# Australians: Share With Us Foreigners Facts and Trivia About Your Country. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959 "2006-07-18T02:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/1 "2006-07-18T02:42:51Z")
Share facts and trivia about your country. Don’t let the Canadians get all the attention! ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/2 "2006-07-18T03:40:36Z")
My favorite anecdote about Australia is the one that Bill Bryson opens his [book](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767903862/sr=1-1/qid=1153193904/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0502755-7852151?ie=UTF8&s=books) on the country with: the country actually _lost_ one of its prime minister. [Harold Holt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Holt) went for a swim one sunny morning in 1967, dived beneath a wave…and was never seen again. And then they named a memorial _swimming pool_ after him in Melbourne! I should note that I’m not Australian, but I’m not Canadian either and I posted in that thread too. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/3 "2006-07-18T03:43:04Z")
[We lose Prime Ministers.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Holt#Disappearance) ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/4 "2006-07-18T03:44:20Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > My favorite anecdote about Australia is the one that Bill Bryson opens his [book](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767903862/sr=1-1/qid=1153193904/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0502755-7852151?ie=UTF8&s=books) on the country with: the country actually _lost_ one of its prime minister. [Harold Holt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Holt) went for a swim one sunny morning in 1967, dived beneath a wave…and was never seen again. And then they named a memorial _swimming pool_ after him in Melbourne! > > I should note that I’m not Australian, but I’m not Canadian either and I posted in that thread too. :dubious: You tart. That’ll teach me to type up my post and wander away. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/5 "2006-07-18T03:49:27Z")
They are all probably sleeping now, or otherwise engaged. 😉 There was one of these “Ask the Aussie” threads a few years ago that was very informative. They told of certain spiders, snakes and the dreaded Drop Bears, an animal that lurks in the branches of trees and drops on unsuspecting humans that happen to stroll beneath. I think the bears have sex with your ear after they drop on you, or something gross like that. Anyway, I kinda’ changed my plans to take a trip Down Under. Unless maybe I’ll go to see the Kiwis. ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/6 "2006-07-18T04:48:11Z")
Au contraire, it is 2:30pm here (Eastern Australia) and we’re probably just mostly finished with our lunch breaks and back at work. My brain however is engaged in a typical mid-afternoon lull and can only remember fairly standard non-interesting factoids. Taunt not the Drop Bears. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/7 "2006-07-18T05:25:09Z")
> [@Buckler of Swashing](#): > > Taunt not the Drop Bears. Oh, I have no intention of taunting them. And what was it about the “Red Guy” spiders; something like that, that hang around under toilet seats and will bite you on the butt if you don’t check for them before sitting down? :eek: :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/8 "2006-07-18T05:35:15Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > They are all probably sleeping now, or otherwise engaged. 😉 > > There was one of these “Ask the Aussie” threads a few years ago that was very informative. > > They told of certain spiders, snakes and the dreaded Drop Bears, an animal that lurks in the branches of trees and drops on unsuspecting humans that happen to stroll beneath. I think the bears have sex with your ear after they drop on you, or something gross like that. > > Anyway, I kinda’ changed my plans to take a trip Down Under. Unless maybe I’ll go to see the Kiwis. It’s not all dangerous. The following Aussie icons hail from our shores. Bands such as Crowded House, Split Enz and Dragon. The actors Russel Crowe and Sam Neil. The racehorse Phar Lap and of course the Pavlova dessert. And we love stirring Kiwis. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/9 "2006-07-18T05:40:56Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > Oh, I have no intention of taunting them. And what was it about the “Red Guy” spiders; something like that, that hang around under toilet seats and will bite you on the butt if you don’t check for them before sitting down? :eek: :eek: :eek: That’s Redback spiders. They’re from the same family as the American Black Widow, but are distinguished by a red stripe on the back of their abdomen. The whole toilet seat thing is more urban (actually, probably rural) legend than anything else. I’ve seen redbacks in outdoor toilet stalls, but it was usually in a corner of the stall, never under the actual seat. Australia certainly has plenty of scary spiders and some very venomous snakes, but in all my years growing up there i think the animal that caused me the most grief was the bulldog ant. Bulldog ant is actually a sort of generic name we give to ants from the subfamily Myrmecia. They are large (up to one a half inches long), aggressive ants with a powerful sting, and if you step on a nest of them you will be in severe pain in very short order. I speak from childhood experience. [Red Bull ant](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/Red_bull_ant.jpg) [Jumper ant, or Jumping Jack](http://www.geocities.com/brisbane_ants/images/Bulldo9.jpg) [Bulldog ant mandibles](http://www.no-pest.com/Bulldoganthead.jpg) For something less painful, check out the mimicry of the Australian lyrebird in [this incfredible video clip](http://www.devilducky.com/media/46386/). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/10 "2006-07-18T06:03:39Z")
