18 things I never knew about Australia
Like the rest of Australia, I spent the summer exploring our own backyard.
But throughout my trip, I have been shocked, freaked, pumped, amused and straight up WHAT THE ACTUAL about some of the things discovered while cruising for months on end around our sunburnt country.
Here are my top 18 ridiculous facts that are now my favourite things about Australia.
It was us vs them, and emus won the war. Picture: iStockSource:istock
1. The Great Emu War
In 1932 emus were running amok in the farmlands of Campion, WA, so the Australian military were called in to “manage the situation” … with machine guns. One month and 10,000 rounds later, the crestfallen field force of humans withdrew from combat having only knocked off only 986 of the 20,000 bullet-dodging feathered heroes. Emus won the war. Lest we forget.
2. Anti-clockwise walkers
Did you know that nearly everyone walks around Uluru anticlockwise? Well, you do now.
Coffee confusion across the country. Picture: iStockSource:istock
3. Coffee questions are different in every state
The baristas of NSW don’t understand what a long black is because they’ll always ask if you want milk with it. In QLD you’re asked if you want your coffee in a mug or cup. Peeps in the NT assume you’re ordering ice-coffee (you have to specify you want it hot) while South Australians and Boomers across the land generally ask for it to be ‘extra hot’ (aka burnt).
4. Wi-Fi was invented here
Which doesn’t explain why it’s so hard to get.
Cute quokkas are actually savage (with their young). Picture: iStockSource:istock
5. Quokkas don’t have daddy issues
They have mummy issues. The female quokka will expel her offspring from her pouch when threatened by a predator. The noise made by her young attracts the attention of the predator, allowing mum the chance to escape.
6. Canberra is by the sea
Jervis Bay was surrendered by NSW in 1915 and handed over to the ACT so the pollies could have some oceanfront. Are you surprised?
Emily could’ve skipped Paris and ate her heart out in Australia! Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
7. Croissants better than Paris
According to everyone including The New York Times, Melbourne’s Lune Croissanterie make the best croissants in the world. Founder Kate Reid apprenticed in Paris before setting up her croissant warehouse-lab in Fitzroy, that sees lines around the corner, literally every day. Her traditional French croissant is prepared over three days and makes you feel like a thief – a steal for only $5.90.
8. Banana is not a fruit
Banana shire in central Queensland was named after a prize-winning bull that used to help local stockmen getting cattle into yards. A statue of Banana stands proudly in the main street so his great herding deeds are never forgotten.
9. Each state has its own Ginger Nut recipe
The NSW/ACT one is hardest, QLD’s is thinnest, SA/WA/NT recipe is sweetest and the Vic/Tas recipes are closest to traditional G.Nuts of overseas. At one stage, Arnott’s trialled a single recipe for the whole country and there was absolute uproar.
Who knew echidnae were so … well endowed?! Picture: iStockSource:istock
10. Well-hung waddlers
Male echidnas have four headed penises. Apparently they have to be well endowed to get around the spines.
11. A man is real estate
Chris Hemsworth aka the Barefoot Bandit of Byron is the very essence of ‘location location location’. His mere presence in Australia’s once laid-back -now-poshest- beach-town (sorry Noosa), upped the prices of real estate in Byron by around 30 per cent, and that was before COVID hit (it’s now nudging 50 per cent). He even coaxed Matt Damon to give up Hollywood and move here too so I ask you IS THERE A GREATER FLEX than baiting Jason Bourne? Thor has the maddest real estate flex on earth.
Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth. Picture: SuppliedSource:Instagram
12. Poo island
The Great Barrier Reef’s Lady Elliot Island is a coral cay that is home to nesting turtles, 100,000 birds and incredible marine life. While people come from around the world to snorkel and scuba its turquoise waters the best thing about LEI is knowing it is held together by three things: dead coral, tree roots and guano – aka bird poo.
13. A pie graveyard in the capital
At the opening of Old Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, two truckloads of pies, sausage rolls, prawns and fish had to be buried nearby due to over catering.
Burying these would be sacrilege! Picture: SuppliedSource:News Regional Media
14. Parrot Fish sleep in a cocoon of mucus
The Parrot Fish males are a vivid neon colour, green, red, turquoise and pink. They are named for their dentition, which forms a parrot-like beak. They can be seen in the Maldives coral reef and in tropical seas, for snorkellers delight.
15. The World Jousting Champion is one of us
Phil Leitch is the hero you didn’t know we had. He is Australia’s only full-time professional knight and jouster, and currently holds the title of World Jousting Champion. Working at Kryall Castle just outside of Ballarat he runs a team of jousters (which includes his daughter) who use real horses, armour and wooden jousting sticks at mock-jousts for tourists. Phil has been repping Australia in world jousting tournaments for years but why his face isn’t on our money, remains unknown.
Thanks for repping Australia, Phil! (not pictured here). Picture: Chris KiddSource:News Corp Australia
16. A true Australian horror story
Mutiny, sunken treasure, desertion, murder, starvation, massacre, sexual slavery, treachery, drownings, poisoning of babies and bloody battles were all part of the terrible fate of passengers on-board the Batavia which shipwrecked on WA’s barren Abrolhos Islands in 1629. This INSANE horror is all thanks to one Dutch passenger Jeronimus Cornelisz, who led a sickening campaign that saw 125 men, women, children and babies brutally murdered for no apparent reason. Historians consider it to be Australia’s first mass murder, and Jeronimus to be the world’s first documented psychopath.
Bet you don’t know the backstory of Australia’s first police force … Picture: iStockSource:istock
17. Australia’s first police force was made up of the best behaved criminals.
Lol
18. Finally … we are the only country to have ever turned on Tom Hanks
It was his own fault though. While locked up in hotel quazzleton, Tom Hanks did the impossible and turned our entire country off him thanks to his utterly offensive Instagram pic of Vegemite on toast. With no sign of butter, and the bread-to-Vegemite ratio of a 10-year-old and Nutella jar – Hanks rightly received so much backlash from Aussies about his balls-up of our national dish, it made headlines around the world. While he apologised for his offensively thick spread, we will never forgive or forget.
Thanks to the Helpers. Let’s take care of ourselves and each other. Hanx pic.twitter.com/09gCdvzGcO
This article originally appeared on Escape.com.au and was reproduced here with permission
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