Aussie Facts


  • Apparently the first European settlers in Australia drank more alcohol per person than any other community in the history of mankind.
  • In 1954 Bob Hawke made it into the Guinness Record Book: he sculled 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Bob Hawke went on to become the Prime Minister of Australia.
  • There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia, and only some 20 million people.
  • There are 1500 hundred species of Australian spiders.
  • Australia has many venomous snakes, and is the only continent where venomous snakes outnumber the non-venomous!
  • Marsupials like koalas, kangaroos and many others can be found nowhere else in the world, neither can our two egg laying mammals, the platypus and the echidna.
  • The seasons in Australia are opposite to those in the Northern hemisphere. That means we have Christmas in midsummer.
  • Australia is the largest continent occupied by one nation and is the least populated
  • The highest recorded temperature of 127.5 F was at Cloncurry, Queensland, on 16 January 1889.
  • Western Australia is three and a half times as big as Texas.
  • Wombat poop is square. Actually cubicle would be a better description. Wombats use their poop to mark their territory and because of the shape it does not easily roll away. Dried wombat poop can be used as a dice.
  • The Australian Coat Of Arms has on it a kangaroo and an emu. The reason for this is that the kangaroo and the emu cannot go backwards but can only walk forwards.
  • In 1988 at the Bicentenary, 51% of Australians couldn't see any good reason for celebrating.
  • Australians love to gamble and this can be seen from the fact that Australians spend the highest on gambling as compared to any other country. Australia has twenty percent of the poker machines in the world.
  • 70% of Australia’s Leaders said they didn’t feel good about themselves.
  • Anywhere from 40 - 57% of women will experience physical or sexual violence by a man at some point in their lives.
  • 1 in 4 Teens have a mental illness.
  • Australia has one of the highest rates of teen suicide. The suicide rate for 10- to-24-year-olds increased by 8 percent, the largest single-year rise in 15 years.
  • Cohabitation before marriage has increased from about 18 per cent in 1975 to almost 60 per cent today. Divorce rate in Australia in around 40%. Meaning, about 40 percent of marriages can be expected to end in divorce.
  • Australia has 80% of the land mass as the continental US yet with only 20 million people. 80% of the population is located on the Coast.
  • There is a steady decline in the number of Australians who state that they follow a religion of some description.
  • In 1996 71% stated they were Christian. Of those 27% were Catholic, 22% Anglican and 21.9% nominated another Christian denomination. Of that number less than 4% say that they go to Church on a regular basis....even less go on a weekly basis.
  • Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism numbers are increasing.