HAPPY New Year everyone! This week, we focus on the people and culture of Australia as they celebrate their 111th year of Independence on January 1.

1. Australia was originally a British penal colony for exiled thieves and murderers.

2. Until 1984, Australia’s national anthem was God Save The Queen or King.

3. Australia was the third country, after the US and Russia, to launch a satellite into orbit. It was for the British, using a ‘Blue Streak’ rocket.

4. On July 17, 1924, the world’s first society of cartoonists, the Black and White Artists’ Society, was formed in Sydney.

5. No part of Australia is more than 1,000 km from the ocean and a beach.

6 The platypus is only found in Australia. When a specimen of the platypus was first sent to England, it was believed the Australians had played a joke by sewing the bill of a duck onto a rat.

7. The Australian lyrebird is the world’s best imitator; able to mimic the calls of 15 different species of birds in their locality and string the calls into a melody. The lyrebird has also been known to mimic the sound of mobile phones.

8. Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world, and its rainwater is so pure, 5.5 tonnes of it was shipped to Seoul to quench the thirsts of Australia’s Olympic athletes.

9. Prized for its rich golden hue, rot-resistant oils and fine grain, Tasmania’s Huon Pine is one of the slowest-growing and longest-living trees on the planet.

10. The Tasmanian Devil does exist, it has the jaw strength of a crocodile and can be found at the Australia Zoo.