—brinsp

Yeah, nah — not all of us grew up right next to a beach and learned how to surf. I’m guessing that people probably think this because when they picture Australia, they think beaches everywhere and anywhere, which is really not the case. Plus, it doesn’t help that Aussie TV shows like Home & Away give that impression of a surfer lifestyle.

—Abby Molloy

Although we absolutely stan Chris Hemsworth, Australia is a huge melting pot of different cultures. A lot of our most popular celeb exports fit this bill though, so it’s no wonder that Hollywood automatically assumes Australian = someone who looks like Margot Robbie or the Hemsworths. But, it’s good to see a lot of POC representation in the form of actors like Keiynan Lonsdale, Chris Pang and Aisha Dee breaking that stereotype.

—donnellaw2

Look, Australia has a small habit of claiming things from New Zealand as our own (cough, Russell Crowe and pavlova, cough), which is where this perception probably started. But, that doesn’t mean we’re the same country! Plus, both Australia and New Zealand have their own separate Indigenous cultures and peoples, so it’s important not to stick them into the same category.

—racheldiz

“Yeah, of course I know Davo that lives in Sydney! We’re best mates!” — said no Australian ever. But, to be fair, I’m sure Aussies do this when visiting other countries too.

—priyamack

Okay, I think we’ve definitely had a hand in playing up this Hollywood myth of Australia being the land of nope thanks to all the dangerous snakes, spiders and animals that live here (it’s not our fault, we just love to joke around with the rest of the world). But, in reality, all those dangerous animals? They’re mostly in the bush or ocean, not in densely populated cities. So, we’re not coming across them on a daily basis. Except magpies — yeah, come swooping season, it’s really every person for themselves.

—monnie_hendo

This is one cringey stereotype that people still think accurately represents Australia. First off, we call them prawns here in Oz, not shrimp. But, since this originated from a 1980s Tourism Australia ad made for the US — featuring one Paul Hogan a la before his Crocodile Dundee days — the terminology was switched up. And that’s probably why Americans are still set on the idea of Australians chucking shrimp on the barbie.

—saskiarc

Yes, our slang can be confusing. But, whenever an American or British show has an Australian character, they, of course, have to start spouting hilarious gibberish that literally no Australian would ever say.

—lucasmom19

For some reason, Hollywood always makes the mistake of thinking everything in Australia is super close to each other. Like driving from Sydney to Melbourne? No biggie, that’ll take an hour! In reality, it’s more like over nine hours. Plus, the Outback? Yeah, not entirely close.

—Hameda Nafiz

They always misjudge the scale of Australia and how big it really is.

—racheldiz

Thanks to Hollywood, a lot of people probably don’t realise that Australia isn’t all sandy beach and hot weather — it does actually snow in certain regions! Places like the Snowy Mountains, the Australian alps and Tasmania all experience annual snowfall during the wintertime.

—aramanthe

Surprise — Australia has snow AND an abundance of lush tropical and subtropical rainforests too. They’re located right around the country and are just beautiful.

—Julia Willing

There’s this concept that country towns in Australia sort of resemble something from the Wild West and are super deserted. But, there’s plenty of them that have shopping malls, university campuses and definitely no kangaroos just bounding up and down the roads. They’re bang on about people being chilled out though!

—zari133

There have been some great attempts at the Australian accent, but there’s also been a lot more terrible ones in Hollywood. Exaggerated vowels, Cockney inflections or making it sound generally over the top…it’s a bit of a mess really and not at all how the average Australian actually speaks.