X-Nico

50 unusual facts about Australia


Alex Karbouris discography

The discography of Alex Karbouris, an Australian DJ/Producer, consists of 16 compilation albums, 96 singles and a number of other remix & production appearances.

All Red Line

Australia was linked to British telegraph cables directly in 1870, by extending a line from Singapore to Port Darwin, although it ran through the Dutch territory of Java.

Architecture of Australia

In the period before European settlement of Australia in 1788, evidence of permanent structures built by Indigenous Australians in Australia was limited as the Indigenous population did not build establishments that were commonly recognised by the European Settlers.

ARIA Charts

On 1 June 2013, radio program Take 40 Australia began broadcasting the ARIA top 40 singles on Saturday afternoons from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm AEST on the Today Network, before it is released on the ARIA charts website.

Arthur Bryant Triggs

In 1887 Arthur immigrated to Australia, becoming a wealthy New South Wales grazier (known as The Sheep King) and collector of art, books and coins....

Australia-Asia Literary Award

Australia-Asia Literary Award (AALA) was an initiative of the Government of Western Australia Department of Culture and the Arts.

Australia.gov.au

In March 2006, Australia.gov.au was awarded "Best Government Site" by Australian NetGuide.

Australia's First Families of Wine

Some industry commentators lay the blame for this negative opinion on the giant, publicly listed multinational corporations, such as Constellation Wines and Foster's, which have dominated the industry for years and concentrated on the cheap commodity end of the market rather than building the reputation of Australia's finer, regionally distinctive wines.

Australia's Funniest Home Videos

At the end of each year there are semi finals and a grand final, where third place receives a home theatre package from JVC, second place receives a prize package worth around $100,000, normally two or three cars and the winner receives $250,000 in cash although in 2012, the winner received $150,000.

Other features include the introduction of the "Taped Crusader" character, and a videotaped message from former host Catriona Rowntree which paid tribute to inaugural presenter Graham Kennedy before he passed away in 2005.

Bill Pratney

He took up racing again in his 70s and his last big ride was a 330 km ride in Australia at the age of 86.

Canberra Symphony Orchestra

Canberra Symphony Orchestra is the professional orchestra of the Australian Capital Territory based in Canberra, the national capital of Australia.

Cyclone Monica

Early on 22 April 2006, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) assessed Monica to have attained Category 5 status, on the Australian cyclone intensity scale.

Darwin Symphony Orchestra

The Darwin Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an orchestra based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, founded by Martin Jarvis.

Deep Blue Orchestra

The Deep Blue Orchestra, based in Australia, is a Brisbane based musical group which combines an orchestra with electronic music, visual projections and choreography.

Edna Jessop

Edna Jessop (10 October 1926 – 15 September 2007) was Australia's first female to lead a droving team.

Frankston Symphony Orchestra

The Frankston Symphony Orchestra (FSO) is one of ten community orchestras in Victoria, Australia.

IBLA Internationals season 2000-01

The team played in the one and only season of the International Baseball League of Australia's Development League, All games were held on the Gold Coast at Palm Meadows with some showcase games played at Carrara Oval.

The team was a composite team made up of players from countries such as Korea, Japan, South Africa, Guam, New Zealand, USA and Australia.

James McConvill

He is the editor of the international corporate governance journal, The Corporate Governance Law Review. Currently he works at Victoria University, Australia, Melbourne, Australia.

John Newman discography

The single peaked to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in early-June 2012, the song was also a Top 5 hit in Australia, Belgium, Netherlands and New Zealand.

The song peaked to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, the song was also a Top 10 hit in more than 10 countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand and Switzerland.

John Young Wai

John Young Wai (1847 – 21 June 1930) was an Australian Chinese community leader, Presbyterian lay leader and Presbyterian minister.

Kent Music Report

The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998.

Leichhardt Espresso Chorus

In 2008 LEC was awarded the Best Community Outreach award in the inaugural Music in Communities Awards by the Music Council of Australia.

M. Chinnaswamy

He was the treasurer and second official to the Indian tour of Australia in 1967-68 and as the manager when Australia returned the visit two years later.

Machinery of government

According to KPMG, section 35(1) of the Western Australian Public Sector Act 1994, the Governor of Western Australia may establish, amalgamate or abolish government departments on the recommendation of the Public Service Commissioner.

