Australia is a continent and an island located in Oceania between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. It shares its name with the country that claims control over it. Properly called the Commonwealth of Australia, its territory consists of the entire continent and smaller outlying islands.

Australia is geographically positioned both in the Southern and Eastern hemispheres of the Earth. It is completely surrounded by the Indian and Pacific Oceans and a series of bays, gulfs, seas and straits and is situated to the south of Maritime Southeast Asia and to the north of the Antactic.