Welcome to the land down under.

Australia-the home of kangaroos, Hugh Jackman, The Sydney Opera House, Steve Irwin, and the Vegemite sandwich.  The capital is Canberra.  Chief of State: Queen Elizabeth II.  Prime Minister is Tony Abbott.  English is the predominant language of Australia except they have an awesome accent!

 I actually did not realize that there really was such a thing as the Vegemite sandwich, I thought it was just lyrics to a song but it turns out it is the equivalent to our pbjs.  Here is a link to a few recipes and to read more click Vegemite sandwich above.

Factoids:
~Australia is located in the southern hemisphere.
~The "outback" or desert covers much of the land area.
~The word Australia comes from the Latin word Australis which means southern.  The ancient Romans used the term Terra (land) Australis (southern) Incognita (unknown), Terra Australis Incognita=unknown land of the south.
~Australia is the lowest, flattests, driest, and smallest human-inhabited continent in the world.
~Australia hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
~Australia is an island, a country, and a continent.
~By estimation, humans have lived in Australia for around 45,000 years.
~According to the 2012 census, nearly 22 million people live in Australia.
~Australia is home to a variety of unique animals such as the kangaroo, emu, platypus, koala, and the

kookaburra.  There are also approximately 750 different species of reptiles which is more than in any other country.  Australia is also home to a few very dangerous snakes such as the Brown Snake and the Tiger Snake.  These snakes will not bother you, if you do not bother them according to our research.
~There are also an estimated 150 million sheep in Australia which means the sheep population is approximately 7.5 times that of the human population.
~Australia became a British colony is 1788
~The Aborigines people have lived in Australia from anywhere from 40,000 to 125,000 years.
~In 1838, it was declared illegal for Aussies to swim at the public beaches in the daytime.  This lasted until 1902.
~The Great Barrier Reef is in Australia.

For my bird lover, the black falcon (Falco subniger).  This beauty is endemic to Australia.  This falcon is generally consider uncommon and scarce.

During this study, I actually think the most interesting fact that we learned (at least I learned) is that Australia was used by the British to exile convicts.  If you broke the law, the British government would send you to be isolated in an Australian penal colony.  This was like a farm for prisoners.  These convicts were used as labor in underdeveloped lands.  This began in the late 18th century to 19th century.

As we read on, we discovered that one of the reasons that the convicts were being sent to Australia is that the colony of Georgia was already overloaded with prisoners and could not take any more.  What?  My Georgia was used as a penal colony?  So we did a little digging and found it to be true in some senses of the word.  Georgia was actually set up as a debtors' colony.  This was, of course, prior to the American Revolution.  Georgia along with a few other colonies in America at that time

just refused to take any more convicts from Britain so in May, 1787 the first fleet led by Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Australia.

There was a total of 750 convicts and 200 British marines who were sent along to guard these convicts.  They arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788.  There was a problem.  Captain Phillip was not impressed by Botany Bay so on January 26, 1788, he selected a cove approximately seven miles away from Botany Bay which is now known as Sydney.

According to the records, the convicts were convicted of crimes of a blue collar nature, not violent so they actually had it pretty good.  They were allowed to have their own houses, their own clothes, and they could even run a business and make money for themselves.

Here is a link to ancestry.com if you want to check to see if you have any black sheep in your family that were once exiled to Australia.  Their families could also move to Australia with them and live life like normal.  That is a pretty sweet deal.

I will stop here even though I could just keep adding and adding.  I really get carried away.

To read more:
Buzz feed has a compilation of typical things that can happen in a day in Australia.-funny!

Science kids

Maps of the world
List of Penal colonies in Australia
History of Georgia

Just because I always get off track, I thought I would include some information that we found while researching penal colonies in Australia and Georgia.  It seems the French also had a penal prison that was said to be one of the worst prisons of all times with a name that suits it well.  The Devil's Island Prison (Ile du Diable).  This was opened under the direction of Emperor Napoleon III in 1852.  It was in operation for 94 years.  This historic prison was home to political prisoner, hardened criminals, and everyone in between.  They were not kidding around in that prison.  They did not fool around on Devil's Island.  If a prisoner tried to escape, and not many did, they would either be tossed into a piranha-infested river or dumped in a jungle of French Guiana.  Either way, death was imminent!  Ile du Diable was permanently closed in 1952 but remains one of the most famous prisons in history.
Good day mate!