(Going by memory from an old _National Lampoon_ piece on “Unwanted Foreigners”) Some of the colorful forms of native wildlife have up to nine assholes, the Australian dialect has more than 90 words for “vomit,” and the recent destruction of Darwin by a hurricane was actually a cover story for a regrettable coincidence of paydays on three separate sheep stations. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/11 "2006-07-18T11:58:46Z")
I’m sure **C3** will be along in a minute… American in Australia - things that I notice. Cookies are biscuits, biscuits are scones and scones are rock cakes. Nobody but my husband (for some weird reason) actually says “Gidday” much at all. Few people talk like Steve Irwin, but some do. Victorians are perjoritavely called Mexicans (since they live south of the New South Wales border.) Queenslanders are called Banana Benders (in the same vein, as they have supposedly nothing better to do than put the bends in bananas.) McDonalds as a “McOz” burger, which is pretty much like a regular burger, only with beetroot. (Pickled beets). There’s a few things. I have seen one snake, a heap of kangaroos, and many large dark spiders which I declined to identify more closely. Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/12 "2006-07-18T11:59:54Z")
> [@antechinus](#): > > It’s not all dangerous. The following Aussie icons hail from our shores. Bands such as Crowded House, Split Enz and Dragon. The actors Russel Crowe and Sam Neil. The racehorse Phar Lap and of course the Pavlova dessert. > > And we love stirring Kiwis. Hah, you can KEEP Russel Crowe, but hands off Sam Neil! Aussies make enough movies to have an awards night in which Joan Rivers shows up [masterfully drunk](http://www.avclub.com/content/node/48354). They also make some nice films. (See _Somersault_, also _The Castle._) ---
**Author:** ![Eolbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@Eolbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eolbo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/13 "2006-07-18T12:28:25Z")
Hmm what’s to say? Strewth, here in godzone the sheilas are bonzer, and we don’t even spit the dummy when septics come the raw prawn. Kenoath we don’t. We are girt by sea and pissed by lunchtime. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/14 "2006-07-18T12:30:30Z")
> [@antechinus](#): > > The racehorse Phar Lap From a British point of view I woud add [Choisir.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/3004046.stm) And, with respect, the Australian cricket team. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/15 "2006-07-18T12:31:25Z")
> [@Eolbo](#): > > Hmm what’s to say? Strewth, here in godzone the sheilas are bonzer, and we don’t even spit the dummy when septics come the raw prawn. Kenoath we don’t. We are girt by sea and pissed by lunchtime. I understood every word of that, without even thinking about it. Its only taken me three years! I may officially be an Aussie by now. Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/16 "2006-07-18T12:32:44Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > Victorians are perjoritavely called Mexicans (since they live south of the New South Wales border.) > G This is true, but odd. I think it just shows how Australia is becoming the 51st state of America. I am not Australian. I just live here. How can I stop my kids becoming Australian though? ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/17 "2006-07-18T12:37:04Z")
> [@blinkingblinking](#): > > This is true, but odd. I think it just shows how Australia is becoming the 51st state of America. > > I am not Australian. I just live here. How can I stop my kids becoming Australian though? I dunno - I’m raising a duel citizen kid myself, but I personally wouldn’t mind him identifying as Australian. I quite like it here, its enough like the US that I don’t feel totally out of place, but not so uptight and Republican. (Sorry.) I’m still as American as I can be, but Australia is my home and I can’t envision moving back to the US, so I can’t help you there. Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/18 "2006-07-18T15:12:57Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > Victorians are perjoritavely called Mexicans (since they live south of the New South Wales border.) Before moving to the US a few years ago, i spent most of my life in and around Sydney, and i don’t think i ever heard Victorians called Mexicans. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/19 "2006-07-18T15:32:11Z")
[Burke and Wills](http://www.burkeandwills.net.au/). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959/20 "2006-07-18T16:04:43Z")
There are left-handed boomerangs. 🙂 (I know, because I learnt to throw one.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-share-with-us-foreigners-facts-and-trivia-about-your-country/364959.md?page=2)