AUSTRALIA — Australia was previously named New Holland by the Dutch sea explorers who landed on the western coast in the early 1600s. James Cook claimed the eastern coast of the continent for England in 1770, naming it New South Wales.
After the First Fleet arrived in 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip was given orders to extend the claim further west. The western half of the continent continued to be known as New Holland, and the eastern half was New South Wales.
Matthew Flinders became the first explorer to circumnavigate the entire continent, doing so between 1801 and 1803. After being wrongly imprisoned by the French for seven years, accused of being a spy, Flinders returned to England.
In 1810 he wrote an account of his expeditions, ‘A Voyage to Terra Australis’. It was in this account that Flinders proposed the name ‘Terra Australis’ or ‘Australia’ be adopted for the southern continent.
There were many supporters of his proposal in England, but wealthy sponsor Sir Joseph Banks did not support his suggestion. Flinders died before the new name of the continent could be decided upon.
It was Governor Lachlan Macquarie who, impressed by Flinders’ arguments, advocated that the name ‘Australia’ be adopted, and began to use this term regularly. In an official dispatch dated September 21, 1817, Macquarie stated:
“I hope [Australia] will be the Name given to this Country in future, instead of the very erroneous and misapplied name hitherto given to it of “New Holland” which properly speaking only applies to a part of this immense Continent.”
