Our Aussie Blog

Like most countries, we have some funny place names. I would imagine when they were named they weren’t too funny but as language develops as does slang it makes for some funny signs.

Below is a list of some of the funny ones in Australia:

• Bald Knob (QLD)
• Blackbutt (QLD)
• Bobbin Head (NSW)
• Bogan Gate (NSW)
• Boinka (VIC)
• Bong Bong (NSW)
• Boobyalla (TAS)
• Broke (NSW)
• Burpengary (QLD)
• Burrumbuttock (NSW)
• Coffin Bay (SA)
• Come by chance (NSW)
• Dark Corner (NSW)
• Dicky Beach (QLD)
• Dismal Swamp (TAS)
• Dum Dum (NSW)
• Eggs and Bacon Bay (TAS)
• Gingin (WA)
• Grass Patch (WA)
• Humpty Doo (NT)
• Humpybong (Qld)
• Iron Knob (SA)
• Mooball (NSW)
• Nowhere Else (Tas)
• Pimpinbudgie (QLD)
• Poowong (VIC)
• Rooty Hill (NSW)
• Tittybong (VIC)
• Useless Loop (WA)
• Wee Waa (NSW)
• Wonglepong (Qld)
• Yorkeys Knob (Qld)

Botany Bay is an old favourite of Australians, it’s about the convict history and arriving in Botany Bay, NSW.

BOTANY  BAY

Anonymous

Farewell to old England for ever,
Farewell to my rum culls as well,
Farewell to the well-known Old Bailey,
Where I used for to cut such a swell.

Chorus:
Singing, too-ral, li-ooral, li-addity,
Singing, too-ral, li-ooral, li-ay.
Singing, too-ral, li-ooral, li-addity,
Singing, too-ral, li-ooral, li-ay.

There’s a captain as is our commander,
There’s the bo’sun and all the ship’s crew,
There’s the first- and the second-class passengers,
Knows what we poor convicts goes through.

‘Tain’t leaving ol England we care about,
‘Tain’t cos we misspells wot we knows,
But because all we light-fingered gentry
Hops round with a log on our toes.

For fourteen long years I have ser-vi-ed,
And for fourteen long years and a day,
For meeting a bloke in the area,
And sneaking his ticker away.

Oh had I the wings of a turtle-dove,
I’d soar on my pinions so high,
Slap bang to the arms of my Polly love,
And in her sweet presence I’d die.

Now, all my young Dook-ies and Duch-ess-es,
Take warning from what I’ve to say –
Mind all is your own as you touch-ess-es,
Or you’ll meet us in Botany Bay.

Our Australian Coat of Arms

The shield is the focal point of the coat of arms, contained within is the badge of each Australian state. In the top half, from left to right, the states represented are: New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. In the bottom half, from left to right: South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. Above the shield is the seven-pointed ‘Commonwealth Star’ or ‘Star of Federation’ above a blue and gold wreath, forming the crest. Six of the points on the star represent the original six states, while the seventh point represents the combined territories and any future states of Australia. In its entirety the shield represents the federation of Australia.

The Red Kangaroo and Emu that support the shield are the unofficial animal emblems of the nation. They owe this recognition not only to the fact that they are native Australian, (found only on that continent) but also to the mistaken belief that animals can not move backward, only forward – i.e. progress (the reality being that both animals can, but infrequently do). In the background is wreath of Golden Wattle, the official national floral emblem, though the representation of the species is not botanically accurate. At the bottom of the coat of arms is a scroll that contains the name of the nation. Neither the wreath of wattle nor the scroll are technically part of the official design described on the Royal Warrant that grants the armorial design.

