Free Republic

The Australian nation started as a penal colony. The best of Australian culture is robust and free. But the worst is weak and servile. Freedom Fighter Matt is a working man in Melbourne not afraid to denounce leftist police totalitarianism. God Bless Matt.

An archeologist claims to have found a 16th century European coin in a swamp on Australia’s east coast, raising new questions about whether Captain James Cook was beaten to the continent by the Spanish or Portuguese. The silver coin, which is inscribed with the date 1597, was discovered by a group led by amateur archeologist Greg Jefferys. A colleague was digging in the sand with a machete when he found the badly corroded coin on Sunday.It was buried a few inches below the ground in the middle of snake-infested Eighteen Mile Swamp on North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. If proved to...

William Shatner wants to boldly go where he's only pretended to go so far. The "Star Trek" star is among more than 7,000 people who have told Richard Branson they would gladly pay him $210,000 (£115,000) for a trip aboard his planned spacecraft, the entrepreneur said Friday. Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro has signed up for a ride, and a Hollywood director who was not identified has booked an entire ship. Trevor Beattie, chairman of the ad agency TBWA -- responsible for campaigns such as the "Hello Boys" Wonderbra campaign with Eva Herzigova -- offered to send...

Australian authorities want to remodel Botany Bay, where Capt James Cook first landed in the country, to make it look less European and more Aboriginal. Re-igniting the country's simmering racial divisions, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of New South Wales, which manages the site, wants to remove flagpoles and an historic anchor. It also proposes to cut down a number of mature Norfolk Island pine trees and replace them with original bushland. Even though the area is regarded as the birthplace of modern Australia, it said the features were symbols of "European dominance" and ignored its Aboriginal history. Capt...