Australia's most dangerous creatures

Australia has a large share of some of the world's most painful and poisonous creatures. We have deadly spiders, and six of the top ten most deadliest snakes of the world. Even our cute little platypus produces one of the most excruciating venoms known.

Here are just a few of Australia's most dangerous creatures.

Now that's a snake... king brown in Branxton, NSW Australia.

INLAND TAIPAN
The inland Taipan also known as the Fierce Snake is found only in Australia, it is the most toxic snake in the world. One bite will release about 100 mgs of poison which is enough to kill one hundred men or more. This snake is very rare and cases of snake bite from the Inland Taipan are not common at all. Although this is the most toxic of all snakes it is not the most aggressive.



 

BOX JELLYFISH
The box jellyfish has been called "the world's most venomous creature."
Box jellyfish or "sea wasp" is also a common name for the notoriously dangerous Chironex fleckeri. The ambiguous but commonly used terms "sea wasp" and "marine stinger" are sometimes used to refer to the more venomous species of box jellyfish.
In northern Australia, the highest risk period for the box jellyfish is between October and May.

Each tentacle has about 500,000 venom cells, containting nematocysts, a harpoon-shaped miscroscopic mechanism that injects venom into the victim. In Australia, the fatal envenomations are most often perpetrated by the largest species of this family of jellyfish Chironex fleckeri, owing to the high potency of the venom carried in their microscopic harpoons

Once a tentacle of the box jellyfish adheres to skin, it pumps venom into the skin, causing the sting and agonizing pain.

In Australia, box jellyfish have caused at least 64 deaths since the first report in 1883.
In April 2010, a 10 year old Australian girl survived multiple stings from box jellyfish and her survival is considered a medical miracle.

BROWN SNAKE
Brown Snakes, are an elapid snake native to Australia. This species is considered to be the second most venomous land snake in the world based on LD50 value.
Unfortunatley due to their mainly rodent diet, they can often be found near houses and farms.
In Australia 60% of all deaths caused by snake bites are from this fella.

CROCODILES
Saltwater crocodiles known as Salties are likely to revive calls to allow safari crocodile hunting, observers said. Killing saltwater crocodiles has been strictly restricted since 1971 when the animals were near extinction. But with more than 80,000 saltwater crocodiles now in the Northern Territory, many political groups have called for the ban to be lifted.


Saltwater crocodile attacks on average, kill one person a year in Australia, so as long as you take some sensible precautions there is no need to worry a crocodile attack may ruin your Australian holiday.

Salwater crocodile attacks occur between late September and January when crocodiles are hungry after the dry season and are preparing to breed, and most victims had been under the influence of alcohol, and swimming at times and in places that most sensible people would avoid.

FUNNEL WEB SPIDER
The funnel web spider is one of the three most dangerous spiders in the world and are regarded by some to be the most dangerous.

Funnel web spiders are medium-to-large in size, with body lengths ranging from 1 cm to 5 cm (0.4" to 2"). They are darkly coloured, ranging from black to blue-black to plum to brown, with a glossy, hairless carapace covering the front part of the body.
There have been 27 recorded deaths in Australia in the last 100 years from spider bites. Bites from Sydney funnel-web spiders have caused 13 deaths (seven in children),although since the introduction of antivenoms there have been no deaths from funnel web spider bites.

 

BLUE RINGED OCTOPUSBlue ringed Octopus are one of the most dangerous animals on earth.
The blue-ringed octopus, has been found lurking in increasing numbers around Sydney beaches in recent weeks.
Already one person has been taken to hospital with a bite from the creature, with experts fearing the worst is still to come - with millions of the deadly octopuses living along the NSW coast.

Despite their small size and colours, a bite from a blue-ringed octopus quickly paralyses a person to a point where they fall unconscious and can't breathe, it carries enough venom to kill 26 adult humans within minutes.
Its venom is 10,000 times more toxic than cyanide.
Victims can only be saved with immediate medical treatment that involves resuscitation and putting pressure on the wound.
Though the octopus has bitten people it has only resulted in three known deaths. The octopus usually only bites if it is provoked in some way or another.

SHARKS
Shark attacks have killed only 11 people over the last 50 years in Australia. Numbers continue to fall despite Australia being the second most likely place after the United States to be attacked by a shark.


