Most of the British colonies in Australia gained responsible government in the 1850s, as did New Zealand in 1856.
This was formalised into Dominion status in the 1900s, but with the United Kingdom retaining certain (disused) powers de jure.
Although they were de facto sovereign states by the 1920s, Australia and New Zealand refused the formal recognition of their full sovereignty when offered through the Statute of Westminster in 1931, before accepting it respectively in 1942 and 1947.
Oceania continues to include a number of dependent territories controlled by colonial powers.
The region of Oceania is generally defined geographically to include the subregions of Australasia,[18] Melanesia,[19] Micronesia and Polynesia, and their respective sovereign states.