Following up on my recent roundup titled “Ten Odd News Stories Out of New Zealand,” I turned my gaze toward what we affectionately call “The Ditch” and uncovered a fresh batch of truly bizarre headlines surfacing across the Australian press.
Why These Ten Odd News Stories Matter
10 Wallaby Mugs Easter Bunny
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Easter Bunny’s meticulously plotted egg‑delivery mission was nearly foiled this past Easter when a rogue male wallaby—oddly christened Polly—decided to join the holiday hustle.
At a farm in Clarence Point, Tasmania, resident Amanda Sparkles and her two daughters were jolted awake at roughly six in the morning on Easter Sunday by a cacophony of rustling. Rather than catching the Easter Bunny red‑handed, Amanda discovered that a wallaby had been pilfering the hidden eggs. “The very naughty boy had been on the deck, caravan, swing set, spa bath, collecting and hiding all the eggs he could find,” she posted on Facebook.
Polly, rescued as a joey after his mother was struck by a vehicle, has grown into a 20‑kilogram (44‑pound) adult that now roams freely on the Sparkles’ property, where Amanda works as a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
Just like dogs and cats, chocolate is toxic to wallabies and kangaroos, meaning Polly could not indulge in any of the stolen sweets. Amanda managed to lure him away with his favorite vegetable, using it as a bribe to retrieve one of the pilfered eggs.
When Polly finally handed over his prize, the family realized the rest of the eggs were still missing. “We then started looking around to see if there were any more,” Amanda said. “We couldn’t really see many at all, but Polly kept on going in and out of the bushes… We realized he’d gathered up eggs and put them all into the shrubs.”
9 Death Threats and the Robot Waitress
A Sydney eatery owner reports receiving a flurry of death threats after deploying a robot waitress to cope with pandemic‑induced staff shortages.
The Matterhorn, a Swiss‑themed restaurant on Sydney’s North Shore, recently invested AU$28,000 in a high‑tech robot named Bella to ferry plates and take orders. Bella even belts out “Happy Birthday” to diners—something currently prohibited indoors under New South Wales Covid rules.
Owner Liarne Schai explained that Bella wasn’t merely a gimmick; cross‑border closures and aggressive staff poaching have created a severe labour crunch in hospitality. Some waiting jobs are advertised at up to AU$80 per hour. Despite paying staff well above award rates, The Matterhorn couldn’t compete, prompting the robot purchase.
“99.9 percent of the customers love Bella,” Schai noted. “It’s hilarious watching people chat with her like she’s a person, and the best part is that once the novelty fades, she blends into the background just like any good human waiter would.”
Not everyone was thrilled. An email surfaced accusing the restaurant of aligning with a “right‑wing prefecture” and facilitating a robot takeover. Following media coverage, a man phoned the venue and issued explicit death threats, saying he wanted the owners to die “the most horrible, painful, torturous, cancerous death possible.”
Schai stressed Bella is far from a menacing AI overlord; she’s essentially an “automatic trolley” that frees human staff to spend an extra seven to eight minutes per table, rather than sprinting back and forth.
8 The Shocking Case of the Un‑Australian Vegemite Toast
In April 2022, a Sydney café earned the dubious distinction of being branded “un‑Australian” after serving a lackluster Vegemite toast.
Vegemite, a dark, salty yeast extract spread, is a staple for Aussie and Kiwi kids alike—an acquired taste for the uninitiated. The story erupted when a patron posted a photo of a buttered slice with a meagre smear of the iconic spread.
The post ignited a fierce debate over the correct Vegemite‑to‑toast ratio. Critics lambasted the café for botching every step: “Not enough toasting, not enough butter, not enough Vegemite,” one comment read. Another quipped, “I always wondered how badly you can f**k up Vegemite on toast. We have a new leader.”
Some users labeled the offering as “un‑Australian,” while others wondered why anyone would order Vegemite toast from a café in the first place. To illustrate the passion, a November 2021 incident was recalled where a detainee at Albany Police Station, outraged by a thin Vegemite layer on his breakfast toast, smeared the spread across his cell, necessitating a specialist cleaning crew.
7 The Alien Sea Creature with Human Lips
In April 2022, Bondi resident Drew Lambert stumbled upon a bizarre, “alien‑like” marine animal while on his routine jog.
Initially suspecting a strange shark, Lambert noted the creature’s mouth sat on its underside and its skin resembled shark tissue, yet it lacked a dorsal fin. “It looked like it was puckering up for a kiss,” he recalled, adding, “Does this fish have human lips on it?”
