History Main / ShinyNewAustralia

*** [[NiceJobFixingItVillain And then he found one.]] A german sub sunk a US passenger liner. [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Which transported guns to Britain.]]

*** [[NiceJobFixingItVillain And then he found one.]]

* The infamous Zimmerman Telegraph from WWI promised the nation of Mexico Texas (notable to Mexico at the time for it's oil and Revolution) and whatever other parts of the Western US it lost from the Mexican-American War if Mexico comes in on the side of the Germans. Note that the US was still neutral ''at this point'' until they found out about it.

On the other hand, it's the single most infertile continent save for Antarctica, precisely because Australia has had no tectonic activity during the past 30 million years, its soils are amongst the oldest in the world, and rainfalls are scarce except in the cyclone-ridden tropical northern parts and in coastal areas, which are subject to heavy floods. Oh, and there are a lot of thunderstorms and lightning (very very frightening),[[hottip:*:''GALILEO!'']] in fact the Northern Territory and Western Coast of Australia is one of the most lightning prone areas on Earth. And bushfires. Don't forget the bushfires. And spiders so big, they have health bars. In fact, why stop at spiders? A huge percentage of [[AustralianWildlife Australian animals]] are [[{{EverythingTryingToKillYou}} venomous and/or homicidal]], and a ridiculously huge percentage of deadly animals are Australian (last count was six of the top ten deadliest of the world [[LandDownUnder enjoy warm Decembers and frigid Augusts]]).[[DeathWorld The entire continent can be certifiably considered a]] [[http://www.badassoftheweek.com/australia.html deathtrap]].

That's right, Australia. Australia isn't a very important country, but is still pretty big so the BigBad can make it look like an impressive gift while keeping his mitts on the more important countries like the US, the UK, Russia, China, etc. The fact that it has 25% of the Uranium in the world can sweeten the deal and are the largest exporter of beef by... quite a large margin. Not to mention most of the capital cities are naturally defended by terrain, very useful for a supervillain. Take Melbourne, the only way in by sea requires a map as otherwise you hit rocks and drown (Try googling Port Phillip Bay), by air you have to travel a few thousand km's from anywhere, and by land you have to put up with lots of forests and spread out homes. Plus, they have great beaches.

Add to that the fact that the first British settlements in Australia were penal colonies, and that Australia's greatest national hero was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly a criminal]], and you can see where the Australian people could be inclined to welcome most supervillains with open arms. Funnily enough there are reports stating the Australian army is the second best trained in the world (much harder training than the US), and 75,000 ADF (Australian Defence Force) members to boot.

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* In the graphic novel version of ''{{Wanted}}''; Mr. Rictus has a chip on his shoulder because he was slighted, given Australia when the LegionOfDoom divvied up the globe.

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* In ''Film/{{Superman}} 2'', Lex Luthor wanted it in return for taking General Zod to the Fortress of Solitude.

* In Harry Turtledove's World War series, Earth is invaded by aliens in 1942. The aliens are from a desert-like planet and as far as they're concerned most of Earth is too cold or too humid. But they love the climate of central Australia and make it their main settlement after evicted all the humans.

* It's not always villains. In the 90s Nickelodeon comedy 'Radioactive', one character has a fantasy where they become rich enough to buy two planets. "Oh.. and I also bought Australia."

* A version of this trope appears in Randy Newman's song, "Political Science": in Randy's plan to nuke every non-American nation off the face of the planet, he decides to spare Australia as the site of a future all-American amusement park. "They got surfing, too."

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* In the novel version of [[HowToSucceedInEvil How to Succeed in Evil]], the eternally clueless Dr. Loeb offers his "evil efficiency consultant", Edwin Windsor, the continent of Australia. Edwin is insulted.

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*** [[NiceJobBreakingItHero And then he found one.]]

Note that any opinions actual Australians may have on this plan are irrelevant (Oi!). See also ThrowAwayCountry.

Add to that the fact that the first British settlements in Australia were penal colonies, and that Australia's greatest national hero was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly a criminal]], and you can see where the Australian people could be inclined to welcome most supervillains with open arms. Funnily enough there are reports stating the Australian army is the second best trained in the world (much harder training than the US and the world's best trained we could wipe out quite easily anyway), and we have 75,000 ADF (Australian Defence Force) members to boot.

That's right, Australia. Australia isn't a very important country, but is still pretty big so the BigBad can make it look like an impressive gift while keeping his mitts on the more important countries like the US, the UK, Russia, China, etc. The fact that it has 25% of the Uranium in the world can sweeten the deal. Plus, they have great beaches.

Add to that the fact that the first British settlements in Australia were penal colonies, and that Australia's greatest national hero was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly a criminal]], and you can see where the Australian people could be inclined to welcome most supervillains with open arms.

On the other hand, it's the single most infertile continent save for Antarctica, precisely because Australia has had no tectonic activity during the past 30 million years, its soils are amongst the oldest in the world, and rainfalls are scarce except in the cyclone-ridden tropical northern parts and in coastal areas, which are subject to heavy floods. Oh, and there are a lot of thunderstorms and lightning (very very frightening),[[hottip:*:''GALILEO!'']] in fact the Northern Territory and Western Coast of Australia is one of the most lightning prone areas on Earth. And bushfires. Don't forget the bushfires. And spiders so big, they have health bars. In fact, why stop at spiders? A huge percentage of Australian animals are venomous and/or homicidal, and a ridiculously huge percentage of deadly animals are Australian (last count was six of the top ten deadliest of the world [[LandDownUnder enjoy warm Decembers and frigid Augusts]]). The entire continent can be certifiably considered a [[http://www.badassoftheweek.com/australia.html deathtrap]].

*** Um... ''what''? This is something that happened in real life, is it?

* Australia as a RedShirt: Australia is the first to be blown up in the nuclear war of RayBradbury's ''MartianChronicles''.

* Japanese cultists test a homemade nuke in Australis. Nobody found out until someone checked the sesmograph a long time later and found that there's an anomaly.

* In ''CodeGeass'', {{Yandere}} Mao plans on taking C.C. with him to a nice quiet house in Australia where they can be together; this makes sense, since Mao's {{Telepathy}} is [[BlessedWithSuck always on]] and wide-open Australia would be one of the few places he wouldn't be constantly barraged by stray thoughts. Too bad his plan involved [[ChainsawGood making her "compact"...]] but, then again, she ''is'' NighInvulnerable. Australia is also somewhat memetic among the fanbase because it is the one place shown to be unaligned with any of the major powers, for no apparent reason; aside from Mao, no one even mentions it.

* In ''CodeGeass'', PsychopathicManchild Mao plans on taking C.C. with him to a nice quiet house in Australia where they can be together; this makes sense, since Mao's {{Telepathy}} is [[BlessedWithSuck always on]] and wide-open Australia would be one of the few places he wouldn't be constantly barraged by stray thoughts. Too bad his plan involved [[ChainsawGood making her "compact"...]] Australia is also somewhat memetic among the fanbase because it is the one place shown to be unaligned with any of the major powers, for no apparent reason; aside from Mao, no one even mentions it.

Add to that the fact that Australia was a British penal colony and that its greatest national hero was a criminal, and you can see where the Australian people would probably be inclined to welcome most supervillains with open arms.

'''Lex Luthor:''' "Australia!"
--> --''[[{{Film/Superman}} Superman II]]''.[[hottip:*:Yes, he is doing "finger quotes".]]