100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia

by Ben Pobjie

Tales of the strange, unnerving and downright bizarre from one of the weirdest places on Earth


Fish falling out of the sky, joggers relieving themselves on your doorstep, mysterious monsters constantly springing from the shadows, spooky lights and ill-conceived toast spreads: these are just some of the things you can expect on any given day in our surreal southern land.


In 100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia, comedy writer and accredited weirdness expert Ben Pobjie delves deep into Australia's past and present to serve up the weirdest stories of all, which will leave you smacking your gob with one hand while scratching your head with the other.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor

280 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2023

Reviews

[Rowan MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s more than Australian wildlife that’s a bit weird. And this makes me happy, because it keeps things interesting, and means fun books like this get written about our shenanigans.

100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia gathers all things strange and peculiar about our country, and delivers them with wit and humour. These stories are perfectly suited to Ben’s writing style, and it wasn’t long before I was laughing out loud. It’s a fun way to learn about history - or even what you spread on toast.

“If Australia is a weird country, Vegemite is the symbol of that weirdness: a shining example of this country’s steadfast refusal to be normal. Makes you proud.”

Well-known stories, lesser-known stories - they’re never boring. The pages are filled with the likes of poo joggers, raining fish, bunyips, the Somerton Man, Emu Wars and Min Min Lights.

“Some stories claim the lights will follow you home, or come up close to you and then retreat, as if they want to ask you out but are too shy.”

Personal favourites include the Qantas Bomb Hoax and Angry Penguins Literary Hoax; along with the Junjudee, and cunning folk stories. And of course, only Australia could ‘lose’ a Prime Minister.

“But what Holt lacked in charisma, policy boldness or any vaguely interesting personality traits he made up for in a willingness to go swimming at extremely inadvisable moments.”

You get a feel for the Australian character and sense of humour. While I enjoyed Ben’s previous 100 Tales from Australia’s Most Haunted Places, I enjoyed this one more, simply due to its diverse mix of stories. Despite that, a few sports inclusions weren’t as strong, and felt out of place alongside other 'weirdness' - though Arthur Coningham held his own; a cricketer who started a fire in the outfield to keep warm.

Laughter and learning. It's a good combination and both are guaranteed in this book. While some stories may seem familiar, they have never been told like this. I enjoyed learning about places I had been, while creating an itinerary of 'weird' places to visit in future.

Nobody does Australian history quite as fun (or hilariously) as Ben Pobjie. 100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia brought much-needed laughter and tomfoolery into my reading habits.

If you need me, I'll be out bush looking for yowies.

Many thanks to Affirm Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written with great witt, this book is probably best if read by a person living in Australia. Only such a person can truly grasp the subtle, smart irony that pervades the book. Liked the format too: short stories are perfect for a Christmas day on the beach.

[Lucy Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in Australia and even I didn’t know how weird my country was. It was a good read and I learnt so much. But the two things I enjoyed the most was the creepy weird stuff that happened in Australia and also the authors sense of humour and sarcasm throughout the book. 😂😂

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

An indication of how much I enjoyed this book is the fact that it took over a month to finish it. In fact, I’m not sure why I bothered actually. But I had enjoyed the author’s “Second Best” finding it quite cleverly written and nearly always amusing. This book appears to be just the result of the author trying to prove how clever he was and lauding his very biased opinions above anyone else’s. Yes, Australia and Australians can take, and probably need to take, some ‘poking fun at’ but this just seemed over the top, denigrating and hurtful.
I also found the footnotes impossible to find. Why not number them and make them footnotes at the bottom of the appropriate page instead of having them at the end of the chapter where the reader has forgotten which instances had a tiny little star beside them?
I shall not be trying anything else from this author.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought on a recent trip to my old homeland I really wanted to love this - a collection of strange tales from Down Under. To be fair there are some very interesting stories - many of which I was not familiar with. However for me the tone of the book jarred. I expected it to be humorous in parts but it was a constant barrage of really quite school boy cracks that at least to me were not that funny - some being down right silly and occasionally just plain irritating.

[Shelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The over abundance of stupid “jokes” throughout the book ruined an interesting read. Some of them are just lame and some like the following “joke” about an Aussie icon “god bless whoever gave Phar Lap his arsenic breakfast” are just all kinds of wrong. Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that joking about an animal’s excruciating death is just un Australian and gross. Wish I hadn’t wasted my money

[lee_readsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very basic with minimal information.

[LotusBlade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly ridiculous, hugely enjoyable, and as long as you take half of it with a grain of salt, you may even learn a bit of history.

[Emily Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like his 100 ghost stories this book is an easy and entertaining read with the perfect balance of facts and dry aussie humor.