• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

word Australia

Who named Australia? [letter to the editor, 14 June 1905]

3 December 2016 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This letter to the editor was published in the The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 June 1905. The writer contends that Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (whose surname was also spelt “Queiros”) named Australia, however, it was the New Hebrides that he named “Austrialia del Espiritu … [Read more...] about Who named Australia? [letter to the editor, 14 June 1905]

Filed Under: letters to the editor Tagged With: Editor's notes additional, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (1563-1615) (subject), word Australia

[Australia’s Birth-day] [song, 3 February 1827]

12 May 2012 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: A song written in 1827, to the tune of “Patrick’s Day”, for the celebration of the founding of New South Wales. Published in The Monitor, 3 February 1827.] [Australia’s Birth-day] The following Paraphrase on one of Moore’s National Melodies, arranged expressly … [Read more...] about [Australia’s Birth-day] [song, 3 February 1827]

Filed Under: songs Tagged With: Anniversary (Australia Day), Australia Day (26 January), song, SourceTrove, word Australia, year1827

Effusions of Gratitude [poem, 30 January 1813]

11 May 2012 · 1 Comment

[Editor’s note: This 1813 poem contains a rare early usage in print of the word “Australia” (see the 4th line), especially as applied to the discovered continent (i.e. as distinct from any early references to a theoretical southern land mass); this pre-dates Matthew Flinder’s … [Read more...] about Effusions of Gratitude [poem, 30 January 1813]

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: poem, SourceTrove, word Australia, year1813

Relation of a Memorial [Captain de Quiros reports on Australia Incognita, ca.1607-1614, reprinted 1770]

11 May 2012 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This is a presentation made to King Phillip II of Spain by Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (a Portugese explorer working for the Spanish monarchy). It mentions “Australia del Espiritu Santo”, although Captain de Quiros was actually referring to the New Hebrides, which … [Read more...] about Relation of a Memorial [Captain de Quiros reports on Australia Incognita, ca.1607-1614, reprinted 1770]

Filed Under: book extracts Tagged With: Alexander Dalrymple (translator) (1737-1808), Australian explorers by sea, Editor's notes additional, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (1563-1615) (author), SourceArchiveOrg, word Australia, year1607, year1770, yearsX2

Primary Sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Writers, workers, and wages. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
Significant events and commemorative dates
A list of significant Australiana
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian explorers
Australian literature
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

Barcroft Boake
E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Died on Active Service / Heroes of the Empire [Australian military personnel (WW1, WW2), 24 April 1943]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Fossicker’s claim, Daylesford [postcard, circa 1905-1912]
  • The Bathing Beach Flinders [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • The Lass of Yackandandah [poem, 11 June 1857]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Australian slang, words, and phrases
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Drop Bears

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • Keith Street on Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • IAC on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Paul on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Floyd Black on Eurunderee [poem by Henry Lawson]
  • Warren fahey on The Institute of Australian Culture: An introduction

For Australia

Copyright © 2025 · Log in