Can you name any famous people from Australia?

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Elizabeth

In entertainment there's:
Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson, Darren Hayes, Silverchair, Hugh Jackman, INXS, Elle MacPhearson, Olivia Newton-John, Dame Edna Everage/Barry Humphries, Steve Irwin all round dare-devil.

Catholic Church:
Blessed Mary MacKillop, Pope John Paul II declared Mary â€˜Blessedâ€™ in Sydney Australia in 1995 an important step towards formal acknowledgement of Mary as a Saint.

Science:
Sir Marcus 'Mark' Laurence Elwin Oliphant AC KBE (October 8, 1901 â€“ July 14, 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played a fundamental role in the development of the Atomic bomb.

Authors:
Bryce Courtenay, James Clavell, Thomas Keneally, Colleen McCullough, John Marsden, Judy Nunn, Arthur Upfield, Tim Winton.

There are many more world famous Australians in all catagories.

boonoora

all of the above and more..........

famous people to add :
keith urban, jimmy barnes (cold chisel), slim dusty, bee gees, midnight oil, australian crawl, rm williams, kylie minogue, eric bana, princess mary, many more

australia is known for :
the land down under, its a island surrounded by beautiful beaches, sand, surf, sea, surfies, bikini clad girls, suntans, beer, wine, spirits, we are known for liking our alcohol, free spirited, down to earth, happy go lucky, multi culturalism, vast outback, red dirt in the centre, ayers rock, sydney opera house, snowy mountains, great barrier reef, the aboriginals the 1st true blue aussies the traditional owners of the whole of australia, their arts and crafts, rock paintings over 40,000 years old, dingos, emus, koalas, kangaroos, fishing, rainforests, markets, holdens, thongs (on your feet), bananas, pineapples, rugby league, crocodiles, cassowaries, stingers, sharks, turtles, yabbies, esky full of grog, barbeques, picnics, and more

Claire K

Nicole Kidman was actually born in Honolulu to Australian parents and because of this she has dual citizenship of Australia and the United States.

Mel Gibson was born in New York, but moved to Australia when he was 12.

Russell Crowe was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia when he was 4.

Olivia Newton John was born in Cambridge, England and move to Australia when she was 5.

Some genuine notable Australians include:
- Sir Charles Kingsford Smith
- Reverend John Flynn
- Bert Hinkler
- Alfred Deakin
- Lord Howard Florey
- Edith Cowan
- Edmund Barton
- Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson
- Henry Lawson
- Patrick White
- Sir Donald Bradman
- Cathy Freeman
- Dawn Fraser
- Mandaway Yunupingu
- Dick Smith

Ken E

Sir Macfarlane Burnett - helped formulate the immunological theory of clonal selection. (Nobel Prize)

Dr. Barry Marshall - discovered that peptic ulcers were caused by an infection by helicobacter pylori (Nobel Prize)

William Lawrence Bragg, development of X-ray diffraction in crystallography, Nobel Prize and still the youngest recipient

Sir Alan Walsh -developed the atomic absorption spectrophotometer.

Professor Graeme Clark - developed the multi-channel "bionic ear".

Sir Jack Brabham - won the world drivers championship and the world constructors championship (Formula 1) at the same time in the 1960s. Also introduced the rear or mid -engine racing car to Indianapolis.

Sir Donald Bradman - the world's greatest ever cricketer and the greatest player of any team ball sport bar none. His scoring average (99.97) was and still is something like 60% better than any other player of cricket. No player of any other sport has so outclassed their rivals, including top American basketball and baseball players. He was also a regional champion golfer.

Lawrence Hargrave - invented the box kite and sent most of his observations on flight to the Wright brothers.

Dame Nellie Melba - possibly the greatest soprano of the late
19th and early 20th century period.

Dame Joan Sutherland (La Stupenda) - operatic soprano whose international career ran from the early 1950s through to1990. Best known for her parts in "Lucia di Lammermoor" and possibly "Alcina".

Peter Dawson - popular baritone who once described himself as a professional entertainer and master plumber. His first recordings were on cylinders but his career lasted long enough to record onto 33rpm microgroove. Perhaps best known for his renditions of "The Floral Dance" and "The Erl King" which is still a scary song.

Peter Weir - film director. His first big hit was "Picnic at Hanging Rock" possibly the best Australian film of the 70s. He went on to make "The Mosquito Coast", "The Truman Show" and more recently "Master and Commander". Some Oscars to his movies.

