AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY
Australia officially became an independent country in 1901.
It's the 6th largest country in the world, covering almost 7.7 million km². Almost the same size as the USA.
Australia is as wide as the distance between London to Moscow.
The Great Victoria Desert is bigger than the whole of the United Kingdom.
We are 55th on the list by population with around 25 million (in 2020). The Chinese city of Shanghai has around the same population, in just one city!
Our country is an island and a continent surrounded by 3 different Oceans, with 8,222 surrounding islands.
With over 10,000 beaches it would take you nearly 30 years to visit one beach a day.
90% of the population live within around 50km of the coast.
The Australian climate is extreme! The highest temperature ever recorded was 50.7 °C (123.3 °F) on 2 Jan 1960 in Oodnadatta (SA). The lowest was −23.0 °C (−9.4 °F) on 29 June 1994 at Charlotte's Pass (NSW).
Australia is the second driest continent on earth.
There is a town built completely underground to escape the extreme outback heat, called Coober Pedy.
The Rabbit Proof Fence runs 3,256km or 2,023mi North to South across WA.
More Aussie land is covered by pubs than mines, despite mining being one of our biggest industries.
The Australian Alps regularly receive more snow than the Swiss Alps.
Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world
PEOPLE & CULTURE
The legal drinking age in Australia is 18 years old
Our largest free festival held in Melbourne, is called Moomba and means 'up your bum' in many Aboriginal languages.
We have 20% of the world's pokies, gambling machines, with more than 80% of Aussie's participating in some form of gambling.
Aussies drink 1.7 billion litres of beer per year, an average of 680 bottles of beer per adult.
Our Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke set a Guinness World Record for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds.
We have the largest Greek population, outside Athens, living in Melbourne.
FLORA AND FAUNA
Kangaroos and Emus lack the ability to walk backwards. This was the reason they were chosen for Australia's coat of arms, to symbolise a country always moving forwards. Both are also used as a source of food.
An Emu, a large flightless bird, can run as fast as 45kmh or 28mph.
The record jump recorded by a Kangaroo is 9m or 30ft high. While Kangaroos are considered a national icon, with over 40 million throughout the country, they are sometimes considered a pest.
Wallabies have been known to break into opium crops, get high, and run around creating "crop circles".
A Wombats poop is shaped like a cube
Australia has a larger population of camels than the Middle East, they are an introduced species and occasionally culled as a pest or exported.
Australia's most deadly marine animal is the Box Jellyfish. It is responsible for more deaths per year than snakes, sharks or saltwater crocodiles.
Australia has 21 of the 25 most poisonous snakes in the world. Luckily most live in more remote areas.
The Platypus and Echidnas are the only two mammals in the world that lay eggs. The Platypus also has enough venom to kill a small dog.
More than 80% of Australia's flora and fauna are found nowhere else in the world.
The Daintree Rainforest in tropical North QLD is the largest in the country and covers around 1,200 km² or 460 mi² and is 180 million years old.
Australia has over 700 national parks covering 35 million kms² or 13.5 million mi², this includes oceanic parks.
WORLD RECORDS
The largest war memorial in the world, The Great Ocean Road, was built by and in honour of returning and fallen soldiers from the first world war.
The longest straight train line in the world is 478km or 297mi across the Nullarbor Plain.
The world's longest straight road is also on the Nullarbor Plain running through two states, WA and SA, it is 1,365km or 850mi long.
The world's largest living organism, The Great Barrier Reef, is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World. It is made up of nearly 3,000 individual reefs and can be seen from space.
The world's largest station, cattle ranch, Anna Creek Ranch in South Australia, is nearly 2.5 million hectares and larger than the whole country of Israel.
The Gold Coast has the world's largest canal system, which is larger than those of both Venice and Amsterdam combined.
The Dingo Fence is the longest in the world and runs over 5,530km through QLD and SA. It is 3 times the length of the Great Wall of China.
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Discover Australia - Strayan Slang
Non-FictionG'day reader! I decided to write this guide to Strayan slang (Australian English) to help people from around the world understand some of the weird and wacky things us Aussies come out with. There are many such dictionaries and guides but I've trie...
