07/04/2024
Interesting facts about Australia:
1. Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world.
2. The Australian Alps get more snow than the Swiss Alps.
3. Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.
4. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest ecosystem in the world, consisting of nearly 3,000 individual reefs and visible from space.
5. Australia is home to over 60 separate wine regions.
6. Mainland Australia is nearly as large as the mainland United States.
7. The Great Ocean Road is the world's largest war memorial.
8. Perth is the only city in the world where aircraft can land in its CBD.
9. The Anna Creek Ranch in South Australia is the largest cattle station in the world, even bigger than Israel.
10. 80% of Australian animals are unique to Australia.
11. 5 km of Ayers Rock (Uluru) is underground.
12. Australia has the world's longest golf course, measuring over 1,350 km long.
13. Australia is home to 21 of the world's 25 most venomous snakes.
14. There are over 60 different types of kangaroos in Australia, with baby kangaroos being only about two centimeters long at birth.
15. Aboriginal culture in Australia is the oldest on Earth, estimated to have existed for between 40,000 and 60,000 years.
16. Australia boasts 19 UNESCO World Heritage-listed sites.
17. 91% of the country is covered by native vegetation.
18. 33% of Australians were born in another country.
19. Western Australia (WA) is home to the oldest evidence of life on Earth – the Stromatolites.
20. Australia is the only continent without an active volcano.
21. In Australia, there are 2.5 sheep for every person (as of 2020).
22. Australia was the second country in the world to grant women the right to vote in 1902.
23. Australians spend more money per capita on gambling than any other nation.
24. Canberra was chosen as the capital because Sydney and Melbourne couldn't agree on which city should be the capital.
25. Australia is home to the longest fence in the world, the Dingo Fence, stretching over 5,614 km.
26. The Australian dollar is considered the most advanced currency in the world, being waterproof, made of polymer, and notoriously difficult to counterfeit.
27. Australia is the only continent entirely covered by a single country.
28. The world's oldest fossil was discovered in Australia, dating back 3.4 billion years.
29. Australia has around 600 varieties of eucalyptus trees.
30. Australia was one of the founding members of the United Nations.
31. Stonemasons in Australia introduced the 8-hour workday in 1856.
32. In Aboriginal culture, women are not allowed to play the didgeridoo.
33. The venom of the elusive platypus can kill a small dog.
34. Australia's deadliest marine animal is the Box Jellyfish, responsible for more deaths per year than snakes, sharks, and saltwater crocodiles combined.
35. The only two mammals in the world that lay eggs are found in Australia – the echidna and platypus.
36. Before humans arrived, Australia was home to megafauna, including three-meter-tall kangaroos, seven-meter-long goannas, horse-sized ducks, and a marsupial lion the size of a leopard.
37. Both kangaroos and emus cannot walk backward, symbolizing a country always moving forward on Australia's coat of arms.
38. Termite mounds in Australia are the tallest animal-made structures on Earth.
39. Australia is home to more than 1,500 species of spiders.
40. The Great Victoria Desert is larger than the entire United Kingdom.
