Australia comes from the Latin word for "of the south." Geologically,
Earth's smallest continent consists of the large island of Australia,
plus New Guinea, Tasmania, and a number of smaller islands that occupy
the same continental shelf. During the Pleistocene ice age, geological
Australia was a single land mass.
Australia has been inhabited
for forty to fifty thousand years. Major British settlement began in
1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of Sydney.
Oceania
consists of Australia and the islands of the Pacific. It's been divided
into Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
a few things said by people of Oceania:
“We
are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through.
Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then
we return home.” —Australian saying
“The more you know, the less you need” —Australian saying
"Those who lose dreaming are lost." — Australian saying
"Do not disturb the water that is tranquil." —Hawaiian saying
"If you have, give; if you lack, seek." —Malay saying
"One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind." —Malay saying