Fun facts about Australia: Prince Leonard’s Land.
If you thought Australia was an island nation, you would be incorrect.
The Principality of Hutt River is Australia’s “second largest country” formed when Leonard Casley, appalled by new government quotas on wheat production, seceded from the Commonwealth in 1970.
The principality has around 13,000 citizens and is constitutionally valid.
It has a post office and gift shop and welcomes visitors.
PS you don’t need a passport to visit.
Staircase to the Moon.
The reflections of the rising full moon hitting the rippled mud flats at Roebuck Bay in Western Australia, exposed at low tide, create the optical illusion of a golden stairway leading to the moon.
The town is abuzz with everyone eager to see the spectacle.
At Town Beach there’s a lively evening market with food stalls and people bring their fold-up chairs and a bottle of something.
NB The original says ‘a bottle of something’ but the writer has obviously never been to Oz, no-one ever takes just ONE bottle…
No part of Australia is more than 1000 km from the ocean and a beach.
(The point in the world that’s the furthest from any ocean would be in China.)
Australia has the world’s largest cattle station (ranch).
At 30,028 km2 it is almost the same size as Belgium.
Australia is so big and sparsely populated that population density in Australia is usually calculated in square km per person, not people per square km.
Australians have 380,000 square metres per person available, yet well over 90 of Australia’s GDP) cover 0.02% of Australia’s land mass.
More land is occupied by pubs. (Can’t find any statistics on the GDP here, my guess is: substantial).
In 1954 Bob Hawke made it into the Guinness Book of Records: he sculled 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds.
Bob Hawke went on to become the Prime Minister of Australia.
Says a lot for our politicians….
