Are you ready to embark on a fun and captivating journey to one of the world’s most beautiful and multicultural countries?
Down Under, the land of plenty, lucky country or Oz, Australia goes by many names!
But that’s not the only fun fact about the smallest continent on the planet.
Got you intrigued?
Great!
Let’s explore this faraway and mysterious destination with 23 fun facts about Australia!
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The currency in Australia is the Australian dollar. The Australian dollar banknotes are considered the most advanced in the world because they’re waterproof and extremely hard to counterfeit.
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Australia has six states and two territories: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory.
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Canberra is the capital of Australia.
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The country counts 2.5 times more sheep than people. There are also twice as many kangaroos as humans.
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Australia is the only continent on the planet without an active volcano.
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Every year, on Australia Day, Brisbane welcomes the world championship of cockroach racing.
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Melbourne is home to the largest Greek community in the world outside of Greece.
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The Australian Alps receive more snow every year than Switzerland.
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Tasmania has the cleanest air on the planet.
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Australia is home to almost 12,000 beaches. If you were to visit one beach a day every day, it would take you 32 years to see them all!
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The official language is English, but over 250 languages and 800 dialects are spoken across the country.
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The Great Barrier Reef is the largest ecosystem in the world. It comprises over 2,500 individual reefs and can be seen from space.
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80% of the Australian wildlife is endemic to the island.
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The Great Barrier Reef is home to over 1,500 fish species, 225 bird species, and 15 sea snake species! And it’s also home to six of the world’s seven turtle species.
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Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon first landed in Australia in 1606. But James Cook claimed the eastern portion of the country for England in 1770.
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There are more than 125 slang words and phrases in the country. For instance, a brolly is an umbrella, a barbie is a barbecue, and a sanger is a sandwich.
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It took 14 years and 10,000 construction workers to build the Sydney Opera House. Its construction started in 1959 and was completed in 1973.
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Aboriginals have been inhabiting Australia for at least 65,000 years.
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Aboriginals used boomerangs to hunt kangaroos and birds.
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Australia is home to the Inland Taipan, the most venomous snake in the world. One bite is enough to kill 100 people.
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The country is also home to the Quokka, deemed the happiest animal on Earth due to its smiley face!
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Backyard cricket is one of the most popular games for Australian families, especially during the Christmas holiday.
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Australia has the longest fence in the world. It’s over 5,600 km long and was built to protect the fertile areas of southeast Australia against dingoes, Australia’s only native canine. The « dingo fence » is longer than the Great Wall of China!
We hope you enjoyed learning more about this surprising and fascinating country. At the Landmark Kids, we’re passionate about geography and culture. That’s why we created monthly mystery boxes designed to take kids between 9 and 13 on a journey across the world, allowing them to learn about countries the fun way.
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