10 Interesting Facts about Australia
So you are thinking to visit Australia for study, work or play. You already know about how gorgeous the beaches are here, how diverse the wildlife is and how much people love their sports. But here we share some lesser-known facts to give you an even wider perspective of this most interesting and compelling country.
There are almost twice as many kangaroos as people in Australia. Yes, there are approximately 50 million kangaroos here! These are especially big numbers considering that kangaroos usually have one young annually. Fun fact: when the joey is born they are only about 2cm long and weigh less than a gram, yet they grow to be 30-40kgs as adults.
The other animal that most people think of when someone says Australia is the koala. But most would likely be surprised to find out that Australia has approximately ten times as many camels as koalas. Imported to Australia in the 19th century from Arabia, India and Afghanistan for transport and heavy work in the outback, they now number close to one million.
Australia was the second country in the world to give women the right to vote in 1902 (New Zealand being the first), and these days, once you’re registered to vote you must – otherwise you will be fined.
After the monumental reform listed above, the following year another law changed. In 1903, swimming at the beach became legal once more, after being outlawed since 1838 for public decency reasons.
You probably already know that the word ‘mate’ is commonplace but did you know that in 2005, the government issued a ban on saying the word ‘mate’ at Parliament House? The ban lasted 24 hours before it was overturned.
Australia’s first police force was made up of twelve of the most well behaved convicts. Ironic perhaps, but today Australia’s police force has quite a good reputation with locals and tourists alike.
Australia is the only continent in the world without an active volcano and its Alps receive more snowfall annually than those in Switzerland.
Melbourne has the largest Greek Australian population in Australia, and the largest Greek population of any city in the World – outside of Greece.
Bob Hawke was the Prime Minister of Australia from 1983-1991 but long before then he found another type of infamy. In 1954, he drank 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds, setting a Guinness World Record.
You could spend almost 30 years going to a new beach every day in Australia (there are 10,685 of them!). How special is that?
Hope you’ve enjoyed this article and learned something along the way! If you have any other cool, offbeat or downright strange facts, please feel free to share them in the comments.
