FactBoy and the Chasm of a Thousand Fools

For It Is Fact.

Silence ye doubters!

Fie ye unfaithful rabble!


From the deepest depths of the darkest of deep dark places flies into your face like a Pheonix from the Flames your One True Provider (OTP) of factual and actually quite interesting information.

Oh! You don't like it 'in yer face' do you?

FactBoy knows no other way.

If you want him, and you know where to find him, maybe you can tell him yourself.

Until then though -

Rub your hands together in glee, force under control that twitching facial tic contorting the corner of your maniacal grin and sit on the edge of your orthopedic chair...


FACT:


- The Aboriginal people travelled the open sea to colonise Australia some 50,000 years ago.

- They did this thousands of years before anyone else is known to have dared even dip a shin in the briny wash let alone construct a raft and head out of sight of land to see what they may find.

- At the time, the last Ice Age had frozen vast quantities of water in the polar ice caps, with sea levels 120 metres lower than they are today.

- This meant Europe (including Britain), Asia, Africa and even America (linked to
Asia by a land bridge across the Bering Strait) formed a single, vast
supercontinent, across which early humans could and did (thank you very much)
migrate.

- But: Australia, uninhabited and linked to New Guinea, was out on its own – there
was at leats 60 kilometres (40 miles) of clear, blue, empty open sea between it
and the nearest part of Indonesia (then linked to Asia).

- From this distance, given Northern Australia’s flat terrain, it would have been
impossible for any part of the continent to be visible over the horizon.

- Aboriginals are known, however to have crossed it: the earliest firmly dated
evidence of human occupation in Australia are some 50,000 year old stone tools
unearthed in an Arnhem Land rock shelter in the far north of the Northern
Territory.

- The details of this voyage will never be known – the type of boat or raft used
remains banked in the vaults of time. The dank tropical coastline on which they
most likely landed no longer exists – reclaimed by the sea at the end of the last
Ice Age 10,000 years ago.

- The story of why the Aboriginal people set off to sea, how they found the
continent of Australia, and why, having done this, they forgot, and never made
another like it, will excite the imagination of all who exalt the poetry of
journeying and the magic of an epic tale

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Fact Boy and the Temple of Simpletons

Rat-a-tat-tat

"Cover me, I'm going in"

says FactBoy over the rattling din made by Error and Ignorance as they set about trashing all that is sacred and true.

Like an eloquent Rambo without the stroke-affected snarl he leaps and bounds, plundering the vaults of Knowledge single-handed and returns, unharmed, learned, uncoiling his Facts to lasoo ynweildly Ignorance and bitch-slap him until he cries, forcing lazy Error to run away shrieking and snivelling.

FACT:

-In 1901 the six self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, unite in a federation, creating the Commonwealth of Australia. The birth of a nation.

-Until its incorporation in the Commonwealth in 1911, the Northern Territory was governed by South Australia, whereupon they cast off the shackles of their former administration by changing the name of Palmerston to Port Darwin, the now capital of the north.

-The Northern Territory is not a state it is a territory.

-This limits the role of the Northern Territory in referendums on matters of national importance. There is no constitutional guarantee, as there is with the six founding states, of any consultation.

-The six founding state's laws are protected by the constitution. Any laws made by the Northern Territory Parliament can be removed by Canberra.

-All original states have the same number of Senators in the federal parliament - 12.

-The Northern Territory had no representation until 1974, when they were give 2 Senate seats - this has been twice challenged, unsuccesfully, by the founding states.

-There is no constitutional guarantee the Northern Territory will retain their two seats, or any, for that matter.

-State Senators serve a term of 6 years. Territory Senators 3.

-There are 150 members of the Australian House of Representatives. The constitution guarantees all original states at least 5 Members. Beyond this it depends on the population of the state. New South Wales has 49 Members of the House of Representatives (MHRs), Tasmania 5.

-The Northern Territory has 2 MHRs, and no guarantee of any.

-In a 1998 vote on the issue of Statehood, 51.3% of Territorians voted against it, preferring to remain a Territory.


Addendum Fact to the Preceeding

-Canberra was founded as a purpose built capital, replacing the former, officially unofficial capital Melbourne in 1913, largelly to quell the heated debate between Melbourne and Sydney as to which one of them was most deserved of the honour.

-'Canberra' comes from the Aboriginal word 'canberry' meaning either a 'meeting place' or 'a pair of womens breasts'.


FactBoy, like the wind, disappears into the ethersphere.

Until Next Time valued Fact Finders!

Back to Homepage

FactBoy Returns once more

its been a while.. some thought FactBoy! had vanished, but hark!..
the bugle plays once more!!


- In 1838 it was declared illegal to
swim at public beaches during the day!
This law was enforced until 1902.

- In 1954, Bob Hawke was immortalised
by the Guinness Book of Records for
sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11
seconds. Bob later became the Prime
Minister of Australia.

- Queensland is home to the lung fish,
a living fossil from the Triassic
period 350 million years ago

- Australia was founded by Convicts.
Its homicide rate is 1.8 per 100,000
population. The United States was
founded by religious zealots. It's
homicide rate is 6.3 per 100,000.
Almost 400% greater than Australia.

