- The kangaroo is unique to Australia , and there are more of them now than when Australia was first settled – about 40 million in total. There are also 140 million sheep in the country, mostly merinos, and they produce almost three-quarters of the world’s wool.
- Australia is one of the most resource-rich countries on earth, producing diamonds, emeralds, gold, silver and industrial minerals.
- With 24 million cattle, Australia is the world’s largest exporter of beef.
- There are 25,00 species of plants in Australia , compared to 17,500 in Europe .
- In 1954, Bob Hawke was immortalised by the Guinness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Bob later became the Prime Minister of Australia.
- Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world.
- The 148 kilometres of railway track which crossed the Nullarbor Plain is the longest stretch of straight railway track in the world. Australia also boasts the world’s longest continuous fence. The dingo fence which runs through Central Queensland, designed to keep sheep safe from Australia’s native dog, is a whopping 5,531 kilometres.
- Prime Minister Harold Holt went for a swim at Cheviot Beach, near Portsea on 17th December 1967, and was never seen again. The event has been referred to as 'the swim that needed no towel'. As a mark of 'respect', construction soon began on the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Pool.
- From 1945 through 1996, nearly 5.5 million immigrants settled in Australia.
- Australia has three time zones. Eastern Standard Time (EST includes New South Wales , Victoria , Queensland , Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory . Central Standard Time (CST) covers South Australia and the Northern Territory while Western Australia has Western Standard Time (WST). CST is half an hour behind EST, while WST is two hours behind EST.
- Australia was the second country to give women the vote.
- It has been reported that the first European settlers in Australia drank more alcohol per head of population than any other community in the history of mankind.
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Emigrating to Canada 
