| THE FIRST
The first radio station in Australia was built near Pennant Hills, Sydney, in 1912.
Australia's first country racing club was established in Wallabadah, NSW in 1852 and racing continues to this day with the townships famous New Years Day racing meeting.
Among the convicts of the First Fleet was James Bloodsworth, an English brickmaker who made use of the brickmaking equipment brought on the voyage and became the colony's first brick maker. He was largely responsible for the design and the erection of Australia's first buildings.
The first emu encountered by the First Fleet colonists was killed near the present site of Sydney's Central Railway Station during March 1788. It was measured at 2.25 metres high.
First Fleeter James Squire became the colony's first brewer in 1790.
Thomas Watling was the first professional artist to arrive in the colony of New South Wales (Royal Admiral, 1792) and was seconded to the Surgeon General, John White who was an amateur naturalist.
In 1798 Henry Kable, a First Fleet convict, opened a hotel called the Ramping Horse, from which he ran the first stage coach in Australia.
Convict James Ruse has been called Australia's first farmer. In 1789, Ruse was given 12 hectares of land near Parramatta, which he turned into the colony's first proper farm, growing grain and vegetables. At that time he was the only self supporting farmer in the fledgling colony of NSW.
The first operation in the Southern Hemisphere to use anaesthetic was carried out in the 1840s at was is now Red Cross House in Launceston, Tasmania, that was a hospital in those days. Guy Menzies, the son of a Drummoyne doctor, was the first man to fly the Tasman Sea solo. Taking off from Mascot with the aid of a car's headlights on the night of 7th January 1931, he crash landed on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island about 12 hours later. Menzies reachedthe rank of squadron-leader in the RAF during World War II; he was posted as missing in November 1940.
Australia's first export was Eucalyptus oil, sent to England during November 1788 by Surgeon Denis Considen, who claimed to be the colony's pharmaceutical pioneer.
The first Australian-born person to be knighted was Sir Richard Dry, who was the first storekeeper at Paterson Barracks, Launceston, Tas.
The first bunches of grapes to ripen in Australia were cut in Governor Phillip's garden at Rose Hill (Parramatta, NSW) on 24th January 1791.
The first orange tree in Australia was grown in Ryde in the early 1800s from a seed imported from Rio de Janeiro.
The world's first pre-paid letter-sheets were issued by the New South Wales Post Office in 1838.
Australia first theatrical performance took place on 4th June 1789. George Farquhar's comedy The Recruiting Officer was performed by prisoners, in celebration of the King's birthday, "in a mud hut fitted for the occasion". Proceeds from the play were to go to the wife and family of a soldier who had drowned. Admittance was in kind, and rum, tobacco, wine, poultry and grain were taken at the door
The first recorded church service in Australia was held under a tree on 3rd February 1788 by the Reverend Richard Johnson, the First Fleet's chaplain, who preached a sermon based on the text "What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me". Johnson celebrated Holy Communion for the first time in the settlement on 17th February 1788. On the same day Lieut. Ralph Clark had a tooth removed, it being the first recorded dental work done in the colony.
Australia's first official census took placed during 1790. It recorded 2,545 inhabitants.
The first sheep to die in Australia were five belonging to Major Robert Ross of the Sirius. They were killed when struck by lightning on 2nd February 1788.
A young Canadian named Bob Lapointe started the fast food revolution in Australia in 1968 when he opened the first KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) restaurant at Guildford in Sydney's western suburbs. The first KFC restaurant was built on this site and opened on 27th April 1968, with a staff of 25. KFC now has more than 600 stores in Australia and New Zealand, which are company owned or franchised.
Australia's first great female film star and the first woman film director was Lottie Lyell (1890-1925), who grew up in Balmain, NSW. Appearing in about 20 films, Lyell died from tuberculosis in 1925 at the young age of 35. Her greatest role was as Doreen, the factory girl in The Sentimental Bloke, which won critical acclaim in Australia and overseas.
On 26th June 1790 Richard Cheers became the first male convict to receive a conditional pardon. He arrived on the transport Surprise with 218 male convicts and was granted a pardon because he was seen as a hero for being the sole survivor of the wrecked storeship Guardian.