• The first Australian Aboriginal word in the English language was “kangaroo” and was used by Captain James Cook. The original spelling was “kanguroo”.
• The so-called ‘dingo fence’ in Australia is the longest fence in the world, and is about twice as long as the Great Wall of China. It has a gate every 19kms along it’s length.
• When driving around Australia, make sure that you circum-navigate the continent anti-clockwise, as it’s about 900 metres shorter going this way than clockwise.
• There are over 21,000,000 people in Australia, of which 85% live within 50km of the coast.
• The Australian federation consists of six States and two Territories.
• In land area, Australia is the sixth largest nation after Russia, Canada, China, the United States of America and Brazil. Australia is the only nation to govern an entire continent and its outlying islands.
• Australia has possibly the lowest population density of any country in the world, ie, 2 people per square km. Japan has 327 people/2km.
• Australia has an area of about 7,600,0002km. This is large enough to swallow all of Europe and Turkey and Scandinavia. This gives up a coastline of about 36,700km.
• Australia has more beaches than any other country, about 7,000 of them.
• Apart from Antarctica, Australia is the driest continent.
• Since 1945, over six million people from 200 countries have come to Australia as new settlers.
• The mining town of Coober Pedy in Australia got it’s name from the local Aboriginals. It means something like “White fella down a hole”.
• The original fifty cent piece in Australian decimal currency had around $2.00 worth of silver in it before it was replaced with a less expensive twelve sided coin.
• The first Europeans to discover Australia were the Dutch. The first documented evidence is that in March 1606, the Dutch ship Duyfken, captained by Willem Janz, landed in far north Queensland, but left very quickly when one of the sailors was speared by an Aborigine. The next visit was in 1616, by Dirck Hartog, who landed in Western Australia. He nailed a pewter plate to a tree, which is now in a museum in Holland. Captain Hartog named the new country “Eendrachtsland”, which fortunately we don’t use these days.

We haven’t been left behind in Medical breakthroughs here in Australia with some great inventions and procedures coming from our sunny shores, here’s a list of some of them.

1. Anthrax Vaccine – John McGarvie Smith secretly discovered this and donated it to the NSW Government before he died.
2. Heart Pacemaker – A doctor who wished to remain anonymous invented the original pacemaker in 1926.
3. Zinc Cream – This white sun block made from zinc oxide was developed by the Fauldings Pharmaceutical Company in 1940.
4. Redback Spider Antivenom – released for use against the poisonous bite of the redback spider in 1956.
5. Plastic Spectacle Lenses – were designed in 1960 and were the world’s first plastic lenses for spectacles weighing 60% less than glass lenses.
6. Ultrasound – the first ultrasound scanner was built in 1961 by Australian Scientists at the Commonwealth Health Departments.
7. Latex Gloves – though the Ansell company had been making household gloves since 1925, in 1964 they came up with disposable latex gloves for use in surgery.
8. Polyvalent Snake Antivenom – was created in 1968 and is a snake antivenom which acts against the poison from most Australian snakes.
9. Microsurgery Pioneered – not only did Professor Earl Owen design the first microsurgery tools with Zeiss, he also performed the first microsurgery operation where he rejoined an amputated index finger in 1970.
10. Bionic Ear – 1979 saw the Cochlear Implant, which helped the hearing impaired and profoundly deaf.
11. Reading Machine for the Blind – invented in 1990 and also a world first.
    Flu Vaccine Redenza – the world’s first anti-influenza drug developed in 1996 and approved for release in Australia, Europe and the USA in 2000.
12. Night and Day Contact Lenses – developed in 1999 which allowed more oxygen to get to the eye allowing people to wear them for up to 30 days and nights.

This is our unofficial Australian Citizenship Test, see how well you understand the questions below, are you a True Blue Aussie?

1. Do you understand the meaning, but are unable to explain the origin of, the term ‘died in the arse’?

2. What is a “bloody little beauty”?

3. Are these terms related: chuck a sickie; chuck a spaz; chuck a U-ey?

4. Explain the following passage: ‘In the arvo last Chrissy the relos rocked up for a barbie, some bevvies and a few snags. After a bit of a Bex and a lie down we opened the pressies, scoffed all the chockies, bickies and lollies. Then we drained a few tinnies and Mum did her block after Dad and Steve had a barney and a bit of biffo.’

