Facts About Australian Animals

 There are three times as many sheep than people living in Australia
 The Australian Emu – a large, flightless bird – can run as fast as 45km/h
(28mph)
 Platypus are highly poisonous, and have enough poison to kill a dog or make
a human seriously ill
 Wombat poo is shaped like a cube!
 The Box Jellyfish – which is found in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef – is
responsible for more deaths than snakes, sharks and saltwater crocodiles
combined
 If you ever get attacked by a crocodile, try pushing your finger into its eye to
deter it
 The record jump recorded by a kangaroo is a whopping 9 metres (30 feet) in a
single leap!
 Two native Australian animals, Platypus and Echidnas, are the only two
mammals in the world that lay eggs to give birth
 Koalas sleep for about 20 hours per day
 Tasmanian Devils have the strongest bite per body size of any mammal
 There are 4 different species of kangaroo in Australia, with the Red Kangaroo
being the largest. The largest Big Red ever seen was 2.1m tall (6ft 9in) and
weighed 91kgs (200lbs)!
 The Australian Thorny Devil is one of the longest-lived lizards of its size in the
world, with a lifespan of up to 20 years
 The Kangaroo and Emu were chosen to be the two animals on the Australian
Coat of Arms because they can't walk backwards, reflecting a forward-thinking
culture
 17 of the world's most poisonous snakes can be found in Australia
 Insects and arachnids – Australia is home to around 1,500 types of spiders,
4,000 types of ants and 350 types of termites
 While Kangaroos are considered a national icon, with over 40 million
estimated throughout the country, they can also be considered a pest in some
locations and are sometimes culled
 Australia has a larger population of camels than Egypt

Facts About Australian Laws

 Voting in elections in Australia is compulsory (you don't have a choice) for
everyone 18 years of age and over, with an initial fine of $72 issued for non-
voters. Despite this, only around 81% of eligible Aussie voters cast their vote
  Australia was the second country in the world to grant women the right to vote;
this occurred in 1894
 In 2005, the government issued a ban on saying the word 'mate' at Parliament
House. The ban lasted 24 hours before it was overturned.
 Swimming at public beaches in Australia during the day was made illegal for
64 years

 The legal drinking age in Australia is 18 years old

 Australia officially became a federation in 1901
 Only licensed electricians are legally allowed to change a lightbulb in Australia
 Australia's first police force was made up of 12 convicts who were judged to
be the best behaved

Facts About Australian People

 Over 25% of Australia's residents were born overseas as of 2012 – a number
that is expected to increase rapidly
 Someone from Sydney is typically referred to as a Sydney-sider
 Those from Queensland are nicknamed Banana Benders
 A person from Melbourne is called a Melbournian
 Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke once held the Guiness World
Record for the fastest beer sculling, downing 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds
(he recreated the legendary feat at the SCG in January 2017)
 Despite being a massive continent, 90% of Australia's population live on the
coast due to the majority of the interior being a vast desert

 Australia's Aboriginal people are estimated to have lived here for roughly
50,000 years.
 The average Australian will eat the equivalent of 18 full cows and 90 full sheep
in his or her lifetime.
 After Athens, Melbourne has the world's largest Greek population.
 Australia has one of the world's lowest population densities – it's size is only a
bit smaller than the USA, yet the population is only around 23 million, as
opposed to 313 million in the United States.
 Despite its image as a sporting nation, Australia has the highest rate of obesity
in the world, with 63.4% of the population clocking in overweight.
 Perhaps, on a related note, the average Australian drinks 83 litres of beer per
year
 In Aboriginal culture, women are not permitted to play the didgeridoo
Facts About Australian Language and
Slang
 Australians generally use British English for the majority of language, with
'colour' and similar words spelled with a 'u', while words such as 'specialised'
use an 's' as opposed to a 'z'
 Some popular Aussie words/terms and their meanings:
 G'day - good morning or hello
 Arvo - afternoon
 Mate - friend
 Cheers - thank you
 She'll be right - it will be OK
 Barbie - barbecue
 Mozzie - mosquito
 Bloody oath - hell yeah
 Thongs - flip flops
 Ta - thanks
 Bogan - redneck
 Australia as a name comes from the latin terra australis incognita meaning
„unknown southern island“.

Facts about Australian Nature and

Land
 Australia is the driest of any continent on earth other than Antarctica
 The Great Barrier Reef is regarded as the world's largest living organism, and
is often listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World
 Australia is the only continent covered by a single country
 The highest mountain in Australia is Mt Kosciuszko, which stands 2228m high.
Australia as a whole is a fairly flat country, with relatively few mountain ranges
given its size.
 The Daintree Rainforest, found in tropical north Queensland, is the country's
largest and covers around 1,200 square kilometres
 The Aussie state of Tasmania has the world's cleanest air
 While mining is one of Australia's biggest industries, more land is covered by
pubs than mines
 Uluru (Ayers Rock) is known as the largest monolith in the world and is over
8km wide at its widest point

 Australia is home to the world's largest cattle ranch – which is bigger than the
entire country of Belgium
 Australia is the 6th largest country in the world in terms of land area
 Australia's dingo fence is longer than the Great Wall of China
 South Australia is the driest state in Australia
 The Murray River is the longest river in Australia, with a length of 2,995 km
 The Nullarbor Plain is home to the longest straight road in the world, at 146km
long
 Australia is the only continent in the world without an active volcano
 Australia's alps receive more snowfall annually than those in Switzerland
 The termite mounds that can be found in Australia are the tallest animal-made
structures on Earth