William Redfern, a ship's doctor after who the Sydney suburb of Redfern is named, could lay claim to being Australia's first medical graduate. Tried for his involvement in a mutiny over bad pay and conditions in the British Navy, he was transported in 1801 on the Minorca to Norfolk Island, but was pardoned in 1803. Back in Sydney he wanted to become a doctor again, so he was tested by three other doctors and passed the test.
The first public protest in Australia occurred on 31st December 1791 when a crowd of convicts gathered around Governor Phillip's house at Parramatta, NSW, to demand that rations be issued weekly as usual and not daily. Phillip refused and threatened to make examples of the leaders immediately, believing the protest was due to the influence of a handful of Irish convicts.
The first strike in Australia occurred in 1827 when convict women at the female factory in Parramatta, NSW, withdrew their labour when their tea and sugar rations were stopped. They were victorious.
The first installation of a car radio in Australia took place in 1924. The car was built by Kellys Motors of Liverpool, NSW.
The first person to appear before the Australian Criminal Court on a charge of drunkenness was convict Thomas Eccles, on 21st October, 1788. He was found guilty and his sentence, very mild for the times, required him to change his place of employment from "garden" to "brickfields".
In 1915, Sydney became the first place in the world to appoint female police officers.
John Goodman, the cook of British seafarer William Dampier's ship,
Roebuck, died in August 1699 whilst on Dirk Hartog Island at Shark Bay, WA, making him the first British citizen to die and be buried on Australian soil.
The first Europeans known to have died and been buried on Australian soil were six Dutch sailors, who were killed by hostile Aboriginesnear Cape Keerweer on the Gulf of Carpentaria in March 1606. Their names were not recorded.
THE OLDEST
Australia's oldest brewery, Cascade, was established in its photogenic location on the southwestern edge of the city of Hobart, Tas, in 1832.
The Theatre Royal in Hobart, Tas, Australia's oldest continually operating theatre.
Ratho, at Bothwell in the Tasmanian midlands, is the oldest golf course in Australia. Scottish settlers brought the game of golf to Tasmania in the 1820s when they settled there. They laid out the course on their sheep property and the square-shaped greens were fenced to keep the sheep out.
Australia's oldest operating tram depot is in Bendigo, Vic. Situated in Violet Street, it is home to Bendigo Tramways and its 32 vintage trams from Melbourne and Bendigo.
Perth Observatory is Australia's oldest continuously operating professional observatory and Western Australia's premier astronomical institution. Located 25km east of Perth, the Observatory has served the state of WA for over 100 years.
The Low Head pilot and signal station at Low Head (Georgetown) Tas is Australia's oldest continuously used pilot station. First ommissioned in 1805, its current buildings date from 1838.
Hahndorf, in the Adelaide Hills, SA, is Australia's oldest surviving German settlement.
Established in 1917, Queensland-based Morgan & Wacker is the world's oldest Harley-Davidson Dealership outside the USA, and Australia's oldest Motorcycle dealer for any brand of bike.
Old Government House in Parramatta, NSW, is Australia's oldest public building. The original was built for Arthur Phillip in 1790. Much of Phillip's building had collapsed in 1799 when Governor Hunter replaced it with the Georgian structure present today.
Birchalls has the distinction of being Australia's oldest bookshop. It opened for business in November 1844 in Launceston, Tas, on its current site as a seller of "books, stationery and fancy goods".
Hobart Synagogue
Hobart Synagogue in Argyle Street is Australia's oldest synagogue. Erected 1843-45, the single storey building was designed by James Thomson. It is a rare example of Regency Egyptian Revival style.
The story of this landing by crew of the Duyfken is documented from both written and Aboriginal oral history sources in The Mapoon Books, ed. Janine (Jan) Roberts 1975. The Aborigines recall that the Dutch built at Cape Keerweer a number of huts and put in a well, with Aboriginal help, prior to a conflict. This was, as far as is known, the first European settlement in Australia. The Aborigines recall that their ancestors then set fire to the boats on the beach and have recorded six Dutch graves. Captain Willem Janszoon decided to turn back afer losing the six men.
Replica of the Duyfken
Philip Schaffer is believed to have been the first European man to arrive as a free settler to Australia. Schaffer was granted 140 acres on the south side of the creek leading to Rose Hill (Parramatta, NSW) which he started to farm in March 1791.
