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  • Top 10 Facts About Australia Welcome to Top10Archive! As we return to our

  • trip around the globe, were stopping in a rather revered country, one that many wished

  • to see. As we digitally travel to The Land Down Under, we're going to meet 300 jolly

  • surfers, we'll see what mum has got cookin' for all of your Wally siblings, we'll yabber

  • about some Boomers, and we promise, there isn't a Buckley's chance you'll be disappointed.

  • This video, as Australians would call it, is the Dinky-di.

  • 10. Australia’s Innovations Many people likely don’t associate Australia

  • with inventionsor really anything outside of kangaroosbut the country has been

  • home to some great innovators. Some of the earliest inventors were Australia’s aboriginal

  • population, who invented the boomerang some ten thousand years ago. In the 20th century

  • alone, Australian inventors were churning out products that we still use on a regular

  • basis today, such as notepads, configured by stationer J. A. Birchall; Dr. David Warren’s

  • black box flight recorder; and the power strip, originally developed by Peter Talbot. Other

  • notable firsts include the first feature-length film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, the first

  • refrigerator, and more locally used items like the didgeridoo, a wooden musical instrument.

  • For the girls watching this, you know those Ugg boots you love so much? Yep, that's right,

  • thank Australia the next time you slip them on!

  • 9. Famous Australians Sure, we all know Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush,

  • Cate Blanchett, Paul Hogan, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and Mel Gibson as certified

  • Australians, but there’s more that hails from Down Under than great Hollywood talent.

  • 2000 Sydney Olympic winner Cathy Freeman, who took gold in the 400m run, did her country

  • proud, as did 1973 Nobel Prize winner Patrick White. Radio's blast out tunes from the country’s

  • musical stars, Keith Urban, Kylie Minogue, and Olivia Newton John as our eyes are treated

  • to works of art by artists such as Brett Whitely, Pro Hart, and Normal Lindsay. Let’s also

  • not forget the stunning personality of Steve Irwin, who personified Australia for much

  • of the world. 8. Australian Cuisine

  • Don’t let Outback Steakhouse fool you. Australian cuisine is far more interesting than a blossoming

  • tray of onions and steaks. In fact, for a restaurant that prides itself on its Down

  • Under style, it’s missing a well-known Australian stapleVegemite. Beyond the yeasty food

  • paste, indigenous and more traditional Australians are known to dine on the witchetty grub, a

  • wood-eating larvae. Should an almond-tasting insect not whet your appetite, maybe something

  • sweeter like lamington or smokier like barbecued snags will hit the spot. Those crazy Aussies

  • are also known for their love for meat pies, Macadamia nuts, Fantales, Tim Tams, Weet-Bix,

  • and Anzac biscuits. 7. Tourist Attractions in Australia

  • As you should and can expect with any country youve yet to travel to, Australia is home

  • to quite an array of attractions and sites worth making the trip for. One of its more

  • notable buildings is the Sydney Opera House, a venue for concerts, local theater, and so

  • much more. History buffs may enjoy visiting the Shrine of Remembrance, which was built

  • to commemorate and honor the 19,000 Victorians that perished during the First World War.

  • Thalassophobics are going to want to stray from the Great Barrier Reef, but anyone with

  • a keen interest in nature should get a kick out of this system of 2,900 reefs and 900

  • islands. Additional attractions include Port Jackson, Blue Mountain, Tasmania, and the

  • Great Ocean Road. 6. Australia's Wildlife

  • We may have seen some of Australia’s indigenous wildlife tucked safely within some cave, but

  • there’s nothing like seeing them in their natural habitat. Critters like the Tasmanian

  • Devil, a tiny creature Mel Blank turned into a whirlwind of a beast, or the equally as

  • cute wombat. We’d be doing a disservice to not name the expected animals, like the

  • kangaroo, koala, or baby-eating dingoe; but we also don’t want to leave out the tiny

  • kookaburra or the long-nosed fur seal, found on the southern coast of Australia. There

  • is, of course, the myriad of deadly creatures like the cone snail, cassowary, stone fish,

  • just to name a few. Oh, and how did we forget the platypus, the beaver's ugly cousin. Or

  • is the beaver the platypus' ugly cousin? Actually, according to experts, they aren't related

  • at all, as the platypus is only related to one other animal in the rare monotreme family,

  • the Echidna. So, yea.. that joke didn't go as expected.