General Sir John Monash - engineer and soldier. Credited by some with the victories in France which brought the First World War to an end.

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith - first to fly from the USA to Australia among other notable firsts in aviation.

Peter Carey - Novelist. Now or recently teaching at Hunter College, New York

Thomas (Tom) Keneally - Novelist. Wrote the non-fiction "Schindler's Ark" on which the Spielberg film "Schindler's List" was based.

Morris West - Novelist in the high class popular field. Best known for "The Shoes of the Fisherman" and "The Devil's Advocate". Several books filmed.

You can check all of these out on Wikipedia or any search engine. Also see Gladys Moncreiff, Bert Hinkler, Walter Lindrum, Dr. H. V. Evatt (pres of UN General Assembly) and I'll get into trouble if I leave Germaine Greer out.

Oh, and Charles Dickens' character "Miss Havisham" in "Great Expectations" was based on a Sydney woman, Eliza Emily Donnithorne.

http://simplyaustralia.net/issue10/donnithorne/Donnithorne-5.html

That should keep you busy.

Juba

Nicole Kidman, famous actress, Mel Gibson famous actor, Australian cricket team-leading in world cup and they'll win again.
Australia is well known, becauise it's only country, continent, state, because it's biggest island in the world, because they never had a war on theit teritory, because have every posible clima on it's continent, because is one of the most liberal and friendliest countries in the world, because Australian continent is one of the oldes masses on the earth core, because it's last continent discovered, they do not have nuclear weapons and they never will accept it on their soil.
Australia have unique flora and fauna: Cangaroos, Coalas, Tasmanian devils, Wombats, Emus, 60 diferent species of eucaliptus, just name it.
Not to forget beautiful and unique black Australian Opals, only found in Australia.
On the end 60.000 years old ethnical entity of Aborigins, propably oldest nation in the world.
Well, hope this will be enough.

The_Mouse

While people go for actors and popular personalities, how about some famouse people that REALLY changed the world.

Howard Florey - ALL of us have benefited from his discovery.
look at this link http://www.florey.adelaide.edu.au/aboutflo.html

Jon Lin

Famous people from Australia, among others, include:

Sir Howard Florey - developed penicillin (commonly used antibiotic)
Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet - "The Father of Immunology (study of the immune system)"

For a more complete list, go to: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Australia/People/People200.asp

Nurse Kelly

G'day mate. Some forgotton celebs in all the answers: Music- John Farnham, Delta Goodrem, Savage Garden/Darren Hayes, Tina Arena, Dame Nellie Melba (oprea singer), Marina Prior. Sport: Sir Donald Bradman, Pharlap, Fanny Durack ( first woman to win a gold medal in swimming, and she was competing against men), Dawn Fraser. Kerrie Packer. There's heaps. Australians invented the black box flight recorder, baby safety capsule (baby seat), polymer (plastic) notes for 5,10,20, 50, 100 and 500 dollars. Australia is also known for being a very multicultural nation and proud of it.

Ron Obvious

Angus Young, Mel Gibson (via New York), the late Steve Irwin, Eric Bana, Paul Hogan, Elle MacPherson, Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, and Olivia Newton-John.

purplebuggy

It depends why they're famous as to who your after.

Just your avergae run of the mill celebrities Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana and Kylie Mingoue are true blue (Russel Crowe was born in New Zealand.)

In terms of what we're known for, we have many inventors, especially in the medical fields. Last year 2 Australians got a nobel prize for discovering the bacteria that caused stomach ulcers.
Howard Florey was involved in neuroscience, Victor Chang cardiothorasics, Graeme Clark invented the bionic ear, etc.

Athletes are big in our culture too. Internationally Pat Rafter (Tennis), Ian Thorpe (Swimming), Susie O'Neill (Swimming) Kosta Tzu (Boxing) and Harry Kewell (Soccer) are just a few.

Hope it helps :O)

mareeclara

Just to be a pain, russell crowe was born New Zealand, but I accept he likes to be called australian.

Well you can divide it up into:
Sports people: eg Ian Thorpe
Actors: Naomi Watts, as well as those already named
Other I guess (eg scientists politicians etc): Florey (to do with penicillin)

Australia is proud of its sports people.....problably with due reason I say (as a kiwi)....

SusieAD

Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Olivia Newton-John

Mike P

Elle McPhearson and AC/DC were my favs from down under.

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