# re Deadly Australia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 25, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037 "2019-04-25T14:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dhricenak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@dhricenak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhricenak)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/1 "2019-04-25T14:52:38Z")
I would just like to point out that Australian plants can be lethal too. There is a giant stinging nettle that has killed people and horses and the iconic Eucalyptus trees can do you in in at least two ways. First they tend to drop heavy dense branches with no warning and second in a fire all that oil will turn them into incendiary bombs. Come to think of it planting Eucalyptus all over southern California doesn’t seem like a brilliant idea, does it? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/2 "2019-04-26T02:22:24Z")
Every Australian knows that nothing burns as well as dried eucalyptus leaves, but I remember hearing about how, in a bushfire, the heat evaporates some of the oil from fresh leaves such that the air itself above the trees is what is burning. This is a sub-optimal condition for Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/3 "2019-04-26T04:15:06Z")
> [@dhricenak](#): > > I would just like to point out that Australian plants can be lethal too. There is a giant stinging nettle that has killed people and horses and the iconic Eucalyptus trees can do you in in at least two ways. First they tend to drop heavy dense branches with no warning and second in a fire all that oil will turn them into incendiary bombs. Come to think of it planting Eucalyptus all over southern California doesn’t seem like a brilliant idea, does it? The limbs like to come off them fairly readily as well. Especially with a bit of wind, and considering they were planted as wind breaks all up and down coastal California, means the limbs fall off more than you’d like. When they’re as big as they are, falling from the heights a big Yuke can reach, it’s a lot of pain if you manage to be camped under one. Plus, they can make wine taste ‘minty’. The fires I’ve seen in Australia when a forest of them catches, are something to behold. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/4 "2019-04-26T09:54:54Z")
Column Link: [Is Australia the deadliest place on earth?](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3006/is-australia-the-deadliest-place-on-earth/) ---
**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:** [April 26, 2019, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/5 "2019-04-26T12:56:50Z")
> [@dhricenak](#): > > There is a giant stinging nettle that has killed people and horses and the iconic Eucalyptus trees can do you in in at least two ways. Of course, Australia is the only place in the world where humans get can killed when they fall off a horse. :smack: And nowhere else on earth do trees drop branches or catch fire. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/6 "2019-04-26T13:37:20Z")
Deadly Australia Deadly Australia Don’t touch a rock or a plant or a tree And as for animals, don’t even think of touching them. They are as deadly as deadly can be. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/7 "2019-04-26T15:53:23Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Of course, Australia is the only place in the world where humans get can killed when they fall off a horse. :smack: > > And nowhere else on earth do trees drop branches or catch fire. [Response.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21459534&postcount=3) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/8 "2019-04-28T08:05:46Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Deadly Australia > Deadly Australia > Don’t touch a rock or a plant or a tree > And as for animals, don’t even think of touching them. > They are as deadly as deadly can be. I’m singing that to the tune of ‘Waltzing Matilda’. It works. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/9 "2019-04-29T12:59:04Z")
A friend of a colleague builds houses and does other house related things for a living and, for a few years, lived next door to a friend whose wife was from Australia. She really wanted to go back to live so, a few years ago, they did exactly that. One day the friend got a call from Australia. It was his former neighbor who wanted to contract him to go to Australia and help him build a new house. He basically offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse, so he traveled there. The first thing the guy did after he picked him up from the airport and got him back to his home was give him a 30 minute or so briefing of how to stay alive and healthy in Australia. An example is the simple task of getting a piece of lumber from the lumber supply. You just don’t dig in and pick up a length of lumber because of red back spiders, funnel web spiders, snakes, poisonous toads, yada-yada-yada. Australia is home to no less than 3 of the most deadliest snakes in the world. Besides the rock star spiders like the red backs and the funnel webs, Australia has 8,000 spider species that aren’t even really known yet. So, yeah, it’s a bad ass place. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/10 "2019-04-29T17:30:52Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > I’m singing that to the tune of ‘Waltzing Matilda’. It works. > > 😃 Yes, it does. The parody lyics popped into my head fully formed when I read the thread’s title. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/11 "2019-04-30T15:55:42Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Of course, Australia is the only place in the world where humans get can killed when they fall off a horse. :smack: > > And nowhere else on earth do trees drop branches or catch fire. We came into High School one Monday morning and found that a River Red Gum had completely demolished one of the classrooms. Saying that it looked like a bomb had gone off doesn’t do justice to the scene, because the classroom was imploded, not exploded. It was small and flat. They cut down that sucker that week, which I always thought was a little unfair: I mean it dropped the branch on a Sunday, right? And 20% of the tree was already gone?. When the school was constructed, the entire school had been moved 10’ to accommodate that tree, because the local elementary school kids used to climb on it before the High School was built. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/12 "2019-05-01T00:01:04Z")
