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Something you don't see everyday (apart from a platypus) - a .asn.au domain name.

A fun edge case is that .au domains are not registrable by any entity, except for the ones that exist just because.

I used to think there was meant to be a distinction between .org.au and .asn.au, but looking at AuDA, I don't really see it.

My favourite is, of course, .id.au.

Under the original policies, .org.au was effectively "miscellaneous", it was expressly for domains that don't fit under other categories. .asn.au was for formally registered associations (e.g. not-for-profits). Similarly, .net.au was just for network operators.

When auDA was created in the late 90's, the policies were harmonized and .com.au and .net.au got the same policies, .org.au and .asn.au got the same policies, etc. It has further evolved since based on policy panels I think they conduct every 5 years.

iirc there was one guy for a long time who handed out the au domains. I think he was at USNW or USyd?

Wikipedia says it was Robert Elz at U of Melbourne. Which squares with that department spinning out Melbourne IT, who had a quasi-monopoly on .au registrations for a while.

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