Water in Australia, when you pull the plug from a washing basin, drains in a clockwise direction - or, rather - it doesn't at all because it must surely be anti-clockwise. But it doesn't either, because of the Coriolis force. A force named after the French physicist Gustave-Gaspard de Coriolis, who first analyzed the phenomenon mathematically. If you take a little time to study it you will come to the inevitable conclusion that unlike in the Northern Hemisphere where the movement is always clockwise, the drains here go both ways. An interesting reflection on the ambiguous nature of the Australian.
Marble Bar
If you should find yourself with time on your hands in Marble Bar, Western Australia, during Christmas, do not hesitate to buy yourself a thermometer, hang it on a wall and do not take your eyes off it, if only for the chance to see the near century-old Australian record for continuous heat broken, which up to this time is 37.7 Celsius for 160 days straight. If sitting on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert waiting anxiously for the mercury not to drop is difficult, console yourself that you are in a historic spot where from October 1923 to April 1924 they recorded the longest period of extreme heat anywhere in Australia.
Revolving Doors
Here is an episode of nostalgic memories to all those readers who still recall living through the political vicissitudes of the early 1900's. As the main opposing parties lined up to do battle in the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia, loud cries of "You're up!" were heard in what served then as a Parliament, and out went the Prime Minister, with Alfred Deakin as head of Government from 24 September 1903 to 27 April 1904, from 5 July 1905 to November 13 1908 and from 2 June 1909 to 19 April 1910, along with Andrew Fisher who served as Prime Minister from 13 November 1908 to 2 June 1909, from 29 April 1910 to 24 June 1913 and from 17 April 1914 to 27 October 1915. Revolving doors, as a result, became unpopular in all Parliamentary buildings.
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