Visiting the Outback Steakhouse while I was in the US was fun, actually. I took a great deal of delight in taking a red pen to one of the menus… 
‘Barren’ is selling the real outback a bit short, IMO. Dry and hot, yes, but certainly not barren - there is life there, and quite a bit of it.
It also has a beauty all its own - stark and harsh, but still beauty.
They could always check the Online National Public Toilet Map
Oh, that is bewdiful!! The first line that jumps out at you on the website is: **Please be patient. ** 
Another one from The Simpsons - sign on the Australian Cultural Exhibition: Cart Yer Arse Right In.
I remember having a conversation with someone once about my old car…it’s 32 years old (yup, still running!) and the guy made some comment about me having to drive on dirt roads all the time…i couldn’t get my head around the fact that this guy genuinely thought we don’t have paved roads and highways etc in australia! please! we’re a very modern coutry.
I think another misconception is that australians aren’t that bright…aussies have invented some of the coolest things out there.
Lawnmower
Hills Hoist Washing Line
CPAP machine (for treating sleep apnea)
Black Box Flight Recorder
rats…there are some other good ones i can’t think of right now.
I would also like to add that quite a bit of the leading medical research is done right here in australia!
now if you base your opinion on aussies by our movies, i don’t blame you for thinking we’re a bunch of twits… i HATE the way aussie movies make us all look like idiots
oh…here’s some more
apparently we also invented nanotechnology (i thought the Borg invented that :D)
Nah, I’ve seen my Auntie Jean scold fish.
About the supposed Australian sense of inferiority - check out www.satirewire.com for the article titled “Australia Gets Drunk, Wakes up in North Atlantic”. This made me howl.
Also, I love Aussie actors. Unlike Brit actors who make it big in Hollywood, they manage to do so while still retaining some credibility. Obviously, I’m thinking about people like Rachael Griffiths (love, love LOVE her!) and Guy Pearce, rather than Mel Gibson and Paul Hogan!
Misconceptions Australians have about Australia:
Queensland is backward and rabidly right wing. Well, Brisbane isn’t, anyway. There’s a determined-seeming socialist party that’s constantly wallpapering the Central Business District with posters alternately denouncing the US and celebrating whatever third world revolution that’s having an anniversary that week. I seem to be able to purchase or see about anything I want, and the library system is fair.
The press has a lot of freedom. From an American perspective, the media is hamstrung by defamation laws. People seem to think that these laws prevent frivolous lawsuits. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know. They do interfere with people saying what they really think in print, though.
Religious fundamentalism isn’t common in Australia. Well, not like in the US, no, not at all. However, I’ve read a couple sceptic sites that mention fundamentalist movements in Australia. My wife’s aunt subscribes to Creation magazine, which is published by Answers in Genesis. It’s not much compared to how things are in the states, but Australia, the US, and South Africa are said to be the three westernised nations that have the biggest creationist contingent.
The lawnmower was invented by Edwin Beard Budding, from Stroud, Gloucestershire in 1830. The Victa two-stroke petrol rotary lawnmower was invented by Mervyn Victor Richardson of Sydney in 1952, but that’s hardly the same thing is it?
Various claims have been made for the invention of photocopying – they can’t even agree on a date. Some say the photocopier was invented in 1900 in France, or the USA in 1910 or in 1938, or 1947. Chester Carlson is usually credited with inventing xerography, and he was from Seattle.
Nobody invented penicillin, and although Adelaide-born Howard Florey played a key role in developing the practical application of it, the discovery itself was made in London by Alexander Fleming, who was Scottish. The relevant Nobel Prize was shared by Fleming, Florey and the Berlin-born Ernst Chain.
I certainly agree that if people assume Australia is a backward country full of thick people they’re far off the mark, but could you provide some cites for your specific claims rather than just throw them out as facts?
oh please! since when was this a SERIOUS thread??
Thank you Tal. May I suggest that those of you looking for a frank and serious discussion on national identity take yourselves off to Great Debates?
One major misconception many people have about Australia is that Skippy-like hyper-intelligent kangaroos go to fetch help when their human friends get injured, then lead rescuers to the prone human.
I’ll rephrase my post then: you’re full of shit Tal. That better? 
Top story jjimm.
Australians are all descendants of convicts.
How come their accent isn’t like Scouse then?
Hang on, was that supposed to be a pun on guano?
[Underlining for emphasis]
The hell he is! That bugger is your problem and you can keep him!
They are sore losers http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2003/09/10/1063191458949.htm
The one I come across most frequently at the moment is perpetrated by Oz’ralians themselves, namely that they still play Rugby down there . . .
Yeah, that was a pretty ridiculous comment.
Very droll.
I know the Wallabies haven’t been doing too well this year, and i wouldn’t bet on them to win the World Cup, but i’m afraid that it might be jumping the gun just a little bit to declare the death of Australian rugby.
Particularly when the Doper’s name suggests that he lives in a country–nay, a hemisphere–that hasn’t yet managed to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy.