Today is Australia Day, anniversary of the day that the Brits first arrived on Australian shores back in 1788. Our resident Aussie Krystal has been educating us about the ways of our southern hemisphere counterparts. So we have rustled up some facts you might not know about the achievements of those in the land down under, in the hope that we can spread a little Australian cheer to warm up your January.
“The black box flight recorder, the Utility vehicle (or Ute, in Australian parlances), differential gears (or diff, as used in all cars), pre-paid postage and the first feature-length film all came out of Australia.”
“Medically, Australians have contributed to the world… the bionic ear, the development of penicillin into a usable drug (as opposed to its accidental discovery, of course), the electronic pacemaker, and my favourite, the cure to 80% of all stomach ulcers by using anti-biotics by discovering the bacteria that cause them.”
“Australian Tom Keneally – author of Schindler’s Ark which, when put to film by Stephen Spielberg, became Schindler’s List.”
“We don’t just relax at the beach and take days off. Australian’s ranked third in a list of average hours worked each year amongst OECD countries behind New Zealand (1) and the US (2). The average working week is 38 hours.”
