21% of the world’s gambling machines are in Australia. Australia has 0.003% of the world’s population!
The 'dingo fence' in Australia is the longest fence in the world, and is about twice as long as the Great Wall of China. It has a gate every 19kms along it's length.
The airplane 'black box' flight recorder was invented in Australia, by David Warren of the Aeronautical research laboratories in 1958.
The common refrigerator's system of cooling was invented in Australia, in the 1850's, by James Harrison. By 1857 his machine was making up to 3 tonnes of ice a day!
There are nearly 20,000,000 people in Australia, of which 80% odd live in cities next to the sea.
Australia has possibly the lowest population density of any country in the world, ie, 2 people per square km. Japan has 327 people/2km.
Australia has more beaches than any other country, about 7,000 of them.
The Australian $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes are made out of plastic.
The first Europeans to discover Australia were the Dutch. The first documented evidence is that in March 1606, the Dutch ship Duyfken, captained by Willem Janz, landed in far north Queensland, but left very quickly when one of the sailors was speared by an Aborigine. The next visit was in 1616, by Dirck Hartog, who landed in Western Australia. He nailed a pewter plate to a tree, which is now in a museum in Holland. Captain Hartog named the new country "Eendrachtsland", which fortunately we don't use these days.
The English made first footfall when Captain James Cook landed on the east coast in 1768, and called the (what he thought was an) island, "New South Wales". At this point, the Dutch had changed their mind again, and were calling the place "New Holland."
Australia was first called that by a local explorer, Matthew Flinders, who decided to promote the name "Terra Australis", or "South Land". It was not officially recognised until the then governor of the country, Lachlan Macquarie named it as such in a dispatch to London in 1817.
The world's largest structure created by living creatures is the Great Barrier Reef, of the Queensland coast. It's over 2000km long, and covers an area of nearly 260,0002km.
Australians are the world's biggest buyers of 4WD vehicles.
70% of the world's wool comes from Australia. We have over 126,000,000 sheep, which use fully half the continent for grazing.
There are only two egg-laying mammals in the world, both of which come from Australia - The echidna, or spiny anteater, and the platypus.
A kangaroo's tail does not touch the ground when it is hopping at speed. The animal only uses the tail to balance its jumping efforts, and to rear upon when stopped.
Qantas stands for Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services.
The portable beer cooler, or as it is known in Australia as the 'esky', was invented in Australia in the 1950's, and has become extremely popular all around the world.
The wine cask, the ubiquitous plastic bag full of wine contained in a cardboard box, was invented in Australia in 1967.
On the 7th of March, 1856, workers in Sydney belonging to the Stonemason's Society were the first workers in the world to gain an eight hour working day. (reduced from ten hours) This is celebrated in Australia by the holiday, "Labour Day".
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