Some Interesting Facts About Australia

· The black box flight recorder for aircraft was invented in Australia in 1958 by the Aeronautical research scientist David Warren.

· The first official world surfing championship was held in Sydney in 1964.

· Over 90% of the world’s opals are mined in Australia.

· A resident of Sydney is called a Sydneysider.

· In 1926, New South Wales became the first government in the world to pay pensions to women.

· Eucalyptus was first used as a medicine by Aborigines, to treat coughs, fevers and asthma.

· Australia is the only continent without an active volcano.

· Dutch explorers arrived in Australia before James Cook claimed it for England and named it New Holland.

· The longest fence in the world is located in Australia. It is 5,530 km long and was erected to keep dingoes away from sheep.

· When a specimen of a platypus was first sent to England, the skeptical recipients believed the Australians had played a joke by sticking a duck’s bill on a large rat’s body.

· Australia is the lowest continent in the world, with an average height of just 330m above sea level.

· Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth, the driest is Antarctica.

· The Transportation of British convicts to Australia ended in 1868.

· Australia is home to six of the top ten deadliest snakes in the world.