A number of national governments including those of Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom have adopted the term in official usage.

At the Commonwealth Government level, Administrative Arrangements Orders (AAOs) are made by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister formally allocating executive responsibility among ministers.

My Best Friend Is a Vampire

This movie was released under the title I was a Teenage Vampire in Australia.

National Campus Band Competition

Since then, the National final has travelled around the country (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Lismore, Adelaide and Wollongong) and the competition has attracted more and more bands, as well as receiving great kudos from the music industry.

Originality in Canadian copyright law

Some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, have adopted a low standard of originality that requires the author to expend some effort and labour to create the work as well as requiring that the work not be copied.

Panel van

Panel vans were also especially popular with younger car buyers in Australia during the 1970s.

Paul Vinar

Vinar was born in Czechoslovakia, and moved to Geelong in Australia with his mother and four brothers after his father was killed in World War II.

Peterhead railway station

For the railway station in Adelaide, Australia, see Peterhead railway station, Adelaide.

Pobjie

Pobjie is a surname, popular in Australia.

Prussian Lithuanians

Some communities of Prussian Lithuanians have developed in Canada, the United States, Sweden and Australia.

Quadripartite Agreement

Quadripartite Agreement (1947) was a secret pact signed by Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia as a follow on from World War II cooperation on intelligence matters.

Regulation of acupuncture

In 2000, the Chinese Medicine Registration Board of Victoria, Australia (CMBV) was established as an independent government agency to oversee the practice of Chinese Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture in the state.

Sandy Gandhi

On 4 February 2009 she appeared on the Australian Channel Seven Network's "Australia's Got Talent" program.

Select Vacancy

Select Vacancy is the debut Album by the Australian Alternative rock artist Lisa Maxwell, released in 2006 by Essential Music Australia.

Skin cancer

Australia and New Zealand exhibit one of the highest rates of skin cancer incidence in the world, almost four times the rates registered in the United States, the UK and Canada.

Somewhere Down the Barrel

"Somewhere Down the Barrel" is the debut single by Australian pop rock band The Dissociatives, from their album of the same name, released in 2004.

Stephen Currie

Stephen Currie is lost man who was found after 32 days surviving eating wild fruits and freshwater mussels in the bush in Queensland, Australia.

The Scorching Adventures of the Screaming Jets

The Scorching Adventures of the Screaming Jets EP is the debut release by Australian Pub Rock band The Screaming Jets.

Those Terrible Twins

Those Terrible Twins is a 1925 Australian silent film directed J.E. Ward, a Papuan adventurer, who had previously made Australia's Own (1919).

Triple J Magazine

Triple J Magazine is an Australian monthly music magazine associated with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth radio station Triple J.

VTOL Aircraft Phillicopter

The VTOL Aircraft Phillicopter is a 1970s Australian light utility helicopter designed and built by VTOL Aircraft of Newcastle West, New South Wales.

Waxie Moon

The film won Best Local Film at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Jury Award for Best Film at Queer Fruits Film Festival in Australia, and Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Soundtrack at Love Unlimited Film Festival.

Wendy Boase

Wendy Boase (14 October 1944 – 15 March 1999) born in Melbourne, Australia, she was one of the co-founders of the children's publishing company Walker Books.


1988 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship

With the championship generally ignored by most of the top teams from the stronger Group A championships (Australia, Europe and Japan), Crowe, Bond and Pirro were able to gain the top three placings despite each only running in two of the four rounds.

2004–05 Chappell–Hadlee Trophy

Ponting's dismissal proved to be the precursor to another middle order collapse for Australia, for Hayden was dismissed just a few minutes later for 43, and in even shorter order Damien Martyn was dismissed for 5 and Andrew Symonds for his second consecutive duck.

Aaron Heal

He established himself in Western Australia's first-class (Sheffield Shield) and limited-overs (Ford Ranger Cup) sides during the 2006–07 season, taking over from Brad Hogg as the team's primary spinner, but was selected less regularly over the following seasons.

Anderson Report

Wearne, a publisher from South Yarra, told the inquiry that 'Scientologists planned to take over Australia, after establishing a "Scientology Government"' and that 'he first heard of the plan to take over Australia in 1960'.

