3780-707: Is otherwise the same as the UN definition, and it is also used for statistical purposes. In countries such as Argentina , Brazil , China , Chile , Costa Rica , Ecuador , France , Greece , Italy , Mexico , the Netherlands , Peru , Spain , Switzerland or Venezuela , Oceania is treated as a continent in the sense that it is "one of the parts of the world", and Australia is only seen as an island nation. In other countries, including Kazakhstan , Poland and Russia , Australia and Eurasia are thought of as continents, while Asia, Europe and Oceania are regarded as "parts of
3920-502: Is that the desert people are able to have a higher body temperature without accelerating the activity of the whole of the body, which can be especially detrimental in childhood diseases. This helps protect people to survive the side-effects of infection. Aboriginal people have lived for tens of thousands of years on the continent of Australia , through its various changes in landmass. The area within Australia 's borders today includes
4060-740: Is the highest mountain . The Australian continent and Sunda were points of early human migrations after leaving Africa. Recent research points to a planned migration of hundreds of people using bamboo rafts, which eventually landed on Sahul. Indigenous Australians , that is Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders people, are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. They migrated from Africa to Asia around 70,000 years ago and arrived in Australia at least 50,000 years ago, based on archaeological evidence. More recent research points to earlier arrival, possibly 65,000 years ago. They are believed to be among
4200-448: Is too often confused with Australia ." Some 19th century definitions of Oceania grouped Australia, New Zealand and the islands of Melanesia together under the label of Australasia , in other 19th century definitions of Oceania, the term was only used to refer to Australia itself, with New Zealand being categorized with the islands of Polynesia in such definitions. Archaeological terminology for this region has changed repeatedly. Before
4340-481: Is widespread in the Indonesian New Guinea . Many Papuans combine their Christian faith with traditional indigenous beliefs and practices . " Aboriginal Australian languages ", including the large Pama–Nyungan family, " Papuan languages " of New Guinea and neighbouring islands, including the large Trans–New Guinea family, and " Tasmanian languages " are generic terms for the native languages of
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4480-591: The Americas . The UN's definition of Oceania utilizes four of the five subregions from the 19th century; Australasia , Melanesia , Micronesia , and Polynesia . They include American Samoa , Australia and their external territories , the Cook Islands , Easter Island ( Chile ), the Federated States of Micronesia , French Polynesia , Fiji , Galapagos Islands ( Ecuador ), Guam , Kiribati ,
4620-462: The Australian magpie , Australian raven , the pied currawong , crested pigeons and the laughing kookaburra . The koala , emu , platypus and kangaroo are national animals of Australia, and the Tasmanian devil is also one of the well-known animals in the country. The goanna is a predatory lizard native to the Australian mainland . As the continent drifted north from Antarctica,
4760-510: The CC BY 4.0 license. Australia (continent) The continent of Oceania , sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul ( / s ə ˈ h uː l / ), Australia-New Guinea , Australinea , or Meganesia to distinguish it from the country of Australia , is located within the Southern and Eastern hemispheres. The continent includes mainland Australia , Tasmania ,
4900-490: The CSIRO stressed the importance of taking a demand-driven approach to services in desert settlements, and concluded that "if top-down solutions continue to be imposed without appreciating the fundamental drivers of settlement in desert regions, then those solutions will continue to be partial, and ineffective in the long term." [REDACTED] This article incorporates text by Anders Bergström et al. available under
5040-697: The Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party . Within Australian political culture, the Coalition is considered centre-right and the Labor Party is considered centre-left . Papua New Guinea is a Commonwealth realm . As such, King Charles III is its sovereign and head of state. The constitutional convention, which prepared
5180-580: The Gweagal , who he fired upon, injuring one. His expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered the eastern coastline of Australia. Captain Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet of 11 ships and about 850 convicts into Sydney on 26 January 1788. This was to be the location for the new colony. Phillip described Sydney Cove as being "without exception the finest harbour in
5320-590: The Initial Upper Paleolithic . They are most closely related to other Oceanians , such as Melanesians . The Aboriginal Australians also show affinity to other Australasian populations, such as Negritos , as well as to East Asian peoples . Phylogenetic data suggests that an early initial eastern lineage (ENA) trifurcated somewhere in South Asia , and gave rise to Australasians (Oceanians), Ancient Ancestral South Indian (AASI), Andamanese and
5460-712: The Kimberley region in what is now Western Australia about 60,000 years ago. They migrated across the continent within 6,000 years. A 2018 study using archaeobotany dated evidence of continuous human habitation at Karnatukul (Serpent's Glen) in the Carnarvon Range in the Little Sandy Desert in WA from around 50,000 years ago. Genetic studies have revealed that Aboriginal Australians largely descended from an Eastern Eurasian population wave during
5600-564: The Last Glacial Maximum about 18,000 BC, they were connected by dry land. 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. The continental shelf connecting the islands, half of which is less than 50 metres (160 ft) deep, covers some 2.5 million square kilometres (970,000 sq mi), including
5740-648: The Malay Archipelago is typically considered part of Southeast Asia , and the term Oceania is often used to denote the region encompassing the Australian continent, Zealandia , and various islands in the Pacific Ocean that are not included in the seven-continent model. It has been recognized by the United Nations as one of the world's five major continental divisions since its foundation in 1947, along with Africa , Asia , Europe and
