Compass

[brifos99]

In Australia does the compass point North or South?

[brifos99]

Marvellous - Even I can understand that!

[poltergeist]

I thought a compass was always horizontal?

[poltergeist]

the horizon

[vascop]

OK, but Zacsmaster hasn't answered the question. Even the original poster hasn't noticed.
If you take a compass which points north in England it will also point to the north in Australia.
Also, if you suspend a bar magnet on a piece of string tied round the middle, then you will notice that it settles in a non-horizontal position. The angle it makes with the horizontal at any place is called (funnily enough) the angle of dip. It is zero at the equator and 90 degrees at the poles.
BUT this has got NOTHING to do with the direction the magnetic compass needle points in the horizontal plane.

[vascop]

By the way, any compass points north and south if you think about it. One end of the needle (usually the end which points north) is made to look different to the other with a blob of red paint or something. The other end points south of course.

[heathfield]

In Australia, as anywhere else, the compass needle will point north and south. It all depends on which end of the needle you're particularly interested in.
The Chinese, who invented the compass, used it to point the way south.

[heathfield]

Oops! Hi, Vascop!

[benf31]

So the compass I have with an arrow pointing South is Chinese then?

[heathfield]

Extremely likely.

[paulthewall]

part of the explanantion is that the LINES OF FORCE are on the surface of the Earth, and whereever you are, the compass will align to these.
Chinese compasses may not be reliable; they often get western script letters confused (which we would do with Chinese!) and S and N may easily be transposed.