Antares

The Wotjobaluk Koori people of Victoria, Australia, knew Antares as Djuit, son of Marpean-kurrk (Arcturus); the stars on each side represented his wives.

Australia at the 1932 Summer Olympics

Due to the Great Depression, Australia could only afford to send 12 athletes to the Games.

Balmain Rowing Club

Balmain Rowing Club is the fourth oldest rowing club in continuous operation on Sydney Harbour, Australia, and was established in July 1882 at Balmain, Sydney.

Beijing United Family Hospital

The hospital is staffed by a team of over 100 doctors from 20 different countries, including the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Australia.

Bolwarra

Eupomatia laurina, a shrub originating from Australia and New Guinea, providing an Australian spice.

Bowie Tupou

He began his boxing career training with Johnny Lewis, the Australia’s most well-known boxing coach, having trained Jeff Fenech, Jeff Harding, Virgil Hill and Kostya Tszyu.

Brian Jean

Jean has a Bachelor of Science degree from Warner Pacific in Portland, Oregon, a Master of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Bond University in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

C. Y. O'Connor

On 7 December 1898, his daughter Eva married Sir George Julius at St John's Church, Fremantle, Western Australia.

Carinotrachia admirale

The type locality of Carinotrachia admirale is Middle Osborn Island, Bonaparte Archipelago in north-western Kimberley, Western Australia.

CBD Rail Link

CBD Relief Line, a similar proposed rail link in Sydney, Australia

Corangamite Catchment Management Authority

There are 13 Ramsar-listed wetlands in the catchment including Lake Corangamite, the largest permanent inland lake in Australia.

Diadema palmeri

The species has also been found in other sub-tropical regions around the South Pacific at greater depths, including New Zealand's Kermadec Islands, and Australia's lower east coast - off Danger Point to Montague Island, New South Wales (at about 200 m), Lord Howe Island and the Norfolk Island Ridge.

Dingee railway station

Dingee Railway Station is an unmanned operational V/Line train station situated on the Bendigo-Swan Hill Line in the town of Dingee, 200 km north of Melbourne, Australia and 50 km north of Bendigo.

Djargurd Wurrung

The Djargurd wurrung are Indigenous Australian people who traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and Lake Corangamite, extending to Mount Emu and Cressy in the North, and to Cobden and Swan Marsh in the South in central Victoria and are still represented in the region.

Everlasting Night

It was released as a single in the first quarter of 1999 in Australia and reached number 42 on the singles chart, largely helped by the fact that the song was the official theme of the 1999 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Harry Entwistle

He migrated to Australia in 1988 and continued his parish and prison ministry in the Diocese of Perth of the Anglican Church of Australia.

Ian Burcher

While this squad is not in the top twenty-eight and separate from the Olympic training coach, the Australian coach Ric Charlesworth did not rule out selecting from only the training squad, with players from the Olympic development having a chance at possibly being called up to represent Australia at the Olympics.

Immanuel Lutheran College

Immanuel Lutheran College, Buderim, a primary and secondary college run by the Lutheran Church of Australia

International Grape Genome Program

In the course of their research, the Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture (CRCV), based at the CSIRO Plant Industry Horticulture Unit in Adelaide, Australia (one of the IGGP collaborating centres) discovered that white grapes only exist today as a result of a rare genetic mutation which took place thousands of years ago.

International Pathogenic Neisseria Conference

The location of the conference switched between North America and Europe until 2006 when the venue was located in Cairns, Australia.

Jeanie Descombes

In recognition of her contribution, in 2007 the Aussie Hearts sponsored her to go to Australia where she conducted many clinics and showed her AAGPBL PowerPoint presentation to hundreds of Aussie women ball players.

Joshua Kadison

It peaked at #19 on the U.S. Billboard charts, and Filipino actor/singer Jericho Rosales recorded and released a version of it on his own 2009 album Change. Painted Desert Serenade went platinum in the US and Germany, and went multi-platinum in Australia and New Zealand.

Kathy Troutt

Followed by work as a crew member with Return to the Blue Lagoon and later several other feature films produced in Australia and Asia.

Mandyleigh Storm

By June 2007 she became the seventh artist to raise US $50,000 (and the 1st artist from Australia) from the fans, and the album, called Fire & Snow, was released March 2008.