Sea Life Sydney Aquarium supervisor Laetitia Hannan identified the specimen as a coffin ray, also known as a numbfish, native to Australian waters. These rays can discharge up to 200 volts to deter predators, though no fatal incidents have been recorded.
6 Woman Loves Herself… a Lot
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
In May 2020, Sydney teacher Patricia Christine took the ultimate leap of self‑commitment by marrying herself in a 30‑minute ceremony attended by nine close friends.
Having called off an engagement eight years prior, Patricia felt societal pressure to wed before turning 30. She spent roughly AU$95 on a bohemian wedding dress, a diamond ring, and a bouquet, turning the self‑marriage into a fully fledged celebration.
During the park‑side ceremony, she proclaimed the importance of self‑love, hoping her act would inspire other women to value themselves regardless of relationship status. She vowed to love herself despite past mistakes and to trust her own dreams, stating, “We search our whole lives to make a huge declaration to another, but we don’t do it for ourselves first.”
5 Gigantic Crocodile Eats Dinosaur
Australia boasts a menagerie of fearsome critters—from massive spiders to deadly snakes, sharks, box jellyfish, stonefish, and, of course, crocodiles. Earlier this year, paleontologists announced a spectacular find: a 95‑million‑year‑old crocodile relative that devoured a dinosaur.
The species, named Confractosuchus sauroktonos (“broken crocodile dinosaur killer”), was unearthed from a shattered boulder in eastern Australia. Measuring about 2–2.5 metres (6.5–8 feet) in length, the fossil likely represents a juvenile that would have grown larger.
Remarkably, the croc’s stomach contained a near‑complete, chicken‑sized ornithopod dinosaur, weighing roughly 1.5 kg (3.5 lb). The fossilized remains suggest the croc bit down hard enough to snap the dinosaur’s femur in half, even embedding a tooth in the other femur.
Scientists view this as the first definitive evidence of crocodiles preying on dinosaurs in Australia, shedding light on Cretaceous food webs and the ecological role of crocodylians during that era.
“It is likely dinosaurs constituted an important resource in the Cretaceous ecological food web,” research associate Matt White explained, noting the rarity of comparable global specimens.
4 M&M’s Stacking
Queensland native Brendan Kelbie, a self‑described serial record‑breaker, already boasts Guinness World Records for feats such as 98 drum‑stick flips in a minute and spinning a basketball on a pair of spectacles for 29.67 seconds.
In October 2021, Kelbie added another quirky achievement: stacking six plain chocolate M&M’s atop one another, keeping the tower steady for at least ten seconds before it toppled. Guinness rules forbid flavored varieties like peanut M&M’s for this record.
“I decided to break this record because I’m a serial record breaker, and I am a versatile world record holder,” Kelbie told Guinness.
3 Unlicensed Cooler
In November 2021, police in Kerang, Victoria, impounded a motorised cooler that a 25‑year‑old man was riding on the sidewalk, treating it as an unregistered vehicle.
Although the driver passed a breathalyser test, he possessed no valid driver’s licence and had never held one. The police statement clarified that the motorised esky, due to its engine capacity, is legally classified as a vehicle and must comply with registration and road‑rule requirements.
2 Extra Leg of Lamb
South Australian farmer Sam Kuerschner discovered a 2021‑born lamb sporting an unexpected fifth limb extending from the back of its head, resembling a mullet‑style hairdo.
Despite the extra appendage, the lamb appeared healthy and lively, prompting Kuerschner to consider keeping it as a family pet rather than sending it to market. Veterinarian Paul Nilon noted that polymelia—a condition of extra limbs—occurs in roughly one in 200,000 sheep, though the extra limb is usually underdeveloped; this case was unusually fully formed.
Kuerschner enthused that his children would love having such a unique companion, envisioning the lamb running around the yard as a lifelong pet.
1 The Echidna Penis That Broke the Internet
In April 2022, Australian Geographic sparked a massive online reaction after posting an unfiltered photograph of an echidna’s penis on Facebook, prompting viewers to say they “couldn’t un‑see” the image.
The spiny anteater’s reproductive organ, described as bright red with four heads, earned the label of “one of the weirdest penises in the animal kingdom.” The striking image quickly became a conversation starter across social media.
Comments ranged from stunned disbelief—“I cannot un‑see this, scarred for life!”—to tongue‑in‑cheek jokes about condoms fitting “like a glove.” Reproductive biologist Jane Feleon explained that echidnas only use their penis for mating, not urination, granting them evolutionary freedom to develop such an elaborate structure.
“We’re not really sure why it looks so weird, but we do know that they only use their penis for mating, not urine,” Feleon said, adding that this liberty likely led to the organ’s distinctive appearance.