some more aussie facts
* In 1954, Bob Hawke was immortalised by the Guinness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Bob later became the Prime Minister of Australia.
* Police force - Australia's first police force was a band of 12 of the most well behaved Convicts.
* Alcohol- It has been reported that the first European settlers in Australia drank more alcohol per head of population than any other community in the history of mankind
* Australia is the smallest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent in the world. It is the only country which is also a whole continent.
* Over 90% of Australia is dry, flat and arid. Almost three-quarters of the land cannot support agriculture in any form.
* The Fierce Snake or Inland Taipan has the most toxic venom of any snake. Maximum yield recorded (for one bite) is 110mg. That would probably be enough to kill over 100 people or 250,000 mice.
* Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards/retreat, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
* Box Jelly fish - The box jellyfish is considered the world's most venomous marine creature. The box jellyfish has killed more people in Australia than stonefish, sharks and crocodiles combined.
* The Sydney Funnelweb spider is considered the world's most deadly spider. It is the only spider that has killed people in less than 2 hours. Its fangs are powerful enough to bite through gloves and fingernails. The only animals without immunity to the funnelweb's venom are humans and monkeys
* 92% Caucasian descent, 7% Asian descent, 1% Aboriginal descent.
* Four out of 10 Australians are migrants or the first-generation children of migrants.
* Sydney - Australia's first and largest city. Also known as Sin City. Wanted to be Capital of Australia but its convict stigma counted against it.
* Melbourne - Wanted to be the Capital of Australia on the basis that it was the home to the Australian establishment and was not founded by Convicts. (Founded by John Batman; son of a Convict)
* Canberra - Because Sydney and Melbourne kept bickering over which city should be the capital of Australia, it was decided that neither of them would be capital and instead, a new capital would be built in the middle of them both.
* POME - Australians refer to English people as Poms or Pome. This is an acronym for Prisoners of Mother England. May have originally been an abbreviation for pomegranate which is rhyming slang for immigrant
* Seppo - Australians may refer to Americans as 'Seppos'. This is an abbreviation for 'Septic Tank' which is rhyming slang for 'Yank'.
* Drongo - Australians may refer to fools, idiots and hopeless cases as Drongos. Drongo was a 1920's racehorse that showed promise but never won anything in 37 starts. In the 1940s, the term was applied to recruits of the Australian airforce
* Dropbears - Dropbears are an evil species of koala that fall from trees and attack humans. The evil strain of koala don't actually exist rather the story was created to fool Americans
* Homicide - Australia was founded by Convicts. Its homicide rate is 1.8 per 100,000 population. The United States was founded by religious zealots. It's homicide rate is 6.3 per 100,000. Almost 400% greater than Australia.
* The ocker - 10 percent of Australians satisfy the definition of an 'ocker' . This 10 percent of the population consume 80 percent of the beer drunk in Australia
* Urban dwellers - Australia is one of the world’s most urbanised countries, with about 70 per cent of the population living in the 10 largest cities.
* Gambling - Per Capita, Australians spend more money on gambling than any other nation.
With less than 1 percent of the world's population, Australia has more than 20 percent of its poker machines.
* This post has been modified
: 19 years ago
