Australia

The largest kangaroo is the red kangaroo: 1 to 1.6 meters long, with a tail between 90 and 110 cm. It weighs around 90 kilograms.

The smallest kangaroo is the musky rat-kangaroo: only 15 to 20 cm long, with a tail between 13 and 15 cm. It weighs only 340 grams.

At birth, the baby, called a joey, can be as small as a grain of rice or as big as a bee (5 to 25 millimetres).

More details here:

http://www.livescience.com/27400-kangaroos.html

The world’s oldest fossil, which is about 3.4 billion years old, was found in Western Australia.

More details here:

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/08/worlds-oldest-fossils-found-ancient-australian-beach

The New South Wales (NSW) Police Force was the first Australian Police Force. It was created in 1789 and made up of … the most well-behaved convicts !

The forces were named the Night Watch and the Row Boat Guard.

More details here :

http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/history

Per capita, Australians spend more money on gambling than any other nation. In 2009, 70 per cent of Australians participated in some form of gambling.

More details here :

http://www.relationships.org.au/what-we-do/research/online-survey/april-2015-gambling

Basing themselves on the definition of a beach (a stretch of sand longer than 20 metres and remaining dry at high tide), the Coastal Studies Unit at the University of Sydney has counted 10,685 beaches in Australia.

More details here :

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/beach

PHOTO CREDIT: Don Fuchs-Ninety Mile Beach, Victoria

Before 1902, it was illegal to swim at the beach during the day. In 1902, a male swimmer entered publicly the ocean, at Manly Beach, at midday. He was arrested but released without charges, and then bathing became a popular pastime.

More details here:

http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/australias-modern-swimmers

Manly, New South Wales, 1900-1910. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.