Australia is not part of Asia. Nor is it, as is sometimes suggested, an extension of or an appendage to the Asian continent. In making so unqualified an assertion, one is not seeking to take refuge in the traditional acceptance of continental nomenclature nor in the existence of the narrow straits that separate the East Indies from Australia. The implication is that from almost every conceivable point of view the lands on either side of the Arafura Sea are fundamentally different in character.