- The world's fastest growing tree is
the Australian Eucalyptus. It can grow
up to 10 metres in one year.

- Australia has the world’s largest
cattle station. At 30,028 km2 it is
almost the same size as Belgium.

- The Snowy Mountains receive more snow
than Switzerland.

With a swish of a pen, and a clack of the return key, FactBoy! posts for the last time for 2008...
who knows what is in stall for the coming year..
what other treasures will FactBoy! discover?

Fact Boy Rides and Bugles!

Like a shadow passing in the night,
nobody sees him, or knows who he is,
but Fact Boy still posts.


- 15 percent of Australia's GDP is derived from mining

-.02 percent of the Australian land mass is used by mines. More land is occupied by pubs.

- For each person in Australia there are two sheep and over 16 rabbits. Rabbits were introduced in 1859 by a man who brought 24 rabbits from England in an effort to remind him of home.

- The 'dingo fence' in Australia is the longest fence in the world, and is about twice as long as the Great Wall of China

how does he do it? did he visit each mine and pub to compare sizes? did he walk the fence and the wall just to make sure?
If you can find him, ask him.

Til next time

Fact.

FactBoy rides again

Clearing away the fog of ignorance, blazing like a beacon of hope and spreading knowledge to all Fact Boy strides forward yet again, cape billowing, trumpets playing.


- Australia is home to the largest number of venomous snakes in the world.

- The Fierce Snake or Inland Taipan has the most toxic venom of any snake. Maximum yield recorded (for one bite) is enough to kill over 100 people or 250,000 mice.

- The Box Jellyfish is considered the world's most venomous marine creature. The box jellyfish has killed more people in Australia than stonefish, sharks and crocodiles combined.

- The Sydney Funnelweb spider is considered the world's most deadly spider. It is the only spider that has killed people in less than 2 hours. Its fangs are powerful enough to bite through gloves and fingernails.

From whence does Fact Boy come? Could he be someone you know?
How does he do it? Is it true that he investigates each fact himself?

These questions and more won't be answered next installment
Instead he will continue to bring you the facts that you need to know.

Fact.

The Bugle Calls!

Fact Boy comes to our rescue once more.

...the Bugle calls, and in strides Fact Boy through a plume of dry ice, like a halcyon days Meatloaf and arrests the worried minds of those who try to gain a fact a day and brings it on home. Inimitably.

What a guy.

Here's what Fact Boy has today:

• Hamelin Pool Marine Reserve in Western Australia, is one of the few places in the world where you can see living stromatolites. They are an example of the earliest record of life on earth. They provided the earth, way back in the day, with much of its oxygen, billions of years before plants even thought about existing. Thanks stromatolites, you cheeky oxygen giving fellas.

For those of you interested in the world of snacks and nibbly-bits you should read the following:

• Although the mighty peanut is the nut of choice for many people (including Fact Boy), it is not actually a nut; it's a legume. Eat them and feel rich in protein and essential amino acids. Easy on the salted though.

Over and out.

Roger that.

Another sterling perfomance from you, Fact Boy.
How does he do it? What's his secret? Can he keep us informed? Stay tuned for more.
He just keep 'em comin.

Fact.

In The Next Installment of Fact Boy: How deep in the top-soil do european earth-worms live?

Back home to cheeky as you cant

What's this Australia country then?

Who is this Fact Boy they all talk about?

His real identity is shrouded in mystery, who knows who he is, or how he came to be.
Some say he is the unfortunate result of a union between a village idiot and a tv weather girl.

Maybe he's a unicorn, say others.

Others claim he is to be feared for what he knows, maybe he just knows too much.
(Facts? You want the facts?! You can't handle the facts).

You'll not see him coming so don't bother trying. His presence is heralded by the proclamatory call of the Fact Bugle. Many a hill and dale has reveberated to this sweet sound as Fact Boy imparts another solid fact. Indubitably.

What can Fact Boy come up with?

Fact Boy was born with an intuition, to unearth those sought after gems of knowledge that illuminate any place he visits. Making it his business to find out what's what, his encyclopedic cerebrum operates on a shock and awe scale. The mind will boggle.


Listen to fact Boy.

It's for your own good.


What Fact Boy wants to tell you about Australia:

• it covers an area the size of Europe

• it is the world's largest island continent

• it is also the oldest, flattest and - with the exception of Antarctica - the driest place on earth

• There are over 7000 beaches and 8222 islands

• The highest mountain is the 2228 Mt. Kosciuszko in New South Wales

• The largest lake is Lake Eyre inSouth Australia , which is 9500 sq km
  

• For 65 000 years the continent was the preserve of around 600 groups of Aborigonal people.Theirs was the longest continuous occupation in human history.

• The British settled in 1778 and in the 200 years since has grown to a population of 20million people.

• Nearly 90% 0f the population cling to the coast, must be the clean sea air. The east coast is by far the most inhabited.

• 64% live in the cities of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide and good old Hobart.

• Aussie have more room. Population density is the lowest in the world. With an average of 2.5 Aussies per square kilometre. Let's go walkabout.
  

Until the next edition of Fact Foy, or until you hear the Bugle Call.
Over and out.

Roger that.

Back home to cheeky as you cant