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19 things we bet you didn't know about Australia!

19 things we bet you didn't know about Australia!

  1. Most of Australia's exotic flora and fauna cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
  2. The name ‘Australia’ comes from the Latin word ‘australis’, meaning southern.
  3. It is estimated humans have lived in Australia for around 45,000 years.
  4. Australia has over 750 different reptile species, more than any other country in the world.
  5. Australia is as wide as the distance between London to Moscow.
  6. The biggest property in Australia is bigger than Belgium.
  7. The world’s oldest fossil, which is about 3.4 billion years old, was found in Australia.
  8. Australia’s first police force was made up of the best behaved convicts. 
  9. Kangaroos and emus cannot walk backward  – which is one of the reasons they’re on the Australian coat of arms.
  10. If you visited one new beach in Australia every day, it would take over 27 years to see them all.
  11. The male platypus has strong enough venom to kill a small dog. 
  12. And when the platypus was first sent to England, it was believed the Australians had played a joke by sewing the bill of a duck onto a rat.
  13. Before 1902, it was illegal to swim at the beach during the day. 
  14. A retired cavalry officer, Francis De Groot stole the show when the Sydney Harbour Bridge officially opened. Just as the Premier was about to cut the ribbon, De Groot charged forward on his horse and cut it himself, with his sword. The ribbon had to be retied, and De Groot was carted off to a mental hospital. He was later charged for the cost of one ribbon. 
  15. Australia has 3.3x more sheep than people. 
  16. A kangaroo is only one centimetre long when it is born.
  17. If all the sails of the Opera House roof were combined, they would create a perfect sphere. The architect was inspired while eating an orange.
  18. In 1940, two aircraft collided in midair, in NSW. Instead of crashing, the two planes became stuck together and made a safe landing. 
  19. Chinese explorers travelled to Australia long before Europeans arrived. As early as the 1400s, sailors and fisherman came to Australia for sea-cucumbers and to trade with Indigenous peoples. 

Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jemimaskelley/facts-about-australia?utm_term=.ev5zXqpDM#.mp3b98N0w

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