17 Things That Are Normal in Australia But Nowhere Else

17 Things That Are Normal in Australia But Nowhere Else — the real, genuinely strange facts, traditions and quirks that make this country unlike anywhere on Earth. Part of The Golden Outback's look at the Australia we grew up in. You think you know Australia. Sunshine, beaches, a bit of slang. You don't. This is a country where a giant concrete sheep gets physically relocated to stay near a highway. Where an entire state legally switches off its own gambling laws for one single day. Where a boat race has only ever been cancelled once, because it actually rained. It starts with Australia's roadside Big Things — the Big Banana (1964), the Big Merino (1985, physically moved 800 metres to stay near a highway bypass), and the Big Prawn, saved from demolition by Bunnings for $400,000 in 2013. Then daylight saving splits the country clean in half, with Western Australia rejecting it at the ballot box four separate times. There's the Barassi Line, the invisible border deciding whether you grew up on AFL or Rugby League. Compulsory voting, brought in after a 1922 turnout collapse — and the Democracy Sausage it accidentally created, which beat "smashed avo" to become Australia's 2016 Word of the Year. RSL clubs turned into serious gambling venues by a 1956 law. Legal two-up on Anzac Day. The Aussie salute. Tall Poppy Syndrome. A whole system of slang built on shrinking words down. Then the genuinely strange sporting traditions — a boat race with no water, cockroach racing on Australia Day, the shoey (which lost the 2016 Word of the Year race to the Democracy Sausage), and the Melbourne Cup, an entire public holiday built around one horse race. And one story that's genuinely different from everything else on the list: the Royal Flying Doctor Service, founded because of a letter from a 24-year-old who never lived to see what it became. Which of these have you had to explain to a confused visitor? 🔔 Subscribe to The Golden Outback — stories about the Australia we grew up in. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:47 Big Things 2:05 Daylight Saving 3:20 The Barassi Line 4:22 Compulsory Voting & the Democracy Sausage 5:54 RSL Pokies 6:51 Anzac Day Two-Up 7:50 The Aussie Salute 8:36 Tall Poppy Syndrome 9:25 Aussie Slang 10:24 Henley-on-Todd Regatta 11:13 Cockroach Racing 12:01 The Shoey 12:52 Melbourne Cup 14:00 Slip Slop Slap 15:03 Royal Flying Doctor Service & School of the Air 16:58 Quokka Selfies #GoldenOutback #AustralianNostalgia #AustralianHistory