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5880-1006: The Marshall Islands , Nauru , New Caledonia , New Zealand , Niue , the Northern Mariana Islands , Ogasawara ( Japan ), Palau , Papua New Guinea , Pitcairn Islands , Samoa , the Solomon Islands , Tokelau , Tonga , Tuvalu , Vanuatu , Wallis and Futuna , Western New Guinea , and the United States Minor Outlying Islands ( Baker Island , Howland Island , Jarvis Island , Midway Atoll , Palmyra Atoll , and Wake Island ) as well as Hawaii , one of 50 states of United States. The original UN definition of Oceania from 1947 included these same countries and semi-independent territories, which were mostly still colonies at that point. The island states of Indonesia , Japan ,
6020-683: The Northern Territory to study their genetic makeup (which is not representative of all Aboriginal peoples in Australia). The study concluded that the Warlpiri are descended from ancient Asians whose DNA is still somewhat present in Southeastern Asian groups, although greatly diminished. The Warlpiri DNA lacks certain information found in modern Asian genomes, and carries information not found in other genomes. This reinforces
6160-633: The Philippines , Singapore and Taiwan , all located within the bounds of the Pacific or associated marginal seas , are excluded from the UN definition. The states of Hong Kong and Malaysia , located in both mainland Asia and marginal seas of the Pacific, are also excluded, as is the nation of Brunei , which shares the island of Borneo with Indonesia and Malaysia. Further excluded are East Timor and Indonesian (or Western) New Guinea , areas which are biogeographically or geologically associated with
6300-459: The Pleistocene epoch and lived over large sections of the Australian continental shelf when the sea levels were lower. At that time, Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea were part of the same landmass, known as Sahul . As sea levels rose, the people on the Australian mainland and nearby islands became increasingly isolated, some on Tasmania and some of the smaller offshore islands when
6440-497: The Pleistocene ice age , including the Last Glacial Maximum about 18,000 BC, they were connected by dry land into the combined landmass of Sahul . The name "Sahul" derives from the Sahul Shelf , which is a part of the continental shelf of the Australian continent. 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
6580-627: The Rainbow Serpent , Baiame , Dirawong and Bunjil . Similarly, the Arrernte people of central Australia believed that humanity originated from great superhuman ancestors who brought the sun, wind and rain as a result of breaking through the surface of the Earth when waking from their slumber. Taken as a whole, Aboriginal Australians, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of health and economic deprivations in comparison with
6720-575: The Sahul Shelf and Bass Strait . Geological forces such as tectonic uplift of mountain ranges or clashes between tectonic plates occurred mainly in Australia's early history, when it was still a part of Gondwana . Australia is situated in the middle of the tectonic plate, and therefore currently has no active volcanism. The continent primarily sits on the Indo-Australian Plate. Because of its central location on its tectonic plate, Australia does not have any active volcanic regions,
6860-548: The Sahul Shelf , which is part of the continental shelf of the Australian continent. The term Oceania , originally a "great division" of the world in the 1810s, was replaced in English language countries by the concept of Australia as one of the world's continents in the 1950s. Prior to the 1950s, before the popularization of the theory of plate tectonics , Antarctica , Australia and Greenland were sometimes described as island continents, but none were usually taught as one of
7000-599: The United Kingdom , Canada , Germany , and France in terms of purchasing power parity . The Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney is the largest stock exchange in Australia and in the South Pacific . In 2012, Australia was the 12th largest national economy by nominal GDP and the 19th-largest measured by PPP-adjusted GDP. Tourism in Australia is an important component of the Australian economy. In
7140-422: The United Nations (UN) on 10 October 1975. Migration brought large numbers of southern and central Europeans to Australia for the first time. A 1958 government leaflet assured readers that unskilled non-British migrants were needed for "labour on rugged projects ...work which is not generally acceptable to Australians or British workers". Australia fought on the side of Britain in the two world wars and became
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#17327648586557280-555: The continental shelf . They were isolated on many of the smaller offshore islands and Tasmania when the land was inundated at the start of the Holocene inter-glacial period , about 11,700 years ago. Despite this, Aboriginal people maintained extensive networks within the continent and certain groups maintained relationships with Torres Strait Islanders and the Makassar people of modern-day Indonesia. Aboriginal Australians have
7420-488: The earliest human migrations out of Africa . There is evidence of genetic and linguistic interchange between Australians in the far north and the Austronesian peoples of modern-day New Guinea and the islands, but this may be the result of recent trade and intermarriage . The earliest known human remains were found at Lake Mungo , a dry lake in the southwest of New South Wales. Remains found at Mungo suggest one of
7560-535: The world's most liveable city list, and is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. Papua New Guinea is rich in natural resources, which account for two-thirds of their export earnings. Though PNG is filled with resources, the lack of country's development led foreign countries to take over few sites and continued foreign demand for PNG's resources and as a result, the United States constructed an oil company and began to export in 2004 and this
7700-778: The 1970s and 1980s, when Aboriginal people moved to tiny remote settlements on traditional land, brought health benefits, but funding them proved expensive, training and employment opportunities were not provided in many cases, and support from governments dwindled in the 2000s, particularly in the era of the Howard government . Indigenous communities in remote Australia are often small, isolated towns with basic facilities, on traditionally owned land . These communities have between 20 and 300 inhabitants and are often closed to outsiders for cultural reasons. The long-term viability and resilience of Aboriginal communities in desert areas has been discussed by scholars and policy-makers. A 2007 report by
