Isabel Ayer, age 9, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, for her question:

What does the name Australia mean?

This name was borrowed from an old word that meant southern. And that old word was borrowed from a still older word for the south wind. Australia is way down there, south of the equator in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the world's only island that is big enough to be a continent. And it seems like a very good idea to name it Australia, the land of the South.

All the other continents were named before Australia. The big island was sighted by Dutch sailors during the 1600s, perhaps 300 years ago. They called it New Holland. They also named a nearby island Van Diemen's Land, though later this was changed to Tasmania. About 200 years ago, some people changed the name New Holland to Australia. Since 1817, Australia has been its proper name.