Is it generally accepted to call the Australian continent "Oceania"?

Question

My daughter has an electronic LeapFrog Explorer Globe. When clicking on Australia, it identifies that continent as Oceania.

I was taught that there are seven continents and Australia is one of them. Is this the new way of referencing that area to include New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and all the other islands? Or is it not that common to call the area Oceania?

Answer 1

I have never before heard it called Oceania.  I looked up Oceania and found the the Continent of Australia is within it, but I don't think people refer to Australia as Oceania.  The site showing Oceania is shown in Sources.

Answer 2

The term 'oceania' is used to group the island nations of the South Pacific with Australia and New Zealand into a convenient socio-economic (and also international sporting) unit for convenience. The south pacific island nations are scattered over a wide area, and are not large enough to be considered socio-economic units in their own right (but each nation is independent, politically and econiomically).

Both Australia and New Zealand have large enough populations and levels of economic activity to be considered separately, but all the island nations put together are still not large enough; therefore they are lumped together with Australai and New Zealand as 'Oceania'.

It is also a convenient way of distiguishing the island nations from Asia (eg, the Phillipines and Japan are part of Asia; not oceania).  Another term 'Australasia' is used to group Australia and New Zealand with eastern Asia, as an economic unit (there is a lot of trade between the Australasian countries).

Australians and New Zealanders do not think of themselves as being 'oceanic'.  There is no geographic basis to consider Oceania as being included as part of the Australian continent.  In fact, the island nations themselves are oceanic, in that they are situated on an oceanic crustal plate, rather than the Asian or Australian continental plate.  In this geographical context, 'Oceania' should be considered separate from Australia.

Answer 3

I understand that Oceania refers to the continent of Australia along with the region and islands surrounding it (New Zealand, the islands that make up Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, etc.).  

I may be wrong of course!!  :)  The reason I know of it at all is because my husband and I are newly stationed in Guam!

Answer 4

Oceania (sometimes Oceanica) is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term is often used in many languages to define one of the continents and is one of eight terrestrial ecozones.

Ethnologically, the islands that are included in Oceania are divided into the subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

The exact scope of Oceania is variably defined: it generally includes New Zealand, is often taken to include parts of Australasia such as Australia and New Guinea, and sometimes all or part of the Malay Archipelago.

Originally coined by the French explorer Dumont d'Urville in 1831, Oceania has been traditionally divided into Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. As with any region, however, interpretations vary; increasingly, geographers and scientists divide Oceania into Near Oceania and Remote Oceania.

Most of Oceania consists of island nations composed of thousands of coral atolls and volcanic islands, with small human populations.

Australia is the only continental country but Indonesia has land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. If the Australia-New Guinea continent is included then the highest point is Puncak Jaya in Papua at 4,884 m (16,024 ft) and the lowest point is Lake Eyre, Australia at 16 m (52 ft) below sea level.

Answer 5

yes

Answer 6

I wouldn't say that.

Australia is a continent, and New Zealand and the Pacific Islands would be part of the Australian continent, much like Hawaii is part of the North American continent.

Oceania is widely seen as a region in the world, such as the Middle East or Southeast Asia, not officially a continent.