7840-528: The 1970s, the single Pleistocene landmass was called Australasia , derived from the Latin australis , meaning "southern", although this word is most often used for a wider region that includes lands like New Zealand that are not on the same continental shelf. In the early 1970s, the term Greater Australia was introduced for the Pleistocene continent. Then at a 1975 conference and consequent publication,
7980-677: The 19th century. Scholars believe that most Aboriginal Australians originated from Southeast Asia. If this is the case, Aboriginal Australians were among the first in the world to have completed sea voyages. A 2017 paper in Nature evaluated artefacts in Kakadu . Its authors concluded "Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago." A 2021 study by researchers at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage has mapped
8120-411: The 5th century on maps by Macrobius , who uses the term Australis on his maps. Terra Australis , a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity , appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Scientists, such as Gerardus Mercator (1569) and Alexander Dalrymple as late as 1767 argued for its existence, with such arguments as that there should be a large landmass in the south as
8260-426: The Australian flora are adaptations to aridity and fire which include scleromorphy and serotiny . These adaptations are common in species from the large and well-known families Proteaceae ( Banksias and Grevilleas ), Myrtaceae ( Eucalyptus or gum trees, Melaleucas and Callistemons ), Fabaceae ( Acacia s or wattles), and Casuarinaceae ( Casuarinas or she-oaks), which are typically found in
8400-537: The Australian landmass. This definition of Oceania is used in statistical reports, by the International Olympic Committee , and by many atlases. The CIA World Factbook also categorize Oceania or the Pacific area as one of the world's major continental divisions, but use the term "Australia and Oceania" to refer to the area. Their definition does not include Australia's subantarctic external territory Heard Island and McDonald Islands , but
8540-511: The Australian mainland. The flora of New Guinea is a mixture of many tropical rainforest species with origins in Asia, such as Castanopsis acuminatissima , Lithocarpus spp., elaeocarps , and laurels , together with typically Australasian flora. In the New Guinean highlands, conifers such as Dacrycarpus , Dacrydium , Papuacedrus and Libocedrus are present. For many species,
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#17327648586558680-496: The Dreaming . Studies of Aboriginal groups' genetic makeup are ongoing, but evidence suggests that they have genetic inheritance from ancient Asian but not more modern peoples. They share some similarities with Papuans , but have been isolated from Southeast Asia for a very long time. They have a broadly shared, complex genetic history, but only in the last 200 years were they defined by others as, and started to self-identify as,
8820-620: The East/Southeast Asian lineage, including ancestors of the Native Americans . Papuans may have received approximately 2% of their geneflow from an earlier group (xOOA) as well, next to additional archaic admixture in the Sahul region. Aboriginal people are genetically most similar to the indigenous populations of Papua New Guinea , and more distantly related to groups from East Indonesia. They are more distinct from
8960-824: The Holocene ( c. 4,200 years ago). The researchers had two theories for this: either some Indians had contact with people in Indonesia who eventually transferred those Indian genes to Aboriginal Australians, or a group of Indians migrated from India to Australia and intermingled with the locals directly. However, a 2016 study in Current Biology by Anders Bergström et al. excluded the Y chromosome as providing evidence for recent gene flow from India into Australia. The study authors sequenced 13 Aboriginal Australian Y chromosomes using recent advances in gene sequencing technology. They investigated their divergence times from Y chromosomes in other continents, including comparing
9100-442: The New World (consisting of North America and South America) and the Old World (consisting of Africa, Asia and Europe). In his 1879 book Australasia , British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace commented that, "Oceania is the word often used by continental geographers to describe the great world of islands we are now entering upon" and that "Australia forms its central and most important feature." He did not explicitly label Oceania
9240-748: The Northern, Southern and Central cultural areas. The Northern and Southern areas, having richer natural marine and woodland resources, were more densely populated than the Central area. There are various other names from Australian Aboriginal languages commonly used to identify groups based on geography , known as demonyms , including: Other group names are based on the language group or specific dialect spoken . These also coincide with geographical regions of varying sizes. A few examples are: However, these lists are neither exhaustive nor definitive, and there are overlaps. Different approaches have been taken by non-Aboriginal scholars in trying to understand and define Aboriginal culture and societies, some focusing on
9380-408: The Oceanian sub-region known as Australasia , with New Guinea being in Melanesia . The continent includes a continental shelf overlain by shallow seas which divide it into several landmasses—the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between mainland Australia and New Guinea, and Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. When sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene ice age , including
9520-653: The Philippines known as Mamanwa . This study confirms Aboriginal Australians as one of the oldest living populations in the world. They are possibly the oldest outside Africa, and they may have the oldest continuous culture on the planet. A 2016 study at the University of Cambridge suggests that it was about 50,000 years ago that these peoples reached Sahul (the supercontinent consisting of present-day Australia and its islands and New Guinea ). The sea levels rose and isolated Australia about 10,000 years ago, but Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from each other genetically earlier, about 37,000 years BP, possibly because
