Australia
From RationalWiki
Australia is a strange nation located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. To this day, mapmakers can't decide whether the land mass is the world's smallest continent or if it's the world's biggest island. The nation is sometimes grouped together in the "continent" Oceania with Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. Whichever anybody decides, it's still there.
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[edit] History
Originally populated by various indigenous tribes, most notably the Aborigines, Australia was "discovered" by the British and was incorporated into its grand empire. However, nobody could really decide what to do with it, as they couldn't find a use for it within the Empire (due to the lack of usable materials and the harsh terrain for agriculture) until someone had the bright idea of turning it into a penal colony for all of the Empire's convicts. They dumped them there and, after they served their sentence, they were left to their own devices. The favourite hobby of ex-cons included terrorising the natives.
After gold was discovered there in the 1850s, people finally had a legitimate reason to live in Australia. The freed convicts were joined by the fresh settlers drawn to the gold rush. Until World War I, nothing of interest, note, or fascination occurred. Not even the Cabal took any interest in Australia. World War I saw Australian troops join the battle lines of the war, an action that was repeated during the second World War. Sydney harbor was the site of a naval engagement (not a marriage, a battle!) which was won in part due to a rapid response by the Yankees. Australia became an independent nation in 1986, when it cut ties to rule by the UK and became its own country. They neglected to tell Elizabeth the Second, however, who remains Queen of Australia (seriously).
[edit] Politics
Australia has been a good friend to the United States of America since World War II, when they made them an ally and protector, They were somewhat concerned with the growing military power of Asia, hence their reason for getting on the U.S's good books. That, and the fact that not many people in Australia speak Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese. Since then the two nations have been quite cozy -- for instance, when Australia refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol and became heavily involved in the invasion of Iraq.
Australian politics is dominated by two parties, the centre-right Australian Labor Party (who can't spell) and the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia (who can spell but don't own a dictionary). As a result of having two such closely aligned parties Australian elections are decided by a game of two-up. There are some minor parties who fair well compared to US minor parties but not as well as European.
[edit] Geography
Australia is hot, red, dry, and full of venomous creatures. In fact, the only way an Australian can tell if they've died and gone to hell is that the beer is colder.
[edit] Entertainment
In the cities, many more civilized pursuits such as opera, sporting contests, theatre and gay mardi gras may be found to keep the populace occupied. In the rural areas, the inhabitants must make their own fun in a manner slyly alluded to by the famous Australian song Tie me kangaroo down, sport.
