I can throw some light on that. Actually inside America is one of the most isolated places on the planet. After much travelling there, it is true that many ordinary Americans do not know where we are, but even more so, they have no concept of Australia's size.
But that is not the case in Canada. A few years ago I competed in the Targa Newfoundland. Many of the controls were at schools and community halls. We were mobbed by school kids at every stop. With an 'Australia' sticker on our Ford Thunderbird, I made a point of asking them if they knew where Australia was, and surprisingly for such a remote place, almost all did.
In America the only stories I have seen on TV about Australia have been animal stories.