  • 5. Australian Gold Rush The United States of America isn’t the only

  • country to have experienced a gold rush. During the 19th century, specifically in 1851, Edward

  • Hargraves stumbled across a small speck of gold near Bathurst. Post-discovery, Hargraves

  • dubbed the gold siteOphir,” was named Commissioner of the Land, received a life

  • pension, and inadvertently started a gold rush in Australia. By 1852, 370,000 immigrants

  • landed in Australia in hopes of cashing in on the boom in mining. As it usually is when

  • money is involved, tensions rose between the miners and authorities over goldfield licensing,

  • leading to 1,000 men proclaiming an oath at the Eureka stockade to defend their rights

  • and liberties. After intervention from Melbourne troops, 22 of the 1,000 were killed and Eureka

  • was reclaimed. 4. Australian Ballot

  • In 1856, the states of Victoria and South Australia introduced a new system of voting

  • that many countries still utilize today. Dubbed theAustralian ballot,” and later the

  • secret ballot,” this voting method made it possible for voters to be able to cast

  • a ballot in privacy. As the protection of voters became a growing concern across the

  • globe, United States and parts of Europe adopted the Aussie means of voting. Traditionally,

  • the means of privacy is a ballot box or booth of a specific dimension. The voters are given

  • uniform cards and a uniform means of marking said card. More modern voting methods have

  • turned to electronic methods, which tend to be under constant scrutinyin the United

  • States. 3. Australian Holidays

  • Despite being seemingly in its own world, the country of Australia and the people that

  • devote themselves to it have experienced loss during some of the world’s most trying times.

  • To commemorate those that gave their lives during the First World War, which is the first

  • major military action fought by both Australian and New Zealand forces, Aussie’s celebrate

  • ANZAC day. ANZAC Day specifically points towards the landing of Gallipoli on April 25th, 1915.

  • During the battle on the peninsula, Australia saw a loss of 8,000 soldiers against the Turkish

  • defenders, who wound up pushing allied forces into a defeat. For both Australia and New

  • Zealand, the battle molded a legendary image for the members of the Australian and New

  • Zealand Army Corps. 2. World Records

  • When it comes to World Records, Australia isn't exempt from these feats, even when it

  • comes to comedic value. In December of 2015, some 320 Australians took to the waves, breaking

  • the record for most "Surfing Santa's" at one location. In November of 2015, David Richards

  • broke a record for "Most bulbs on a Christmas Tree" by stringing 518,838 LED lights on 22-meter

  • or 72-foot tree in Canberra to raise money for families affected by sudden infant death

  • syndrome. On March 29th, 2008, daredevil Robbie Maddison broke the record for the longest

  • motorcycle ramp jump at 106.98 meters or roughly 351 feet at the Crusty Demons Night of World

  • Records at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

  • 1. The Island of Misfit Boys When you don’t want someone in your presence,

  • you find a way to banish them. In 1788, England did exactly that by deporting approximately

  • 763 convicts to Australia, which was to act as a prison colony. Over 50,000 criminals

  • in 60 years were brought to the land Down Under, but it was about more than rehabilitation.

  • In fact, it was widely believed by England’s upper class that criminals were defective,

  • could not be rehabilitated, and simply needed to be separated from those that lacked such

  • defects. In this colony, prisoners were not kept behind bars, but conditions were grim.

  • Sadistic volunteers from Great Britain oversaw prisoners, kept strict rules and harsh punishments.

Top 10 Facts About Australia Welcome to Top10Archive! As we return to our

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