Australasia

AUSTRALASIA. - With this term some geographers designate Indonesia or the Indian Archipelago (Dutch Indies); others, however, use it for the whole of Australia, the Malay Archipelago (Philippines and Indonesia) and the islands of Oceania. Ecclesiastically the term A. is given to the Apostolic Delegation, erected on 15 April 1914 for Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, and later extended (20 May 1919) to the missions of insular Oceania and of Malaysia, except (1921) the Apostolic Vicariate of the Marianas, Carolines and Marshalls, annexed to the Apostolic Delegation of Japan; that of the Sandwich Islands or Hawaii, then annexed to the Delegation of the United States, from 1941 no longer a vicariate but the diocese of Honolulu, suffragan of San Francisco; and that of Guam, which passed under the Delegation of the Philippines. By decree of the S. Congregation of Propaganda Fide dated 8 June 1947, the Apostolic Delegation of the Indonesian Archipelago was erected with its seat at Batavia for the Dutch Indies, which were thereby withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Delegation of A., which by another decree of the same date took the name of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. See the individual entries: AUSTRALIA, INDONESIA, OCEANIA.