The unlikely triumph of ice-skater Steven Bradbury, who became the first Australian to win a Winter Olympic gold medal after everyone else in his race fell over.

The fairy-tale of the young Tasmanian woman Mary Donaldson, who met a European prince inside a pub during the Sydney Olympics and lived happily ever after.

A musical comedy about the international meltdown caused by Johnny Depp when he brought his two Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo into Australia.

The comedy of errors that befell Melbourne's cursed Ferris wheel, conceived as an international landmark to put the city on the map, but plagued by construction mishaps and the world's worst views.

The saga of Schapelle Corby, who became Australia's most famous drug smuggler when she was caught with 4.2 kilograms of cannabis inside her boogie board bag at Bali's international airport.

The political showdown of the Tampa affair, when a Norwegian freighter carrying 433 rescued asylum seekers was denied entry into Australian waters by the Howard government.