Fatal shark attacks are more likely to be in Queensland and South Australia.
Overall there have been 600 shark attacks throughout Australia in the last 50 years, most of which have not been fatal. The highest state for attacks is NSW. A great White shark attack is the most likely shark.

HORSES AND COWS 
Horses are the animals that are most likely to cause human deaths in Australia, according to a report.
Statistics compiled by the National Coroners Information System suggests that cows are the second most dangerous. For their investigation, coroners studied deaths linked to animals between 2000 and 2006.
They found that 40 of the 128 deaths were caused by horses.
Most of such mishaps took place when riders fell off, including one that resulted in a coroner recommending that helmets be encouraged for commercial horse riding and mandatory for tourism operations.

Australian Horror movies

Australian Horror movies have had great success overseas, a major horror movie success story that started in Australia is Saw (2004).
Arriving in Los Angeles with a short promotional film and a script, young Australian filmmakers Leigh Wannell and James Wan secured financial backing and shot the grisly shocker in the US, where it reaped $848 million and seven sequels.

Australian Horror movies

The Cars That Ate Paris 1974

Mild-mannered Arthur is trapped in a quiet country town where feral youth drive souped-up cars and the hospital is full of brain-damaged accident victims.


Dead Calm 1989

Nicole Kidman was 20 when she was cast in Dead Calm. Within a year of the film opening, she was in Hollywood – partly as a result of her performance in this film.


The Last Wave 1977

As the weather gets worse, tax lawyer David Burton has a premonition of disaster, in which he is to play a key role.


Long Weekend 1978

On a long weekend camping trip to a lonely beach, Peter and Marcia confront the despair of their marriage, as nature takes revenge on them.


Mad Max 1979

Mad Max was a piece of impolite, independent cinema that had a profound effect on audiences and filmmakers across the world.


Modern Love 2006

Like Wake in Fright, Modern Love plays upon the threatening nature of the Australian outback as an ordinary man undergoes an extraordinary personality change.


The Night the Prowler 1978

This savage satire on the neuroses of the privileged of Sydney’s eastern suburbs was written by the great novelist Patrick White.


Patrick 1978

Patrick proved that Australia had the capacity to produce exportable exploitation movies and is better regarded now than it was in 1978.


Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975

On St Valentine’s Day 1900, three schoolgirls from an exclusive English-style boarding school go missing, along with a teacher, at Hanging Rock, in central Victoria.


Thirst 1979

Australia’s only postmodern vampire movie, Thirst is a highlight of the ‘Ozploitation’ films made in the late 1970s and early 80s.


Turkey Shoot 1982

Without doubt one of the most notorious Australian films ever made, Turkey Shoot has attracted both wildly positive and negative reactions over the years.


Dracenstein 2009

Two Horror Legends combine into one HORRIBLE MONSTER !!!

Wolf Creek, Rogue, Razorback, Undead, Body melt

 and many many more.

Keith Urban Australian Superstar



Keith Urban started a campaign to convince Americans he was a new man who'd cleaned up his act, Urban appeared as cover boy in the April 2001 edition of Playgirl magazine.

Keith Urban Australian superstar spent most of the 1990s in the US snorting cocaine and recording very little, Keith Urban got his act together in 2001 and won the Academy of Country Music Awards as top new male vocalist.

1999 Interview

In 1999 Keith was not at the top of the Australian Country charts, nor was he one of Australia's top Male Country Artists. Keith had to forfeit the idea of winning Golden Guitars in order to follow his dreams that took him and manager Greg Shaw to Nashville in 1989.

Keith Lionel Urban (born October 26, 1967)
Caboolture in the state of Queensland is the hometown of singer Keith Urban; although born in New Zealand, Urban moved to Caboolture when he was two-years-old.

Keith Urban made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album Keith Urban. Certified platinum in the U.S., it also produced his first American Number One in "But for the Grace of God". His breakthrough hit was the Number One "Somebody Like You", from his second Capitol album Golden Road (2002).

This album also earned Urban his first Grammy Award win for "You'll Think of Me", its fourth single and the fourth Billboard Number One of his career. 2004's Be Here, his third American album, produced three more Number Ones, and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Multi-Platinum certification. Love, Pain; the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, producing the record-setting #17 country chart debut of "Once in a Lifetime", as well as Urban's second Grammy for the song "Stupid Boy", while a Greatest Hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. This album was re-released a year later as Greatest Hits: 19 Kids with one track added: the number one "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he had previously recorded on Golden Road. Additional albums Defying Gravity and Get Closer were released on March 31, 2009 and November 16, 2010, respectively.

Keith Urban has released a total of nine studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album in The Ranch. He has charted more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including ten Number Ones. Urban plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as ganjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, sitar, bouzouki and drums.

On December 28, 2010,Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman welcomed a second daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital.

Tattoo Designs Australia

Tatoo designs Australia

Lucky Diamond Rich is from Australia. When he ran out of room on his body for more tattoo designs he went over the existing tatoos with a black ink.

After completly covering himself black, even his gums and ear canal with tatoo designs, he then tatooed himself with white designs on top, before deciding on colored tattoos on the white.

Lucky has spent more than 1000 hours in the tattoo shop.

Tatoo designs on the eye ball

Tatoo Designs Australia has tattoo and body art expos in both Sydney and Melbourne this year

Angel wing tattoo designs are still the most popular of tatoos with both men and women today

 To get the tattoo of your dreams all you need to know are these three simple things:

1.You need to know EXACTLY where on your body you want your tattoo.

2.You need to know EXACTLY how big it should be.

3.You need to know EXACTLY what your tattoo will look like before it's permanent.

These three things add up to one basic concept... IT JUST FEELS RIGHT...!

Give yourself a satisfaction guarantee, avoid mistakes, and have fun test-driving your tattoo.

Termites



 

Termites are sometimes referred to as ‘white ants’ because of their creamy colouring and ant-like appearance. There are over 350 species of termites in Australia of which some 20 species can damage timber in houses.
Termites avoid light and rarely come out into the open. Often termites are found within timbers where they leave a wafer thin layer to protect themselves from the outside environment. Sometimes they conceal themselves within mud-like tubes or galleries.

In nature termites assist in the recycling of organic matter and nutrients back to the soil.

Exploding Termites

Termites can explode by a contraction of muscles around a large gland that leads to the gland wall breaking. Soldier termites  release a sticky secretion by rupturing a gland near the skin of their neck, producing a tar baby effect in defense against ants. It is a form of suicidal Kamakazi.

Groups of termite whose soldiers have been found to explode, are defending their colonies,this is thought to be one of the most effective forms of defense, that termites possess as the ruptured workers, block the tunnels running into the nest, and it causes a one to one exchange between attackers and defenders, meaning attacks have a high energy cost to predators.

Pig Hunting

Pig hunting tours and safaris, are becoming a great Eco-tourism holiday adventure, for cashed up local, and overseas travellers.

There are now estimated to be over 23 million feral pigs in Australia, concentrated predominantly in NSW, Queensland and across the top of the Northern Territory. In other areas of the country, small isolated populations are present.

The distribution and abundance of feral pigs fluctuates markedly between years based on environmental conditions and availability of food and water.

The Fraser coast council in Queensland paid out $6680 in bounties to 21 people who had killed the destructive animals — and the program has been so successful that another $5000 has been added to its budget.

Ground-based feral pig hunting is considered by many to be good sport. and can be a useful control measure provided the shooting is carried out and supervised by experienced hunters.

Pig hunting is a real challenge, it can be exciting and very risky. As most of us know Pigs are very smart animals, their very cagey, and have excellent hearing and can smell you from a mile away, they also will not hesitate to attack when they are chased and cornered. Their poor eyesight is their only weakness but are still difficult for young and inexperienced hunters to shoot.

Pig hunting tours normally encourage clients to bring their own firearms but firearms can be supplied upon request.

All companies have specialised guides that can cater to shooters, bow hunters and doggers.

Goodhand Outback Experience targets big boars and there is no better place for them on the floodplains of the NT. Boars in excess of 100kg are usually encountered a daily basis. Whether you are experienced or a beginner GOE can cater to your needs.
With good quality comfortable accommodation (not tented camps), Luxury 4x4’s and new Polaris Rangers GOE is one of the best-equipped outfitters in the Territory.

7 Day trip 5 Days Hunting( Inc up to 5 Boars Per person Per day)
Price on Application

Camouflaged Vehicles available

HuntingSafaris
Pig hunting tours to the finest hunting in Northern Queensland - explosive action, big boars, fantastic trophies, wildlife and breathtaking scenery within 2 - 5 hours drive of Townsville airport.

