Facts About Australia

Australia is a strange and unique land in many ways. Even the name of our country is unique. The name ‘Australia’ means ‘Terra Australis Incognito’ in Latin, translated to ‘Unknown Southern Land’ in English. Learn some fascinating facts about Australia you might not have heard before.

People

• The average Australian drinks 96 litres of beer in a year.
• Australians speak over 200 diverse languages and dialects which include 45 indigenous languages, Greek, Italian, Arabic, Maltese, Cantonese, Mandarin and
• Australia houses the highest percentage of migrants in a developed nation globally, with 25% of the population being born in other nations.
• Harold Holt, the prime minister of Australia in 1967, mysteriously disappeared while swimming at a Victorian beach. There have been many theories formulated as to what happened to him, but he was never seen
• In 1964, an Australian athlete, Reg Spiers, posted himself home to Adelaide from London because he lacked the money to pay for a flight. He arrived safely without being detected.

Places

• The world’s largest cattle station of 30,028 square kilometres, almost the same size as Belgium is in Australia.
• Australia has the world’s longest golf course more than 1367 kilometres
• The world’s largest structure built by living organisms is the Great Barrier Reef on Australia’s east coast. It is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World.
• Australia has around 10,000 beaches! That means if you visited a different one every day, it would take you slightly over 27 years.
• Although Australia is thought of as a hot land, a larger area of snow falls on the Australian Alps than on Switzerland.
• The richest city in the world in 1880 was Melbourne
• Today, Sydney has a higher population than the whole of Australia 100 years ago.
• Tasmania is reported as having the cleanest air and is among the places with the cleanest fresh water, worldwide.
• Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, at 3.6 km long, 1.9 km wide, 9.4 km around and 348 metres high, is the biggest monolith in the world.
• A perfect sphere would result if the sails of the Sydney Opera House were fused together. It is claimed that the architect, Jorn Utzon, was inspired with the design while peeling an orange.

Wild Life

• In Australia, more people die from the sting of the box jellyfish than by a combination of crocodiles, sharks or stonefish.
• Australian native animals, the platypus and echidna are the only two living mammals in the world that lay eggs.
• The amazing male lyrebird can imitate the calls of at least twenty other species of birds, and other sounds it hears like cameras, chain saws, car alarms and human voices.
• The fact that kangaroos and emus can only move forwards is one of the reasons they were placed on the Australian coat of arms. This is meant to signify that Australia is a land of progress and isn’t going backwards.
• Australia is the home of 4000 species of ants, 6000 species of flies and 350 species of termites.

History

• The first police force in Australia consisted of twelve of the most cooperative convicts.
• A new rule in 2005 banning Parliament House security guards from calling visitors ‘mate’ only lasted for one day.
• In 1940, two aircraft that collided and became stuck together in midair were able to land safely instead of crashing.
• Because of arguments between Sydney and Melbourne as to which city should become the capital of Australia, Canberra was chosen
• In 1902, Australia became the second nation to allow women to vote.
• In 1788, two French ships arrived in Botany Bay, just two days late to claim Australia for France. The country had already been claimed by Britain on the 26^th January
• In 1969, the first photos of the moon landing were broadcast from Honeysuckle Tracking Station near Canberra.