9660-432: The South Pacific in the early part of the 16th century. On 23 April 1770, British explorer James Cook made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point . On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula . It is here that James Cook made first contact with an Aboriginal tribe known as
9800-531: The States. With the encouragement of Queensland, in 1884, a British protectorate had been proclaimed over the southern coast of New Guinea and its adjacent islands. British New Guinea was annexed outright in 1888. The possession was placed under the authority of the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia in 1902 and with passage of the Papua Act of 1905, British New Guinea became the Australian Territory of Papua , with formal Australian administration beginning in 1906. The Bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942
9940-444: The ancient people expanded and differentiated into distinct groups, each with its own language and culture. More than 400 distinct Australian Aboriginal peoples have been identified, distinguished by names designating their ancestral languages, dialects, or distinctive speech patterns. According to noted anthropologist , archaeologist and sociologist Harry Lourandos , historically, these groups lived in three main cultural areas,
10080-555: The archives of public institutions, while others had been packed away in boxes and forgotten. By 2018, Ara Irititja had tracked down hundreds of thousands of items and made them available through interactive software, keeping them safe in a digital archive . Cultural priorities have been built into the software, and Anangu can navigate the database, add information, stories and reflections, and alert administrators to specific items requiring restricted access. This enables Anangu to have control over how their history and culture are presented to
10220-415: The continent are endemic to Australia. This high level of endemism can be attributed to the continent's long geographic isolation, tectonic stability, and the effects of an unusual pattern of climate change on the soil and flora over geological time. Australia and its territories are home to around 800 species of bird; 45% of these are endemic to Australia. Predominant bird species in Australia include
10360-552: The continent other than those of Austronesian family. Predominant languages include English in Australia, Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea, and Indonesian (Malay) in Indonesian New Guinea. Immigration to Australia have brought overseas languages such as Italian , Greek , Arabic , Filipino , Mandarin , Vietnamese and Spanish , among others. Contact between Austronesian and Papuan resulted in several instances in mixed languages such as Maisin . Tok Pisin
10500-541: The continent. Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle speculated of a large landmass in the southern hemisphere, saying, "Now since there must be a region bearing the same relation to the southern pole as the place we live in bears to our pole...". His ideas were later expanded by Ptolemy (2nd century AD), who believed that the lands of the Northern Hemisphere should be balanced by land in the south . The theory of balancing land has been documented as early as
10640-665: The culture. Aṟa Irititja (meaning "stories from a long time ago") is a project of Ara Irititja Aboriginal Corporation, which works in collaboration with the South Australian Museum and Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara at Umuwa . The project began in 1994 with the aim of repatriating cultural items which had been "lost" over the years to Anangu of the Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara lands. These included cultural artefacts , photographs, films and sound recordings . Some had ended up in
10780-519: The deep split between Leang Panninge and Aboriginal/Papuans. Mallick et al. 2016 and Mark Lipson et al. 2017 study found the bifurcation of Eastern Eurasians and Western Eurasians dates to least 45,000 years ago, with indigenous Australians nested inside the Eastern Eurasian clade. Two genetic studies by Larena et al. 2021 found that Philippines Negrito people split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans before
10920-497: The desert-dwelling Pitjantjatjara people compared with a group of European people showed that the cooling adaptation of the Aboriginal group differed from that of the white people, and that they were able to sleep more soundly through a cold desert night. A 2014 Cambridge University study found that a beneficial mutation in two genes which regulate thyroxine , a hormone involved in regulating body metabolism , helps to regulate body temperature in response to fever. The effect of this
11060-428: The draft constitution, and Australia, the outgoing metropolitan power, had thought that Papua New Guinea would not remain a monarchy. The founders, however, considered that imperial honours had a cachet. The monarch is represented by the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea , currently Bob Dadae . Papua New Guinea (along with Solomon Islands ) is unusual among Commonwealth realms in that governors-general are elected by
11200-560: The east coast and Mediterranean climate in the west. The northern parts of the country have a tropical climate . Snow falls frequently on the highlands near the east coast, in the states of Victoria , New South Wales , Tasmania and in the Australian Capital Territory . Temperatures in Australia have ranged from above 50 °C (122 °F) to well below 0 °C (32 °F). Nonetheless, minimum temperatures are moderated. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation
11340-461: The few regions close to the equator that experience snowfall , which occurs in the most elevated parts of the mainland. Some areas in the island experience an extraordinary amount of precipitation, averaging roughly 4,500 millimetres (180 in) of rainfall annually. The Australian landmass's climate is mostly desert or semi-arid , with the southern coastal corners having a temperate climate, such as oceanic and humid subtropical climate in
11480-415: The financial year 2014/15, tourism represented 3.0% of Australia 's GDP contributing A$ 47.5 billion to the national economy. In 2015, there were 7.4 million visitor arrivals. Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranks Sydney tenth in the world in terms of quality of living , making it one of the most livable cities . It is classified as an Alpha+ World City by GaWC . Melbourne also ranked highly in