THE LAST
The last tram ran in Sydney on 26th February 1961.
Convict William Bond is believed to have been the last male alive from the First Fleet. Bond, who became a baker of Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW, made the first damper. Bond died in Sydney in 1839, aged 110 years.
Ann Huxley (nee Forbes), who was transported on Prince of Wales at 15 years of age for stealing 10 yards of material, was the very last of the convicts of the First Fleet to die. She had been sent to Norfolk Island before she was freed. After several liaisons she went on to marry Thomas Huxley and settled near Windsor, where she raised nine children to Huxley and four to Dringad Bannister. She died in 1851, age 80, and was buried in St Matthews Church graveyard, Windsor, NSW.
THE FASTEST
Ken Warby's hydroplane, Spirit of Australia, is the fastest boat in the world. Spirit of Australia set the World Water Speed Record in 1978; remarkably the boat still holds that record. It is on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
THE NARROWEST
 At 2.4 metres from kerb to kerb, Sydney's narrowest street is Argyle Lane in Millers Point (right). High Lane, which runs parallel to Argyle Lane, is just 8 cm wider but is on a higher elevation in its middle section. The two streets appear to be dual carriageways of the same street but they are not.
The narrowest house in Sydney and possibly the whole of Australia is a tiny, two storied Victorian house at 43 Enmore Road, Enmore (below). It is just 3 metres wide. In spite of its size, it was subdivided at one stage into 4 flats. Steep stairs in a blue and white pattern lead to the front door. The tiny verandah is heavily decorated with cast-iron lace.
THE WETTEST
Tully, Qld, is the wettest town in Australia with an average annual rainfall of 355.6 centimetres (11 ft, 10 inches).
MOST SOUTHERLY
The most southerly road in Australia is at Cockle Creek on Recherche Bay in Tasman'a far south. Literally at the end of Channel Highway, it is the most southerly point one can drive a vehicle in Australia. Beyond it is only a walking track, which leads to South East Cape. It is the beginning of the South Coast Walking Track.
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 It is often stated that British navigator Matthew Flinders (right) was the first person to circumnavigate Australia, but this is not so. The first to achieve that exploratory milestone was Frenchman Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, when he visited Australia's shores in 1792 and 1793, some three years before Flinders made his visit. It must be said, however, that d'Entrecasteaux took the "long way round", and did not follow the northern Australian coast via the Gulf of Carpentaria, but passed north of New Guinea.
Though circumnavigating Australia was one of the tasks given to Flinders in 1796, he never achieved it. Flinders' commission was in fact completed by Phillip Parker King, sailing aboard HMS Mermaid in 1817-1822, who did circumnavigate Australia, mapping the coast as he went.
THE LONGEST
Between the towns of Ooldia and Nurina in Western Australia is the world's longest straight stretch of railway. It extends for 478.4 kilometres.
The Great Barrier Reef, Qld, is the longest coral reef in the world, extending over 2,012.5 kilometres.
Marble Bar, WA, recorded the longest period of extreme heat of above 37.7 C. for 160 days from October 1923 to April 1924.
WA has the longest coastline of an it Australian state. It measures 20,781 kilometres.
At 790 km, the cliffs of the Great Australian Bight - Wylie Scarp, Baxter Cliffs, Hampton Tableland and Bunda Cliffs - are the longest in Australia.
At 2,520 km, Australia's longest river is the Murray River.
Australia's longest cave system is the Exit Caves in Tasmania's Great Western Tiers. They have a length of 17,000 metres.
On the banks of the Tarwin River near the town of Tarwin, Vic, is what is believed to be the longest barbeque table in Australia. It seats 120 people.
The longest single-span chairlift in the world is across Launceston's Cataract Gorge, Tas.
At 135 metres, the Empress of Australia was the world's longest roll on roll off (ro-ro) ferry when she was launched in January 1964. The 12,037 tonne vessel was Built at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney. The Empress was one of the first vessels to have bow thrusters. She made three round voyages per fortnight, one Sydney to Hobart and two to Bell Bay (Launceston) with one of the latter also including Burnie. The Empress was replaced by the Abel Tasman in 1984. She was sold and rebuilt in 1989-90 with cabins replacing her vehicle decks. After six months laid up she was sold again, renamed Royal Pacific, and began operating as a casino ship sailing out of Singapore into the Malacca Straits. In August 1992 she was rammed a Taiwanese fish factory vessel 20km out of Singapore and sank. Nine lives were lost.
