10 Facts About Australia
Be honest. Aside from kangaroos, koalas, and the Sydney Opera House, how much do you really know about the Land Down Under? And by Land Down Under, I meant Australia.
Don’t worry, we have created a list of 10 interesting facts you should know about Australia.
Click on the video if you rather want to watch the video!
Number 10: Sea bathing used to be illegal
The practice of sea bathing became popular in the late 18th century. In contrast with bathing in a swimming pool, which is generally done for leisure or exercise purposes, sea bathing was once thought to have curative, therapeutic and health benefits.
In New South Wales and other parts of Australia, swimming in the sea was banned during daylight between 1838 and 1902 not because of dangers in drowning or being bitten by sharks but because women’s swimming outfits were considered morally inappropriate and indecent despite being from neck to knee.
Authorities even battled in a debate which lasted from the late 19th to the mid-20th century about what should constitute an appropriate bathing costume for both men and women. There was even a time when an ordinance recommending men to wear skirts instead to cover up in the sea, resulted in mass public demonstrations and protests.
What do you think, gentlemen?
Number 9: Australia is irrevocably huge
Australia is the 6th largest country in the world and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates with land mass almost as great as that of the United States of America, about 50 per cent greater than Europe, and 32 times greater than the United Kingdom.
Australia is home to widest varieties of landscapes in the world with deserts in the center, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.
The Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef extends over 2,000 km, considered the planet’s biggest living structure to date. The world’s largest sand island with an area of 184 000 hectares, Fraser Island, stretching over 123 kilometres along the southern coast of Queensland.
So, Australia holds many world titles but let’s add one more: the world’s longest fence, the dingo fence. At 5,531 km, the dingo barrier fence stretches from eastern Queensland all the way to the South Australian coastline and at 3,436 miles, this kinda pretty much beats the Great Wall of China.
And if you’re a beach freak, there’s plenty of reason for you to visit Australia because they have so many of those, more than 10,000 beaches, enough to take you about 30 years to visit all of them for a day.
Number 8: Sheep outnumber locals
Australia has a population of 25.6 million in 2020, and a very low population density of seven humans per square mile. That’s about 671 people occupying the same space in the UK. There are, however, almost a 100-million herd count by 2020, 85.7 million to be exact. Sheep outnumber people by more than three to one ratio.
Of course, these numbers don’t include humans who drink plant-based milks or those who trust the government for health and dietary advice. We’re only counting a strict use of the term ‘sheep’ in this article.
Lamb exports from Australia increased by 5 per cent in the last years to 282,000 tons, while sheep meat exports to China soared by 42 per cent to 152,700 tons.
Since federation, Australia has been one of the world’s largest exporters of wool, generating billions of dollars annually but the droughts on Queensland’s is making the cost of feeding stock unsustainable, with a lot of sheep now being reluctantly offloaded and also severe dry seasons make sheep grow less wool.
Number 7: Saudi Arabia imports camels from Australia
There’s not that much of a complicated reason for this. It’s just that Saudi Arabia doesn’t have enough camels, and Australia has too many.
From crocodile ranches to emu farms, Australia has a good reputation in raising exotic, tropical meats. And now it seems the Land Down Under has found another niche: importing camels.
The desert-dwelling mammals were first introduced during the 19th century as a mode of transport, multiplied in admirable numbers of more than one million at the time which ultimately became a pest to farmers.
While camels still exist in Saudi Arabia, they are largely bred for racing. The camel has always been part of the traditional Muslim diet where hundreds of thousands of camels are slaughtered during the Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca every year.
Saudi Arabia traditionally imported camels from North Africa, but various factors, including disease, drought and political instability led them to look elsewhere, keeping an eye for Australia’s only remaining herds of wild camels in the world.
It was said that Australian camels were brought over from Northern India in the 19th century for use in pioneering its barren backcountry.
Today, Australia has a population of about 500,000 camels. In some places, they’re becoming a nuisance though.
Number 6: Australia also sends sand to Saudi Arabia
We want to keep the momentum going here, so here’s another eye-popping trivia… which might seem strange, given Saudi Arabia’s massive desert setting.
Ninety five percent of Saudi Arabia is comprised of desert areas and maybe other countries in the Middle East as well. You might wonder why they can’t just get trucks of sand from anywhere they want or maybe from their neighboring countries? Our idea of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East is that they can literally just stick a shovel anywhere in their country!
Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that and we are beyond privileged to share to you the reason behind this sand-importing phenomenon.
The thing is, Saudi Arabia’s own sand is not actually conducive to their own needs. Desert sand is much different than the sand you’d find at the beach. It’s because the sand in the desert has been eroded by thousands of years of wind and as a result, is very smooth and fine and is not ideal for infrastructure.
The sand you’d find at the beach or near water called maritime sand is coarser because of water erosion. This is the type of sand Saudi Arabia wants and is used in the production of concrete.
But Saudi Arabia has almost 1,700 miles of coastline, how do they need more maritime sand you ask?
Due to years of progression in the country, particularly in the areas of construction, Saudi Arabia has a large shortage of usable maritime sand. As a result, they’ve turned to countries like Australia and Scotland for a lifeline.
But a particular variety of sand called ‘garnet’, plentiful in Australia, is good for sandblasting and pressure-cleaning and is thus exported in large volumes to the Arab nation.
Number 5: Masterchef is so popular …and important
MasterChef Australia is currently the 4th highest rating television program since 2001. The first series finale of MasterChef Australia attracted an average of 3,745,000 viewers, and peaked at 4.11 million viewers which became the most-watched television program of 2009.