11620-629: The first European to explore the Strait. When Europeans first arrived, inhabitants of New Guinea and nearby islands, whose technologies included bone, wood, and stone tools, had a productive agricultural system. In 1660, the Dutch recognised the Sultan of Tidore 's sovereignty over New Guinea . The first known Europeans to sight New Guinea were probably the Portuguese and Spanish navigators sailing in
11760-495: The globe. Animal groups such as macropods , monotremes , and cassowaries are endemic to Australia. There were three main reasons for the enormous diversity that developed in animal, fungal and plant life. Although New Guinea is the most northerly part of the continent, and could be expected to be the most tropical in climate, the altitude of the New Guinea highlands is such that a great many animals and plants that were once common across Australia–New Guinea now survive only in
11900-714: The haplogroup C chromosomes. They found a divergence time of about 54,100 years between the Sahul C chromosome and its closest relative C5, as well as about 54,300 years between haplogroups K*/M and their closest haplogroups R and Q. The deep divergence time of 50,000-plus years with the South Asian chromosome and "the fact that the Aboriginal Australian Cs share a more recent common ancestor with Papuan Cs" excludes any recent genetic contact. The 2016 study's authors concluded that, although this does not disprove
12040-481: The high and rugged mountains of New Guinea and, by reverse (downwards) buckling, the Torres Strait that now separates the two main landmasses. The collision also pushed up the islands of Wallacea , which served as island 'stepping-stones' that allowed plants from Southeast Asia 's rainforests to colonise New Guinea, and some plants from Australia–New Guinea to move into Southeast Asia. The ocean straits between
12180-401: The idea of ancient Aboriginal isolation. Genetic data extracted in 2011 by Morten Rasmussen et al., who took a DNA sample from an early-20th-century lock of an Aboriginal person's hair, found that the Aboriginal ancestors probably migrated through South Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia , into Australia, where they stayed. As a result, outside of Africa, the Aboriginal peoples have occupied
12320-653: The increased suicide rate, many researchers have suggested that the inclusion of more cultural aspects into suicide prevention programs would help to combat mental health issues within the community. Past studies have found that many indigenous leaders and community members, do in fact, want more culturally-aware health care programs. Similarly, culturally-relative programs targeting indigenous youth have actively challenged suicide ideation among younger indigenous populations, with many social and emotional wellbeing programs using cultural information to provide coping mechanisms and improving mental health. The outstation movement of
12460-511: The indigenous populations of Borneo and Malaysia , sharing drift with them than compared to the groups from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. This indicates that populations in Australia were isolated for a long time from the rest of Southeast Asia. They remained untouched by migrations and population expansions into that area, which can be explained by the Wallace line . In a 2001 study, blood samples were collected from some Warlpiri people in
12600-835: The island of New Guinea ( Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea ), the Aru Islands , the Ashmore and Cartier Islands , most of the Coral Sea Islands , and some other nearby islands . Situated in the geographical region of Oceania , Australia is the smallest of the seven traditional continents . The continent includes a continental shelf overlain by shallow seas which divide it into several landmasses—the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between mainland Australia and New Guinea, and Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. When sea levels were lower during
12740-572: The islands of Tasmania , K'gari (previously Fraser Island) , Hinchinbrook Island , the Tiwi Islands , Kangaroo Island and Groote Eylandt . Indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, however, are not Aboriginal. In the 2021 census , people who self-identified on the census form as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin totalled 812,728 out of a total of 25,422,788 Australians, equating to 3.2% of Australia's population and an increase of 163,557 people, or 25.2%, since
12880-461: The islands were narrow enough to allow plant dispersal, but served as an effective barrier to exchange of land mammals between Australia–New Guinea and Asia. Among the fungi, the remarkable association between Cyttaria gunnii (one of the "golf-ball" fungi) and its associated trees in the genus Nothofagus is evidence of that drift: the only other places where this association is known are New Zealand and southern Argentina and Chile . Due to
13020-400: The land was inundated at the start of the Holocene , the inter-glacial period that started about 11,700 years ago. Scholars of this ancient history believe that it would have been difficult for Aboriginal people to have originated purely from mainland Asia. Not enough people would have migrated to Australia and surrounding islands to fulfill the beginning of the size of the population seen in
13160-477: The largest Greek-speaking population outside of Europe , and the second largest Asian population in Australia after Sydney. Australia is the only First World country on the Australia-New Guinea continent, although the economy of Australia is by far the largest and most dominant economy in the region and one of the largest in the world. Australia's per-capita GDP is higher than that of
13300-406: The last 10,000 years it may have occurred—newer analytical techniques have the potential to address such questions. Bergstrom's 2018 doctoral thesis looking at the population of Sahul suggests that other than relatively recent admixture, the populations of the region appear to have been genetically independent from the rest of the world since their divergence about 50,000 years ago. He writes "There
13440-524: The latter two diverged from each other, but after their common ancestor diverged from the ancestor of East Asian peoples . The dingo reached Australia about 4,000 years ago. Near that time, there were changes in language (with the Pama-Nyungan language family spreading over most of the mainland), and in stone tool technology. Smaller tools were used. Human contact has thus been inferred, and genetic data of two kinds have been proposed to support
