That prove Australia is a weird place
Australia is beautiful, big and beloved by all… but it’s also a little bit weird.
That’s not a bad thing. In fact, here at Uptown Pokies, we love the bizarre. For that reason, we’re rolling out 15 facts that celebrate Australia’s strangeness.
1. Australian money is living in the year 3020
Every other world currency is made from paper and plastic, but Australian currency is the most advanced in the world. Waterproof, made of polymer and impossible to counterfeit (well… almost impossible), our money is straight out of the future.
2. Our entire government was once sacked
Politicians are sacked all the time, but never has an entire government been given the boot.
Well, that’s not exactly true. In 1975, in response to budgetary squabbling and inter-party fighting, Queen Elizabeth II fired everyone in the parliament and filled it with new party members. God might save the Queen, but he can’t save the Australian parliament.
3. Canberra become our capital to settle an argument
Melbourne has trams and disappearing prime ministers, but Sydney has beaches and the harbour bridge. Which one deserves to be Australia’s capital? Neither of them. To put an end to the argument as to which city should be the capital of Australia, Canberra was chosen because its roughly in the middle.
4. There are more Greeks in Australia than Greece (kinda)
Outside of Athens, Melbourne is the city with the largest diaspore of Greek persons in the world. Unsurprisingly, you’ll discover Greek architecture and Aegean-influenced restaurants. And while there are still more Greeks in Athens, Melbourne isn’t far behind.
5. We’re home to the longest golf course in the world
The world’s longest golf course is located along the Nullarbor Plain. It stretches 1,365 km, covers 18 holes and is a par 72. It also encompasses both Western Australian and South Australia, which is impressive in its own right.
6. We sell sand to the Middle East
There’s an old saying that a good salesman can sell ice to Eskimos, but how good do you need to be to sell sand to the Middle East? Apparently, you just have to be Australian. We sell a type of sand called garnet, which is good for sandblasting and pressure cleaning, to Arab nations.
7. Our pilots are all aces
In what must be one of the weirdest stories ever, two small planes from the RAF collided mid-air. Instead of plummeting to the earth in a ball of fire, they locked together and managed to glide to safety. All four pilots departed unscathed and the tale has since gone down in legend.
8. Lamingtons were hated by the man who inspired them
Lamingtons are our national cake and as such they’re part of every young Australians diet growing up. However, the bloke who inspired the lamington actually hated them. Named Lord Lamington, he described them as “those bloody poofy woolly biscuits”.
9. Afraid of volcanoes? Then Australia is the country for you
Do you have a well-founded fear of volcanoes? Then you need to apply for an Australian visa, like, yesterday. We’re located smack bang in the middle of the Indo-Australian plate, which means we don’t lie on any fault lines. In saying that, we do have a few outlaying islands that have active volcanoes, so stay away from Heard Island if you’re not a fan of magma.
10. We’ve got cattle stations bigger than entire nations
At an impressive 2.4 million hectares, Anna Creek Station is the world’s largest cattle station still in operation. Located in South Australia, it’s home to 9,500 cows and is bigger than Rwanda and Israel. It can also only be surveyed from the sky by light aircraft.
11. Classic musical is a totally acceptable crime-fighting tactic
In response to a problem that local Victorian police were having with young vandals, they decided to rig up a shopping centre PA system to play classical music. Beethoven and Bach were blasted from the speakers and according to reports, it worked.
12. We have more sheep than people
With over 100 million sheep in the land Down Under, there are almost three of these woolly ungulates to every one Australian.
13. Our internet is really, really slow
Australia is consistently ranked as having one of the worst broadband speeds in the world. In fact, it often sits in 56th place when compared to other countries. Our average speed is 8.5 Mbps, which when you read that Netflix recommends speeds of 25 Mbps or more, really puts things in perspective.
14. There was once an Australian colony in Paraguay
During the 1890s, a group of Australians who were fed up with how the country was being run, left the country and created a utopia in Paraguay called New Australia. Extramarital sex, alcohol and associating with the locals was forbidden, which makes you wonder if they knew what the definition of a utopia was.
15. Aussies are from all over the world
Australia might be far away from the rest of the world, but that doesn’t stop people moving here. During the latest census it emerged that more than 25% of Australians are born overseas. This goes to show just how multicultural we are as a nation.
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