In 2010, the highly anticipated second series premiere of the show attracted 1.69 million viewers, peaking at 2.11 million nationwide and rated higher on average compared to the first series, with weekday episodes seeing a 35% increase in viewers. The last half-hour of the second series final attracted 3,962,000 viewers and maintained 3,542,000 during the rest of the final, out rating the series 1 final to become the 3rd highest rating show of all time.
Even the televised general election debate had to be re-scheduled because of the popularity of the show. The then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a statement, “I can understand the fascination with cooking and eating,” who was in a leadership race against Tony Abbott at the time.
Cooking schools have reported a significant increase in enrollments due to the success of the series, while kitchenware retailers and upmarket restaurants have also increased in trade. Supermarkets and specialty food retailers have reported an increased demand from the public for more unusual ingredients, such as quail, custard apple and squab, after such ingredients were featured on the program.
Amassing great success and appeal from the audience, MasterChef Australia won the award for Most Popular Reality Program at the 2010 Logie Awards.
Number 4: Australia’s first police force consisted entirely of convicts
While it is not common to hire people with criminal background in the police force, Australia had some pretty reasonable considerations way back in history. We’ll take a look at the first police force of Australia, which was made up entirely of convicts.
It all conspired during the British colonization. Long story short, Australia had no formal police force after the Marines of the Royal Navy arrived in New South Wales in January of 1788 after the British government appointed Arthur Phillip captain of the HMS Sirius, and commissioned him to establish an agricultural work camp there for British convicts.
This provisional police force called the Night Watch, composed of 12 of the most well-behaved convicts, came to light when crime rates began to soar due to an economic crisis and the government began to establish a rationing program. At the time, Australia had more convict residents than residents without criminal backgrounds.
Given the success of this first group of convicts-turned-police-officers, the government decided to expand the program. In 1790, the Night Watch program was expanded to the city of Sydney. A new group of convicts joined the pre-existing Sydney Foot Police, allowing the enforcement area to expand into Toongabbie, Hawkesbury, and Parramatta.
By the mid 19th century, the government passed the Police Recruiting Act which allowed the police department to recruit individuals from the British Isles as well. Recruits were given a free fare to come to Australia in exchange for 3 years of police service.
Historical records indicate that the Night Watch and its extensions were successful at controlling and reducing crime throughout Australia, a surprising result for a police force created of convicts.
Number 3: They use classical music to fight crime
This strategy has already been implemented in several cities across the globe today and reports say it’s actually paying off.
In 2013, a McDonald’s restaurant in Australia has taken measures in hopes of making an end for rising numbers of teenagers hanging around outside the store by blaring out classical and opera music from its speakers.
The branch of the popular fast food outlet in the Mount Annan region of Sydney, New South Wales, began playing classical and opera music when the manager became fed up with groups of teenagers loitering late at night.
Several weeks since classical music was introduced to the restaurant, its manager claims that this experiment is paying off.
Local residents commended this strategy on the newspaper’s Facebook page agreeing that it was effective at driving away young people especially at night, though a few residents had complaints of too much noise when they’re getting rest at night.
Number 2: The country’s most famous landmark was inspired by an orange
We all have the same thing in mind. When we talk of popularity, it’s the Sydney Opera House! But why wasn’t it painted in orange, though?
Not only is the famous opera house one of the most architecturally stunning Australian landmarks in a city, but it’s also one of the most well-known buildings in the world.
Experts recognize the Sydney Opera House as one of the great architectural works of the 20th century.
Located on Port Jackson, New South Wales, its unique roof structure that looks like white sail-shaped shells is what makes it one of the most-photographed buildings in the world.
Its architect Jorn Utzon says that the concept was born while he was actually peeling an orange. Reportedly, Utzon’s design was initially rejected by three judges in the 1956 competition, but his entry was picked out by the fourth judge, renowned American architect Eero Saarinen, who asserted it outstanding making Utzon beat 232 others in the competition.
Designed by a Danish architect, the Sydney Opera House is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its creativity, innovation and structural design.
Number 1: Australia has the world’s cleanest air
According to IQAir, Melbourne is the world’s cleanest city, with an air quality index rating of three and the northwestern tip of Tasmania on the Cape Grim Peninsula is where you’ll find the cleanest air in the world.
Tasmania is an island state of Australia located 240 km to the south of the Australian mainland, separated from it by Bass Strait. Although it is the 26th-largest island in the world, and being surrounded by around 1000 islands, it is Australia’s least populated state, with 541,965 residents as of March 2021.
The station, Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station has been established in the coastline and run by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology since 1976 which measures the quality of air on Earth using high precision instruments to monitor wind speed, direction, rainfall, temperature, humidity and air pressure. The station also monitors changes to the air including changes related to greenhouse gases.
The air and water are so clean in fact, entrepreneurs are bottling them up and selling them worldwide.
One famous water brand is Cape Grim from Tasmania itself. “When I finally tasted this bottled rainwater it was like drinking dew from a meadow,” said award-winning journalist, Shelly Gare. A bottle of Cape Grim water costs around Australian $21.
Another booming business is Green and Clean Air, founded by John Dickinson and Theo Ruygrok, a business based in Australia that puts air in cans and sells it to people struggling with pollution in Asia.
They came up with the idea after Ruygrok looked at the sky and mused about the difference in air quality when he arrived home from travelling from China.
Later on, they began collecting air from iconic Australian locations including the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach, Tasmania and the Gold Coast. You can also get a can of pure New Zealand air. A can costs just less than Australian $20.
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