Experience living and hunting amongst picturesque mountains, rivers, bushland, huge river red gums, billabongs, marsh swamps to rocky ravines and gorges where you will have opportunities to shoot at pigs
NO FEES or limits on shooting - Pigs, Boars
Rifles and ammunition can be supplied at $100 each for the duration of the Safari
PIG HUNTING - individual daily rate reduces as the numbers of hunters and days increase,

Pricing at
http://www.huntingsafaris.com.au

These are just two of the excellent Pig hunting tours and safaris available you can find more by Googling 
Pig Hunting Tours and safaris Australia.

Do Australia a favour, Shoot a Pig!

Australian Explorers

For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups.

French World map 1566

A 16th century maritime map in a Los Angeles library vault proves that Portuguese adventurers, not British or Dutch, were the first Europeans to discover Australia.
The book "Beyond Capricorn" says the map, which accurately marks geographical sites along Australia's east coast in Portuguese, proves that Portuguese seafarer Christopher de Mendonca lead a fleet of four ships into Botany Bay in 1522 -- almost 250 years before Britain's Captain James Cook.

Australian author Peter Trickett said that when he enlarged the small map he could recognize all the headlands and bays in Botany Bay in Sydney -- the site where Cook claimed Australia for Britain in 1770.

"Beyond Capricorn Map"

The presence of the Portuguese in Southeast Asia from the early 16th century, especially their exploration and later colonization of Timor - less than 500 kilometres from the Australian coast - circa 1513-1516.

Various antiquities and unsolved mysteries found on Australian and New Zealand's coastlines, that may relate to early Portuguese voyages to Australia.


After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Britain in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales, formally founded on 7 February 1788(although formal possession of the land had been taken on 26 January 1788).

The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
In 1813, Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth succeeded in crossing the formidable barrier of forested gulleys and shere cliffs presented by the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. At Mount Blaxland they looked out over "enough grass to support the stock of the colony for thirty years", and expansion of the British settlement into the interior could begin.

___  1606 Willem Jansz

___  1606 Luiz Váez de Torres

___  1616 Dirk Hartog

___  1619 Frederick de Houtman

___  1644 Abel Tasman

___  1696 Willem de Vlamingh

___  1699 William Dampier

___  1770 James Cook



___ 1797-1799 George Bass

___  1801-1803 Matthew Flinders

Bugs Bunny and the rabbit plague

Bugs Bunny was introduced from Europe in the 19th century, the effect of rabbits on the ecology of Australia has been devastating. Rabbits are suspected of being the most significant known factor in species loss in Australia. The loss of plant species is unknown at this time. Rabbits often kill young trees in orchards, forests and on properties by ringbarking them.

Within ten years of their introduction in 1859, rabbits had become so prevalent that two million could be shot or trapped annually without having any noticeable effect on the population. It was the fastest spread ever recorded of any mammal anywhere in the world. Today rabbits are entrenched in the southern and central areas of the country, with scattered populations in the northern deserts.

Bugs Bunny has feuded with Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Willoughby the Dog, Marvin the Martian, Beaky Buzzard, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tasmanian Devil, Cecil Turtle, Charlie Dog, Witch Hazel, Rocky and Mugsy, Wile E. Coyote, the Crusher, Gremlin, Big Bad Wolf, and now he is taking on Australian scientists from the CSIRO.

Releasing rabbit-borne diseases has proven somewhat successful in controlling the population of rabbits in Australia.
Myxomatosis was deliberately released into the rabbit population, causing it to drop from an estimated 600 million to around 100 million. Genetic resistance in the remaining rabbits allowed the population to recover to 200-300 million by 1991.

To combat this trend, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) developed and accidentally released calicivirus (also known as Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease or RHD) in 1996. The success of the virus was found to be higher in extreme heat and has put a large dent in the current population.

Bugs Bunny will usually try to placate the antagonist and avoid conflict, but when an antagonist pushes him too far, Bugs Bunny may address the audience and invoke his catchphrase "Of course you realize this means war!" before he retaliates, and the retaliation will be devastating.

State of origin 2023

ONCE AGAIN GOOD WIN  WIN OVER EVIL

The 2023 Rugby League State of Origin series will see the continuation of the biggest rivalry in Australian sport.

The New South Wales Blues will  try to stop the Queensland Maroons from striking up another series win.

Queensland will have the advantage this year with two games scheduled in as home games. .

