Some Australian Trivia

I like Trivia and knowing weird things that others dont know, so i thought i would share some Australian Trivia with you

The first Australian Aboriginal word in the English language was "kangaroo" and was used by Captain James Cook. The original spelling was "kanguroo

The first person to actually sustain controlled, powered flight was not one of the Wright brothers; It was Richard Pearse of New Zealand a few months before in a more advanced flying machine of his own design & construction. On 31-3-1902 he flew about 350 yards, and on 11-5-1903 flew over 1,000 yards, out of ground effect & including several turns.

The common refrigerator's system of cooling was invented in Australia, in the 1850's, by James Harrison. By 1857 his machine was making up to 3 tonnes of ice a day!

The original fifty cent piece in Australian decimal currency had around $2.00 worth of silver in it before it was replaced with a less expensive twelve sided coin.

The first Europeans to discover Australia were the Dutch. The first documented evidence is that in March 1606, the Dutch ship Duyfken, captained by Willem Janz, landed in far north Queensland, but left very quickly when one of the sailors was speared by an Aborigine. The next visit was in 1616, by Dirck Hartog, who landed in Western Australia. He nailed a pewter plate to a tree, which is now in a museum in Holland. Captain Hartog named the new country "Eendrachtsland", which fortunately we don't use these days.

The area of Australia that is covered by snow in winter is larger than the area of Switzerland.

A kangaroo's tail does not touch the ground when it is hopping at speed. The animal only uses the tail to balance its jumping efforts, and to rear upon when stopped.

Aspro is a very popular pain reliever used all around the world, and it was developed in Australia by George Nicholas, in 1917.

The first 'secret ballot' system for parliament in the world was introduced in the Legislative Council of Victoria, Australia, on 27-8-1856. The rest of the world took another few decades.

If you want to know more Australian Trivia you can go to this page Bill Sherwards Trivia Page
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