13580-695: The legislature, rather than chosen by the executive branch. Since 1788, the primary influence behind Australian culture has been Anglo-Celtic Western culture , with some Indigenous influences. The divergence and evolution that has occurred in the ensuing centuries has resulted in a distinctive Australian culture. Since the mid-20th century, American popular culture has strongly influenced Australia, particularly through television and cinema. Other cultural influences come from neighbouring Asian countries, and through large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking nations. The Australian Museum in Sydney and
13720-496: The likely migration routes of the peoples as they moved across the Australian continent to its southern reaches and what is now Tasmania , then part of the mainland. The modelling is based on data from archaeologists , anthropologists , ecologists , geneticists , climatologists , geomorphologists , and hydrologists . It is intended to compare this data with the oral histories of Aboriginal peoples, including Dreaming stories, Australian rock art , and linguistic features of
13860-541: The long-established broad-leaf deciduous forest began to give way to the distinctive hard-leaved sclerophyllous plants that characterise the modern Australian landscape. Typical Southern Hemisphere flora include the conifers Podocarpus (eastern Australia and New Guinea), the rainforest emergents Araucaria (eastern Australia and New Guinea), Nothofagus (New Guinea and Tasmania ) and Agathis (northern Queensland and New Guinea), as well as tree ferns and several species of Eucalyptus . Prominent features of
14000-616: The mainland. Then between about 8,000 and 6,500 BC, the lowlands in the north were flooded by the sea, separating the Aru Islands , mainland Australia, New Guinea , and Tasmania. A northern arc consisting of the New Guinea Highlands , the Raja Ampat Islands , and Halmahera was uplifted by the northward migration of Australia and subduction of the Pacific Plate . The Outer Banda Arc was accreted along
14140-423: The many Aboriginal languages which reveal how the peoples developed separately. The routes, dubbed "superhighways" by the authors, are similar to current highways and stock routes in Australia. Lynette Russell of Monash University believes that the new model is a starting point for collaboration with Aboriginal people to help reveal their history. The new models suggest that the first people may have landed in
14280-403: The micro-level (tribe, clan, etc.), and others on shared languages and cultural practices spread over large regions defined by ecological factors. Anthropologists have encountered many difficulties in trying to define what constitutes an Aboriginal people/community/group/tribe, let alone naming them. Knowledge of pre-colonial Aboriginal cultures and societal groupings is still largely dependent on
14420-487: The name Australinea in 2004. Australia–New Guinea has also been used. The Australian continent, as a whole being part of the Australian Plate , is the lowest, flattest, and oldest landmass on Earth and it has had a relatively stable geological history. New Zealand is not part of the continent of Australia, but of the separate, submerged continent of Zealandia . New Zealand and Australia are both part of
14560-550: The name Sahul was extended from its previous use for just the Sahul Shelf to cover the continent. In 1984, the name Meganesia was suggested, meaning "great island" or "great island-group", for both the Pleistocene continent and the present-day lands, and this name has been widely accepted by biologists. Others have used Meganesia with different meanings: travel writer Paul Theroux included New Zealand in his definition and others have used it for Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii . Another biologist, Richard Dawkins , coined
14700-432: The name of Oceania. There are thus six great divisions of the earth — Europe , Asia , Africa , North America, South America and Oceania." The American author Samuel Griswold Goodrich wrote in his 1854 book History of All Nations that, "geographers have agreed to consider the island world of the Pacific Ocean as a third continent, under the name Oceania." In this book the other two continents were categorized as being
14840-511: The northwestern edge the continent; it includes the islands of Timor , Tanimbar , and Seram . Papua New Guinea has several volcanoes , as it is situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire . Volcanic eruptions are not rare, and the area is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis because of this. Mount Wilhelm in Papua New Guinea is the second highest mountain in the continent, and at 4,884 metres (16,024 ft) above sea level , Puncak Jaya
14980-411: The observers' interpretations, which were filtered through colonial ways of viewing societies. Some Aboriginal peoples identify as one of several saltwater, freshwater, rainforest or desert peoples . The term Aboriginal Australians includes many distinct peoples who have developed across Australia for over 50,000 years. These peoples have a broadly shared, though complex, genetic history, but it
15120-638: The oldest living populations in the world, certainly the oldest outside of Africa." Their ancestors left the African continent 75,000 years ago. They may have the oldest continuous culture on earth. In Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory , oral histories comprising complex narratives have been passed down by Yolngu people through hundreds of generations. The Aboriginal rock art , dated by modern techniques, shows that their culture has continued from ancient times. The ancestors of present-day Aboriginal Australian people migrated from Southeast Asia by sea during
15260-407: The only continent with this distinction. The lands were joined with Antarctica as part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana until the plate began to drift north about 96 million years ago. For most of the time since then, Australia–New Guinea remained a continuous landmass. When the last glacial period ended in about 10,000 BC, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait , separating Tasmania from
15400-421: The original 250–400 Aboriginal languages (more than 250 languages and about 800 dialectal varieties on the continent) are endangered or extinct, although some efforts are being made at language revival for some. As of 2016, only 13 traditional Indigenous languages were still being acquired by children, and about another 100 spoken by older generations only. Dispersing across the Australian continent over time,