Described as "sport's greatest rivalry",the State of Origin series is one of Australia's and the region's premier sporting events, attracting a huge television audience and selling out the stadiums in which the games are played. Despite the existence of international tournaments and State of Origin being a domestic competition, it is frequently cited as being the highest-level of rugby league played anywhere in the world.

Worlds most dangerous Stinging trees

Even though they don't hunt in packs, the Australian stinging trees are pretty vicious. The sting is delivered through tiny silicon hairs that cover the leaves and the fruit of the plant. You can think of the silicon hairs as tiny fibres of non-transparent glass.  The only way you can handle the leaves safely without getting stung, was to wear incredibly thick and bulky welding gloves. These silicon hairs penetrate your skin, and then break off. They're so tiny, that often the skin will close over the hairs. So sometimes, once you've been stung, you can't remove the stinging hairs.

There are six species of stinging tree in Australia, but only two of them are the tall woody types - the other four are lowish shrubs. They live along the East coast of Australia, from Cape York in the north, to Victoria in the south. They grow only if they get both strong sunlight, and protection from the wind. So you'll see them along tracks, the banks of creeks, and where the rainforest canopy has been broken by a falling branch or tree.

The silicon hairs cause pain, because they carry a neurotoxin. One scientist, Oelrichs, purified the poison and injected himself with it and suffered intense pain. He proved that the toxin, not the silicon hairs, caused the pain. If you have stabbed yourself with the hairs, you can release the neurotoxin from the hairs by heating or cooling your skin, or just touching it. This neurotoxin is very stable. Experiments have been done with hairs that were collected nearly a century ago, and they can still cause pain.

 Hydrochloric Acid treatment was worse than the pain of the dreaded Stinging Tree.

Humans feel something between mild irritation and intense pain and death. The pain comes immediately after touching the plant, and it gradually increases to a peak after about 20-30 minutes. The Dutch Botanist H. J. Winkler made the only official recording of Death By Stinging Tree, for a human. It was in New Guinea, back in the early 1920s. There have been other anecdotal stories from soldiers in WW II suffering intense pain, and of an officer shooting himself because of the unrelenting pain.
But you can suffer even if you don't touch the plant. The plants continuously shed their stinging hairs. Stay close to the stinging trees for more than an hour, and you can get an allergic reaction - intensely painful and continuous bouts of sneezing. You can even get nose bleeds from these silicon hairs floating in the air.
 

 
TREATMENT
The best way to get the hairs out of you, once you've accidentally got stuck on a stinging tree. Is to firstly not to even think about rubbing the affected area with the sap of nearby trees, or the ground-up roots of the tree that stung you. No, it was a student from James Cook University in Cairns who discovered the best way - you can remove these hairs with a hair-removal wax strip. In fact this is now the official recommendation in a Queensland ambulance journal.

Treatment is done by,dressing stings with a hydrochloric acid solution, before waxing the affected area of skin. Maybe this is effective, but it is also one way to cause excruciating pain, and you will never seen so many grown men screaming and crying!

Emily Browning

Emily Browning is an Australian actress, a Hollywood star, and fashion model, she is known for her role as Violet Baudelaire in the 2004 film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, as Anna Ivers in the 2009 film The Uninvited, and as Baby Doll in the 2011 action film Sucker Punch.

She also plays the lead in aussie Julia Leigh's Australian independent film Sleeping Beauty.

The stunningly beautiful 22 year old Aussie won the 2005 AFI International Award for Best Actress for her role in A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Emily Browning's acting career began at the age of eight, when she was noticed by a classmate's father at a school play and he recommended that she pursue acting as a profession.

Browning won an AFI Young Actor's Award in 2002 and was nominated for the same award in 1999 and 2003. She was also nominated for Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Performer and Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a Feature Film, Leading Young Actress (both 2005).

In Ms. Leigh’s “Sleeping Beauty,” the lead character,  Lucy (Emily Browning) is a young university student who takes a job as a Sleeping Beauty. In the Sleeping Beauty Chamber old men seek an erotic experience that requires Lucy’s absolute submission. This unsettling task starts to bleed into Lucy’s daily life and she develops an increasing need to know what happens to her when she is asleep.



Jane Campion, a Palm d’or winner in 1993 for “The Piano,” was Ms. Leigh’s mentor on “Sleeping Beauty” and helped find production partners.