Myths & Fun Stuff

Fun Stuff & Trivia

• One example of Australia’s incredible wildlife is the perentie monitor lizard, which can grow to lengths of 2½ meters – and has been known to prey on kangaroos.
• Barramundi, a type of fish found off the northeastern coast of Australia, changes its sex from male to female at the age of five or six.
• The two animals pictured on the Australian coat of arms (the Emu and the Kangaroo) were chosen because neither of them can travel backwards.
  
  
• Tasmania is one of the biggest producers of opium in the world – for medicinal (and legal!) purposes, of course.
• Australia’s most famous racehorse, Phar Lap, died mysteriously after being (allegedly) poisoned by the Mafia. After his death he was stuffed and put on display in the National Museum in Melbourne.
• Australia has more than its fair share of town names that are silly and/or plain rude: some favourites include Tittybong (VIC), Middle Intercourse Island (QLD), Iron Knob (SA), Mount Buggery (VIC), Innaloo (WA – say it out loud), Rooty Hill (NSW), Diehard (NSW), Humpybong (QLD) and Poowong (VIC)
• Australia has 21% of the world’s gambling machines. (And only 0.003% of the world’s population!)
• If you visit the town of Wooli in New South Wales, you may be lucky enough to see the locals engage in a match of ‘goanna pulling’ – a traditional game in which men wearing leather harnesses attempt to pull off each other’s heads. Unfortunately, goannas are not involved.
• Kangaroo meat is considered a delicacy in various other parts of the world, but don’t expect to see it on the menu at most Australian restaurants. Although some Australians do eat kangaroo meat, it is not a significant part of our diet.
• The Blue Mountains are so-called because of the oily mist that seeps out of the eucalyptus trees. When seen from a distance, a purple-blue haze hangs over the mountains.
• Australians have a deep and abiding love for big stuff: big beaches, big monoliths, big beers, big lizards (see above) and big … pineapples? The list of Big Things to visit in Australia is fairly long, but to give you an idea, it’s possible to visit the Big Pineapple, the Big Mango, the Big Gumboot, the Big Potato, the Big Banana and the Big Prawn. To give you an idea of just how big this Big Stuff is, most of these items are big enough to accommodate a flight of stairs (so you can climb to the top) and a gift shop (so you’ll never forget your experiences inside a giant prawn).
  
  
• Australia has the honour of playing host to the oldest flower in the world. A fossil of the Koonwarra plant, a flower with two leaves and one flower, was found near Melbourne and discovered to be roughly 120 million years old.
• Nowhere is Australia’s love of the underdog more obvious than in our ‘unofficial’ national anthem, Waltzing Matilda. The song tells the story of a sheep thief on the run from the law, who eventually kills himself by jumping into a river rather than be captured:

Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong*
Under the shade of a Coolabah* tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy* boiled
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"

Down come a jumbuck* to drink at the water hole
Up jumped the swagman* and grabbed him in glee
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag*
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me'".

Up rode the Squatter* a riding his thoroughbred
Up rode the Troopers* - one, two, three
"Where's jolly that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?",
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me".

But the swagman he up and jumped in the water hole
Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree,
And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong,
"Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?"

 

*Glossary
Billabong: waterhole
Coolabah: type of native tree
Billy: small kettle used to boil tea over a campfire
Jumbuck: sheep
Swagman: vagrant
Tucker bag: bag used to store food
Squatter: owner of the land
Troopers: soldiers acting as policemen

 

