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Question
#46493. MackKnife
asks:
What was the original name of Australia?
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shady shaker
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New Holland.
[Apr 16 04 8:30 AM] shady shaker writes:
The Dutch were not the original settlers, but they were the first Europeans to step ashore here. I think it was William Dampier who named it New Holland when he landed at Roebuck Bay, Western Australia in 1688. Prior to him, Willem Jansz, captain of the "Duyfken" made the first known European landing on Australian soil near modern day Weipa on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Dirk Hartog and Abel Tasman were other Dutch explorers active in Australian waters.
Apr 16 04, 8:14 AM
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gmackematix
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I gather the name Australia came from the practice of referring on maps to a Terra Incognita Australis, that is an unknown southern land.
Terra Australis (also: Terra Australis Incognita (with "incognita" stressed on the second syllable), Latin for "the unknown land of the South"), was a theorized continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century. "Auster" was the Latin name for the south wind": "austral" meant "southern" and "terra australis" meant "land of the south". "Australia" is Latin for "Southland".
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Australis
[Added reference - McG]
Apr 16 04, 7:44 PM
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