Australia isn't a dangerous place to live

We are a Willetton, Perth family living in the UK for a few years.

The most common reaction we get from people here when we tell them we're Aussies is the question "aren't there lots of dangerous animals in Australia?". There is a very common urban myth in the UK that Aussies live surrounded and inundated by snakes and spiders and other dangerous creatures which are lying in wait 7/24 to kill us all. The myth probably comes from the numerous TV programs about Australian wildlife.

Our normal response is to tell people that whilst there are nasties in Australia, the vast majority of Aussies don't encounter them and take precautions against things like redbacks. We also point out that more people get killed by bee stings in Australia each year than by sharks and that all these pale into significance to the numbers killed in car accidents.

So I guess the message here is that an education program putting the dangerous creature situation into perspective needs to happen because our experience suggests that many people are put off visiting or emigrating to Australia by these beliefs.