Australians: Share With Us Foreigners Facts and Trivia About Your Country.

In My Humble Opinion
21

Ah, Australian Trivia! Let me grab a coldie and I’ll see what wonderful and elaborate yarns I can spin… :smiley:

OK, seriously…

The first European settlers on the Australian mainland were a pair of Dutch sailors who were put ashore somewhere on the north-west coast of what is now Western Australia in the late 1500s or early 1600s.

Even though Australia federated in 1901, the country didn’t completely become independent from the UK until the passing of the Australia Act in 1986, which closed a few legal loopholes whereby the UK could, technically, still pass laws that applied to Australia and generally meddle in our affairs. This also cut off appeals to the Privy Council relating to legal matters, as well.

Until the early 19th centry, “New South Wales” meant the whole country.

South Australia was the only Colony/State not to have convict settlers.

Tasmania was originally named Van Diemen’s Land by Abel Tasman, in honour of Empress Maria Van Diemen of Austria. The Brits changed the name sometime before the early 19th century.

The last known Tasmanian Tiger died in captivity in 1936, but there are unconfirmed reports of a few still living in the wild.

Queensland declared itself a separate colony on June 6th, 1859- so June the 6th is not only D-Day, it’s also Queensland Day.

The Australian Constitution does not include a “right to bear arms” clause because, at the time, it was considered so obvious that people needed guns for day-to-day life (in a largely rural country) that it didn’t seem worth including one.*

Australia is one of the few countries in the world still expanding its railway system (ie, building new railway lines between towns and cities, as opposed to commuter rail systems within cities)

Western Australia tried to declare Independence in the 1930s, and only failed because the Constitution doesn’t allow States to secede and no-one in WA cared quite enough to start shooting at people over it.

New Zealand could join Australia as a State if they chose- it was envisioned that this would probably happen before what eventually turned into WWI, and even though NZ is still a separate country, there are still provisions in the Constitution for the admittance of new States- ie, New Zealand.

There is a well-known chap in WA who has declared his property to be a separate country, known as the Hutt River Province Principality.

The Queensland/New South Wales Border runs right through the towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads. Since Queensland doesn’t have Daylight Savings and NSW does, this causes all sorts of problems at various times of the year.

The Tourist Mecca known as Surfers Paradise (on the Gold Coast in Queensland) was known as “Elston” until 1932, and there was almost nothing more than a pub (the Surfers Paradise Hotel), a garage/petrol station, and a few holiday homes there until the 1950s. 60 years later, there are over 500,000 people living in Gold Coast City, and millions of people visit from all over the world each year.

There are more Kangaroos in Australia than there are people.

We lost a Prime Minister when he went swimming one day (as has been mentioned).

There are no speed limits in the Northern Territory outside built-up areas.

Akubra hats are made from rabbit fur.

Shrimp (prawns) are not generally eaten in a Barbequed state.

Nobody in Australia actually drinks Foster’s. :wink:

*I haven’t been able to find a reliable cite for this, but I’ve heard it from a number of knowledgeable people and it does match up with what I know of Australia’s early history and the way the Constitution was drafted at the time.

22

We have more sheep than New Zealand :slight_smile: Quite a lot more, actually.

The redback spider is actually not all that dangerous. Not only is the venom slow-acting, but it’s also not very strong and while victims should see a doctor, they’re not going to DIE. Even the much more dangerous funnel-web spider has not killed anyone since the antivenom was developed in, what, the 80s? I forget.

Our snakes, on the other hand, WILL kill you. And the box jellyfish. Maybe even the sharks. Care to come over some day?

23

Oddly enough, Fosters is stocked in bottle shops in Australia, so presumably someone buys and drinks the stuff.

(Though the Fosters that is sold in the US is actually brewed in Canada, so nobody in Australia drinks the Fosters that is sold in the US.)

24

In fact, the Australian Constitution has hardly any of the rights that are generally expected in a modern Constitution. This is probably because the lawyers/politicians who drew up the Constitution grew up in the 19th century British Common Law, where you assumed that having Parliament and an independent judiciary would protect civil rights.

The rights that are in the Constitution are:

Only 92 and 117 apply to the States. There was an attempt in 1988 to extend 51(xxxi) (just terms for eminent domain), 80 (trial by jury) and 116 (freedom of religion) to the States, but the referendum failed. (I suspect that most of the people voting on the question didn’t understand it – about 31% voted for it, and 69% against it cite from Wikipedia).

25

Duck-billed platypuses are small (at least the one I saw was - under a foot in length)

Wombats appear stupid, but love to burrow.

Emus have blood-shot eyes and grab food with their beaks.

26

Well, they are birds. Did you expect them to take food with little feathery fingers?

27

Don’t forget the crocs (especially the salties), which I was very impressed with on my visit to Kakadu.

28

On poisonous things, spikey things, and bitey things…

Yes, we do have a lot of creatures out there that will really ruin your day if you find them in a bad mood. However, it does get a little overplayed sometimes. The really deadly things would be, I guess, crocodiles, stonefish, and the blue-ringed octopus. Oh yes, and box jellyfish. But these are easily avoided if you are sensible. Getting killed by one of these is a bit like getting killed by a truck. Don’t go where you shouldn’t, and you’ll be fine. Most of the other poisonous things are timid, and will try to avoid you.