• Australia has one of the lowest population densities in the world, with a mere 2 people per square kilometre. In comparison, Japan has close to 327 people per square kilometer.
• Australia has more beaches than any other country – nearly 7,000.
• The famous Foster’s beer, marketed all over the world as the pinnacle of Australian brewing achievement, is regarded as a bit of an embarrassment here. To be completely honest, if you see someone ordering a Fosters in a pub, 9 times out of 10 it’s a tourist. This isn’t to say that there’s anything wrong with Fosters beer, it’s just that there are many varieties which are preferred by locals. Some types you might like to try include Tooheys, VB (Victoria Bitter), Hahn, Coopers, James Boags, XXXX (pronounced Four X), Carlton and Redback (a wheat beer).
• The fastest growing tree in the world is the Eucalyptus, an Australian native that can grow up to 10 metres taller in one year.
• A trip to Australia wouldn’t be complete without sampling a local delicacy – Vegemite. Vegemite is a dark brown, nearly black, extremely salty spread that is commonly eaten on sandwiches. It was originally created from the dregs of brewers’ yeast (although now it’s made in factories, far removed from the pubs of its infancy!) and has been extremely popular ever since it was made commercially available. Be warned – although Vegemite bears a striking resemblance to chocolate spread, it’s nothing like it and any travellers trying it for the first time would be well-advised to have a very small helping!
• Australia is one of only two nations to have competed at every modern Olympic Games. The other country is Greece.
• Australia was the birthplace of the world’s first test-tube twins, triplets and quadruplets, the first baby created with a donor egg, and first baby created from a frozen embryo. Currently more babies conceived with the help of in-vitro fertilization are born in Australia than anywhere else in the world.
• Contrary to popular belief, Australia is not overrun with bloodthirsty animals and insects. Although it’s true that there are many species of poisonous snakes and spiders in Australia, they are rarely seen in urban areas. You’re more likely to come across a huntsman spider (big and scary to look at, but almost completely harmless) than you are a funnel-web or a red-back spider. If that doesn’t make you feel any better, less than 15% of reported spider bites result in an actual poisoning.
• If you ever find yourself in the Australian outback with limited food sources, why not try to make your own damper? Damper is a type of bread usually cooked in the ashes of a campfire. Although there are a lot of recipes out there, usually involving sugar, salt, oils and various gourmet ingredients, true damper is made out of nothing more than flour and water. The two ingredients are mixed into a ball of dough, which is buried in the ashes of a campfire. Once it has risen, the bread is pulled out of the fire and the ashes dusted off, and voila! Dinner!
• The Sydney Harbour Bridge (also known as the ‘Coathanger’ because of its distinctive shape) takes ten years to paint. Each coat of paint uses up about 30,000 litres. The process of painting it is so time consuming that it never stops – when the team of painters reach the end of the bridge, they simply return back to the beginning and start again. Paul Hogan (better known as ‘Crocodile Dundee’) originally worked as a bridge painter before making it big as an actor.
• Bob Hawke, Australia’s former Prime Minister, once held the world record for ‘sculling’ (drinking quickly and without pause) a yard-arm of beer. A yard-arm is a glass that is roughly a yard in length and contains nearly 1.7 litres of beer.
• More on beer: There are a few standard sizes of beer glasses in Australia, but confusingly they all go by different names depending on which state you’re in. To help you in your next shout*, we’ve put together a guide:
  

Size	Called	NSW	NT	QLD	SA	TAS	VIC	WA
200 ml	Beer	x					x
	Butcher				x
	Glass	x						x
	Seven / Seven Ounce		x	x		x
285 ml	Pot		x	x			x
	Schooner				x
	Middy	x						x
	Beer		x
	Handle		x
	Ten Ounce / Half Pint					x
425 ml	Schooner	x	x	x		x	x	x
	Megapot						x
	Three-Quarter Pint					x
	Fifteen Ounce					x
570 ml	Pint	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
1140 ml	Jug	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

*shout: one’s ‘shout’ is one’s turn to buy a round of drinks in a pub. Don’t worry, the rules of ‘shouting’ dictate that if you buy a drink for someone, they’re duty bound to buy one for you later – when it’s their shout.

Myths & Legends

Australian storytelling

Australians love to tell a story and the ability to ‘spin a yarn’ is highly valued, whether the story is true or not. Below are some examples of great Australian myths and legends.

The Glowing Cross of Lismore

William Steenson was killed in 1907 while trying to stop a runaway train carriage. He was buried in Lismore, in Northern New South Wales, and little was heard of him for seventy years. In 1978 reports began to circulate about a mysterious glowing ‘light on the hill’ at Lismore. Investigations confirmed that the cross on Steenson’s gravesite was in fact glowing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Test after test was carried out, but no-one was able to discover what made the cross glow: it was made of ordinary granite and it caught no unusual light source from any angle. Less than ten years after cross was discovered to glow, it just as mysteriously disappeared. A replacement made from the same material and erected in the same spot replaced the disappeared cross, but unlike its eerie predecessor, it remained dim.

Lasseter’s Reef

Lasseter’s Reef takes its name from its (supposed) discoverer, a Swede called Mr. Lasseter. According to the legend, it is a huge reef of solid gold and hence inestimable value. It is allegedly located somewhere in Central Australia, but unfortunately Mr. Lasseter passed away before he could reveal its precise location. Many have since tried to find it, and failed miserably.