THE HIGHEST
The highest recorded temperature of 53.1 C was at Cloncurry, Qld, on 16 January 1889.
Marble Bar, WA, has the highest monthly average temperature of any locality in Australia. During the summer months, the town averages 41 degrees celsius.
The highest rainfall ever recorded in a 24 hour period in an Australian town was at Crohamhurst in South East Qld on 3rd february 1893. On that day 907 mm of rain fell. Ballenden Ker, Qld's highest mountain, holds the country's record - 960 mm (38 inches) - for the most rainfall ever recorded in a 24-hour period.
The highest 24-hour rainfall for the other states is:
NSW - Dorrign, 809 mm, 21st February 1954
WA - Broome (Kilto), 635 mm, 5th December 1970
NT - Roper Valley Station, 545 mm, 15th April 1963
Tas - Germantown, 508 mm, 22nd March 1974
Vic - Tanybryn, 375 mm, 22nd March 1983
SA - Motpena Station, 273 mm, 14th March 1989
ACT - Cotter River, 181 mm, 27th May 1925
The highest recorded rainfall in a 12 hour period was 707 mm (28 inches) at Wongawilli, near Wollongong, NSW on 18th February 1984. The mean annual precipitation for the area is 1194 mm.
 The highest annual rainfall ever recorded in Australia was at Bellenden Ker (above) in Northern Qld. The summit of Bellenden Ker, south-west of Cairns, recorded 12,461 millimetres of rain in 2000, breaking its own 1999 record of 11,852 mm by 609mm. The wettest month of 2000 at Bellenden Ker was February when 3376 mm was recorded. Of that, 1050 mm fell in three days during the passage of Tropical Cyclone Steve on February 25-28. This total fell short of Bellenden Ker's (and Australia's) monthly record of 5387 mm set in January 1979. Bellenden Ker - 1555 metres above sea level - is the wettest meteorological station in Australia. It averages 8,312 mm (328 inches) a year, about double that of towns in the region with high rainfall such as Babinda and Tully, which are near sea level.
Lake Margaret Dam in Western Tasmania has the most frequent rainfall in Australia. It rains on an average of 250 days per year. Its highest accumulated rainfall recorded in a calendar year is 4,504 mm in 1948.
The highest number of rainy days ever recorded in a year was 314 at Waratah in Tasmania's North-west in 1955.
The highest town in Australia is Perisher Valley in the New South Wales snow country. It is located at 1,740 metres above sea level. The highest towns in the other states are:
VIC: Hotham Heights 1,700 metres above sea level
TAS: Reynolds Neck 1,100 metres above sea level
QLD: Ravenshoe 930 metres above sea level
WA: Tom Price 750 metres above sea level
NT: Areyonga 700 metres above sea level
SA: Amata 700 metres above sea level
ACT: Canberra 660 metres above sea level
 Heard Island is home Australia's only active volcano, Big Ben (right), which is also Australia's highest mountain. The highest mountain in on mainland Australia is Mt. Kosciuszko (2228 metres). The highest mountains in each state are:
NSW: Mt. Kosciuszko 2228 metres
VIC: Mt. Bogong 1986 metres
ACT: Bimberi Peak 1912 metres
QLD: Bartle Frere (S. Peak) 1622 metres
TAS: Mt. Ossa 1617 metres
NT: Mt. Zeil 1531 metres
SA: Mt. Woodroffe 1435 metres
WA: Mt. Meharry 1253 metres
Ben Lomond railway station on the former Great Northern Railway, NSW, was the highest point on the line and the highest point attained by any Australian railway. The railway station, currently not in use, is 1,363 metres above sea level.
THE LOWEST
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Australia was minus 23 degrees celsius at Charlotte Pass, NSW, on 18th June 1994.
The lowest surface point in Australia is Lake Eyre, which is 16 metres below sea level.
