[andrew63]

* Mass moonings - In 1832, 300 female Convicts at the Cascade Female Factory mooned the Governor of Tasmania during a chapel service. It was said that in a "rare moment of collusion with the Convict women, the ladies in the Governor's party could not control their laughter."

* Swimming - In 1838 it was declared illegal to swim at public beaches during the day! This law was enforced until 1902.

* Female vote - Australia was the second country to give women the vote.

* Police force - Australia's first police force was a band of 12 of the most well behaved Convicts.

* In 1932, Francis De Groot, a retired cavalry officer, managed to get himself selected as part of the honour guard at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. When the ribbon was about to be cut, he galloped forward on his horse and slashed the ribbon with his sword, declaring the bridge open in the name of 'the decent citizens of New South Wales'.

The ribbon was then tied back together and the ceremony continued. De Groot was carried off to a mental hospital, declared insane and later fined for the replacement cost of one ribbon.

* In 1954, Bob Hawke was immortalised by the Guinness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds.

*Sir John Robertson, five times premier of New South Wales, drank a pint of rum every morning for 35 years. Later said: 'none of the men who have left footprints in this country have been cold water men.

* 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

* Only developed country to be called 'racist' by the UN

* Prime Minister Harold Holt went for a swim at Cheviot Beach, near Portsea on 17th December 1967, and was never seen again. The event has been referred to as 'the swim that needed no towel'

* Until 1984, Australia's National anthem was "God save the Queen/King."

*January 26, Australia day, is the anniversary of ships arriving in Sydney carrying a load of Convicts.

*Since the arrival of European settlers 26 species of mammals have become extinct...this accounts for more than half of the worldwide total

*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 box jellyfish has killed more people in Australia than stonefish, sharks and crocodiles combined.

*Tasmanian Aborigine - The Tasmanian Aborigine was of a different race to those on the mainland with features more similar to Africans. On the orders of Governor Arthur, all Tasmanian Aborigines were ordered to be shot. No full bloods live today.

*People: 92% Caucasian descent, 7% Asian descent, 1% Aboriginal descent.

Post World War II - From 1945 through 1996, nearly 5.5 million immigrants settled in Australia.

* Four out of 10 Australians are migrants or the first-generation children of migrants.

* In 1977, Alan Jones scored a surprise victory in the Austrian Grand Prix. Initially officials were going to play the Austrian anthem but then realised that Australia and Austria were not the same country. Unfortunately, they didn't have the Australian anthem so instead a local drunk played "Happy Birthday to You" on a trumpet.

*A Sydney Australian football match was once stopped after fans smuggled a pig into the stadium, wrote the name of a big-boned player on the pig's side and then released it onto the ground.

*Dawn Fraser is the only athlete to ever win gold in the same event at three consecutive Olympics. At the 1964 Olympics, Dawn Fraser marched in the opening ceremony and wore a custom made swimsuit. For these breaches of protocol, the Australian Swimming Federation banned her from competition for ten years.

*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.

* Hobart - Australia's second oldest city. The too-frequent visits by French explorers concerned the British authorities and in 1803 it was decided that a colony should be established on the island to secure British territorial claims. Convicts were then sent.

* Newcastle - Newcastle's coal deposits were discovered by a party hunting escaped Convicts. Sydney's difficult Convicts were then sent to Newcastle to mine the coal. Known as an egalitarian city where miners and winemakers share a beer or a fine drop.

* Adelaide - Claim to fame is that it is a City that has lots of Churches. Adelaide is the Capital of the only Australian state never to have received Convicts. Is universally recognised as a hole.

* Perth - The last Australian state to receive Convicts. It has been said most of them now work in parliament or business.

* Brisbane - In 1824, a southern state governor sent a party of difficult Convicts to found a new settlement in Queensland. These days, southern state children send their difficult parents to Queensland to retire. Also a Mecca for Southern State teenagers who upon finishing school, head north for a week of booze and debauchery.

*Waltzing Matilda - 'Waltzing Matilda' the title of Australia's most famous song, is German for 'carrying a backpack'.

*Bludger - Australians refer to lazy people as 'bludgers'. The word is derived from 'bludgeoner' which is a prostitute's standover man.

*Larrikin - A larrikin is a comical, roguish individual who is prone to rowdy and unruly behaviour. The term was coined from an Irish policeman in a Melbourne court, claiming the prisoner was "larkin about".

*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.

