Australia
Australia is the smallest of the seven continents on Earth.
The first people to discover and settle Australia about 50,000 years ago were the ancestors of the Aboriginal Australians.
The discovery by the Europeans was a long time coming. It was not until 1606 that Dutch and Spanish explorers landed on the continent. In 1770 James Cook, a colorful figure in British colonial history, was in search for the predicted Great South Land. He came across a vast stretch of unknown land when he arrived on the east coast of Australia, and in the usual blunt British fashion, he claimed the territory for the British Crown.
Between 1788 and 1868 the British used Australia as a penal colony. Australia became independent from the UK in several stages, only on the 3rd March 1986, Australia achieved complete independence from Britain.
Oceania
There are a variety of definitions of Oceania. The most plausible is to refer to the vast regions, island territories and adjacent seas in the Pacific Ocean, east of Maritime Southeast Asia and Australia and west of South America.
How many countries are there in Oceania?
There are 14 independent countries and several dependent territories.
Area
Oceania covers an area of approximately 100 million square kilometers, this is about one-fifth of Earth's surface area.
The water-continent includes more than 10,000 islands. With a total land area (excluding Australia, but including Papua New Guinea and New Zealand) of approximately 822,800 km² (317,700 sq mi), it is slightly larger than Turkey or somewhat smaller than half of Alaska.
By far the largest country by area is Australia with 7,692,024 km², followed by Papua New Guinea with 462,840 km² and New Zealand (270,467 km²).
The smallest independent country in Oceania is the island nation of Nauru, it covers an area of 21 km² (8 sq mi).
Countries In Oceania
Other territories
via NationsOnline.org, Worldometers.info