# Without those convicts landing in Australia we wouldn't... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620 "2010-01-27T03:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/21 "2010-01-28T00:11:27Z")
No vegemite sandwiches. Maybe those guys wouldn’t have needed a long-distance ride after all, and could have taken “Priscilla, Queen of the Taxis”. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/22 "2010-01-28T01:17:48Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > You mean you can’t get a Bloomin’ Onion in Australia _itself_? Well you can, and I’m told they are a big hit with the Asian tourist sector, but the logistical difficulties of getting USDA certified product here means you are much better advised to seek such delicacies and the “casual atmosphere suggestive of the Australian Outback” closer to it’s culinary roots, i.e. Tampa, Florida. 😛 Which is something we can both be truely thankful for. 😉 ---
**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:** [January 28, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/23 "2010-01-28T01:36:07Z")
Zoos would be far less entertaining. We would never had Internet photos of Elle McPherson, Tara Fitzgerald, and Portia de Rossi nude together. Come to think of it, we wouldn’t have had McPherson or de Rossi at all. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/24 "2010-01-28T02:45:03Z")
If Janszoon, Hartog and Tasman had’ve been fair dinkum, all the above would’ve been in Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/25 "2010-01-28T03:01:33Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Well you can, and I’m told they are a big hit with the Asian tourist sector, but the logistical difficulties of getting USDA certified product here means you are much better advised to seek such delicacies and the “casual atmosphere suggestive of the Australian Outback” closer to it’s culinary roots, i.e. Tampa, Florida. 😛 > > Which is something we can both be truely thankful for. 😉 At least you should be proud to note that Outback only uses the most authentic Aussies in their commercials. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/26 "2010-01-28T04:27:21Z")
On a somewhat more serious note, I’ve heard that the convict influence in Australia. There were certainly convicts sent to Australia but the big population influx was miners who came after gold was discovered in 1851. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/27 "2010-01-28T05:42:27Z")
> [@TheBoltEater](#): > > At least you should be proud to note that Outback only uses the most authentic Aussies in their commercials. 😛 Consider myself zinged! > [@](#): > > On a somewhat more serious note, I’ve heard that the convict influence in Australia. There were certainly convicts sent to Australia but the big population influx was miners who came after gold was discovered in 1851. True enough, 160-170,000 convicts were transported. Double that number of gold seekers arrived in 1852 alone, and the population trebled in 20 years. But in absolute numbers, it was the post WWII immigration that saw the greatest population growth, almost trebled again since then. As a result of that 24% of Australians are borne overseas, almost 70% have a parent or grandparent born overseas. Me, I’m 5-6th generation Aussie on both sides and hence a very rare bird, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/28 "2010-01-28T14:54:42Z")
No good TV live from the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620/29 "2010-01-28T15:03:13Z")
> [@](#): > > No good TV live from the moon. Not over the air. You need to get cable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-those-convicts-landing-in-australia-we-wouldnt/526620.md?page=1)