*The name Australia comes from the Latin Terra Australis Incognito which means the Unknown Southern Land.

*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.

*Digger - Australian servicemen are referred to as Diggers. This term comes from miners on the Australian goldfields of the 1800's.

*Kangaroo - The name for the Australian marsupial Kangaroo came about when some of the first white settlers saw this strange animal hopping along and they asked the Aborigines what it was called. They replied with 'Kanguru', which in the native language meant 'I don't know' (what you are asking).

*Marree man - In 1998, a huge engraving of a Aboriginal warrior appeared in the Australian outback. It was 4km long, held a throwing stick, was bearded and had a penis which was estimated to be 200m in length. The markings appeared to have been made by a tractor pulling some sort of plough which created furrows 10m wide in the difficult terrain. To this day, the artist is a mystery.

*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.

*Gun toting- On average, American soldiers fired seven times as many bullets as Australian soldiers during the Vietnam war.

*Newspaper readership - Per capita, Australians read more newspapers than any other nation.

*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.

*Australia's expenditure on arts products ranks among the highest in developed countries.

*The average world population density is 117 people per square mile, that of the United States 76 and that of Macao is 69,000. Australia's is only 6

*Employment of Australians - 80% service sector 14% manufacturing 5% rural.

*2.3 percent of Australia's GDP is derived from agriculture.

*15 percent of Australia's GDP is derived from mining.

*.02 percent of the Australian land mass is used by mines. More land is occupied by pubs.

*Rabbits - For each person in Australia there are two sheep and over 16 rabbits, the latter introduced in 1859 by one enterprising man who brought 24 wild rabbits from England in an effort to remind him of home.

*Bicentenary - At the highpoint of the Bicentenary in 1988, 51% of Australians couldn't see any good reason for celebrating.

*Cannabis arrests- In 1999, 46,000 Australians were arrested for possession or use of Cannabi

*Cannabis use - It is estimated that 50% of Australians aged 14-19 are active users of Cannabis

*Cannabis industry - The sale of illegal cannabis industry constitutes 1 percent of Australia's GDP and is twice the size of the Australian wine industry

[Ransi]

* Nice wine
Fact

[iPom]

Vash is going to love this post.

[Lord Pom Percy]

Prime Minister HArold Holt went off swimming one morning and was never seen again, he was probably either eaten by a shark or drowned, OZ is the only country in the world to have their leader dissapear. Theres an OZ saying " to do a bolt like Harold Holt". In other countries prime Ministers and Presidents are assasinated in OZ they get eaten by sharks.

[Hels Bells]

Originally Posted by Lord Pom Percy Prime Minister HArold Holt went off swimming one morning and was never seen again, he was probably either eaten by a shark or drowned, OZ is the only country in the world to have their leader dissapear. Theres an OZ saying " to do a bolt like Harold Holt". In other countries prime Ministers and Presidents are assasinated in OZ they get eaten by sharks.

In Melbourne there is a Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Pool....

Who says Aussies dont have a sense of humour???

[Lord Pom Percy]

Originally Posted by Hels Bells In Melbourne there is a Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Pool.... Who says Aussies dont have a sense of humour???

l went there once .A swimming pool named after a prime minister that drowned.

[Swerv-o]

Originally Posted by Lord Pom Percy l went there once .A swimming pool named after a prime minister that drowned.

Excellent. That's like having the Leonard Skynard memorial airport...

S

[Wife Beater]

Originally Posted by andrew63 * Only developed country to be called 'racist' by the UN

Now that I can believe.

[elfman]

Originally Posted by Swerv-o That's like having the Leonard Skynard memorial airport...

In Kampala (Uganda) there is a Princess Diana Memorial Driving school.
(At least there was when I lived there a few years ago)

[Swerv-o]

Originally Posted by elfman In Kampala (Uganda) there is a Princess Diana Memorial Driving school. (At least there was when I lived there a few years ago)

Excellent.

Any more? The Kirsty McColl memorial boat yard? With music by The Propellerheads?

Hmm.

S

[Lord Pom Percy]

OZ is the only developed country to be declared racist by the UN, maybe thats because its the only developed country that has the sense not to let political correctness take over and does'nt let illegal immigrants overun its borders.

[Vash the Stampede]

Originally Posted by Wife Beater Now that I can believe.

It's only because the UN doesn't classify the UK as a developed country.

[Vash the Stampede]

Originally Posted by iPom Vash is going to love this post.

Seen this info before. It's from the Convict Creations Website. There's a few mistakes, which I'll tidy up.

