# Australian Door Knobs! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115 "2022-03-15T14:55:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/21 "2022-03-17T18:27:24Z")
But the knobs turn the opposite direction because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/22 "2022-03-17T18:29:42Z")
I assume in Australia, the latch is in the doorjamb and extends into the door, rather than vice versa as in the Northern Hemisphere? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/23 "2022-03-17T20:04:20Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > But the knobs turn the opposite direction because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere. This is the prime reason Australia has been such an early and strong adapter of digital technology, because in Australia clocks run anti-clockwise. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/24 "2022-03-17T21:27:23Z")
Which way to racehorses run around a racetrack in Oz? Which way do carousels turn? Compare with America. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2022, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/25 "2022-03-17T21:31:31Z")
Was there any prevalence of “Dutch doors”, that is doors which were split into two halves, so putting the doorknob in the middle of the top half would make much higher. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/26 "2022-03-18T01:04:59Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Which way to racehorses run around a racetrack in Oz? Which way do carousels turn? Compare with America. Racetracks in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia are designed to be raced on in an anti-clockwise direction, while Queensland and New South Wales racecourses are clockwise. Merry-go-rounds/carousels I’ve seen are clockwise - IIRC, it’s been a long while! > [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Was there any prevalence of “Dutch doors”, that is doors which were split into two halves, so putting the doorknob in the middle of the top half would make much higher. I don’t recall ever seeing one in Australia, outside of say a barn. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2022, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/27 "2022-03-18T01:06:02Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Which way to racehorses run around a racetrack in Oz? Which way do carousels turn? Compare with America. [Racetracks](https://horseracing.com.au/racecourses/#:~:text=Racetracks%20in%20Victoria%2C%20South%20Australia,Flemington%20Racecourse%20in%20Melbourne%2C%20Victoria.) Racetracks in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia are designed to be raced on in an anti-clockwise direction, while Queensland and New South Wales racecourses are clockwise. Am sure there are exceptions but … Carousels turn clockwise while Merry-Go-Rounds turn counter-clockwise Making no comparisons to the US, just telling you like it is. ninja’d by @Askance ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2022, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/28 "2022-03-18T03:42:48Z")
@Askance and @penultima_thule – Why are racetracks different in different regions of the country? That seems odd. I’ve never been to a horse race, but I think all horse racetracks in the United States go counter-clockwise. Carousels go counter-clockwise in the United States. If I understand right, they go clockwise everywhere else in the world. This means the horses on the carousels have to be painted and decorated differently depending on what country they are in, as the show-side and off-side are opposite here vs elsewhere. I’ve always assumed that carousels are made to go the way they do, to mimic live horse tracks. As far is I know, carousels and merry-go-rounds are kinda-sorta used interchangeably here. Why would there be a difference between carousels and merry-go-rounds in which way they go? As everyone knows, we Mercans do all kinds of things bass-ackwards from all or most of the rest of the world. We drive on the right. We flip light switches up to turn lights on, down to turn them off. Our carousels go the other way. We write numbers like 123,456,789.12 instead of 123.456.789,12 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2022, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/29 "2022-03-18T04:58:41Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I’ve never been to a horse race, but I think all horse racetracks in the United States go counter-clockwise. They all do, including those in Canada. I believe those in South America do too, if what I’ve seen of Chilean and Brazilian racing (never been to any of those, but my local race book has CCTV coverage, current tote odds, and will accept wagers on tracks there). Not only that, the vast majority of the tracks in North America are perfectly oval and flat (well, banked, but elevation doesn’t change, except at Santa Anita’s downhill turf), with only a few exceptions to being oval–Kentucky Downs comes to mind, as does the downhill turf course at Santa Anita, and the outer turf course at Woodbine. But even at those, the running direction is counter-clockwise. I have attended Australian races at Belmont Park, in Perth, Australia, and the track is not an oval. Well, it kinda-sorta is, but not perfectly, like North American tracks. Plus, the elevation changes over the length of the course. Not by much, but it does change. Still, the horses run counter-clockwise, and on my days at the races in Perth, I was able to win a few dollars–once I figured out how to bet races where everything was measured in metric. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2022, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115/30 "2022-03-18T05:05:54Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Why are racetracks different in different regions of the country? That seems odd. Like the USA, Australia was separate states before federating to become a nation. For us it happened in 1901, not the the 1780s, so the states had already bedded in such decisions - every state had a different rail gauge, for instance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-door-knobs/961115.md?page=1)