15540-420: The other studies had utilised complete Y chromosome sequencing, which has the highest precision. For example, use of a ten Y STRs method has been shown to massively underestimate divergence times. Gene flow across the island-dotted 150-kilometre-wide (93 mi) Torres Strait, is both geographically plausible and demonstrated by the data, although at this point it could not be determined from this study when within
15680-440: The presence of any Holocene gene flow or non-genetic influences from South Asia at that time, and the appearance of the dingo does provide strong evidence for external contacts, the evidence overall is consistent with a complete lack of gene flow, and points to indigenous origins for the technological and linguistic changes. They attributed the disparity between their results and previous findings to improvements in technology; none of
15820-414: The previous census in 2016. Reasons for the increase were broadly as follows: Most Aboriginal people speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English (which also has a tangible influence of Aboriginal languages in the phonology and grammatical structure ). Some Aboriginal people, especially those living in remote areas, are multi-lingual. Many of
15960-535: The primary refuge was the relatively cool and well-watered Great Dividing Range . Even today, pockets of remnant vegetation remain in the cool uplands, some species not much changed from the Gondwanan forms of 60 or 90 million years ago. Eventually, the Australia–New Guinea tectonic plate collided with the Eurasian plate to the north. The collision caused the northern part of the continent to buckle upwards, forming
16100-487: The remaining land bridge was impassable. This isolation makes the Aboriginal people the world's oldest culture. The study also found evidence of an unknown hominin group, distantly related to Denisovans, with whom the Aboriginal and Papuan ancestors must have interbred, leaving a trace of about 4% in most Aboriginal Australians' genome. There is, however, increased genetic diversity among Aboriginal Australians based on geographical distribution. Carlhoff et al. 2021 analysed
16240-406: The same territory continuously longer than any other human populations. These findings suggest that modern Aboriginal Australians are the direct descendants of the eastern wave, who left Africa up to 75,000 years ago. This finding is compatible with earlier archaeological finds of human remains near Lake Mungo that date to approximately 40,000 years ago. The idea of the "oldest continuous culture"
16380-577: The second-highest human development index globally. Australia also has the world's 9th largest immigrant population . The continent of Oceania is sometimes known by the names Sahul, Australinea, or Meganesia to differentiate it from the country of Australia, and consists of the landmasses which sit on Australia's continental plate. This includes mainland Australia , Tasmania , and the island of New Guinea , which comprises Papua New Guinea and Western New Guinea (Papua and West Papua, provinces of Indonesia ). The name "Sahul" takes its name from
16520-543: The seventh century, and archipelagic rule of New Guinea by the 13th. At the beginning of the seventh century, the Sumatra -based empire of Srivijaya (7th century–13th century) engaged in trade relations with western New Guinea, initially taking items like sandalwood and birds-of-paradise in tribute to China , but later making slaves out of the natives. The rule of the Java -based empire of Majapahit (1293–1527) extended to
16660-413: The spelling variations are that some WDL dialects do not allow vowel-initial words—in these varieties the word begins with y ; some orthographies use underlining (e.g. ṉ) to indicate a retroflex consonant , while others use a digraph (e.g. rn ). Pitjantjatjara seems to be the best-known source for the word, but the underlining of the consonant is often ignored (or not understood) by English speakers, and
16800-565: The spread of animals, fungi and plants across the single Pleistocene landmass the separate lands have a related biota . There are over 300 bird species in West Papua , of which at least 20 are unique to the ecoregion, and some live only in very restricted areas. These include the grey-banded munia , Vogelkop bowerbird , and the king bird-of-paradise . Australia has a huge variety of animals; some 83% of mammals , 89% of reptiles , 24% of fish and insects and 93% of amphibians that inhabit
16940-589: The story of creation known as The Dreamtime . Additionally, traditional healers were also custodians of important Dreaming stories as well as their medical roles (for example the Ngangkari in the Western desert ). Some core structures and themes are shared across the continent with details and additional elements varying between language and cultural groups. For example, in The Dreamtime of most regions,
17080-409: The term Aboriginal has changed over time and place, with the importance of family lineage, self-identification and community acceptance all being of varying importance. The term Indigenous Australians refers to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the term is conventionally only used when both groups are included in the topic being addressed, or by self-identification by
17220-527: The tone for the bitter final stages of the New Guinea campaign , which persisted into 1945. The offensives in Papua and New Guinea of 1943–44 were the single largest series of connected operations ever mounted by the Australian armed forces. Following the 1998 commencement of reforms across Indonesia , Papua and other Indonesian provinces received greater regional autonomy. In 2001, "Special Autonomy" status
17360-558: The tropical highlands where they are severely threatened by population growth . In New Guinea, the climate is mostly monsoonal (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October), and tropical rainforest with slight seasonal temperature variation. In lower altitudes, the temperature is around 27 °C (81 °F) year round. But the higher altitudes, such as Mendi , are constantly around 21 °C (70 °F) with cool lows nearing 11 °C (52 °F), with abundant rainfall and high humidity. The New Guinea Highlands are one of
17500-471: The two mountainous islands of New Guinea and Tasmania. With a total land area of 8.56 million square kilometres (3,310,000 sq mi), the Australian continent is the smallest, lowest, flattest, and second-driest continent (after Antarctica ) on Earth . As the country of Australia is mostly on a single landmass, and comprises most of the continent, it is sometimes informally referred to as an island continent, surrounded by oceans. Papua New Guinea,
