26Rabies
While Australia might have all kinds of deadly animals, the entire continent has been rabies free since 2010.
27. 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.
28. Australia committed genocide against the Aboriginal, native people from 1910-1970 in an effort to create a “white Australia.”
29. 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.
30. In 1859, English settler Thomas Austin released only 24 rabbits onto his property in Australia, stating “The introduction of a few rabbits could do little harm and might provide a touch of home, in addition to a spot of hunting.” By the 1920’s the population reached 10 billion.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31James Harrison
The first ever modern commercial refrigerator was built by James Harrison in Australia in 1856 to keep the beer cold.
32. A 2012 episode of Peppa Pig was banned from Australia as the central message that spiders were not to be feared was deemed “inappropriate for an Australian audience.”
33. Nobody has died from a confirmed spider bite in Australia since 1979, but deaths do occur due to being surprised by them, while driving, etc.
34. In 1999, an Iraqi refugee named Sam Eisho fled to Australia and lived off their welfare system. Years later after he became successful, he walked into the local welfare office and tried to pay back every cent with an $18,000 check.
35. Australia straight-up lost Harold Holt, its Prime-minister in 1967. He still hasn't been found.
36ICU
You are most likely to survive a trip to ICU with a severe infection in New Zealand and Australia than anywhere else in the world, despite an increase in the severity of infections. This is partially due to the fact that all patients have 24-hour one-on-one nursing.
37. A large pizza in Australia (11”) is smaller than a medium pizza in the US (12”).
38. When a mountain was found to be taller than Australia’s highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, their names were swapped so that Mount Kosciuszko remained the highest mountain in Australia.
39. The longest highway in the world is Highway 1 in Australia. Measuring approximately 14,500 km (9,000 mi), it circumnavigates the entire country.
40. In 2004, a supercolony of ants measuring 62 miles wide was discovered under Melbourne, Australia.
41Australia's existence
One of the most popular philosophical debates on debate.org is whether or not Australia actually exists.
42. The news reporter in Zootopia is a different animal depending on the region. For example, in the US release he's a moose, in Australia he's a koala, in Brazil he's a jaguar, and in Japan, he's a tanuki.
43. Australia’s largest ever petition of 792,985 signatures was submitted to parliament in 2000 to protest rising beer prices.
44. In Australia, “Black Friday” refers to a series of bushfires that wiped out whole towns and killed 71 people.
45. Citizens of the Commonwealth (Canada, Australia etc.) are allowed to vote in the United Kingdom.
46Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan got the name Jackie while working as a construction worker in Canberra, Australia
47. NASA mapped the Earth at night and discovered that half of an uninhabited part of Australia is on fire, producing, even more, light than the capital cities.
48. The city of Perth in Western Australia is geographically the most remote city in the world (by land). The nearest city of more than 100,000 people is almost 1500 miles away. Perth is geographically closer to both Dili, East Timor (2,785 kilometres (1,731 mi)), and Jakarta, Indonesia (3,002 kilometres (1,865 mi)), than to Sydney (3,291 kilometres (2,045 mi)), Brisbane (3,604 kilometres (2,239 mi)), or Canberra (3,106 kilometres (1,930 mi)).
49. In 2011, sea levels around the world dropped by almost by 1 cm due to massive rainfalls across Australia.
50. Australia got its name by accident from 'Terra Australis' (meaning 'South Land') after it was mistaken for the world’s southernmost continent. If not for this mistake, Antarctica would have been Australia, and Australia would have been named ‘New Holland.’
