The British initially called the eastern part of the continent New South Wales, after Captain James Cook claimed it in 1770, while the west was known as New Holland from Dutch exploration. The name Australia, derived from the Latin Terra Australis (Unknown Southern Land) and popularized by explorer Matthew Flinders, replaced these names, becoming official in 1824.
The New South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie endorsed the name Australia to replace New Holland in a dispatch to the Colonial Office in London in December 1817, and the name came into common local usage.
The land we now call Australia was mostly labeled: New Holland (Dutch, 1600s) for the west and north. New South Wales (British, 1770) for the east.
"Straya" is a colloquial, affectionate, and humorous slang term for Australia, representing a shortened, phonetic pronunciation of the country's name, often used in a casual context to show national identity and a laid-back attitude. It embodies the Australian tendency to shorten words and can be heard in phrases like "G'day, Straya!".
A key difference between “Australia” and “Faraway Downs,” however, is that the six-part version centers the story of Nullah (Brandon Walters), an Indigenous Australian child caught up in the government's Draconian racial policy now referred to as the Stolen Generations.
"Ozzy, Ozzy, Ozzy, Oi, Oi, Oi!" is a popular Australian sports chant, a variation of the British "Oggy, Oggy, Oggy" cheer, used to express national pride and support for Australian teams, with "Ozzy" being slang for "Australian" and "Oi, Oi, Oi" a general interjection for enthusiasm or attention, much like "USA!". The chant involves one group shouting "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!" and the crowd responding "Oi, Oi, Oi!".
There were so many different tribes that there wouldn't be one single name. In a lot of the Dreamtime stories that have survived, individual islands have been named, but Australia as a whole tended to be referred to as "the land", rather than having a name.
Pommy or pom
The terms pommy, pommie, and pom used in Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand usually denote a British person.
The most Australian thing to say often involves casual slang like "G'day, mate!" or "No worries, she'll be right," reflecting a laid-back, friendly culture that shortens words (arvo for afternoon, brekkie for breakfast) and uses unique phrases like "Fair dinkum" (really/truly) or "Bloody oath!" (yes, absolutely) for emphasis. It's about being informal, positive, and using unique terms for everyday things like a "barbie" (BBQ) or "sunnies" (sunglasses).
Oceania is a region made up of thousands of islands throughout the Central and South Pacific. It includes Australia, the smallest continent in terms of total land area.
At the beginning of the 17th century Dutch explorers began to uncover the secrets of the Australian continent. Willem Jansz and his crew of the Duyfken made history in 1606 by being the first recorded Europeans to set foot on Australian soil at the Pennefather River on Cape York Peninsula.
The crimes that make up the '19 Crimes' include:
The final constitutional ties between the United Kingdom and Australia ended in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986.
Australia's official name is the Commonwealth of Australia. The name Australia comes from the Latin words terra australis incognita, meaning "unknown southern land" an early name for the land that explorers expected to find in the southern ocean.
Australia Day is celebrated on January 26th to commemorate the raising of the British flag by Captain Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove in 1788, marking the establishment of the British colony of New South Wales, though the First Fleet had arrived in Botany Bay days earlier, according to SBS Australia and SBS Australia. This date, initially called "Anniversary Day," became a public holiday in New South Wales in 1838 and was adopted by other colonies, evolving into a national celebration of Australian identity, though it is also recognized by many First Nations people as a day of mourning, survival, and protest, known as Invasion Day or Survival Day.
British colonisation
Cook first named the land New Wales, but revised it to New South Wales. With the establishment of a settlement at Sydney in 1788, Britain solidified its claim to the eastern part of Australia, now officially called New South Wales.
"Oy oy oy" in Australia is most famously part of the patriotic chant "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!" used at sporting events to show national pride, but "Oi" also functions as a general Australian informal interjection, like "hey" or "excuse me," to get someone's attention. The chant itself comes from the British "Oggy Oggy Oggy" cheer for Cornish pasties and became popular in Australia after the 2000 Olympics.
Common Australian slang for a girl includes "Sheila" (older, sometimes dated or slightly derogatory), "chick," or just using general terms like "mate," "gal," or "lass," with context and tone being important, but "girl" is still widely used; some slang, like "moll," can refer to a girlfriend or a promiscuous woman, while "bogan" describes an unsophisticated person.
The $10 note is referred to as a "tenner" or again, less commonly, a "Blue Swimmer", other variations of this nickname exist such as the "blue grenadier", it may also rarely be called a "blue tongue", in reference to the Australian blue-tongue lizard.
Woop Woop is used to refer to a place in the middle of nowhere. People use it to signify that a location is far away, unfamiliar to them, and difficult to get to.
A British person, especially one from England. (Originally applied to an immigrant from the British Isles.) The word pom has its origin in wordplay. An early, derisory term for an immigrant in Australia was the rhyming slang jimmygrant (sometimes written as Jimmy Grant), recorded in 1844.
Aussie (pronounced: /ɔzi/) – an Australian. bros - slightly derogatory term for a group of Islander males. Camel jockey – offensive slang for an Arab or other person of Middle Eastern origin.
Yes, saying "Koori" (or "Koorie") is generally okay and respectful when referring to Aboriginal people from southeastern Australia (Victoria, NSW), as it's a regional identifier, but it's always best to use specific Nation/community names if known, or general terms like "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples" if unsure, as these terms have specific cultural meanings and show respect for diversity.
Isolated cases of white (in fact, albino) Aboriginal people haunted the public imagination and supported—both scientifically and politically—efforts to biologically absorb and socially assimilate Indigenous people into the majority-European population, most infamously through the mass child removal now known as the ...
Self-identification: You must personally choose to identify as Aboriginal. Some people with Aboriginal heritage may decide not to identify as such for various reasons. It's a personal choice that must be made by the individual.