The Min Min Lights of the Outback

Traveling through outback Australia can be as eerie as it is arduous. Many travellers have reported the sight of strange lights floating in the night sky and over the years they have been given the name of the Min Min Lights. One night a lone traveller saw these lights and saw no harm in following them to wherever they led. He walked for hours towards the lights but they never seemed to come any closer, retreating from him just as quickly as he approached them. Eventually he got tired of following them and turned around. As soon as he turned his back, the lights began to follow him instead. As soon as he realized, he quickened his pace, hoping to escape the lights. He eventually made it into an outback pub where he breathlessly related his story, to discover that the Min Min lights are well known in the outback, not least for their strange appearance. As he discovered (and as most of the outback bushmen already know), any traveller who is unlucky enough to be caught by the Min Min lights will disappear entirely.

So from this tale we draw a word of warning: when travelling in the outback, try to cover as much distance as you can during daylight hours – and NEVER follow the Min Min lights.

The Wild Colonial Boy

The story of the Wild Colonial Boy is probably based on the life of Jack Doolan, a bushranger and outlaw who lived in the late 19th century. According to the popular folk ballad, The Wild Colonial Boy, he lived a life of crime and was eventually captured and killed by policemen.

The Dreamtime

The dreamtime is a word used by many Aboriginal communities to refer to the time when the world was being created. Dreamtime stories, such as the ones below, are a way of explaining the natural world and accounting for the (sometimes bizarre) creatures that are found in it.

Tiddalik the Thirsty Frog

Many years ago, long before people walked the earth, a frog named Tiddalik lived in the Australian outback. Tiddalik was nearly always thirsty, but one morning he woke up with a thirst so big that nothing he drank seemed to quench it. He drank up all the water in each billabong and little creek that he could find; he drained all the rivers and streams until there was no water left in all the land. Tiddalik was so bloated with water he could barely move, but the plants and other animals were parched – he had drunk all the water and left none for them.

The other animals came together and quickly worked out a plan – they had to make him laugh! If he opened his mouth, all the water would rush back out and they would all be saved.

The kookaburra was the first to try. He told joke after joke after joke. They were so funny that the kookaburra himself started laughing uncontrollably; but Tiddalik just sat there, unmoving, with his mouth tightly closed.

The next attempt was made by the kangaroos, who played leapfrog with each other, jumping higher and higher and higher over each other’s heads. They developed quite a taste for jumping after a while, but their display had no effect on Tiddalik, who just stared at them balefully.

The animals tried even harder after that. The frill-necked lizard strutted back and forth with his frill sticking out, but Tiddalik didn’t even smile.

Finally, Nabum the eel came along. He began to twist and turn on the ground, slithering in and out of strange shapes. Tiddalik began to smile, just slightly. Nabum kept on twisting and turning until he had tied himself into a knot. When Tiddalik saw this, he couldn’t hold his laughter in any longer. He threw back his head and laughed long and hard. Finally, the water rushed out of his stomach, back to the lakes, rivers, streams and waterholes that it had come from.

Mirram and Wareen

Mirram, a kangaroo, and Wareen, a wombat, lived many years ago during the dreamtime. Back then, many animals looked very different. For example, kangaroos had no tails, and wombats had high, round heads.

Although Mirram and Wareen were very different from each other, they were still good friends. They lived together in a bark hut that Wareen had built for them, although Mirram preferred to sleep outside under the stars.

Mirram occasionally made fun of Wareen for wanting to sleep in a hut, saying that it was dark, smelly and cramped; but Wareen would not budge from his comfortable hut.

Eventually winter came and even Mirram got tired of sleeping outside in the cold. One night, a huge storm blew in and Mirram had no choice but to go to Wareen’s hut and knock on the door. ‘Let me in, it’s raining!’ he shouted. But Wareen didn’t open the door. He just shouted back, ‘No! There isn’t enough room!’

Mirram was bigger than Wareen, and so he just pushed his way in anyway and found a corner of the hut to curl up in.

The next day they both woke up feeling terrible. Mirram had had a cold and restless night, as Wareen had refused to light the fire or make a bed for him to sleep on. Early in the morning he snuck out of the hut and found a big, flat rock. He waited for Wareen to amble out of the hut, and then dropped the rock on his head, squashing it down flat. ‘Now your head will be flat forever! That will teach you to be so ungenerous.’

Not to be outdone, Wareen waited until Mirram had gone to the billabong to drink. He searched for a long stick to use as a spear and eventually found a nice sharp one. While Mirram was drinking, Wareen heaved the spear at him with all his strength. Mirram yelped in pain and went to pull the spear out, but it was stuck. ‘Now you will have a long tail forever, to remind you of your selfishness!’ shouted Wareen.

Ever since then, wombats have lived under the ground in little caves, with low flat heads; and kangaroos have roamed the plains without a permanent home, balancing themselves on their long tails.