5. Macca, Chooka and Wanger are driving to Surfers in their Torana. If they are travelling at 100 km/h while listening to Barnsey, Farnsey and Acca Dacca, how many slabs will each person on average consume between flashing a brown eye and having a slash?

6. Complete the following sentences:
a) ‘If the van’s rockin’ don’t bother ?
b) You’re going home in the back of a ?
c) Fair crack of the ?

7. I’ve had a gutful and I can’t be fagged. Discuss

8. Have you ever been on the giving or receiving end of a wedgie?

9. Do you have a friend or relative who has a car in their front yard ‘up on blocks’? Is his name Bruce and does he have a wife called Cheryl?

10. Does your family regularly eat a dish involving mincemeat, cabbage, curry powder and a packet of chicken noodle soup called either chow mein, chop suey or kai see ming?

11. What are the ingredients in a rissole?

12. Demonstrate the correct procedure for eating a Tim Tam.

13. Do you have an Aunty Irene who smokes 30 cigarettes a day and sounds like a bloke?

14. In any two-hour period have you ever eaten three-bean salad, a chop and two serves of pav washed down with someone else’s beer that has been flogged from a bath full of ice?

15. When you go to a bring- your-own-meat barbie can you eat other people’s meat or are you only allowed to eat your own?

16. What purple root vegetable beginning with the letter ‘b’ is required by law to be included in a hamburger with the lot?

17. Do you own or have you ever owned a lawn mower, a pair of thongs, an Esky or Ugg boots?
18. Is it possible to ‘prang a car’ while doing ‘circle work’?

19. Who would you like to crack on to?

20. Who is the most Australian: Kevin ‘Bloody’ Wilson, John ‘True Blue’ Williamson, Kylie Minogue or Warnie?

21. Is there someone you are only mates with because they own a trailer or have a pool?

22. What does “sinkin piss at a mates joint” and “getten para” mean?

23. How far would you wear your mockies?
Inside only?
Back yard only?
To the letter box?
To the milk bar for a packed of winni blues?
To the movies?
To shoppo? (large shopping centre)
To the pub?

The Eureka Flag came about from a 1854 gold miner’s uprising in Victoria.

The Eureka Stockade was a short-lived revolt of the gold miners due to the ongoing harassment from a corrupt police force where miners were asked to show their gold digging licenses several times a day as well as the high cost of these licenses. They were also fighting for equal laws and equal rights.

After a number of protests, the miners, headed by Peter Lalor built a stockade to defy the authorities. This is when the now instantly recognisable Eureka Flag came to be and was used.

Within a few days approximately 300 men had assembled to attack the stockade and within 15 minutes the stockade was destroyed and many of the rebels killed.

The Eureka Flag has since been widely adopted by a variety of people and causes as a symbol of protest.

We have the Eureka Flag on many different products in our store – click here to view them.

Ingredients:

4 egg whites, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar or 1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup castor sugar
1 cup whipped cream
2 cups mixed fresh fruit (strawberries, kiwifruit, passionfruit pulp, etc)

Method:

Line a baking sheet with foil. Draw a 23cm circle on the foil.
In a large glass or metal bowl, beat egg whites, vanilla, cream of tartar and salt at high speed until soft peaks form.

Gradually beat in sugar, 2 tbsp at a time, beating well after each addition and continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form.

Spoon onto prepared cookie sheet within your marked circle, mounding higher around the edge.Use a small spatula to forms little peaks around edge of pavlova.Use a small spatula to forms little peaks around edge of pavlova.

Bake in preheated oven at 120°C for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours until crisp on outside and firm to the touch.

Turn off heat and allow to cool with door propped open.
Pavlova can be stored in cool, airtight container for several days.

Spread whipped cream in centre of shell and top with fresh fruit. Chill until serving time.