Milhan

Acacia citrinoviridis, the black mulga, river jam, milhan or wantan, a tree species endemic to Western Australia

Mint julep

These mint juleps were served in gold-plated cups with silver straws, and were made from Woodford Reserve bourbon, mint imported from Ireland, spring water ice cubes from the Bavarian Alps, and sugar from Australia.

Music of Brisbane

Brisbane is a city in Queensland, Australia, home to many regionally important music institutions and venues.

Osadia

Tollwood Festival, Munich / Sydney Mardi Gras, Australia / Trafalgar Square Festival, London, UK / Juste pour rire/Just for laughs, Montreal, Canada / The Esplanade Festival, Singapore / NZ International Festival, Wellington, New Zealand / Kleines Fest im Grossen Garten, Hanover / Daidogei World Cup, Shizuoka, Japan / Hogmanay, Edinburgh, Scotland / Festes de la Mercè, Barcelona

Percy Douglas, 10th Marquess of Queensberry

He went as a gold prospector to Kalgoorlie, Australia, during the gold rush beginning in 1893, and later managed a road house in Canada.

Ramón Freire

After failing in his purpose, he was imprisoned in the port of Valparaíso, court-martialled, and exiled first to the island of Juan Fernández, and afterwards to Tahiti and in 1837 temporarily settled in Australia.

Ronald Eric Johnstone

Ronald Eric Johnstone (born 1949) is an Australian ornithologist who worked for the Western Australian Museum for many years.

Sea foam

Between 27 and 28 January 2013, the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, had masses of foam wash up on land from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald.

Shelford Girls' Grammar

Robyn Christine Robinson AM - President and South Pacific Liaison Officer of the Critical Incident Stress Management Foundation Australia; Former Clinical Director of the Victorian Ambulance Crisis Counselling Unit; Former Senior Lecturer/Deputy Director of the Soc.

Simon Schama's Power of Art

It aired in Poland on TVP2 in February and March 2008, on PBS in the US and re -broadcast in September 2008 on TVOntario in Canada, ABC1 in Australia, Australia Network in the Asia-Pacific region, TV ONE in New Zealand and on ET1 in Greece.

Slovakia at the Hopman Cup

2 In the final round robin tie of 2004, Australia had to concede both the women's singles and the mixed doubles to Slovakia due to an injury to Alicia Molik.

Spidercam

It was used for the first time in a test match at The Gabba in Brisbane during the 2012 South African tour of Australia.

Task Force 44

The task force consisted of warships from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and United States Navy and was generally assigned as a striking force to defend northeast Australia and the surrounding area from any attacks by Axis forces, particularly from the Empire of Japan.

The Matrix Revolutions: Music from the Motion Picture

The track Navras of Juno Reactor was used by rhythmic gymnasts Simona Peycheva of Bulgaria and Penelope Blackmore of Australia in their respective ribbon routines at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Toti Dal Monte

In 1924, fresh from triumphs in Milan and Paris, but before her debut in London or New York, she was engaged by the diva Dame Nellie Melba to be one of the star singers of an Italian opera company that Melba was organising to make a tour of Australia.

Travis Blackley

He debuted for Australia in the 2007 Baseball World Cup and went 0–1 and 1.64 ERA for the tournament, his only loss coming against the Japan national baseball team when Tadashi Settsu threw a shutout against Australia in the quarter-final, with Australia finishing 5th.

UNSW Faculty of Engineering

George Savvides, Industrial Engineering - Managing Director, Medibank Private; Engineers Australia "Top 100 Influential Engineers, 2013"

Michael Uzzell, Electrical Engineering - Head of Navy Engineering, Royal Australian Navy; Engineers Australia "Top 100 Influential Engineers, 2013"

Western Australian state election, 1897

As payment of members was not introduced until 1900, the Political Labour Party, formed in 1896, had found it difficult to attract candidates who could afford to enter Parliament, but three of its candidates ran for election, and Charles Oldham, a former president of the Trades and Labor Council, became the first Labour member of Parliament in Western Australia.

World Safari

Includes a motorcycle trip across Australia, living with Buddhist monks, selling life insurance on the side of the road, and getting lost in a two-cylinder DAF van while crossing the Sahara desert.