17640-517: The western fringes of New Guinea. Recent archaeological research suggests that 50,000 years ago people may have occupied sites in the highlands at New Guinean altitudes of up to 2,000 m (6,600 ft), rather than being restricted to warmer coastal areas. Legends of Terra Australis Incognita—an "unknown land of the South"—date back to Roman times and before, and were commonplace in medieval geography, although not based on any documented knowledge of
17780-517: The wider Australian community. Due to the aforementioned disadvantage, Aboriginal Australian communities experience a higher rate of suicide, as compared to non-indigenous communities. These issues stem from a variety of different causes unique to indigenous communities, such as historical trauma, socioeconomic disadvantage, and decreased access to education and health care. Also, this problem largely affects indigenous youth, as many indigenous youth may feel disconnected from their culture. To combat
17920-616: The word is "human being, person", "human body" in a number of eastern varieties of the Western Desert Languages (which are in the Pama–Nyungan group of languages), in particular Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara . It is now used as an Aboriginal endonym by a wide range of Western Desert Language (WDL) peoples to describe themselves. It is rarely or never applied to non-Aboriginal people when used in English, although
18060-551: The word now has a dual meaning in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara . It has come to be used also as an exonym by non-Aboriginal Australians to refer to WDL-speaking groups or individuals. With regard to the term's distribution and spelling, the following table shows the main WDL dialects in which it is used (left column) along with the word spelled according to the orthography of that dialect (right column). The reasons for
18200-503: The world in future. Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands . Humans first migrated to Australia at least 65,000 years ago, and over time formed as many as 500 language-based groups . In the past, Aboriginal people lived over large sections of
18340-782: The world". In 1883, the Colony of Queensland tried to annex the southern half of eastern New Guinea, but the British government did not approve. The Commonwealth of Australia came into being when the Federal Constitution was proclaimed by the Governor-General , Lord Hopetoun , on 1 January 1901. From that point a system of federalism in Australia came into operation, entailing the establishment of an entirely new national government (the Commonwealth government) and an ongoing division of powers between that government and
18480-522: The world". In the Pacific Ocean Handbook (1945), author Eliot Grinnell Mears wrote that he categorized Australia, New Zealand and Pacific islands under the label of Oceania for "scientific reasons; Australia's fauna is largely continental in character, New Zealand's are clearly insular; and neither Commonwealth realm has close ties with Asia." He further added that, "the term Australasia is not relished by New Zealanders and this name
18620-532: The world's continents in English-speaking countries. Scottish cartographer John Bartholomew wrote in 1873 that, "the New World consists of North America , and the peninsula of South America attached to it. These divisions [are] generally themselves spoken as continents, and to them has been added another, embracing the large island of Australia and numerous others in the [Pacific] Ocean, under
18760-438: The world's known total. New Guinea has 578 species of breeding birds, of which 324 species are endemic. Bird life also flourished—in particular, the songbirds (order Passeriformes , suborder Passeri) are thought to have evolved 50 million years ago in the part of Gondwana that later became Australia , New Zealand, New Guinea , and Antarctica , before radiating into a great number of different forms and then spreading around
18900-419: The world's oldest known cremations , thus indicating early evidence for religious ritual among humans. Dreamtime remains a prominent feature of Australian Aboriginal art , the oldest continuing tradition of art in the world. Papuan habitation is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago in New Guinea. Trade between New Guinea and neighboring Indonesian islands was documented as early as
19040-451: Was almost completely isolated. During this time, the continent experienced numerous changes in climate, but the overall trend was towards greater aridity. When South America eventually separated from Antarctica, the development of the cold Antarctic Circumpolar Current changed weather patterns across the world. For Australia–New Guinea, it brought a marked intensification of the drying trend. The great inland seas and lakes dried out. Much of
19180-533: Was granted to Papua province, although to date, implementation has been partial and often criticised. The region was administered as a single province until 2003, when it was split into the provinces of Papua and West Papua . Elections in 1972 resulted in the formation of a ministry headed by Chief Minister Michael Somare , who pledged to lead the country to self-government and then to independence. Papua New Guinea became self-governing on 1 December 1973 and achieved independence on 16 September 1975. The country joined
19320-516: Was the first known European explorer to reach these islands. In the quest for Terra Australis , Spanish explorations in the 17th century, such as the expedition led by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós , discovered the Pitcairn and Vanuatu archipelagos, and sailed the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea , named after navigator Luís Vaz de Torres , who was
19460-666: Was the largest project in PNG's history. Papua New Guinea is classified as a developing economy by the International Monetary Fund . Strong growth in Papua New Guinea's mining and resource sector led to the country becoming the sixth fastest-growing economy in the world in 2011. Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy with Charles III at its apex as the King of Australia ,
19600-628: Was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. In an effort to isolate Australia, the Japanese planned a seaborne invasion of Port Moresby , in the Australian Territory of New Guinea . Between July and November 1942, Australian forces repulsed Japanese attempts on the city by way of the Kokoda Track , in the highlands of New Guinea . The Battle of Buna–Gona , between November 1942 and January 1943, set
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