Australia's deepest cave which is the lowest underground point, is Anne-A-Kananda at Mt Anne, Tas. It goes 373 metres below surface level.
THE LARGEST
Australia is the world's largest inhabited island.
The world's largest electorate (2,255,278 square kilometres) is Kalgoorlie, WA.
Australia is the largest continent occupied by one nation and is the least populated.
Wolf Creek, WA, has the largest meteorite crater in Australia, measuring 853.44 metres in diameter and 61 metres deep.
Australia is the largest exporter of camels in the world. 10 000 camels a year make the trip each year, earning the country $2 million in export.
Australia's largest state is WA. It has an area of 2,529,875 square kilometres.
Qld has the largest coastal waters of any state. They total 121,994 square kilometres.
Excluding Tasmania, Australia's largest island is Melville Island, NT. It has an area of 5,786 square kilometres.
Australia's largest desert is the Great Victoria Desert. It covers a vast 648,500 sq. km.
WA has 3,747 islands within its borders, the largest number of islands of any state of Australia.
Australia's largest water body is Lake Eyre, SA. Though rarely full, this salt lake has an area of 9,500 square kilometres.
Australia's largest man made lake is Lake Gordon in western Tasmania. It has a capacity of 12,450 cubic metres.
The largest desert in Australia is the Great Victoria Desert. With an area of 348,750 square kilometres, it covers 4.5% of the Australian continent.
The 6.5 million hectare Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve is the world's largest marine reserve. Situated 4500 kilometres south-west of the Australian mainland and 1000 kilometres North of Antarctica, it falls within Australia's 320 km Exclusive Economic Zone surrounding Heard and McDonald Islands.
THE SMALLEST
Australia is the world's smallest continent. With an area of 7.8 million km2, it is just smaller than Brazil.
Australia's smallest state or territory is Jervis Bay Territory. It has an area of 73 square kilometres.
The world's smallest marsupial is the pygmy possum (above). It occurs in Tasmania and the mountainous regions of Victoria.
Holroyd, in the Sydney metropolitan area, is the smallest locality in Australia. Three streets form its borders and for many years it comprised solely of an abandoned brickworks site, in spite of the fact that its name is also that of the local municipal council. Until recently, no streets passed through it and 50% is of its area was a park. The brickworks site was recently re-developed as a residential area.
The Pro-Cathedral Church of Saint John the Baptist (above), in the SA town of Murray Bridge, is the smallest Cathedral in Australia. It is also the oldest church in the city, built 1887.
St Nicholas Church at Austalind, WA, is the smallest church in Australia and was originally built as a workman's cottage. It was constructed in 1848 and is one of the few surviving buildings from the original Australind settlement.
The Weebill is Australia's smallest bird. 8-9 cm in size, it has a pale "face" and a short pale bill.
Surrounded by bleak, treeless plains, Betoota in western Qld is not only Australia's smallest town, it is believed to be the only town in the world with a population of zero. Its sole resident of 49 years retired in 1997, age 82. Situated on a rough dirt road between Windorah and Birdsville, its only structure is an abandoned hotel. Betoota is an officially designated town, complete with a town plan and a subdivision. The Birdsville-based Diamantina Shire Council recently put some blocks up for sale in Betoota for between $200 and $500 each. To the surprise of everyone, six were sold.
The world's smallest Drive-In theatre is at Jericho, a small Qld town about one hour's drive from Barcaldine.
Groom, situated in the south-east corner of Qld, is that state's smallest and one of Australia's smallest regional electorates, covering an area of 6,417 square kilometres.
This tiny triangle of beach on Lavender Bay (above) in Sydney, NSW, is the smallest registered beach in the whole of Australia. The beach once extend the full length of the bay's foreshore, but industry and then the development of wharves, boat moorings and seawalls has seen it shrink to its present miniscule size.
The town of Shackleton in the Western Australian Wheatbelt claims to have Australia's smallest bank. Measuring only 3 metres by 4 metres it is only open on Fridays from 3.00 pm - 4.30 pm.
Victoria is Australia's smallest mainland state (228,000 square kilometres) and is slightly smaller than the US state of California, but about the same size as the the US state of Minnesota or the United Kingdom.
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Harold E. Holt Naval Communication Station towers, Exmouth, WA
