Historical Facts About Australia

Most of us know by now that the Aborigines were the native people to Australia, or that it is part of the British Commonwealth having been a former British Colony, but we have put together 10 less-well-known historical facts about the country…

1. In 1908, Australia became the third country (after New Zealand and Finland) to allow women to vote, after a petition was formed and collected over 11,600 signatures, meaning that if all the pages of the petition were glued together end to end it would measure at roughly 400 feet long! Imagine that in the days before the internet and social media!
2. The aboriginal people of Australia, both men, and women, would, however, have to wait until 1962 to get the right to vote.
3. 50,000 years ago, the ancestors of Australian Aborigines, the ‘Gracile’ people, are thought to have arrived in Australia. They are believed to have been the most technologically advanced people in the world at the time.
4. Former Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke, has an entry in the Guinness Book of Records prior to becoming Prime Minister. In 1954 he was awarded the title of record holder for getting 2.5 pints of beer down him in 11 seconds.
5. Between 1838 and 1902 it was declared illegal to swim at public beaches during the day! We are not sure why or what that meant about swimming at night, but we didn’t make it up that is for sure.
6. Maybe there were good reasons for the swimming ban, as on the 17th December 1967, Prime Minister Harold Holt went for a swim at Cheviot Beach near Portsea and was never seen again.
7. The 26th of January is Australia Day, which is also the anniversary of ships that arrived in Sydney from Britain, with a human cargo of convicted criminals, to help settle the land. Crimes such as murder or rape were given the death sentence in England, but crimes that were punishable by transportation, as it was called, included starting a union, recommending a political get paid, stealing fish from a river or pond, receiving or buying stolen goods, petty theft, and embezzlement, amongst others.
8. In a census taken in 1828, they found that nearly a half of the free population were former convicts.
9. The first police force of Australia was in fact ironically made up of 12 of the most well-behaved convicts.
10. In a constant battle to become the country’s capital, a new city was built between Sydney and Melbourne. Sydney was the first and largest city in Australia, but its convict stigma didn’t do it any favors, while Melbourne was the home of the Australian Establishment and wasn’t founded by convicts (but by John Batman, the son of a convict!). To solve the ongoing bickering, Canberra became the capital of Australia.

Historical Facts About Australia