Qantas Airways once powered an interstate flight on cooking oil. This marked Australia’s first commercial flight using sustainably derived biofuel.
100 Mind-Blowing Australia Facts
The first-ever documented feature film was made in Australia in 1906.
Hugh Jackman often will tell the paparazzi where he is when he goes home to Australia so they can get their photos, then leave him alone for the rest of his visit.
In Australia, there are nearly twice the amount of kangaroos as there are humans.
In the early 1900s, there was a pod of killer whales that helped humans hunt down other whales in Australia. They would do this for the fins and tongues of the captured whales as rewards, and this agreement was known as “The Law of Tongue.”
The maximum recommended consumption for Monster Energy Drink is 16oz in Australia, but 48oz in the U.S.A.
It is illegal to play a musical instrument in the Northern Territory, Australia, to annoy other people.
The call of a Kookaburra is used as the stock jungle sound effect in many movies and shows set in the jungles of Africa or South America, even though they are only in Australia and New Guinea.
There are more people in the U.K. than in Canada, Australia, Norway, and Iceland combined. The UK population is over 65 million.
Australia is wider than the moon.
Australia is home to the Great Barrier Reef.
Australia is wider than the moon. The moon sits at 3400km in diameter, while Australia’s diameter from east to west is almost 4000km.
Australia has the most number of venomous snakes worldwide. Australia is home to almost a hundred species of venomous snakes. However, only one fatal snake bite incident is recorded per year.
Australia has the most beaches in the world. A fun fact for beach lovers: at 10,000 beaches, you can visit one new beach in Australia every day for more than 27 years.
Australia has a bright pink lake. Lake Hillier is a pink lake on the West Coast of Australia. Although coloured lakes seem to be a norm in the world, Lake Hillier is the only one that scientists have yet to figure out. To this day, the reasons for its pink colouration remain to be theory.
You could buy a town from eBay. Since eBay was founded in 1995, many unusual items have been placed on the online auction site. One of the weirdest fun facts is that someone even tried to sell the country of New Zealand on eBay. Turns out, it was part of the long-known rivalry between Australia and New Zealand – and Australia jokingly posted the auction. However, the bidding was stopped once the bid reached $3,000.
Starbucks flopped in Australia. Starbucks may be a staple in many countries, but Aussies couldn’t care less. Since opening dozens of locations in Australia in 2000, 70% have already closed down, leaving only 23 cafes still operating in the country. This is only one of the many fun facts about Australia.
Around 30,000 rubber ducks were lost at sea in 1992. These ducks we included in a shipment from Hong Kong to the U.S. One of the crates that were filled with rubber ducks was lost in the Pacific Ocean. To this day, rubber ducks continue to pop up on the shores of Australia to Alaska.
There are pink lakes in Australia. On the western coast of Australia, a pink lake called Lake Hillier can be found. It gets its colour from the algae present in the area which mixes with the lake’s salt content to create a pink colour. Despite the vibrant pink colour, it is safe to swim in this lake. The Russians arrived 12 days late to the 1908 Olympics. This was mainly because they were following the wrong calendar. After this incident, the catholic nations mandated the use of the Gregorian Calendar.
Australia is the only continent without an active volcano. The nearest active volcanoes are located off the continent of Australia but are still within its territory. One is located on Head Island and the other on McDonald Islands. The reason why Australia does not have any active volcanoes located on the continent is that it isn’t on a plate boundary.
Saudi Arabia imports camels from Australia. When you think of Saudi, you automatically think of desert sands and camels. It seems like one of the funny facts that are hard to believe, but Saudi does get some of their camels from Australia. Native Saudi camels are used for racing and domestic purposes, but the imported camels are used for their meat.
The world record for most tosses of a pancake in a minute is 140 tosses. In 2012, Brad Jolly of Australia set the Guinness World Record for the most tosses of a pancake with 140 flips a minute.
In 2005, Australia banned the word “mate.” Due to complaints, the Australian Parliament once banned the use of “mate” at work. However, it didn’t last too long, and the ruling was withdrawn in 24 hours.
An episode of Peppa Pig was banned from Australian television. Their offense? The episode taught children not to fear spiders. Given how many venomous spiders live in Australia, it’s only natural to ban them for the safety of the kids watching.