[New National anthem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy_TB6onHVE) ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/13 "2019-05-02T13:34:46Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > A friend of a colleague builds houses and does other house related things for a living and, for a few years, lived next door to a friend whose wife was from Australia. She really wanted to go back to live so, a few years ago, they did exactly that. > > One day the friend got a call from Australia. It was his former neighbor who wanted to contract him to go to Australia and help him build a new house. He basically offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse, so he traveled there. > > The first thing the guy did after he picked him up from the airport and got him back to his home was give him a 30 minute or so briefing of how to stay alive and healthy in Australia. An example is the simple task of getting a piece of lumber from the lumber supply. You just don’t dig in and pick up a length of lumber because of red back spiders, funnel web spiders, snakes, poisonous toads, yada-yada-yada. > > Australia is home to no less than 3 of the most deadliest snakes in the world. Besides the rock star spiders like the red backs and the funnel webs, Australia has 8,000 spider species that aren’t even really known yet. So, yeah, it’s a bad ass place. LOL [I found the textbook used for the briefing](https://www.amazon.com/Deathworld-Trilogy-Harry-Harrison/dp/0425058395/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4WPZKNBWQEH8N77BRPQH) ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/14 "2019-05-02T13:49:04Z")
> [@txjim](#): > > [I found the textbook used for the briefing](https://www.amazon.com/Deathworld-Trilogy-Harry-Harrison/dp/0425058395/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4WPZKNBWQEH8N77BRPQH) Oh, my God! I’ll gladly opt for Australia! LOL ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/15 "2019-05-02T14:10:27Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > [New National anthem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy_TB6onHVE) [**Warning for Aussie beachgoers after deadly find near tourist hotspot**](https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/fd07ab151010260302bc43a21e00992a?width=650) One unique killer not mentioned is jellyfish so small that it can fit on the nail of one’s little finger, which means that it can filter through the standard nets put up to safeguard people from such creatures. It took quite a while to ID exactly why some people were dying in the water. At first, it was believed that they were simple drowning cases but, finally, the true cause was identified. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/16 "2019-05-02T17:48:24Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > [**Warning for Aussie beachgoers after deadly find near tourist hotspot**](https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/fd07ab151010260302bc43a21e00992a?width=650) > > One unique killer not mentioned is jellyfish so small that it can fit on the nail of one’s little finger, which means that it can filter through the standard nets put up to safeguard people from such creatures. > > It took quite a while to ID exactly why some people were dying in the water. At first, it was believed that they were simple drowning cases but, finally, the true cause was identified. Might be _[Malo kingi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malo_kingi)_, as you note, a very tiny box jellyfish, implicated along with other box jellies like _[Carukia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carukia_barnesi)_, in [Irukandji Syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irukandji_syndrome). _[Chironex fleckeri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chironex_fleckeri)_ is usually thought of with cases of deadly jellyfish envenomation, but it’s quite a bit larger, as [this rather horrifying photo](https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/cnidaria/Chironex.html) demonstrates. AIUI, wearing a suit of pantyhose material prevents the nematocysts from reaching the skin. I wonder if wave action is sufficient to aerosolize nematocysts, given a sufficiently heavy concentration in the water? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/17 "2019-05-08T21:48:59Z")
Hey, don’t forget the killer [seashells](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_snail)! You’ll never have to worry about the jellyfish, sharks, or crocodiles, if you can’t even get across the beach without carking it! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/18 "2019-05-08T23:22:49Z")
> [@dhricenak](#): > > Come to think of it planting Eucalyptus all over southern California doesn’t seem like a brilliant idea, does it? At least in California you can rest in their shade without having to check for drop bears. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2019, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/19 "2019-05-09T06:47:57Z")
Not necessarily. I believe drop bears are more closely associated with eucalypts than koalas. National security regulations prevent further comment. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2019, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037/20 "2019-05-09T07:14:39Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Not necessarily. > > I believe drop bears are more closely associated with eucalypts than koalas. > National security regulations prevent further comment. You do know that ASIO is now monitoring every keystroke you enter on your internet machine, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-deadly-australia/833037.md?page=2)