australia

As part of Foreign Fridays, we explore a different country each week through its most unusual, amusing and odd facts. If you want your country to appear, then simply get in contact with us either in the comments below or through Facebook or Twitter.

This week it is the turn of Australia:

Citizenship Ceremonies are a popular tradition on
Australia Day. On that single day in 2011, a massive
13,000 people took Australian Citizenship.

Yesterday was Australia Day, when Australians have an excuse to bring out the BBQ, crack open some beers and celebrate their history. Every year on the 26th January Australians remember when the first fleet of British ships first landed in 1788. These days, it is a national holiday, and there are huge celebrations throughout the country, with festivals and concerts held in almost every community. An Australian of the Year is even crowned, with The King's Speech actor Geoffrey Rush gaining the award for 2012.

During a speech last night, British Prime Minister David Cameron did an impersonation of his Australian counterpart that was so bad it has made international news.

At the annual Lord Mayor's Banquet in London, Cameron recounted how Australian PM Julia Gillard described their recent meeting as "good news for Sheilas everywhere". Despite admitting before hand "I can't quite do the accent", the impression got a big laugh and even applause from the audience in the hall. However, over night the Australian press has picked up on it and are not quite as kind.

The Sydney Morning Herald described the impersonation as "bizarre", whilst an article on Australian news site News.com.au, called it "perhaps one of the worst Aussie accents in history", and even claimed that "it's so bad it could cause a diplomatic row".

Watch the clip below to judge for yourself quite how good or bad David Cameron's Aussie accent is.