The Queendom of Mary Mary Quite Contrary is a huge, orderly nation, notable for its public floggings, smutty television, and complete absence of social welfare. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 584 million Mary Mary Quite Contraryians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The tiny, well-organized government prioritizes Education, although Administration, Public Transport, and Law & Order are also considered important, while Social Policy and International Aid are ignored. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 8.2%.

The strong Mary Mary Quite Contraryian economy, worth 34.2 trillion Mary Monies a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Book Publishing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 58,579 Mary Monies, with the richest citizens earning 7.1 times as much as the poorest.

Model railroad hobbyists have taken to muscling model shipbuilders off their "turf", the number of deaths due to poor fungus identification is mushrooming, politicians can be condescending (which by the way means "showing an attitude of patronising superiority"), and picnickers are lucky if a few wasps are the only animals that trouble them. Crime is a problem, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Mary Mary Quite Contrary's national animal is the Cockleshell, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary is ranked 74,532^nd in the world and 142^nd in the Outback for Most Cultured, scoring 69 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.