# Australia an island? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715 "2002-11-07T14:14:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/1 "2002-11-07T14:14:57Z")
I have a bet with a co-worker about whether Australia is considered an island or not. We both understand it is a continent, but She says it is also an island. I say it is too big to be considered an island. I thought I had the question answered once and for all when my nephew pointed out to me that Greenland is the world’s largest island and it is obviouly smaller than Australia. But as usual she wriggled her way out of that one by finding one source that refered to Greenland as the world’s largest non-continental island. Can anyone out there help me win this? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/2 "2002-11-07T14:34:31Z")
Unsurprisingly, it all depends on what you mean by “island”. [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) tells us that the American Heritage Dictionary defines “island” as “a land mass, especially one smaller than a continent, entirely surrounded by water”, which suggests that the term can include a continent, but often doesn’t. So Australia is an island if you want it to be or, to put it another way, someone who says Australia is an island is not demonstrably wrong. According again to [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com), Webster is less ambiguous. An island is “a tract of land surrounded by water, and smaller than a continent”. No prevaricating there. On Webster’s view, Australia is not an island. If I were you, I’d quote Webster and I’d hope my friend didn’t have a copy of the American Heritage Dictionary at home. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/3 "2002-11-07T14:35:12Z")
It’s an island big enough to be categorized as a continent. It’s a freakin’ island!!! It has distinct borders, all encompassed by water. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/4 "2002-11-07T14:49:19Z")
What about all the parts of Australia that aren’t attached to the “island”. (Like, umm, what’s is called? Rottnest? Fraser? Ah, that’s right – Tasmania!) Wouldn’t these numerous little islands make Australia an archipelago? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/5 "2002-11-07T14:57:17Z")
When was Australia classified as a continent? I was taught at school that “Australasia” or “Oceania” were continents, but not Australia as a single land mass. Is this no longer commonly accepted? ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/6 "2002-11-07T15:10:29Z")
That’s exactly my understanding of Australia too, **Crusoe**. Maybe that’s a UK schooling thing, if it’s shown to be “wrong”. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/7 "2002-11-07T15:13:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UDS \* > \*\*…Webster is less ambiguous. An island is “a tract of land surrounded by water, and smaller than a continent”. No prevaricating there. On Webster’s view, Australia is not an island. > \*\* But that begs the question of what defines a continent. Should Australia even be considered a continent? We’ve had these discussions somewhere on the board and if I recall correctly the consensus was that all these geographic terms are somewhat arbitrary. When does a creek become a river? When does a pond become a lake? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/8 "2002-11-07T15:14:07Z")
“Australasia” is Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and neighbouring islands in the South Pacific. “Oceania” is the islands of the southern, western, and central Pacific, including Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Sometimes it also includes Australasia. Are they continents? Well, traditionally a continent was a very large land mass, usually defined by maritime borders and/or mountain chains. Isolated oceanic islands did not form part of any continent. This is still the sense in which physical geographers use the term. In that sense Australia is a continent. However in an effort systematically to allocate all known dry land into continents, Oceania is sometimes spoken of as a continent, and Australasia may also be spoken of as a continent separate from Oceania. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/9 "2002-11-07T15:17:02Z")
In my lifetime, Australia has always been a continent. These things are arbitrary. For example, Europe is really just the western part of the landmass that includes Asia and the division is historical. I suspect this resulted because the naming business started in Europe and the territory east of the Urals was largely unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/10 "2002-11-07T15:17:19Z")
How’s about Antarctica? And Africa and the Americas by virtue of a little human engineering? Heck, if folks are seriously talking about de-planetizing Pluto, continent status surely may be up for grabs! ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/11 "2002-11-07T17:41:47Z")
You guys are getting off the topic of the bet. It isn’t about whether or not Australia is a continent. Is it an island ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/12 "2002-11-07T17:47:41Z")
But its islandness is dependent on whether or not it’s a continent, d’you see? I vote country, in the continent of Australasia. Making it an island. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/13 "2002-11-07T17:52:50Z")
Yes, but the only justification is for arguing that it is not an island is to argue (a) that it is a continent, and (b) that a continent cannot be an island. The OP suggests that your colleague has more or less conceded the first point, but some of the posters are suggesting that, if you she could reopen that point, she would have another line of argument. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/14 "2002-11-07T18:59:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bnorton \* > \*\*… When does a creek become a river? When does a pond become a lake? \*\* My Real Estate agent tells me it’s a lake if you’re the seller of the land, and it’s a pond if you’re buying! ---
**Author:** ![INSANE1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f0a364/32.png) [@INSANE1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/INSANE1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/15 "2002-11-07T21:53:44Z")
As an Australian I was taught at a school that Australia is the largest island in the world, but the smallest continent. Then again I was only about 7 or 8 when they said this so Im not 100% sure that its accurate (teachers sometimes simplify things for young minds), but it sounds logical. ---
**Author:** ![INSANE1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f0a364/32.png) [@INSANE1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/INSANE1)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/16 "2002-11-07T21:56:53Z")
Oops that should be ‘at school’ instead of ‘at a school’. Must remember to preview next time. ---
**Author:** ![yo\_han\_go](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yo_han_go/32/130_2.png) [@yo\_han\_go](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yo_han_go)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/17 "2002-11-07T21:57:41Z")
Up to 50000000 km sq lnd island more continent… IMHO ---
**Author:** ![Mirage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mirage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirage)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/18 "2002-11-07T22:18:31Z")
If you want to call Australia an island, then you may as well call North and South America together an island. Australia being a contenent has always bugged people, especially when they grew up looking at Mercator Projections showing Greenland bigger than Australia. We all pretty much live on islands, just some of them are big enough that we get to call them continents. From something that **Slipster** [[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=142967’](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=142967%E2%80%99)](’ [url)]posted here yesterday: > [@](#): > > The Greeks had further believed that there was a land mass around the south pole, as this permitted the earth to remain stable and not roll around. This belief in a southernmost continent was accepted on faith for centuries. It may account for why Antarctica is called “Antarctica” > > “Arctic” derives from the Latina for north. And “Antarctic”? It means opposite of the north. > Why not call it after the Latin word for south? > > Because Captain Cook–who was the first westerner to see Antarctica–had already used it. He had used the name “Australia” (“southland”) to refer to…Australia. He is said to have mistakenly supposed that the land mass he saw was the northern protrusion of the great south pole continent which he already assumed existed. Hence maps of the late 1700s showing Australia and Antarctica as parts of one vast undefined continent. Australia was probably thought of as a continent long before anyone knew it was an island. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/19 "2002-11-07T22:23:11Z")
How often does a question like this come up? Pretty often–mostly because the answer is always unsatisfyingly subjective: it depends on your definitions, as many posters have pointed out. As a Geologist, I usually dismiss these questions as “arbitrary things for Geographers to bicker over” when students ask what the difference is, for example, between a “creek” and a “river”–both serve the same geological function. To geographers I’ve talked to, the general convention is that if it’s a landmass as big or bigger than Australia, it’s a continent, and otherwise it’s an island. However, political science types extend the boundaries of “continents” even further–making New Zealand part of “Australia” or Iceland part of “Europe”. To me, a continent is any land mass of any size underlain by continental (as opposed to oceanic) crust. Therefore, Australia is a continent. But then, by my definition so is New Zealand (albeit a “micro-continent”). So, to answer your OP, first agree on who’s definition you are going to use: Geographer, Geologist, or Political Scientists, and go from there! ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715/20 "2002-11-07T22:24:46Z")
I wouldn’t like to speak for all Australians, but I don’t think you would find much argument here that Australia is both an island and a continent. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-an-island/135715.md?page=2)