Fun Facts about Australia

This page covers the fun facts about Australia. Australian people aren't a very serious bunch generally speaking and Australian humour is unique so I thought it might be a bit of a laugh to include some of the amusing and different things about us.

Australia's greatest folk hero was a bushranger
named Ned Kelly who was finally captured at
Glenrowan Victoria and hanged at the
Melbourne Gaol (jail) on the 11th November 1880
where his last words were "Such is life"....
you gotta love that!

It was estimated in 2007 that 22 per cent of Australians had a convict ancestor.

During a chapel service in 1832 about 300 female convicts at the Cascade Female Factory mooned the Governor of Tasmania. Apparently the ladies in the Governor's party couldn't control their laughter. Now that's one of the fun facts about Australia.

When the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932 a retired cavalry officer named Francis De Groot was part of the honour guard and as the ribbon was about to be cut he galloped his horse forward and cut the ribbon with his sword.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is affectionately known as the Coathanger.

Another one of the fun facts about Australia is Australians often use opposites to describe people like a redhead is called "Blue" or "Bluey", a bald bloke will be called "Curly", a tall man will be called "Shorty", a silent fella will be nicknamed "Rowdy' and bastard is often used as a term of endearment.

I'm not sure if a lot of people would class this as one of the fun facts about Australia but it's certainly interesting. The first European settlers in Australia apparently drank more alcohol per head of population than any other people in the history of mankind.

One of our former Prime Ministers Bob Hawke was in the Guinness Book of World Records In 1954 because he drank 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds ......Mind you it was before he became Prime Minister.... but we probably wouldn't have cared anyway.

Another one of our politicians Sir John Robertson who was five time Premier of New South Wales drank a pint of rum every morning for 35 years. He was known to have said: 'none of the men who have left footprints in this country have been cold water men.'

Included in fun facts about Australia is the different sense of humour most Australian people have.

Because of that sense of humour when the Governor General was obviously drunk at the opening of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and he pronounced Sydney "Sa-sa-Sydney" and then knocked the microphone most Australians weren't ashamed or concerned we just found it funny and laughed about how he could get a job as a rapper if he got sacked for being pissed on the job.

Another of the fun facts about Australia is we love our unique and sometimes crazy sporting events including some of the most unusual races found anywhere in the world like the Cane Toad racing at Magnetic Island, the Cockroach World Championship held in Brisbane every Australia Day, the Pig racing at The Royal Melbourne Show and many more; some of which I've listed below.

image courtesy of wikipedia

Held in the Northern Territory with proceeds going to the Lions Club for their various local charities is the annual Darwin Beer Can Regatta. Held at Mindil Beach all the "boats" are made from used beer cans..... or if the kids want to be a part of the fun they can make their vessels out of soft drink cans... the "boats" are then "raced" in the shallows with hilarious consequences.

The Henley on Todd Regatta or The Todd River Race is a another unique and hilarious "boat" race that is held annually in the dry sandy bed of the Todd River in Alice Springs with the proceeds going to selected humanitarian projects. The race started in 1962 as a bit of a joke aimed at the famous boating regatta called Henley-on-Thames held between Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England.

Every July Alice Springs in the Northern Territory holds The Alice Springs Camel Cup. The first Camel Race was run in 1970 and started out as a bet between two Alice Springs mates but has since grown to be an entertaining fun yearly event with all the proceeds from the day going to the Lions Club to be distributed to local charities.

The Compass Cup is called Australia's only cow race and has been held every year since 1974 in Mount Compass South Australia. The rider who stays on the longest is the winner and because cows can be stubborn and unpredictable this is not easy sometimes. The event raises money for charity.

In 2005 the Australian Government decided that the security guards in Parliament House in Canberra were banned from calling politicians and members of the public "mate'. The ridiculous ban was lifted after only 24 hours ..... A lot of Australian people use "mate" without even thinking about it.

Fun facts about Australia has to include our fascination with Big Things. There's the Big Banana, the Big Pineapple, the Big Orange, the Big Rocking Horse, the Big Axe (pictured above), the Big Lobster, the Big Prawn, the Big Golden Guitar, the Big Merino and the list goes on. There is estimated to be about 150 Big Things in Australia.

Australia's favourite breakfast spread is Vegemite, which is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract. Vegemite is almost black in colour and tastes very salty. Most people that are not from Australia find it hard to believe that we love it as much as we do .... but like most Australian people I couldn't get by without good old Vegemite on my toast in the mornings!

A thong in Australia refers to rubber footwear and not a pair of tiny bum less knickers as it does America.

Besides Athens in Greece the largest Greek population in the world can be found in Melbourne Victoria.

There are many more sheep in Australia then people; about 10 sheep for every person. But we still give New Zealanders heaps (a hard time) about their sheep.

When the English first saw a specimen of platypus they believed the Australians were playing a joke on them by sewing the bill of a duck onto a rat.

The Australian Wombat has square poos that they use to mark the boundaries of their territory.