For the South Eastern corner of the country (where it’s heavily populated), you can generally walk off into the wilderness and not come across any dangerous animals (except possibly some snakes, but common sense here goes a long way too). The only thing you will find is that the Australian bush can be very beautiful, but up close it’s not the sort of spot you can flop down for a picnic. There will always be an ants’ nest, or flies, or sharp stones poking yer bum, etc. A lot of the time it’s not so much dangerous as just uncomfortable.

For the country generally, the biggest dangers are getting lost, getting thirsty, getting caught in a fire, falling over a cliff, or meeting some homicidal lunatic on a deserted highway. Lack of understanding of the long distances between settlements, and of the preparations required, may well kill more tourists than any of our native fauna does. I have no cite for this, and would be curious to see the numbers myself.

29

Ever see those pretty, touristy photos of Ayer’s Rock or (aboriginal name) Uluru? Looks amazing, doesn’t it? The trouble is, these photos rarely if ever show you the really amazing thing about the Rock. Wherever you stand around the Rock’s perimeter and look outwards, the only thing you can see is the horizon. It’s amazing enough that this huge monlith is there. It’s extra amazing that all around it, from the Rock to the horizon, there’s nothing.

30

Asians like it. You can usually find it in Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants in Sydney. Like Budweiser, it’s made with rice. A lot of Asian lagers are made with rice too, and Foster’s isn’t far off some of those that I’ve tasted.

31

Weird, I hear it all the time - we live in Sydney but my husband is from Melbourne.

Cheers,
G

32

What’s the deal with that small region in southeast Western Australia that has its own time zone that is 45 min off from either surrounding zone?

The town is called “Eucla” and wiki says it has all of 50 people. Why do 50 people get to have their own weird timezone?

33

I’m not sure how “official” it is but presumably that district uses a different time zone because it’s at the eastern extreme of the GMT+8 zone. Another example is Lord Howe Island, off the coast of NSW, which has its own time zone of GMT+10.5

34

According to your link it is an “unofficial” time zone.

Western Standard Time isn’t very practical for border towns. As an example, in the tropical regions it gets dark before 5pm and light before 5am. My guess would be that with a population so small, Eucla can choose whatever time zone suits them the best.

Another odd time zone area is Truscott. Truscott is an old secret WWII airbase situated in Western Australia. The current operators have the most contact with people in Darwin so it is on Central Standard Time. However, the television signal comes from WA so the TV times are on WST.

35

The Indian Pacific Railway also has it’s own timezone too, apparently…

36

cyclone, please.

I’ve lived in NSW most of my life and I don’t recall hearing that term.

This one was raised by a student when I did Australian Constitutional law. All three of the lecturers thought it was a furphy.

37

Put me down as another who’d like to know why Eucla and two-three other towns in that strip have a different timezone. They’re 45 minutes offset from both Perth and Adelaide, from what I see so far on websites. How come?

38

Well, I live in Queensland and quite frequently hear it applied to people from NSW and Victoria, on the grounds that they’re both south of the border from us.

I first heard it from one of my lecturers at university, and I’ve had another one of them state it as well it since then.

Remember, Australia didn’t have any firearms laws in the sense we know them until the 1930s, and since a lot of people lived in rural areas (or where near enough to them to go hunting), enshrining a right to own guns in the Australian Constitution seemed about a useful as enshrining a right to play cricket in there as well.

Up until WWII, the expectation was that every able-bodied male in the country would stand behind the armed forces and act to defend Australia in the event of attack, and it was a bit hard to do that if the populace didn’t have guns… it was just One Of Those Things. At the time the Constitution was drafted, the military units in each Colony were made up of both professional soldiers and Volunteers, who were the equivalent of the Territorial Army/Army Reserve nowadays. The Volunteer units were expected to provide their own guns, which is where “Trade Pattern” Enfield Muskets, Snider-Enfields, Martini-Henrys, and Lee-Enfields came from- these were commercial versions of the standard military rifles, available for sale on the commercial civillian market and identical to the military models in all other respects. They were primarily intended for members of Volunteer military units, who wanted the same arms as the professional military units, to facilitate ease of supply of ammunition etc, but were also bought by members of the public for general shooting as well.

In short, the idea that a Right To Bear Arms was left out of the Australian Constitution because it was so obvious that people needed guns (in a then largely rural society) isn’t nearly as much of a stretch as one might think…

As Giles says, the Australian Constitution actually provides very little in the Rights For Citizenry department because the general feeling was (and is, in some quarters) that the separation of powers, Royal oversight, representation in parliament etc etc would keep things civilised in Australia.

And they probably would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids! :wink:

39

Posted by Cuncator: “cyclone, please.”

Don’t you mean Typhoon? Hurricanes in the Atlantic, Typhoons in the Pacific, in No. America, and they’re all cyclones.

I recall being surprised to learn, during a short layover, that Darwin had a time zone 30 minutes off the hour. This was in '69. I’ve since learned that there are several places, around the world, that also have this.
I spent a week in Sydney and couldn’t find a shot of bourbon anywhere.
I hope to get back to visit again, I’d love to spend about a month traveling around the country by car. I had reservations made in '86, but someone close to me died and I had to cancel.

40

That was supposed to read: Tornadoes in No. America.