Australia is a country with contrasting characteristics. It has a vast area, yet its population is only scanty in comparison. Moreover, it is a modern country with skyscrapers and a comparatively advanced work force, yet it was once a colony of convicts. Moreover, the country is weird in many other ways. Some fun facts about Australia are presented in this article.
• David Warren invented the black box in Australia. He was an aeronautical research scientist.
• Australia has been a pioneer in surfing. Its vast open beaches are instrumental in promoting the sport. The first national surfing championships were held in Australia in 1964 in Sidney.
• The oldest newspaper in Australia is the Sydney Morning Herald. It was first published in 1831.
• Mining is one of the chief industries in Australia. Many minerals and fossil fuels are mined in the country and Australia is a leader in many of them. Major exports include coal and iron ore. Mining in Australia constitutes around 15% of the GDP. Yet its only comprises 0.02% of the region's area. More area is taken up by pubs.
• Platypus is an animal unique to Australia. It is an unusual animal in that despite being a mammal, it lays eggs. It is a native of Australia. In fact, a famous story says that when the first platypus specimen was sent to England from Australia for studying, it was thought that the Australians had played a joke by sticking a duck's bill to the body of a rather large rat! Other animals found in the country include kangaroos and koala bears.
• Eucalyptus is an important tree having many medicinal properties. However it was first used by the aborigines in Australia to treat cough flue and other ailments.
• Australia is also a pioneer as afar as the rights of gays and lesbians go. The first homosexual radio station opened in Australia in Melbourne in 1993. Its name was joy radio.
• Australia has one of the most arid landscapes in the world which explains why so many of its inhabitants live in cities. In fact around 90 percent of the people in Australia live in cities. The reason why Australia is so dry is that it received very little rainfall. The continent is the driest in the world with South Australia being the driest province amongst all the provinces.
• The Australia flag was created as a part of a competition in which eventually four entries were chosen as winners as they had similar designs.
This is our round up of fun facts about Australia. Don't be surprised if you were amused to read how 5 people could come up with the same idea for the Australia flag. We were too when we found out about it the first time.
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