How Many Countries on the Continent of Australia?

Question

Pretty sure it's one and it's called Australia, but I just heard different.

Answer 1

What do you mean countries? Australia is just a single country..the land mass whole chunk of island itself...it's called the Continent of Oceania, NOT Australia

Australia has 7 States, NOT provinces. It's only Canada that has provinces

Answer 2

Australia is the only one.  The countries of Tazmania and New Zealand are very near by.

Answer 3

In geology and biogeography, Australia (also called Australia-New Guinea, Sahul, Meganesia, Greater Australia, or Australinea) is a continent comprising (in order of size) the Australian mainland, New Guinea, Tasmania, and intervening islands, all of which sit on the same continental shelf. These landmasses are separated by seas overlying the continental shelf — the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, and Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania.

Answer 4

The "Commonwealth of Australia" is a sovereign nation whose territory occupies 100% of the land area of the continent of Australia.

Another answer mentioned that Papua New Guinea is an island that is part of the Australia continent because it shares the same tectonic landmass and is connected by a shallow continental shelf.  While this is true geologically, most widely accepted definitions of continents do not include island areas.  An example of this is that while the British Isles are tectonically a part of the European landmass and are part of the European region, they specifically refer to the mainland as "the continent".

So, the answer to your question using most definitions is "one", but if you use a more narrow geologic definition of what a continent is (which is actually not a good definition at all), it could be argued "three" (Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea).

Answer 5

Your question has been answered here correctly several times. (i.e. one) I just wanted to say how bemusing it is reading some of the responses. One can only hope that most people are joking, namely Dad, Leo M and anyone else who thought it relevant to mention other countries such as Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Timor, etc... my gosh !

Answer 6

One.

Australia is the name of both the Continent and the Country.  It is the only continent that is also a single country.

Note:  Australia has states not provinces.  Papua New Guinea and other Islands are not parts of continents by most general definitions of what makes up a continent.  A continent is a single very large land mass surrounded by water.   The tectonic plates do not come into it in a geographic definition.

post edit:

Leo M -  Tasmania is a state of the commonwealth of Australia.  Wishing they were independent will not make it so.   In case anyone was wondering, New Zealand actually is an independent country.   Half of them just like living in Australia better is all.

Answer 7

One.  Did you know Austrailia started out as a prison colony for the USA?

Answer 8

well its one country, but 7 provinces

Answer 9

The continent of Australia consists of mainland Australia, Tasmania and the island of New Guinea. Mainland Australia and Tasmania are part of the Commonwealth of Australia which is a sovereign nation comprising of 6 states and 2 territories. The island of New Guinea is split in two with the eastern half forming the independent nation of Papua New Guinea and the western half belonging to Indonesia. In some definitions New Zealand and other pacific islands are included as part of the continent but this is actually inaccurate because New Zealand and most pacific islands are not found on the same continental shelf as Australia. The term Australasia or Oceania is a region which includes the continent of Australia, New Zealand and the pacific islands.

Answer 10

Australia is a continent. It does not include new guinea, or any other country It is the only continent which only has one country on it. Any deviation to this statement comes from jealousy of other countries which don't have their own continents.

WSe do not have provinces here however there are geological provinces mentioned on the government website, reference below.

It currently has has six states and two main territories. The Australian Capital Territory is quite small and the capital of Australia, Canberra, is there.

The Northern Territory is large and is currently trying to get statehood. If it achieves this it will become our 7th state. It achieved self government in 1978 but remains under Canberra's control.

There is also the Australian Antarctic Territory, not part of the continent of Australia and an extremely small territory called Jervis Bay Territory which was created to give the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) a sea port.