An issue arose elsewhere about the largest island in the world.
I have extracted the information below from the following link. The note at the end justifies a claim made by Jack Lim.


http://worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/islands.htm

ISLANDS of the WORLD

LARGEST
A map of the largest islands here

Greenland - (840,004 sq miles) (2,175,600 sq km)
New Guinea - (303,381 sq miles) (785,753 sq km)
Borneo - (288,869 sq miles) (748,168 sq km)
Madagascar - (226,917 sq miles) (587,713 sq km)
Baffin - (194,574 sq miles) (503,944 sq km)
Sumatra - (171,069 sq miles) (443,066 sq km)
Honshu - (88,982 sq miles) (225,800 sq km)
Great Britain - (88,787 sq miles) (229,957 sq km)
Victoria - (85,154 sq miles) (220,548 sq km)
Ellesmere - (71,029 sq miles) (183,965 sq km)

NOTE: Australia is widely considered as a continental landmass, not an island. In reality, it certainly is the largest island, with a size of (2,941,517 sq miles) (7,618,493 sq km).

Point taken.
In fact I've also always wondered about the definition of "continent". It is relatively easy to see the Americas, Africa, Antarctica and Australia as land masses in their own right. I fail to discern however how geographers (or whoever proposed such a demarcation/definition) could separate Europe and Asia into different land masses.

In Australian schools, it is a tenet in geography classes that Australia is an island continent and the largest island.

I note that the figure given for Antarctica's area varies for fluctuations in its ice content. Without the ice, what would its area be? Mmm. Thawed icecaps!

Who defines land masses? Geographers, Cartographers, Geologists.........?

In my humble conceptual definition of an island, the Americas, being a linked land mass, form one island; unless the man made Panama Canal is the waterway which separates them!!

Since Africa as a land bridge to Asia then it has to be a very 'fat' peninsula. But then Asia could be a 'tumour' emanating out of Africa!

But as an island, the Afro-Euro-Asian entity should be seen as such.

I understand that one definition for an urban population to be declared a 'city' is that it must be the location of the Cathedral of the diocese. (Japan, India, China? What do you call 10, 20 million people en masse!)

Reconsider from above:
Anyway, if the puzzle "trick" is that Australia is usually NOT considered an island, it is a poor trick at that.

I'm backing away from this at this point.
I am not in a position to clarify or argue Jack's puzzle; I'm just making a stand on what is accepted here.

Often it is found, even if erroneous, but because of the vulgar acceptance and the publishing of information to be fact, information will be deemed fact though it is only subjective.

With the questions ”What is an island?” and “What is a continent?” there will be debate. The same is true for the questions “What is a hill”, “What is a mountain?”, and “What is a planet?”. Without a universal authority, these questions will always lead to no definitive answer, and, as such, there will be sometimes contradictory definitions published.

It is our duty then, when subjective terms are used, to try to provide additional information to make our use of the terms definitive.

Australia is a continent. My opinion: It is an island only in the same sense as the Eurasian Continent and Antactica are islands, as they are landmasses surrounded by water. And, as such, Austrailia can not be the biggest island.