Australium
| “ | Every one of mankind's innovations now comes from the lager-pickled brain of an Australian. Because of this.
— The Administrator's ancestor
|
” |
First revealed by the story depicted within the Team Fortress 2 comic Loose Canon, Australium is a metal element which can adapt and transform itself into different states and forms, therefore making it extremely valuable and sought-after.
History
Australium was discovered by the country of Template:W, explaining the element's self referential name to the country.
The discovery of Australium has most likely been the cause behind Australia's rapid technological advancement. Said advances in technology include cloaking devices, teleportation devices, and the "entire spectrum of moustache sciences".
Australium is believed to be sold and exchanged within the form of solid bars, similar to the way gold is often reserved and stored. Despite sharing similar appearance properties to gold, such as a similar color and the level of reflectivity, bars of Australium can be identified by the unique logo of a lone figure boxing a kangaroo, one of Australia's most iconic animals. This act of boxing between the kangaroo and the figure is supposedly how Australia chooses their next rightful king.
Australians are known to be very secretive about Australium, most likely in order to keep the element in high value and demand, therefore allowing them to continue to outpace the rest of the world in the technological race.
Australium was also used in terms of payment to Dell Conagher's grandfather Radigan, in exchange for him building Blutarch Mann and Redmond Mann "Life Extender Machines" to further their own attempts to try and outlive each other to inherit all of the land given to them by their father. Radigan Conagher is believed to have found many more caches of Australium, and Dell later discovers hidden files detailing these caches amongst the blueprints Blutarch has lent to him to repair his own "Life Extender Machine".
Related weaponry
Australium has been used in the creation of two rare weapons. When a player is killed by one of these weapons their body model turns into a golden statue.
| Weapon | Kill Icon |
|---|---|
 Promotional Golden Wrench |
|
| Weapon | Kill Icon |
|---|---|
 Distributed Saxxy |
|
Unused content
- An Australium bar model exists in the game files under
models\props_mining\ingot001.mdl.
Trivia
- Australium is featured in the Zachtronics Industries game SpaceChem on specific Bonus Levels.
- Australium has the same electron configuration—barring the kangaroos in the nucleus—as gold.
- Australium, as it seems, when exposed, may cause a person to have Australian-like features, such as, rapid mustache growth, extreme masculinity, and the primal urge to take off his shirt and grow chest hair in the shape of their home country. This is seen in Radigan Conagher,the Engineer's grandfather, and Saxton Hale, CEO of Mann Co.. Australium also seems to increase intelligence, which could explain Radigan's phenomenal intellect,and how Australians created teleportation and cloaking devices.
Gallery
Australium's electron configuration with kangaroos boxing in the nucleus.
An unused Australium bar model.
A bar of Moustachium seen in SpaceChem.
