Australia: Did You Know?

Thursday, 29 July 2010 08:48

Written by Julia Taylor

Seeing as this group is full of people from all over the world I thought it could be good for people to write some interesting things about their countries. I umed and ahed about if I write this article like a travel blog or just give some interesting facts that people may not know and the second option won! So here goes with interesting/crazy facts about the Land Downunder!

Australia is good at producing talent! Some of you will know this talent as Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackson, Heath Ledger, Russell Crowe (I would like to say here that he is not really Australian, but from New Zealand – we wanted him when he was behaving himself and then when he went off the rails we started saying he was a kiwi!), Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Errol Flynn, Paul Hogan and Eric Bana.

The air in Australia is very clean, which not only helps with people’s health, but leads to a very beautiful country. At night naked eye can detect over 5,500 stars in the Australian Outback under ideal viewing conditions. Tasmania boasts the cleanest air in the world!

Australians love their freedom, so they are generally slower at getting married and having children than a lot of other countries. Our population was doing the opposite to China’s, which is why the Government introduced a baby bonus ($3,000 AUS) and started opening up the immigration more and more. Some interesting facts about my fellow Aussies are that 22% of adults don't have children, while 16% have only one child. The statistics also show that 32% of women and 34% men never marry.

The population of Australia is more sheep than people; in fact, there are roughly ten sheep in Australia for every person. As a result, Australia is the largest exporter in the world of lamb meat and wool. There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia and only around 20 million people.

Currently, Australia claims to have a 100% literacy rate, which is one of the highest in the world. Australians also read more newspapers per capita than any country in the world.

Per capita, Australians spend more money on gambling than any other country in the world. We may only make up less than one percent of the worlds population, but we have over twenty percent of the world's poker machines.

The second largest population of Greeks in the world live in Melbourne, second only to Athens.

Around 24% of Australia’s residents were born overseas. This compares with 20% in New Zealand, 17% in Canada, 10% in the USA and 6% in the UK.

The longest fence in the world is located in Australia. It is 5530 km long and was erected to keep dingoes away from sheep.

The tropical north of Australia is home to the world’s largest species of crocodile, the salt water crocodile. Males can occasionally grow to lengths of over 6 metres (20 feet). Each year one or two people are eaten by crocodiles in Australia.

The average Australian drinks 7% less alcohol than the average Briton, 25% less alcohol than the average German and 35% less alcohol than the average Irish. See I told you the Brits were heavier drinkers than the Aussies!

There are 1500 species of Australian Spiders. The average person swallows three spiders a year.

A thong is not underwear in Australia and is an iconic piece of Australian strappy footwear often constructed from rubber and sold cheaply in supermarkets (known as flip flops or jandals in other parts of the world). We call the American Thong a G-String.

Do you speak Australian?

I quite often end up having conversations with people in Shanghai and they stare back at me with this blank look on their faces and then I start to understand that I must have said something “Australian” again, because they have know idea what I am talking about. So I thought I would put some “Aussie” words here and see how many people recognise or understand them. How many do you know?

Comments

#14 RE: Australia: Did You Know? — buzza 2010-08-03 22:17

Ha, ha, this posting is wicked ;) Love it!!!

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#13 RE: Australia: Did You Know? — yelena 2010-07-30 10:31

I guess during the year I lived in OZ back in the days I picked up so words :)
Mozzie = mosquito
This is only guessing:
Servo = service station
Dunny = loo
Lippy = lipstick
Trackies = sports suit

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#12 DAG — Sayler 2010-07-29 18:50

DAG -- Endearing term for an idiot. Well at least I hope it is endearing, because Alyce calls me this all of the time.

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#11 RE: Australia: Did You Know? — julia 2010-07-29 17:12

I was surprised as well, but then I wouldn't be surprised if the statistic people just left the aborigines out of the people they counted for this to raise the percentage...

Swallowing three spiders a year freaks me out!

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#10 literacy — yelena 2010-07-29 17:08

Btw are you sure about the literacy rate? Sound pretty high with all the aboriginals..

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#9 RE: Australia: Did You Know? — julia 2010-07-29 17:07

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#8 RE: Australia: Did You Know? — julia 2010-07-29 17:04

Esky = the cooler bag to bring on the beach for your beer - NOT A BAG, BUT THE HARD BOX TYPE - ESKY is the brand.
Footy = aussie rules - YES
Arvo = afternoon - YES
Barbie = bbq - YES
Bogan = hillbilly - YES or Redneck. This is the definition I have: person who takes little pride in his appearance, spends his days slacking and drinking beer - lol...
Bottle-o = bottleshop, to buy alcohol - YES
Maccas = McDonalds - YES

Good work - you must have been hanging around a lot of Aussies in your time!

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#7 This is fun :) — yelena 2010-07-29 16:42

Esky = the cooler bag to bring on the bech for your beer
Footy = aussie rules
Arvo = afternoon
Barbie = bbq
Bogan = hillbilly
Bottle-o = bottleshop, to buy alcohol
Maccas = McDonalds

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#6 RE: Australia: Did You Know? — julia 2010-07-29 16:31

Beaut = beauty or beautiful; amazing - Amazing is right or it means great!
Cactus = the desert plant? - NO
Cozzie = cozy, like comfy - NO
Dunny = like, dumb? - NO
Esky = eskimo - NO
Footy = like a shorty? - NO
Good onya = is like "good for you" - YES
Grog = drugs? or like "groggy", drunk, hungover - NO (you are on the right track)
Journo = either OZ pronunciation of "journal" or journalist - YES
Ocker = a boor (or someone/thing of that sort)- NO
Spag bol = spaghetti bolognese - YES
Yobbo = like hobo? - NOT REALLY

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#5 Guessing game? — aLeGnaRoMa 2010-07-29 16:26

Beaut = beauty or beautiful; amazing
Cactus = the desert plant?
Cozzie = cozy, like comfy
Dunny = like, dumb?
Esky = eskimo
Footy = like a shorty?
Good onya = is like "good for you"
Grog = drugs? or like "groggy", drunk, hungover
Journo = either OZ pronunciation of "journal" or journalist
Ocker = a boor (or someone/thing of that sort)
Spag bol = spaghetti bolognese
Yobbo = like hobo?

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