100 Interesting Facts About Australia

Scientology runs a child labor camp in Australia.

27. In Australia, after a flood several years ago, a handful of bull sharks found themselves stranded in a lake on a golf course. Bull sharks are able to survive in freshwater and rather than this lake posing an issue for survival, the six sharks have thrived and even started breeding.

28. In 1935, in Sydney, Australia, a captive shark, vomited up another, different shark, which had a human arm in its belly, and that arm was used to solve a murder.

29. There is a proposal to allow for the free movement of people between Canada, the U.K., New Zealand and Australia, which in a poll of 67,000 people, over 90% were in favor of

30. An early version of Picasso’s The Weeping Woman was stolen from the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia with the ransom demanding an increase in funding to the arts. The painting was later found undamaged in a locker at a Melbourne train station and the thief was never apprehended.

9 months after Cyclone Yasi hit Australia in 2011, there was an unusual surge in the number of babies born in the affected region.

32. Hurricanes in Australia were originally named after local politicians a weather man didn’t like

33. In their "coming of age" ritual, aboriginals in Australia cut a “birth control” hole in the base of the boy's penis and insert into it a splinter to keep it from closing. Urine and semen come out of the hole unless this sub-incision is plugged with a finger.

34. In 1992, an Australian gambling syndicate bought almost all the combinations in a Virginia lottery and won, turning a $5 million purchase into a $27 million winnings.

35. In Australia, Burger King is called "Hungry Jack's"

Unvaccinated children in Victoria, Australia are prohibited from enrolling in childcare.

37. An Australian research institute ran a four-month study “to answer the age-old question, ‘Where have all the bloody teaspoons gone?’”. Results: 80% of the teaspoons in the study disappeared, with the half-life of the teaspoons calculated at 81 days.

38. Ex-Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke once held the world speed record for beer drinking. In his memoirs, he suggested that this single feat may have contributed to his political success more than any other, by endearing him to a voting population with a strong beer culture.

39. The show Australia's naughtiest home video show has the record for the quickest cancellation at 23 minutes. The owner of the network was quoted as saying "Get this s*** off the air."

40. Australia is moving 7cm north every year. It is the fastest moving continental landmass in the world.

Explorer Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania, New Zealand, and Fiji on his first voyage in 1642-43, but managed to miss the entire continent of Australia and only discovered it on his second voyage in 1644.

42. There is also a mountain in Australia named Mt. Disappointment, named as the explorers found the view from it subpar and wanted to reflect that.

43. It's illegal in Queensland (Australia) to own a pet rabbit unless you can prove that you're a magician.

44. Australia has claimed to the largest territory of Antarctica, which is only a couple of million square kilometers smaller than the Australian continent itself.

45. Boring Oregon is the sister city to Dull Scotland and Bland Australia.

Mick “Crocodile” Dundee was based on an actual person who survived 56 days in crocodile infested outback Australia. He died in a police shootout after he killed a cop while high on amphetamines.

47. While Australia might have all kinds of deadly animals, the entire continent has been rabies free since 2010.

48. Australia is the only Western democratic government in the world to not have a Bill of Rights. “Western democratic government” is a style of government, not a geographic determination.

49. Australia committed genocide against the Aboriginal, native people from 1910-1970 in an effort to create a “white Australia.”

50. There is a suburb in Australia called Surfers Paradise that has “Meter Maids” who are dressed in bikinis and feed expired parking meters to promote the area and preserve goodwill.