"Southern Land" in Neo-Latin, adapted from the legendary pseudo-geographical Terra Australis Incognita ("Unknown Southern Land") dating back to the Roman era. First appearing as a corruption of the Spanish name for an island in Vanuatu in 1625,Purchas, Samuel. "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Master Hakluyt", in Hakluytus Posthumus, Vol. IV, pp. 1422–1432. 1625. "Australia" was slowly popularized following the advocacy of the British explorer Matthew Flinders in his 1814 description of his circumnavigation of the island.Flinders, Matthew. A Voyage to Terra Australis . 1814. Lachlan Macquarie, a Governor of New South Wales, used the word in his dispatches to England and recommended it be formally adopted by the Colonial Office in 1817.As cited in Letter of 12 December 1817. Weekend Australian, 30–31 December 2000, p. 16. The Admiralty agreed seven years later and the continent became officially known as Australia in 1824. In Flinders' book he published his rationale: "There is no probability, that any other detached body of land, of nearly equal extent, will ever be found in a more southern latitude; the name Terra Australis will, therefore, remain descriptive of the geographical importance of this country, and of its situation on the globe: it has antiquity to recommend it; and, having no reference to either of the two claiming nations, appears to be less objectionable than any other which could have been selected."Matthew Flinders, A voyage to Terra Australis (Introduction) . Retrieved 25 January 2013. (Antarctica, the hypothesized land for which the name Terra Australis originally referred to, was sighted in 1820, and not explored until decades after Flinders' book had popularized this shift of the name.)Oz, a colloquial endonym: Likely a contraction from above. Folk etymology traces the name to the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, but the Oxford English Dictionary records the first occurrence as "Oss" in 1908.Oxford English Dictionary. "Oz". Frank Baum's original book predates this and may have inspired the name,Jacobson, H. In the Land of Oz. Penguin, 1988. . but it is also possible Baum himself was influenced by Australia in his development of Oz.Algeo, J. "Australia as the Land of Oz". American Speech, Vol. 65, No. 1, pp. 86–89. 1990.Nova Hollandia, a former name: "New Holland" in Neo-Latin (), after the Dutch province, bestowed by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644. For the further etymology of Holland, see the Netherlands below.
"Southern Land" in Neo-Latin, adapted from the legendary pseudo-geographical Terra Australis Incognita ("Unknown Southern Land") dating back to the Roman era. First appearing as a corruption of the Spanish name for an island in Vanuatu in 1625,Purchas, Samuel "A note of Australia del Espíritu Santo, written by Master Hakluyt", in Hakluytus Posthumus, Vol. IV, pp. 1422–1432. 1625. "Australia" was slowly popularized following the advocacy of the British explorer Matthew Flinders in his 1814 description of his circumnavigation of the island.Flinders, Matthew. A Voyage to Terra Australis . 1814. Lachlan Macquarie, a Governor of New South Wales, used the word in his dispatches to England and recommended it be formally adopted by the Colonial Office in 1817.As cited in Letter of 12 December 1817. Weekend Australian, 30–31 December 2000, p. 16. The Admiralty agreed seven years later and the continent became officially known as Australia in 1824. In Flinders' book he published his rationale: "There is no probability, that any other detached body of land, of nearly equal extent, will ever be found in a more southern latitude; the name Terra Australis will, therefore, remain descriptive of the geographical importance of this country, and of its situation on the globe: it has antiquity to recommend it; and, having no reference to either of the two claiming nations, appears to be less objectionable than any other which could have been selected."Matthew Flinders, A voyage to Terra Australis (Introduction) . Retrieved 25 January 2013. (Antarctica the hypothesized land for which the name Terra Australis originally referred to, was sighted in 1820, and not explored until decades after Flinders' book had popularized this shift of the name.)Oz, a colloquial endonym: Likely a contraction from above. Folk etymology traces the name to the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, but the Oxford English Dictionary records the first occurrence as "Oss" in 1908.Oxford English Dictionary. "Oz". Frank Baum's original book predates this and may have inspired the name,Jacobson, H. In the Land of Oz. Penguin, 1988. . but it is also possible Baum himself was influenced by Australia in his development of Oz.Algeo, J. "Australia as the Land of Oz". American Speech, Vol. 65, No. 1, pp. 86–89. 1990.Nova Hollandia, a former name: "New Holland" in Neo-Latin (), after the Dutch province, bestowed by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644. For the further etymology of Holland, see the Netherlands below.