[iPom]

Originally Posted by Vash the Stampede There's a few mistakes, which I'll tidy up.

I just betcha will.

[Vash the Stampede]

Originally Posted by andrew63 * Only developed country to be called 'racist' by the UN

False.

A UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination published a report on Friday criticising Australia for failing to override mandatory sentencing laws in effect in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

These laws require that repeat offenders be jailed even for trivial crimes, and human rights campaigners say these target the kind of offences committed by Aborigines.

The UN report said the mandatory sentencing laws could be in breach of the UN convention on the elimination of racism.

Beeb.

Italics mine.

The UN did not call Australia a racist country. It said that the mandatory sentencing laws could be in violation of the UN racism convention.

Further to this issue, consider the following:

In August 2001, John Elfrink was re-elected to the parliament of the Northern Territory in an election that saw a change of government for the first time in the Territory's history. Elfrink won the MacDonnell electorate, based around Alice Springs, with a whopping 57% of the primary vote.

He defeated two Aboriginal candidates in an electorate where 80% of voters are Aborigines.

Elfrink complicates the narrative presented by the metropolitan media that Labour's victory in the 2001 Northern Territory election was in large part a vote against the mandatory sentencing policy, which had brought embarrassment not just to the Northern Territory but to Australia.

However, John Elfrink, who is white, a former police officer and a member of the Country Liberal Party, campaigned on a platform of extending mandatory sentencing to crimes against the person, not just against property.

[...]

"I think it was largely a personal thing," he told me. "I refuse to see my constituents as Aborigines. I see them as individuals. I listen to what they tell me."

That's an excerpt from Paul Sheehan's book The Electronic Whorehouse (2003), pages 194-195. Well worth a read.

Elfrink won the vote because the local Aboriginal population (who constitute 80% of the voters) supported mandatory sentencing. Clearly, they did not consider it "racist".

Over 90% of Australia is dry, flat and arid.

False. The true figure is closer to 75% - and even then, there's a lot of hills out there.

Almost three-quarters of the land cannot support agriculture in any form.

True.

On the orders of Governor Arthur, all Tasmanian Aborigines were ordered to be shot.

False. Arthur declared a state of martial law after repeated Aboriginal attacks on the British colonials. The ensuing conflict became know as The Black War.

Thus:

In September 1828 Arthur declared martial law in these districts. In this situation British law, criminal and martial, and the associated instruments of executive power, were only marginally effective.

The hopeful Proclamation of April 1828, and the despairing declaration of martial law a few months later reveal the contradictory policies under which Arthur hoped that bloodshed would be checked 'as much as possible'.

www.foundingdocs.gov

Arther later realised that his aggressive policy had been a mistake, and reflected on it in the following words:

It was a fatal error in the first settlement of Van Diemen's Land that a treaty was not entered into with the Natives, of which Savages well comprehend the nature; had they received some compensation for the territory they surrendered, no matter how trifling, and had adequate laws been from the very first introduced and enforced for their protection, His Majesty's Government would have acquired a valuable possession without the injurious consequences which have followed our occupation and which must ever remain a stain upon the Colonisation of Van Diemen's land.

No full bloods live today.

True. Truganinni was the last.

Four out of 10 Australians are migrants or the first-generation children of migrants.

False. The figure is actually 25% (which is still very high; certainly far greater than the UK, or most other West European nations).

Waltzing Matilda - 'Waltzing Matilda' the title of Australia's most famous song, is German for 'carrying a backpack'.

False. "Matilda" is a German name, but the expression "waltzing Matilda" is 100% Australian. For more on the origins of this song, click here.

*POME - Australians refer to English people as Poms or Pome. This is an acronym for Prisoners of Mother England.

False, and comprehensively debunked here.

May have originally been an abbreviation for pomegranate which is rhyming slang for immigrant.

True, as demonstrated here.

Kangaroo - The name for the Australian marsupial Kangaroo came about when some of the first white settlers saw this strange animal hopping along and they asked the Aborigines what it was called. They replied with 'Kanguru', which in the native language meant 'I don't know' (what you are asking).

False. This is an apocryphal story which I myself believed until a couple of years ago. See here for the real explanation.

*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

False. In fact, only 1.4% of Australia's land mass is urbanised, making Australia one of the world's least urbanised countries.

However, since 91% of Australia's population lives in urban areas, it is true to say that Australia has one of the world's most urbanised populations.