MelissaA
Brenton
Shilpa Karhik
Even More Australian Facts
February 20th 2007 00:25
Parliament House, Canberra
* In 1983, the yacht "Australia II" ended the Americans 132 year dominance of the America's cup.
* Dropbears are an evil species of koala that fall from trees and attack humans. Right!
No, actually, I'll let you in on a little secret. This evil strain of koala don't actually exist!
The story was created to fool and scare Americans who believe us considering how many other deadly dangers we have. Even the platypus carries a toxin in his feet that can poison a human..
* Bunyips haunt rivers, swamps, creeks and billabongs. Their main goal in life is to cause nocturnal terror by eating people or animals in their vicinity. They are renowned for their terrifying bellowing cries in the night and have been known to frighten Aborigines to the point where they would not approach any water source where a Bunyip might be waiting to devour them.
Bunyips were actually creatures of the Aboriginal "Dreamtime", the ancient stories of how the world came to be.
Some scientists believe the Bunyip was a real animal, the diprotodon, extinct for some 20,000 years.
Some City Fun & Games
* Sydney - Australia's first and largest city. Wanted to be the Capital City of Australia but its convict stigma counted against it.
* Melbourne - Also wanted to be the Capital City of Australia, on the basis that it was the home to the Australian establishment and was not founded by convicts. (Founded by John Batman; son of a convict)
* Canberra - Because Sydney and Melbourne kept bickering over which city should be the capital of Australia, it was decided that neither of them would be capital and instead, a new capital would be built in the middle of them both.
* Hobart - Australia's second oldest city. The too-frequent visits by French explorers concerned the British authorities and in 1803 it was decided that a colony should be established on the island to secure British territorial claims. Convicts were then sent.
* Newcastle - Newcastle's coal deposits were discovered by a party hunting escaped Convicts. Sydney's difficult Convicts were then sent to Newcastle to mine the coal. Known as an egalitarian city where miners and wine makers share a beer or a fine drop.
* Adelaide's claim to fame is that it is the City of Churches. Adelaide is the Capital of the only Australian state never to have received convicts.
* Perth - The last Australian state to receive convicts. It has been said most of them now work in parliament or business.
* Brisbane - In 1824, a southern state governor sent a party of difficult Convicts to found a new settlement in Queensland.
These days, southern state children send their difficult parents to Queensland to retire.
Southern State teenagers after finishing high school now also head up that way for a week of booze and debauchery known as "Schoolies week".
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