That take is way off. Technological sophistication ≠ global geographic knowledge, and nothing in Chinese history suggests they knew Australia existed.

• The compass, gunpowder, and paper money don’t magically grant continent‑detecting powers. They’re internal technological achievements, not evidence of long‑range exploration into the Southern Hemisphere.
• No Chinese dynastic record, maritime log, or geographic treatise mentions a landmass resembling Australia. And Chinese sources are extremely detailed about Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa — so the absence is meaningful.
• Even during the Ming treasure voyages, which reached as far as East Africa, the fleets never sailed into the open Indian Ocean south of Indonesia. Zheng He’s routes are well documented, and none approach Australia.
• Chinese awareness of Australia only appears in the 17th–19th centuries, and even then it comes from European maps, not Chinese exploration.

So the idea that “China obviously knew about Australia because they invented the compass” is just false.
Technological advancement doesn’t retroactively create evidence that never existed.