There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. The kangaroo population is estimated at 40 million.
Australia has the most amount of reptiles in the world (over 750 different species!)
There is a tree called the Idiot Fruit, which grows in Australia’s Daintree rainforest.
Australia is wider than the moon. The moon sits at 3,400 kilometres (2,113 miles) in diameter, while Australia’s diameter from east to west is almost 4,000 km (2,485 miles).
Australia is wider than the moon. The diameter of Australia comes in at 2,485 miles, while the moon’s diameter stretches 2,113 miles in diameter.
The Moon is drifting away from Earth. You read that correctly! The Moon is gradually drifting away from Earth at a rate of approximately 4 cm per year. This phenomenon is caused by the Moon pulling on Earth’s oceans creating tidal forces that produce a bulge of water on the side of Earth facing the Moon. This bulge in turn creates a gravitational pull on the Moon, causing it to accelerate slightly and move further away from Earth. Over time, this process has caused the Moon to move farther away from Earth each year. This gradual drift is not noticeable on a day-to-day basis, but over millions of years, it can have significant effects on Earth’s rotation. Today, most scientists believe the Moon is ‘Earth’s child’ – a large body collided with Earth, destroying our planet’s mantle and sending material into orbit from which the Moon formed. This ‘big splash’ theory would explain why the Moon’s rocks are similar to those on Earth. Bonus fun fact: Australia is wider than the Moon. The Moon sits at 3400 km in diameter, while Australia’s diameter from east to west is almost 4000 km. The Moon, as a sphere, has more surface area, but it’s still pretty impressive.
Europe is the second smallest continent in size but the third largest in population. Europe is known for its diverse cultures, rich history and stunning landmarks. Despite being the second smallest continent in size (after Australia), Europe is home to a staggering population of over 746 million people, making it the third largest continent in terms of population (after Asia and Africa). Europe has one of the highest levels of urbanisation in the world, with over 75% of its population living in urban areas. With the world’s population expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050, we must increase efforts to understand and mitigate the challenges brought by rapid and unplanned urbanisation, air pollution, as well as issues related to the management of water and energy. ESA and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), in collaboration with the Google Earth Engine team, have developed the World Settlement Footprint – the world’s most comprehensive dataset on human settlement. Featuring data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions, this unprecedented collection of data on human settlement will advance our understanding of urbanisation on a global scale.
Fraser Island is the biggest sand island! The biggest sand island in the world is called Fraser Island! It is off the East Coast of Australia. The island is home to forests which, amazingly, grow through the sand!
Three towns in Scotland, Australia, and the US are united by how boring they are. The towns themselves probably aren’t that boring, really, but their names sure are. Dull, Scotland; Boring, Oregon; and Bland, Australia, teamed up back in 2014 to get a much-needed tourism boost by creating the tongue-in-cheek League of Extraordinary Communities. It wasn’t long before the three towns’ union gained a new nickname – the Trinity of Tedium.
Antarctica isn’t owned by any single nation. Instead, the continent is governed by many of the world’s countries through the Antarctic Treaty. The first signatories of the treaty were the seven nations that had some form of territorial claim to Antarctica: The UK, Norway, New Zealand, France, Chile, Argentina, and Australia.
Australia contains several pink lakes, but the most stunning is the Pepto Bismol-coloured Lake Hillier. The colour may be the result of certain algae.
Emu war. In 1932 the government of Western Australia declared war on emus, a native bird species that was damageing crops in the region. The government sent soldiers armed with machine guns to hunt the emus, who proved elusive. Despite firing thousands of rounds of ammunition, the soldiers were able to kill ‘only a few’ emus before the government declared peace after less than a week.
Tux Is The Official Mascot of Linux: The official Mascot of the Linux kernel is a Penguin character called Tux. The idea was inspired by Linus’ encounter with a Penguin at a National Zoo during his trip to Australia in 1993. This is the commonly used logo for Linux and is depicted in various graphical styles.
There’s an ATM on Every Continent on Earth: One interesting money fact involves how we access it. There are more than 3 million cash machines around the world today. You can get or deposit cash at ATMs in the most remote of places including Easter Island, central Australia, and two at McMurdo Station in Antarctica!